Well, the day got away from me and I didn't personally get any more quality time with the Deck. But I did confirm that the trackpads don't "click" when the device is off, so it's definitely some kind of simulated haptic feedback rather than a mechanical switch under them. 🤓 But when it is turned on and it clicks, it's so hard for me to believe it's not a real button!


Something worth mentioning is that the person who this 64 GB model is ultimately intended for tried out the Deck today. So now there are multiple accounts on the device. Support for multiple user accounts was a big concern of mine early on, as I haven't found there to be a lot of information about it online. Most of the YouTube videos I've seen that focus on the Deck seem to be made by people who don't have to share it with anybody else. Switching accounts isn't quite as seamless or fast as it is on, say, the Nintendo Switch or the Wii U before it. It feels slightly buried in the UI but it's not too bad. I think Gaming Mode is basically just a new Steam Big Picture Mode interface, and when you change accounts it appears to completely restart the Steam client, if not the entire device. It takes about 25-30 seconds to completely change accounts once they're on there.

It does not make a new Linux user account, so all the Desktop Mode stuff appears to be shared. Same Downloads folder, same Documents folder, same Desktop icons/files, etc. If your browser is set up to restore tabs when it launches, it will restore the tab(s) that the last person had opened. That kind of data sharing is not ideal, IMO. I don't necessarily want someone else to be able to access and edit/overwrite my files, whether intentionally or not. That said, there are probably workarounds to most of the issues. For example, internet browser profiles are a thing that exist, so each person could probably just have their own icon on the desktop that launches their browser profile.

Another unfortunate thing about multiple accounts is that games I've installed on the Deck show up on the other person's "Recent Games" list in Gaming Mode and vice versa. But that may just be a bug that will be fixed in the future. Or maybe it's an intended feature since we have authorized the Family Sharing feature, meaning that either of us could play the games owned by the other person, so maybe it's just kind of highlighting those games as a way to say "Hey! This game is ready to play right now if you wanted to." Either way, that's kind of a one-time problem since actually launching the games on one account doesn't bring the game to the front of the Recent Games list on the other account, so it's not that big of a deal.


One other thing I figured I'd mention is the approach I've used to transfer files from my Windows PC to the Deck.

I decided to give Warpinator a try. If you're not aware, Warpinator is a (LAN-only?) file transferring utility created by the folks at Linux Mint. I installed the Warpinator flatpack on the Deck from the Discover app. And on Windows I used an unofficial Warpinator for Windows. This was my first time using Warpinator. I like it! It's nice and simple. Just run it on both computers on the same network and they show up and you select which file(s)/folder(s) you want to transfer and then accept the transfer on the other machine and it does its thing.

Maybe someone with more experience and knowledge than me would find it easier or better to set up a SAMBA share or something similar, but I know next to nothing about that and from what little I do know it sounds complex to me. In short, I liked Warpinator and will likely use it again in the future.


And finally: I remembered that Aperture Desk Job is a free game specifically designed to show off the Steam Deck's features. So I've gotten that installed. I'll probably try that out tomorrow as the first thing I do on the Deck.

In the not sure why you'd do it category - https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/w0dsc2/how_to_install_steam_deck_os_on_any_laptop_desktop/

Maybe if you have a separate laptop around and just want to experiment with developing games, this might be for you, mouser

I just tried out Aperture Desk Job and things didn't go well.

In the opening moments of the game it shows you all the controls and requires you to push them all before it really starts. You can also see visually on screen that it is recognizing input. It even has little lights in-game that light up when the capacitive sensors recognize that you're resting your thumbs on the joysticks or the trackpads. Pretty cool so far.

But just a few minutes into it a robot asks you to take a photo (screenshot) of him. Doing so requires a special key combination (Steam + R1) to activate. That's when things went wrong for me. After I did that, none of the inputs worked in the game anymore. I was able to get some of them working again by toggling the Steam button menu on and off again, but about 1/2 to 2/3 of the inputs still were not working for me. Meanwhile the robot was telling me that every control was hooked up to something and should be doing something. I think the game expected me to be pushing every button because the game got stuck there. The robot kept telling me to go wild pressing all the buttons, looping through a few different lines of dialog every few seconds. But I've pushed every button and the game will not progress further. At that point the battery was getting low (I didn't start at a full charge) so I decided to just shut it off and let it charge for a while.

