Hardware Highlight: Steam Deck
Welcome back to the Nottingham Nerds blog! Today we are covering the recently announced Steam Deck. Stay tuned even if you're not into gaming because this device is a huge step forward for Linux and open source!
The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming device made by Valve (owner of the Steam gaming service). Over the past few years Valve has launched a few different pieces of hardware and they have pushed heavily into the Linux ecosystem by creating software they call Proton/Steam Play. This software is, in short, a graphics compatibility layer that allows the Linux gaming community to play games that were originally built to run on other operating systems without the original game developer having to port their game over to Linux. They have also launched a game (Half Life: Alyx) and Virtual-Reality hardware which have both done very well.
Why then, is this device so important to Linux regardless of its very obvious gaming nature? Within its first few days of being announced, the Steam Deck made massive waves in the gaming and technology communities. It created a ridiculous amount of chatter, attention, and news coverage to not just Valve/Steam - it also created that same coverage for Proton/Steam Play and Linux as a whole. This is a very important thing to consider because there are many people on other operating systems that will not switch to Linux purely because a certain game may not work on the platform, however, with the announcement of Steam Deck, Valve also made a firm standing about their goal to ensure every single game that doesn't work on Proton/Steam Play as of the announcement will work by the time Steam Deck launches in December 2021. This is something that could push a monumental amount of people over the Linux platform which will create more coverage and wider adoption, propelling Linux to the forefront of desktop computing, just as it has become the best in IoT, server, high-availability, cloud, and super computing over the years. Linux is in your smart refrigerator, your cell phone (Android), it runs almost every website on the planet, it is the backbone of the internet and the servers that power it, it runs your TV, your late model car, the mars rover, your networking devices, and it is the thing powering almost the entirety of the cloud-sphere - whether we are talking about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and yes - even Microsoft (the creator of Windows) Azure.
How is a gaming device bringing so much attention to Linux? Because the main operating system that Valve is utilizing is called SteamOS 3.0, and SteamOS 3.0 is built on top of Arch Linux and the KDE Plasma desktop environment. Even better, this gaming device may look like a Nintendo Switch that only runs Steam games and has a similar dock - but it is so much more. If you exit out of Steam you have access to... drum roll please ... the Linux desktop operating system! You can using your "gaming" device as a computer (because that's what it is!), and connect it to the dock that hooks up to any TV or monitor and use it as a full blown computer! Even better, there are touch pads (take that Nintendo) that allow for easy control of your mouse!
This thing boasts a custom AMD APU, NVME M.2 (2230) or EMMC memory, an SD card slot, and a dock with assorted connection types! Pre-orders are open and going fast, go check out the Steam Deck website!