[HN Gopher] ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it s...
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       ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with
        
       Author : jrepinc
       Score  : 125 points
       Date   : 2025-10-22 18:53 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.tomshardware.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.tomshardware.com)
        
       | HelloUsername wrote:
       | Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ambCqcFuexk
       | 
       | Also, why didn't they install SteamOS directly?
       | https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/65B4-2AA3-5F37-42...
        
         | mulmen wrote:
         | Not sure what the specific benefits of SteamOS are. It's forked
         | from Arch, I don't know what Valve changes. Maybe slightly
         | better hardware support for Steam Deck? I run Steam on Fedora
         | on my desktop and have no issues.
        
           | Fergusonb wrote:
           | There's very good steam integration, a controller first UI,
           | it's very performant, sleep works better, fantastic
           | performance monitoring and settings.
           | 
           | I love it, but there's probably not a whole bunch of reason
           | to run it on things in other form factors.
        
             | mynameisvlad wrote:
             | Pretty sure Bazzite offers all those things as well.
        
               | Yokolos wrote:
               | It does. It provides everything SteamOS does. So if
               | SteamOS doesn't support the Xbox Ally X, why install
               | SteamOS?
        
         | Benanov wrote:
         | AIUI (I don't have any of this hardware) SteamOS is really
         | meant for the Steam Deck; while there's "basic support" for the
         | ROG Ally, it's not their focus. Bazzite seems to be quite happy
         | to support everything, and AIUI it's frighteningly close to
         | SteamOS (the same customizations, etc.)
         | 
         | It's not "we have SteamOS at home" - it's more like RedHat vs
         | CentOS
        
           | pavon wrote:
           | This is changing. Valve is actively working with hardware
           | manufacturers to get SteamOS on a number of systems other
           | than the Steam Deck. You can buy a Lenovo Legion Go S with
           | SteamOS today[1], and Valve will be supporting SteamOS on the
           | Asus ROG Ally in the future[2], whether Asus partners with
           | them or not.
           | 
           | [1]https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/handheld/legion-
           | go-s/len106g0...
           | 
           | [2]https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/13/24219469/valve-steamos-
           | as...
        
         | __aru wrote:
         | because official SteamOS doesn't support the Xbox Ally X yet.
         | It's safe to assume that official SteamOS will eventually
         | support the Xbox Ally X, but it's not there yet.
         | 
         | Valve moves slowly to add support for more devices, etc,
         | whereas the Bazzite devs can move faster.
         | 
         | e.g.
         | 
         | Bazzite does a weekly release of a stable OS candidate, whereas
         | Valve often takes months, if not up to a year, for to release a
         | stable-channel OS update.
         | 
         | Edit:
         | 
         | Also, Valve tends to wait for proper kernel interfaces for
         | functionality like controlling TDP, RGB, fans, etc. Whereas
         | Bazzite devs are fine with using tools in userspace to directly
         | talk to hardware, etc.
         | 
         | While I do think Valve's approach is better for long-term
         | maintainability, Bazzite will always have the speed advantage
         | because it can hack together a solution via userspace
         | applications.
        
       | justsomehnguy wrote:
       | >> up to 32% faster
       | 
       | > Average FPS gain (Linux vs Windows)
       | 
       | > +6.6 FPS (+13.47%)
        
         | mulmen wrote:
         | The claim is "up to" which appears to be true of Kingdom Come:
         | Deliverance 2.
        
         | dangus wrote:
         | Yes, that's how averages work.
         | 
         | "Up to" is the maximum number.
         | 
         | "Average" is the sum of all the data points divided by the
         | quantity of data points.
        
         | debugnik wrote:
         | Relative FPS gain is a meaningless metric anyway. Going from 30
         | to 36 FPS is -5.5 ms/frame, going from 60 to 66 FPS is -1.5
         | ms/frame.
         | 
         | Taking the average of that is even more meaningless. If they
         | insist in comparing FPS instead of frame times, they should
         | have simply compared the two harmonic means.
        
         | dijit wrote:
         | Oh no? only 13.47% on average for a single title?
         | 
         | Thats only 4 generations of improvement for intel CPUs. :(
        
       | guidedlight wrote:
       | I wonder if this is why Xbox Series X never achieved a noticeable
       | performance advantage over PlayStation 5, despite having more
       | capable hardware.
        
