How to Use Your Steam Deck as a Linux PC

Your Steam Deck tin bash much than conscionable play games. Valve efficaciously crammed a laptop into a handheld signifier factor, threw Linux connected it, and near the strategy wide unfastened for anyone to fiddle with.

The upshot of this attack is that you tin usage your Steam Deck similar a regular PC, to browse the web, instal third-party tweaks and tools, and adjacent get immoderate enactment done (if you’re not excessively engaged playing games).

The Steam Deck Is a PC

When you archetypal crook connected your Steam Deck, it boots SteamOS and enters Game Mode. SteamOS is simply a Linux organisation that’s authored and maintained by Valve, based connected different organisation called Arch Linux. While Valve is bringing SteamOS to different devices (like the Steam-ified mentation of Lenovo’s Legion Go S), you can’t conscionable download SteamOS similar you tin Debian, Ubuntu, oregon Arch.

With Linux nether the hood, Game Mode serves arsenic a touch- and controller-friendly mode of interacting with the handheld, but it’s not the lone way. The Steam Deck besides features Desktop Mode, which allows you to usage the handheld similar immoderate different PC moving Linux.

This mode features a due desktop situation with a taskbar, record explorer, and the state to instal conscionable astir immoderate Arch-compatible exertion you like. It besides gives you escaped rein to marque changes to SteamOS truthful that you tin customize the mode your handheld behaves with the usage of third-party tweaks.

To participate Desktop Mode, property and clasp the powerfulness fastener portion successful Game Mode. Select “Switch to Desktop” and hold a fewer seconds. Your Steam Deck volition load for a fewer seconds, and past you’ll spot a wallpaper, taskbar, and immoderate desktop icons.

Using SteamOS successful Desktop Mode

To get around, usage your Steam Deck’s close trackpad oregon close thumbstick to determination the rodent cursor. You tin either use unit to “click” the trackpad oregon usage the close trigger to click the mouse. To entree the right-click discourse menu, usage the near trigger.

If astatine immoderate clip you request to bring up the on-screen keyboard, deed Steam+X. You tin usage touchscreen, touchpad, oregon mouse-based typing to bash things similar participate web addresses, rename files, and hunt your drive. You tin scroll done webpages, menus, and folders utilizing the close trackpad.

At the bottommost of the screen, you’ll announcement a taskbar, which SteamOS refers to arsenic the Task Manager. To the acold near is efficaciously a Start menu, indicated by the SteamOS logo. Clicking connected it volition uncover a ample catalog of preinstalled applications, sorted into categories. Use the right-click paper connected immoderate of these applications to adhd desktop icons, adhd them to your favorites, oregon pin them to the taskbar astatine the bottommost of the screen.

Your pinned items volition look to the close of the SteamOS menu, allowing you to rapidly motorboat applications. Right-click connected them to region them. In the right-hand country of the surface is the strategy tray which shows utile accusation similar the time, complaint state, and offers speedy entree to apps that are open.

To get backmost to Game Mode, usage the “Return to Game Mode” desktop icon oregon click the SteamOS paper to click the arrow adjacent to “Shut Down” and prime “Log Out.”

Essential SteamOS Applications

SteamOS comes with a record manager called Dolphin, which provides speedy entree to useful locations successful the sidebar and allows you to research files and folders. It has a useful “Split” fastener astatine the apical of the surface that places 2 locations side-by-side, cleanable for moving oregon copying files from 1 spot to another. You tin usage the right-click paper successful Dolphin to bash things similar make compressed archives, unfastened the Terminal successful a circumstantial location, oregon acceptable images arsenic your wallpaper.

The Discover exertion is the easiest mode to instal applications connected your Steam Deck. It’s a graphical front-end for a bundle manager that allows you to rapidly instal a immense scope of applications that volition “just work” connected SteamOS. You’ll find browsers similar Firefox, utilities for transferring files, and adjacent full games successful the Discover store.

Regular aged Steam is besides disposable wrong Desktop mode, and it takes the aforesaid signifier that you’re utilized to seeing connected a PC. It tin beryllium a small much reliable for doing things similar finding and transferring screenshots and tin adjacent resoluteness compatibility issues with immoderate games that garbage to load successful Game Mode. You’ll find a useful shortcut to Steam successful the strategy tray.

What you respect arsenic indispensable yet depends connected what you’re utilizing your Steam Deck for. A fewer different apps you mightiness privation to support successful caput include:

• Screenshot inferior Spectacle for screengrabs successful Desktop Mode.
• Terminal instrumentality Konsole for moving console commands.
• System monitoring apps System Monitor and btop++
• Text editors KWrite and Kate.

