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Any desktop-mode tips for a new Steam Deck owner? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de to c/steamdeck@sopuli.xyz

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I recently bought a Steam Deck and I have a lapdock on the way, intending to use the Deck as a dual-purpose gaming handheld and laptop replacement. So on that front, I was wondering what more experienced users could tell me about using it.

I did read through the official FAQ, and a few questions pop up. In no particular order:

Is there a way to boot the Steam Deck directly into desktop mode, without going through the Steam environment first? (Strictly as a time saver)
In practice, how well does sudo steamos-readonly disable and installing things from pacman work out for you? In particular, I want to use PWAs For Firefox and it requires this package in order to work. Do packages actually get wiped with SteamOS updates, as the FAQ warns?
Is it possible to re-enable the read-only filesystem after installing a package, to safeguard it from accidental changes?
Any other tips, tricks or warnings you'd like to share.

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[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks, awesome answers all around!

Regarding another distro, I do use CachyOS on my desktop so that's definitely an option, but for the time being I want to give SteamOS a fair shot before I go and install a different OS on it. There's every chance I'll cave and install CachyOS within a month or two.

Don’t bother messing with the system files if possible. Try to use an AppImage or Flatpak instead, [..]

Yes, definitely; I was going to do that anyway. There are only a few corner-cases, like the PWAs For Firefox that I linked in the OP, where this isn't possible or might require a lot more fiddling than I prefer. But in almost all cases, I can work with Flatpaks, AppImages, or through a web browser.

Thanks for answering, I was honestly not sure I'd get much good info here but you proved me dead wrong :)

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Good luck! Incidentally, if you do end up going to CachyOS, I like webapp-manager for PWAs; should be in the extra arch repos. I've tried a few flatpaks for creating the necessary shortcuts, and I haven't found one that felt quite as nice. Do go try some, though, because maybe there's one that works better for you!

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I forgot to mention. Turns out PWAsForFirefox doesn't work at all with the Flatpak version of Firefox https://github.com/filips123/PWAsForFirefox/issues/142 so the whole question is moot. The project's dev seems to be actively involved in making that possible though. I guess I'll live without nice web-apps on the steam deck for now, it's not a deal breaker.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

Someone said that Distrobox is installed by default, so I'm wondering if you could install Firefox via distrobox and also install PWAsForFirefox to that app in the same container.

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 weeks ago

I use it on Linux Mint, the biggest issue I have with it is external links:

https://github.com/linuxmint/webapp-manager#how-to-open-links-in-my-main-browser

How to open links in my main browser?

For Firefox, all links are always opened within the WebApp, either directly or using a new tab. To open a link in your main browser, right-click anywhere, select Copy link location and paste the link in your main browser.

Really annoying. PWAs For Firefox fixes it, you just gotta change a setting.