         | teamonkey wrote:
         | The Xbox runs on a custom OS derived from Windows Core. Not the
         | same as a consumer version of Windows.
         | 
         | [Edit] The answer you're probably looking for is I/O. The PS5
         | is much faster than the Series X in terms of getting stuff off
         | disk and actually using it. That more than compensates for the
         | small speed advantage the Series X has.
        
           | whalesalad wrote:
           | > derived from Windows Core
           | 
           | if you polish a turd, it's still a turd.
        
             | Rohansi wrote:
             | The kernel is fine, it's all that crap they keep shoving
             | into userspace that's the issue.
        
             | nick__m wrote:
             | I consider that the core of Windows (the NT kernel and
             | win32 api) is actually a very polished gem but it is
             | encased in layers of upon layers of barely polished turds (
             | winui, the win11 shell, the over agressive telemetry,
             | forced ms635 integration, etc..)
        
               | buildbot wrote:
               | Makes sense, given that allegedly Windows NT is very much
               | next gen OpenVMS... https://www.itprotoday.com/server-
               | virtualization/windows-nt-...
        
               | AHTERIX5000 wrote:
               | The kernel might be a polished gem but win32 API?
               | 
               | Practical is a term I'd use as win32 has managed to
               | survive to this day but that came with a boatload of
               | hacks and problems. It's ugly.
        
         | throwaway48476 wrote:
         | No it's just slowed down by windows bloat. Weaker and mobile
         | devices suffer the most due to aggressive power saving.
        
         | ToucanLoucan wrote:
         | I was so excited for the Series X and it's just another crap-
         | tier wannabe gaming PC, with none of the flexibility. It makes
         | me so sad how miserable the XBox has become. I fucking LOVED
         | the 360 back in the day, I used to run home from school to get
         | on Halo 3 and play with friends.
         | 
         | And granted, those same friends and I still play Halo Infinite,
         | but we're all on PCs. Nobody bothers with the goddamn XBox.
        
           | Gigachad wrote:
           | The Xbox died the moment they announced it would require a
           | constant connection to the Kinect, and internet in order to
           | function. Even after backtracking from that, it never
           | recovered. There's also just a lack of reason for it to exist
           | anymore. The PlayStation fills the need for a high power
           | console, Nintendo offers something portable and gimmicky,
           | what would Xbox even offer here?
           | 
           | These days most consoles run fairly standard hardware and
           | games are programmed to be generic and published on every
           | console.
        
         | vondur wrote:
         | I also heard that the PlayStation 5 graphics API's are more
         | optimized to the hardware than DirectX is. Not sure if that's
         | true though.
        
           | someNameIG wrote:
           | I've heard that too. And also Xbox had 2 different DirectX
           | APIs, one more customised to the console, and one that's the
           | standard Windows DirectX which is not as performant. From
           | what I've heard most devs used the latter as it made porting
           | the PC version of the game easier, and sales on Xbox would be
           | tiny compared to PlayStation (1/3rd the install base, sales
           | even less than that due to Xbox users not buying games and
           | just using gamepass) there was less incentive to optimise.
        
         | kjkjadksj wrote:
         | This was always the case. Ps3 was supposedly more powerful but
         | devs didn't care to make use of it and just port and move on to
         | the next project. Only nintendo hardware seemed to get special
         | treatment with game design probably because it was like a
         | generation behind in power.
        
       | mulmen wrote:
       | This has been my experience. Linux+Steam+Proton delivers a more
       | stable and performant Windows API than Windows. And that was on
       | Windows 10 two years ago. I can only imagine things have gotten
       | worse with Windows 11.
        
         | buyucu wrote:
         | I play a lot of older games from 90s and 2000s. They certainly
         | work better on Linux+Wine+DXVK than on Windows.
        
           | CaptainOfCoit wrote:
           | Not to mention for the different games that need different
           | environments/configurations/libraries it's much easier to
           | manage a bunch of profiles than a bunch of windows
           | installations/VMs.
        