In my opinion, Aperture Desk Job should not be listed as a Deck Verified title.

I've been using Wormhole GUI for my needs- https://github.com/agentOfChaos/WormholeGui
I've also been using Syncthing - https://syncthing.net/

It looks like there's a flatpack on Discover called RiftShare which uses the magic wormhole protocol. Wormhole GUI looks similar to, but more advanced/complex than Warpinator, so I think I'll just stick with Warpinator.

Syncthing, on the other hand, is something I think I've taken a look at in the past, many years ago, when trying to sync files to/from an Android device. But looking at it again makes me think it might be very useful in general and a tool I'll try to keep in mind. Thanks for getting me to look into that again.

Okay, here's something a little new. I'm typing this up from the Deck, using a crappy bluetooth keyboard that often skips presses and occasionally double (or more) presses keys.

I made a stupid little benchmark "game" in Godot. It just performs a "binary search" of the optimal number of 2D physics objects that "hop" around while maintaining approximately 60 FPS.

It does this by either spawning a certain number of objects (which starts at 500) every 5 seconds or halving that number and despawning that new number of objects until the framerate recovers, it keeps adjusting the number of objects to spawn/despawn until eventually equilibrium is reached. This is by no means an original idea, nor is it an especially well executed one. But hey, it was made 100% on the Deck.



You can find downloads for Linux and Windows on my Keybase.

You can also try the web version here:

https://gotm.io/deozaan/deck-benchmark

Here are some numbers at which my various devices/modes reach equilibrium:

• Deck in Gaming Mode (1280x800): about 1410 hoppers
• Deck in Desktop Mode (1280x800): about 1234 hoppers.
• Deck on Web: about 600 hoppers

• My 11 year old Windows PC standalone (2560x1440): about 1500 hoppers
• My 11 year old Windows PC on Web Version: about 670 hoppers.

EDIT: Took a screenshot and added a few more details from Windows. Old habits die hard.

Awaiting the 512 GB email (which I'm not really expecting to receive today).

Okay, time to write up a bit more about my experience so far. (Once again, this post is being written from the Deck in Desktop Mode, with a crappy Bluetooth keyboard which often misses or repeats keystrokes. In other words, I may come back later to edit this post and make corrections or fill out more details from a better keyboard.)

I tried out another Deck Verified game, called Crash Drive 3. There wasn't really any question in my mind as to whether or not it would run decently since it's not a very demanding game. But it's noteworthy because I experienced a similar issue as Aperture Desk Job. Only this time the controls were broken from the very start. I used the Steam button to activate an OS menu and force-closed the game and restarted it (the game) at which point it worked perfectly. So it seems I should give Aperture Desk Job another go.

I've also found that the Deck becomes very sluggish and at times almost unresponsive when downloading/installing a game. If I try to queue up multiple games to download, it doesn't always work correctly. I don't know if that's due to the slowness of the eMMC in the 64 GB model, or maybe the microSD card I'm using isn't modern/fast enough, or if that's just how all Decks operate. I guess I'll find out soon enough when I get the 512 GB model.

Another thing I've heard from multiple sources is not to be afraid to try out games that aren't listed as Playable or Verified. I've heard that ProtonDB is a good source of info on how games run via Proton and by extension, on the Deck. I decided to try my luck getting Burnout Paradise Remastered, which is officially listed as Unsupported, to run, and ProtonDB seemed to indicate that after a bit of tinkering it was possible to get running. But I followed all the instructions from others who claim to have gotten it to work and it just doesn't work for me. Origin was an absolute pain to get running and configured but even after I finally got it running and configured as per instructions the game still just got stuck on a black screen almost immediately on startup.

Similarly, I checked ProtonDB for LEGO Lord of the Rings, which is also officially listed as Unsupported, and there were a couple of reports that the gme runs fine using a specific version of Proton-GE. So I installed it and configured it to use that specific version of Proton-GE and it just crashes immediately on startup. I tried various other versions of Proton and Proton-GE and nothing worked.