For much apps that could rapidly go essential, cheque retired our database of non-Steam apps that you should instal connected your Steam Deck. This includes wireless record transportation inferior LocalSend, third-party launcher Lutris, and Game Mode tweak instrumentality Decky.

Peripherals Make Life Easier

While you tin bash beauteous overmuch everything with your Steam Deck utilizing trackpads, thumbsticks, and the on-screen keyboard, you’re going to person an easier clip if you usage immoderate due peripherals. The astir evident of these are a rodent and keyboard.

For champion results, Bluetooth is your friend. Since the Steam Deck has a azygous USB-C port, utilizing Bluetooth peripherals offers an easy, wire-free solution to typing and controlling the cursor.

You tin link a Bluetooth peripheral utilizing the Bluetooth icon wrong the strategy tray portion successful SteamOS desktop mode. Put your rodent and keyboard into pairing mode and past click “Add Bluetooth Device” positive icon successful the Bluetooth model that appears. Find your instrumentality successful the list, click “Next” and wait. You whitethorn request to participate a PIN.

While 2.4GHz dongles are different solution, the immense bulk of them inactive usage USB-A and necessitate the usage of the sole USB port. A wired USB transportation volition besides work, but it has the aforesaid problem. The champion remedy present is to drawback a USB-C hub (also known arsenic a dock) that tin walk powerfulness done to your Steam Deck and supply entree to a greater scope of ports.

With a hub, you tin link a myriad of antithetic devices utilizing the azygous larboard connected apical of your Steam Deck. This allows you to link an outer show via HDMI, hook your handheld up to a wired Ethernet web connection, and adhd paper readers oregon outer NVMe drives (depending connected the hub). It’s a large mode to grow your device’s basal storage, though it does necktie your Steam Deck down somewhat.

We’d urge a dock that’s built specifically for handhelds similar the Steam Deck, since these are designed to clasp your handheld upright successful a mode that’s much conducive to desktop usage. Alternatively, you could ever equine a hub connected the backmost of your instrumentality and usage beauteous overmuch immoderate benignant of basal to clasp your Steam Deck successful place.

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Does Desktop Mode Have Real Utility?

If you privation to bash much than “just” bargain games from Steam and play them connected your Steam Deck, you’ll request to usage Desktop Mode successful bid to bash it. While Game Mode is somewhat restrictive with a absorption connected user-friendliness, Desktop Mode opens the level up to each kinds of things.

For example, you tin instal a full scope of emulators connected your Steam Deck comparatively easy utilizing the EmuDeck installer. This turns your Steam Deck into what is possibly the champion portable emulation instrumentality connected the market.

You tin besides install the Xbox distant play app Greenlight to watercourse games from your console oregon Xbox Cloud Gaming. There’s an equivalent app for streaming gameplay from your PlayStation 5 to you Steam Deck. If you privation the champion imaginable distant play show for playing PC games connected your Steam Deck, you’ll privation to install Moonlight connected your Steam Deck truthful that you tin watercourse with the assistance of Sunshine connected a PC.

On apical of this, your Steam Deck is simply a portable PC. It tin fundamentally bash thing a PC can, including moving full-fat web browsers similar Chrome to usage web apps, watercourse services similar YouTube oregon Netflix, and tally office bundle similar LibreOffice. These activities enactment champion erstwhile paired with an outer show and a acceptable of peripherals, but they’re not a prerequisite (though I wouldn’t privation to benignant astatine magnitude utilizing Valve’s keyboard).

To get a small much complex, you could adjacent usage your Steam Deck to bash things similar run a Jellyfin server to watercourse media. You tin usage some the Steam Deck’s interior show and an outer show astatine the aforesaid clip for much businesslike multitasking. The Deck is almighty capable to tally originative bundle similar Reaper oregon Audacity to grounds instruments oregon podcasts.

It’s a full-blown PC, you conscionable person to support the main limitations successful mind: it runs Linux, it’s battery-powered, there’s a azygous USB-C input, and utilizing a accepted desktop situation without the usage of further peripherals isn’t ideal. On the flipside, it’s astir apt much almighty than your smartphone, and there’s nary request to “jailbreak” thing to get started.

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If you privation a portable PC, you should astir apt bargain a laptop. The Steam Deck isn’t going to triumph immoderate awards for being a productivity-focused workhorse. The show is small, and the signifier origin is limited.

But if you privation thing for playing games and emulating retro titles connected the spell that you tin besides enactment to usage arsenic a “real” PC, the Steam Deck has immoderate superior potential. Even conscionable sitting connected a desk, docked, arsenic a secondary PC that runs Linux; Valve makes it worthy your clip to research what’s possible.