           | int_19h wrote:
           | It can get funny sometimes. There a game from 1999 that I had
           | troubles running in Wine on Linux all the way back in 2005,
           | and wrote a patch for it:
           | 
           | https://aow.heavengames.com/cgi-
           | bin/forums/display.cgi?actio...
           | 
           | And then the same error message started showing up on Win10.
           | Thankfully the same patch still works...
        
       | buyucu wrote:
       | pretty much everything runs faster on Linux than on Windows.
        
         | YuukiRey wrote:
         | I didn't do any tests myself but based on what I read you still
         | pay a hefty performance penalty when using e.g., a 5090 on
         | Linux.
        
           | shmerl wrote:
           | That's expected. Always use AMD for Linux gaming.
           | 
           | There is some WIP to address it for Nvidia, but it requires
           | new Vulkan features.
           | 
           | See: https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/10/contributions/40
           | 2/at...
        
         | drnick1 wrote:
         | I use Arch pretty much exclusively these days on my desktop,
         | but this isn't quite true. Most of the time, Proton has a small
         | performance impact (around 5% lower FPS), but some games tend
         | to suffer more. For example Helldivers 2 runs around 10fps
         | lower, which is pretty significant since I only got around
         | 60-70 FPS on Windows at 4K (using a 3090).
         | 
         | Still, Proton is an amazing tool and these days it just works
         | so well. The only games that don't work are those that are
         | intentionally broken by invasive kernel-level anticheats. I
         | won't be buying Battlefield 6, too bad for EA, there are now
         | thousands of other games to play on Linux.
        
           | grosswait wrote:
           | You're comparing a game running on a compatibility layer,
           | running on Linux to a game running directly on Windows. Not
           | quite what the parent comment was stating.
        
             | drnick1 wrote:
             | There are few native Linux games, so performance on Proton
             | is the essential benchmark. Besides, even when Linux native
             | versions are available, the Windows version on Proton often
             | offers a better experience (fewer obvious bugs).
        
               | bryanlarsen wrote:
               | I think grosswait is talking about the dx12 -> Vulkan
               | translation layer. Running Windows games on Proton that
               | use Vulkan get more comparable performance than Windows
               | games that use dx12.
        
           | krs_ wrote:
           | The general performance loss with the DX12 -> Vulkan
           | translation on Linux especially with Nvidia hardware recently
           | had the cause identified and will hopefully get solved in the
           | near future. It has to do with descriptors and how Nvidia
           | handles it is the general gist of it. A new Vulkan extension
           | will be developed that more closely resembles how DX12 does
           | things as I understand it, and then Nvidia and others can use
           | that to hopefully solve this once and for all.
           | 
           | Here[1] is the full presentation and the slides[2] from it.
           | 
           | [1] https://video.tuwien.ac.at/events/xdc/v/OlwauRVEIGa
           | 
           | [2] https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/10/contributions/402
           | /at...
        
             | drnick1 wrote:
             | Does this mean the performance gap of Proton for games
             | using DX12 will close? What are the concrete implications
             | of this?
        
       | shmerl wrote:
       | Nice! Linux gaming came a long way.
        
         | DigitallyFidget wrote:
         | It really has. I had always tried to use Linux in the past, but
         | gaming was always a fight, and the OS just never felt like it
         | behaved reliable for daily usage for me, was always some little
         | annoyance or bug or issue I'd run into and inevitably switch
         | back to Windows for the sake of things just working without
         | having to spend hours and days and weeks trying to fix issues.
         | That was 10+ years ago. I finally decided to give it a go
         | again, using an Arch based OS. I figured it's been a while, try
         | something other than debian or SLES that I've been used to.
         | Honestly, I kinda don't notice much difference in overall day
         | to day use between gaming and day to day use on Linux versus
         | previously being on Windows just a month ago. Everything kinda
         | just works. The one thing I do notice is I use significantly
         | less RAM, I seldom exceed 32gb as where I was regularly 40gb+
         | on Windows, and everything runs much better while I do the same
         | day to day stuff as I always have. It's not a huge performance
         | difference, but if I'm paying attention, yeah, I do notice my
         | games tend to run better, and everything within the OS is far
         | more responsive. As for all the linux a-holes out there, please
         | STFU, I don't wanna hear "winblows sux" or "this distro is
         | better", it's why I didn't specify what specific distro I use.
         | That toxic fanboyism is what keeps people away from seeing it
         | as a viable usable OS.
         | 
         | My rambling is really just to say: Yeah, linux has come a long
         | way, especially for gaming and day to day use. The work Valve
         | and others have done to make stuff just run and work is
         | astonishing.
        
