Meh. Now I’m a dyed in the wool Linux zealot, but this list is crap.
Everything you need, nothing you don’t
Phoey, even the description for this point talks about how much Valve had to build to make the deck possible.
Better performance, lighter overheads
Windows is a pretty bloated OS
Honestly don’t know enough about Windows to say anything on this one definitively. I still doubt it though…
A hidden desktop experience
You never need to use it if you don’t want to
This has nothing to do with windows vs linux, Valve just did a good job on their ‘not-desktop’ side of things.
Never worry about drivers
Do the windows consoles not come with drivers installed? Also, can you point out where I can download all the Linux drivers from Valve without exacting them from a full OS recovery image? (Actually kinda honestly asking on that last one. Or have they just upstreamed everything already?)
Modify it to your heart’s content
Linux puts tools in your hands
This is a choice that Valve made. They absolutely could have given this thing secure boot that only lets you run official software with no hooks for mods. I was tangentially involved with doing exactly this for the SmartThings Hub V3, it’s not particularly hard.
On first point: It’s understandable if the stuff Valve built out was just small library shims to account for functionality Windows games expect. If it’s still designed for gaming and doesn’t impact the user experience, I don’t see that as having the same negatives as Windows addons.
Second one has rung true with my use of the Deck. There are frame spikes and input stalls on Windows machines that, while rare and hard to account for, I don’t notice on the Deck - often making sense only in relation to some background service that isn’t respecting gaming timing.
Third one makes sense to me. Many people on Windows have hit annoyances where they fat-finger the Windows key, and end up in the wrong window while focusing on a game. Having a complete OS boot where the UI focuses on two things: Picking a game, and playing a game, does cut a lot of complications. On Windows, the game overlays on top of the extensive desktop environment, leading to necessary game options around fullscreen mode.
The drivers point I agree with you on; Linux won’t necessarily be easier, especially when it comes to peripherals.
The last point about modification is still going to be true if Lenovo puts out a Linux handheld; in fact it’s a long-understood benefit of Android smartphones too. I like my iPhone but I’m certainly locked off from things like alternate app stores.
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