After two of two attempts getting an Unsupported game working by following info from ProtonDB failed to produce desirable results, I'm not really sure how useful ProtonDB is for the Deck after all. Maybe the advice to try out games was meant for the ones that are listed as "Unknown/Untested" rather than the "Unsupported" games.

And while I'm on a roll posting about negative stuff, now is as good a time as any to nitpick about the carrying case. It "feels" like it's upside down to me. It's designed so that when you are carrying it by the handle the logo is oriented properly. But when you unzip it while the logo is oriented properly, then it opens up to reveal an upside down Deck. If you orient the case so that it opens to an upside-up Deck, then the logo is upside down. I suppose it's like laptops that have a prominent branding logo on the backside of the screen. It appears upside down to the person using it so that when they open it up it's upside up to onlookers. But the case doesn't stay propped open like a laptop does. It's either closed or laying flat opened. I've also read others complain that the Deck sits in the case the wrong way as well, since the current orientation places the USB-C port of the Deck in the hinge rather than by the zipper, meaning you can't leave the Deck in the case with the zipper pulled back just far enough to sneak a charging cable in there. And one final preemptive nitpick about the case: The 512 GB model comes with a slightly different case, with a colored logo on the outside and I believe a light gray or tan coloring to the material inside. I personally prefer the black coloring of the case that came with the 64 GB model, but I also prefer the colored logo on the case that comes with the 512 GB model. It's all just aesthetics, so no big deal. Hence why I am calling these nitpicks.

In other, less negative news:

I played a bit of Hellpoint. But not for long. Everything appeared to be working perfectly. I just realized/remembered after I started playing it that I would really like to play it multiplayer with a friend who was not available to play at that time and that I didn't really want to get into it just solo at the time I was testing it out. But now that I have the Deck, it will be much easier to go have a "LAN" party with Hellpoint (or other games) instead of either being restricted to home with my desktop PC or having to unplug and haul it somewhere. So I'm still looking forward to more Hellpoint on the Deck.

I also went through my library, looking only at "Deck Verified" games, and installed a few smaller or somewhat esoteric or indie titles that I've never played so I can finally give them a shot. But a lot of them are multiplayer games that I'd want to play with others, and a handheld device with a 7" screen isn't really an ideal way to play shared/split-screen multiplayer games. So I'm really started to itch for a dock or hub that will allow me to connect the Deck to a larger screen. Not only that, but as I've mentioned, I'm considering the feasibility of using the Deck as a kind of Desktop PC replacement, so I'm trying to spend more time in Desktop Mode to get used to the kind of workflow that would entail. Hence my typing this post up from the Deck. But again, without a dock or hub, it's not an ideal experience, especially without a mouse or reliable (and full size!) keyboard.

I think I'll probably be getting a hub sooner than I thought even a couple days ago because so many of the things I imagined using the Deck for require connecting it to another display or having a keyboard and mouse combo connected that would be conducive to programming or whatever.

And for those who are curious, it has been a while since I posted about this. Check My Deck now says my library is:

34% Playable+

• Verified: 120 games (13.07%)
• Playable: 188 games (20.48%)
• Unsupported: 93 games (10.13%)
• Unknown: 517 games (56.32%)

If I decide not to go through with my purchase, I assume there is no way for me to give my position in line to someone else?

I came to the conclusion a while ago that giveaways and things are just not fun for me to organize and deal with.. and as for my youtube channel, im just playing boardgames that I enjoy, I don't want to film stuff just to get viewers.  I got in line for the stream desk on the chance that there might be some non-game use for the hardware at some point, or some vr gaming developments.

It just arrived- I have installed a few games, and I didn't see the slowdown that you reported Deo.

I see an ! beside Settings > System, and it says there are software updates, but the beta notes says it's for the beta channel, which I am not going to opt in for. Do I still need to apply the update?

And if a game says unsupported, does that mean it's not tested? Or I shouldn't even try?

I just played the Ascent and it's so much better on the Deck than it is on my desktop that it's not funny.