         | int_19h wrote:
         | We're at the point where the only real holdback for more
         | mainstream games on desktop Linux is the various kernel-level
         | anticheat mechanisms.
        
           | shmerl wrote:
           | I don't expect that atrocious garbage to ever get a solution
           | on Linux. Normal games should focus on server side anti-
           | cheats or anything that doesn't need to put stuff in the
           | kernel.
        
       | leetharris wrote:
       | I have the Xbox Ally, Steam Deck, and original Ally.
       | 
       | The original Ally software launch was a disaster. Unbelievable
       | amount of bugs and overall terrible user experience. After 6+
       | months of updates it was decent.
       | 
       | I figured, hey, maybe they figured it out in advance this time?
       | So I pre-ordered an Xbox Ally.
       | 
       | It is a complete disaster in terms of software. It took 90
       | minutes to setup and download initial updates on a Google Fiber
       | connection. Things break constantly.
       | 
       | The other day, I got a new error, "Something went wrong and your
       | PIN isn't available." When I try to click anything, it just goes
       | black. After 6 or 7 restarts, it randomly glitches out and takes
       | me right to desktop without any PIN.
       | 
       | It is just constant bullshit like this. The entire experience
       | breaks over, and over, and over. I hate it so much. Back to Steam
       | Deck.
        
         | pjmlp wrote:
         | Unfortunately that is what happens when they keep laying off
         | people, and the new interns have hardly done any Windows
         | development.
         | 
         | See the mess on Windows development experience since Project
         | Reunion reboot, or how WinRT transition was completely
         | mismanaged.
         | 
         | But hey Satya got his bonus.
        
         | rocmcd wrote:
         | I don't mean to be rude, but why would you give them even more
         | money after screwing it up so bad the first time? You're just
         | rewarding bad behavior at this point.
        
           | rjh29 wrote:
           | OP explained that. The original was stable after 6 months of
           | patches. The Xbox Ally should in theory have that stability
           | baked in. Everyone deserves a second chance. Not so much a
           | third.
        
       | klipklop wrote:
       | I know this is extreme, but people buying these Xbox handhelds
       | over a Steam Deck are directly harming the future of gaming on
       | PC. It's time that the PC gaming ecosystem breaks free from its
       | dependency on Windows. Proton and SteamOS, combined with the
       | unpopular mess that is Windows 11 is the perfect opportunity to
       | do so.
       | 
       | The long-term end goal for Microsoft is to lock down Windows and
       | force signed code. Once users are locked in, expect service fees
       | to sharply rise just to use Windows. People should not fall for
       | it. Leave Windows for crusty corporations that love their office
       | 365 employee spy platform.
        
         | xzjis wrote:
         | I completely agree. I pre-ordered the Steam Deck without
         | knowing if I would actually use it, telling myself that at
         | least I was supporting gaming on SteamOS by providing financial
         | support. I boycott all Windows-based alternatives, even if they
         | are better, because I refuse to use a product sold with
         | Windows.
        
         | cortesoft wrote:
         | I love my Steam Deck, but it is really frustrating how many of
         | the games i regularly play can't be played on it - Madden, EA
         | FC, PUBG, all won't run even though the hardware is plenty to
         | play them. The limitations of anti cheat on Linux might be
         | insurmountable
        
           | Gigachad wrote:
           | Competitive online gaming is the least strong part of the
           | steam deck. But on the flip side it's way better for local
           | multi player. You can pack it in your bag with some
           | controllers and plug it in to a friends TV easily.
        
             | kjkjadksj wrote:
             | Very few games bother with local multiplayer anymore
        
               | eru wrote:
               | The relative number of games that do this is small, but
               | the absolute number is growing all the time.
        
           | jay_kyburz wrote:
           | I love the idea of my Steam Deck, but most steam games just
           | aren't make for tiny 720 screens. I'm an old man now, I can't
           | read tiny fonts.
           | 
           | Also, the face buttons are just to far to the right. My thumb
           | will begin aching after 15 mins or so. Other controllers are
           | far more comfortable.
           | 
           | To be honest. I like my Playdate more than my Steam Deck.
        
             | nosrepa wrote:
             | Always good to see the playdate mentioned favorably. Excuse
             | me while I try to get higher on the leaderboards for M03k.
        
             | Agingcoder wrote:
             | Same here - I did consider buying a steam deck, then after
             | experimenting with GeForce now on a small screen realized
             | that pc game designers assumed larger screens. This is ok,
             | but this makes many games unplayable on a small screen
             | unless you have some kind of cyber vision. So no steam
             | deck, even though every now and then I want to buy one.
        
             | cortesoft wrote:
             | I use Xreal One Pro's when I play. It is like playing with
             | a giant screen.
        
             | eru wrote:
             | Thanks to the Steam Deck efforts, gaming on Linux in
             | general has improved massively in the last few years.
             | 
             | Most games 'Just Work' these days on my Linux desktop.
        
           | ZenoArrow wrote:
           | > The limitations of anti cheat on Linux might be
           | insurmountable
           | 
           | Why is it insurmountable? It's not like it's impossible for
           | the companies that produce anti-cheat solutions to get them
           | running on Linux.
        
             | colechristensen wrote:
             | The tools for owning your Linux OS are strong enough that
             | anti-cheat is pointless because they're just broken all the
             | time and nobody wants a linux box they can't control at
             | all.
        
               | brokencode wrote:
               | I think most people who buy Steam Decks don't care
               | whatsoever about Linux and would be perfectly fine with
               | not having control over it as long as all their games
               | worked.
        
             | cortesoft wrote:
             | The anti-cheats that the competitive games use rely on
             | being able to trust that the checks they add to the kernel
             | can't be overridden. It relies on Windows not being able to
             | be modified to lie about that.
             | 
             | Linux can lie about anything.
        
               | eru wrote:
               | Is that a difference in degree or in kind?
               | 
               | It's possible to change windows, just a lot harder.
               | Unless you are talking about secure boot, but that's
               | available to Linux just as much as to Windows.
               | 
               | > Linux can lie about anything.
               | 
               | Linux should lie about being Windows then.
        
           | klipklop wrote:
           | I just refuse to buy games that rely on kernel-level anti-
           | cheat to work.
        
             | simlevesque wrote:
             | Playing any PvP games without them isn't fun anymore.
        
               | eru wrote:
               | I suspect playing any PvP game with random members of the
               | public?
               | 
               | Playing Streetfighter 2 with people you know should still
               | be fun?
        
             | dijit wrote:
             | I have been working in the industry now for 11 years, and
             | this defeatism surrounding anticheat is frustrating.
             | Especially when Epics anticheat which _used_ to be free to
             | use, supports linux.
        
               | Marsymars wrote:
               | Is it defeatism? I don't game on Linux and generally like
               | Windows, but from a principle and security perspective
               | I'd preferably check a box on Windows to disallow any
               | kernel-level anticheat from installing, and avoid any
               | such games.
        
             | cortesoft wrote:
             | I have been playing Madden and FIFA/FC for 30 years now. I
             | love them. I love being able to play competitively against
             | other people without having cheaters in every game.
             | 
             | Those two desires (to play Madden and FIFA/FC and play
             | online without cheaters) requires that I not simply refuse
             | to buy those games.
        
               | eru wrote:
               | Sure, but on the margin you can still change your
               | behaviour.
               | 
               | Ie for games that previously you were on the fence about,
               | a look at whether they play or do not play well on the
               | Steam Deck or Linux in general can push you over the
               | fence (on way or another).
        
         | Uvix wrote:
         | Steam is doing the same thing as Microsoft, between DRM-locking
         | everything so you don't own it, and gatekeeping what titles are
         | actually allowed in their store. They're both locking you into
         | their vision of the future.
        