Woohoo! Good to know you're not seeing slowdown. I set the default install location to my microSD card. So maybe that's too slow. It's a Samsung EVO Select microSD XC I U3, which I thought was supposed to be pretty fast. But I haven't been following the latest advances in microSD technology. I'll try setting it back to internal storage to see if it runs any better during installs.

I haven't tried to install to the SD card yet. The one I got was this one https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07P7M6K35

I've used it with my Surface to act as an extra drive, my XPS and a Samsung tablet, and have noticed no problems so I stick with it.

I have installed a few games, and I didn't see the slowdown that you reported Deo.

I set the default install location back to the eMMC drive and the UI is nice and speedy when downloading/installing games. So perhaps my microSD card just doesn't handle writes fast enough. I was under the impression that as long as the microSD card was at least UHS-I then it would be plenty fast enough. But maybe I conflated the fact that the Deck doesn't support UHS-III speeds with the idea that UHS-I speeds were all the same. I don't really know. As I said, I haven't been following all the latest advancements in microSD technology, so I'm not sure on the potential differences between them.

I typed this up several hours ago but forgot to press submit.

I seem to have borked the Deck.

When I started my experiment installing a few games to the eMMC drive, it only had about 20 GB free. One of the games I installed was 15 GB. The others were around 250-500 MB each. When I was done, I moved the smaller ones to the microSD card but left the big one on the eMMC because I didn't want to wait for that amount of data to transfer, meaning there should have been around 5 GB free. Then I booted into Desktop Mode to configure an emulator.

At some point while in Desktop Mode, a bunch of Steam errors started popping up saying Steam was missing some 32-bit files and it asked me if I was out of disk space. I couldn't figure out how to see the free disk space on the internal storage from the file manager, so I tried rebooting back into Game Mode with the intention of moving the big game onto the microSD card to free up some space. But it never finished booting back into Game Mode. It showed the Steam Deck logo for several seconds, and then the screen went blank but was still powered. I left it for a few minutes and nothing else happened. If I held down the power button for a few seconds it would power off, but powering it back on resulted in the same behavior. I repeated that multiple times with no change.

Finally I attempted to access the Boot Manager by holding down VOL - and pressing the power button. That worked, but just gave me the option of continuing to attempt to boot from the internal storage, which just led to the same behavior of showing the Deck logo for a while and then going to a blank screen. So then I attempted to access the BIOS by holding down VOL + and pressing the power button, and that's when things appeared to go from bad to worse. At that point it stopped powering on at all. The power LED would blink 3 times when I pressed the power button, and that was it.

Eventually I found a post on Reddit about a similar situation where someone had opened up their system and installed a new SSD in it and it would no longer power on from the battery, but would power on when plugged in. So I tried plugging in the Deck and that got me back to the previous behavior of showing the logo for several seconds and then a blank screen. But it still won't finish booting. In that post someone else suggested enabling Battery Storage Mode from the BIOS to try to get it to disable the behavior where it required power before it would turn on. So I attempted that, and that's when things appeared to go from worse to "worser" (not worst because it's not totally bricked yet).

Now the power LED doesn't even blink when I press the power button if it's not plugged in. There's absolutely no response from the device if it's not plugged in. If I turn it on while plugged in, I can sometimes pull out the power cord and it will stay on. Other times it just shuts off immediately. But either way it appears to power down by itself after a few minutes, no matter if it's plugged in or not, with the LED blinking 3 times when it powers down. I found buried further down in the Reddit thread that the person who experienced a similar issue finally resolved it by just leaving it on the BIOS screen until the battery drained completely, and then fully charged it. That was something I had been intending on trying if the battery storage mode thing didn't work out, but the fact that it keeps shutting itself off and needs the power cord attached threw a wrench in those plans. I can't discharge the battery if it won't stay on and I have to keep plugging in the power cord to turn it on.

The last troubleshooting step I'm aware of before RMA is re-flashing SteamOS onto it. But that requires a hub or USB-A -> USB-C adapter, which I don't have. So it looks like I will probably be getting a hub very soon.