           | gjsman-1000 wrote:
           | If Gabe Newell gets hit by a bus, what happens when his
           | estate sells majority control to pay the inheritance and
           | estate taxes?
           | 
           | With federal taxes of 40% over $15 million, there's no way
           | his estate maintains majority control, no matter Gabe's good
           | intentions. After that, we can look forward to Microsoft
           | Steam. Or, if the FTC is annoyed, Amazon Steam.
        
             | terribleperson wrote:
             | You're assuming that Gabe Newell doesn't have massive non-
             | steam assets that can be used to pay the estate tax.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | A. What assets matter at this scale?
               | 
               | B. They are also taxed at 40%
               | 
               | C. And the estate may just want to sell more Steam shares
               | to keep whatever they are intact
               | 
               | D. Even if by some miracle Gabe Newell still owns the
               | required ~85% of Steam to barely squeak by on federal
               | estate taxes ($16B presumed valuation = ~$5.5 billion tax
               | bill if he owned 85%, leaving him with ~51% after
               | payment), who is taking the reins?
               | 
               | - edits - additional points -
               | 
               | E. I forgot Gabe Newell lives in Seattle. _If_ Washington
               | is his actual residence, then Washington has an
               | additional 35% tax rate on high-value estates. Which
               | makes it completely impossible even with 100% ownership.
               | 
               | F. Why would his estate even bother trying to salvage
               | Gabe's vision at this point, when they're left with an
               | illiquid minority stake? A very possible scenario is to
               | sell all shares they possess, in one transaction. The
               | possibility of majority control could inflate the share
               | price dramatically over a piecemeal sale.
               | 
               | G. In which case, within 9 months of Gabe's death (IRS
               | deadline), there is a high likelihood there will be an
               | estate auction of all shares to any willing purchaser
               | (highest value per share extracted + tax bill paid). And
               | that purchaser will then have immediate intent to cash
               | in.
               | 
               | H. Betting on Steam then, promoting them as better than
               | other companies, is completely dependent on Gabe's
               | actuarial tables. Not to be harsh but just honest,
               | considering Gabe's decades of obesity before getting to a
               | healthier place now, they're probably worse than average,
               | as long-term obesity has persistent irrevocable effects.
               | (This sounds harsh, but actuarial analysis is directly
               | used in insurance and estate planning; you can be assured
               | every major company's CEO has been assessed.)
        
               | terribleperson wrote:
               | Just speaking from things we can see, he owns yachts, a
               | yacht building company, and a racing team. He also quite
               | likely has a large investment portfolio like every other
               | billionaire on the planet.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | Let's say all those things added up to even $2B, as a
               | hypothetical.
               | 
               | That means there's a $800M tax bill to keep those assets.
               | If the estate has already lost majority control of Steam
               | regardless; there's no real reason to not hand over even
               | more of Steam, to keep hold of those other assets.
        
               | nosrepa wrote:
               | A. Well, he does own a fleet of yachts.
        
             | kjkjadksj wrote:
             | Don't rich people just gift their money and assets to a
             | relative or trust to avoid those inheritance taxes?
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | The Federal Gift tax is the same as the inheritance tax -
               | 40% - after the thresholds are maxed out.
               | 
               | Trusts also pay the gift tax at the time of the transfer.
               | Trusts grant control, not much in tax exemptions at this
               | scale.
        
             | eru wrote:
             | Obviously, Gabe Newell should move to Singapore or another
             | location without inheritance and estate taxes.
        
           | Telaneo wrote:
           | DRM is optional on Steam. The dev can opt to not include it,
           | and the default Steam DRM is trivially bypassed anyway.
           | 
           | Valve barely does any gatekeeping that isn't caused by
           | outside pressure, i.e. Visa and Mastercard in the latest
           | instance, which they're atleast trying to fight back against,
           | from what I can tell.
        
             | eru wrote:
             | Valve does some important gatekeeping that has a real
             | impact:
             | 
             | There's (almost?) no ads and microtransactions in Steam
             | games. If you look at mobile games or browser games, you
             | can see that developers would put them in, if they could.
        
         | heavyset_go wrote:
         | > _The long-term end goal for Microsoft is to lock down Windows
         | and force signed code_
         | 
         | Defender already forces binaries to be signed by developers
         | that spent money on certs from Microsoft-certified CAs.
         | 
         | Pull those certs, or don't use them at all, and 99.999% of
         | users will not figure out how to run what they want, because
         | the OS will trick them into thinking they're about to get owned
         | by Russian hackers for just thinking about running something
         | that wasn't blessed by Microsoft.
        
         | lawlessone wrote:
         | If they switch to steamos doesn't that ameliorate the harm?
        
       | DiabloD3 wrote:
       | Of course, why buy this disaster when this exists:
       | https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/handheld-gaming/amd...
        
         | yowmamasita wrote:
         | I dont know... price, maybe?
        
           | op00to wrote:
           | also the fact that it doesn't have an internal battery
        
         | zamadatix wrote:
         | One disaster for another - why spend thousands on a giant
         | "portable" with a 1-2 hour gaming time before you have to power
         | it off to swap the bulky external battery.
        
         | steele wrote:
         | GPD buyers are assuming the risks involved with a high
         | consideration item without brick & mortar returns & support,
         | one might as well wait to see what onexfly comes up with for
         | amd 395. I'm a happy user of several GPD releases, but
         | firmware/driver/software distribution via Google Drive, and
         | having to ship individual replacement components from Hong Kong
         | is reason enough to wait.
        
       | zozbot234 wrote:
       | On the other hand, Linux still lacks a gamepad-focused UX out of
       | the box, which is the real selling proposition of this device.
       | These handheld PC's are not inherently "gaming" machines, they
       | could have all sorts of interesting enterprise-focused uses out
       | in the field if we managed to find a nice way of centering the
       | whole UX interaction on those weird chorded buttons and analog
       | controls.
        
         | yowmamasita wrote:
         | What do you mean exactly on this comment? Do you mean a Linux
         | distro like Bazzite or SteamOS which are both using gamepads as
         | its main control?
        
         | Gigachad wrote:
         | This is not true of SteamOS and Bazzite. The entire OS is
         | controller supported. I have my desktop running Bazzite plugged
         | in to the TV with no kb/m. Can do everything from updating the
         | system, changing the screen resolution, formatting sd cards,
         | etc with just a controller.
        
           | devilsdata wrote:
           | As for the enterprise part of OP's comment, Bazzite is a
           | community-contributed OCI container (similar to a Docker
           | container) running on top of a Fedora bootc spin with GNOME
           | or KDE. It is trivial for a company to add their own RUN
           | instructions to the OCI Containerfile.
           | 
           | Here's a working one that I prepared earlier that installs
           | 1Password on Bazzite GNOME and Bluefin:
           | 
           | https://github.com/lkdm/Phoenix
        
           | Uvix wrote:
           | How do you install non-Steam games (e.g. from GOG)? Last I
           | tried that still required dropping to desktop mode and using
           | mouse/keyboard.
        
             | Gigachad wrote:
             | I hardly ever do that, but the one time I did (for
             | Minecraft) I did just drop down to desktop mode and used
             | the trackpad and touch screen. This wasn't really to do
             | with Linux though. Minecraft does not provide any way to
             | install and log in with controller support.
             | 
             | After I installed it one time, I added it to Steam and
             | could launch and update it with a controller. In theory GOG
             | could integrate with Bazzite to offer a controller friendly
             | store and UI. But considering they haven't even bothered
             | with a desktop Linux client, I'm not holding my breath.
        
           | zozbot234 wrote:
           | Bazzite does include the Steam frontend but that's a
           | proprietary system, it's not something that the Linux/FLOSS
           | community came up with. The KDE folks are starting to look
           | into remote-control focused "10-foot" media center interfaces
           | (see the Plasma Bigscreen project) that are also somewhat
           | applicable to gamepad control (though these handheld devices
           | generally come with touchscreens too, and this creates
           | additional affordances) but that's a bit of a too little and
           | too late situation. We need far more than that to make this
           | novel class of devices usable for genuine production uses.
        
             | __aru wrote:
             | While it's still a work in progress, you should check out
             | OpenGamepadUI. It's aiming to replace the Steam Client for
             | gamepad-focused distros.
        
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