Some random thoughts here...
Steam controller:
From the new upcoming hardware line-up, the controller was (and is) the one I'm most looking forward to. I'm curious on the machine and frame, but I've got me my open consoles. With my game preference, running celeste on a steam deck, an old HP elitebook G6 or a quantum computer running an entire datacenter of RAM isn't gonna do much difference.
100 bucks was more than I expected, but I didn't hesitate. Rather the contrary: I checked the correct time, loaded up steam wallet and ensured I was ready to buy it as soon as it became available.
...except my preparations fell short. I hadn't seen those errors before, so presumed it had something to do with my own settings. The fact that I had to enter my home address and phone number (which I thought was the error) meant I only clicked "checkout" like once for every dozen times others were spamming the button. Result: the thing sold out while I watched (not entirely true: I left after 20 minutes, as I had a karate class).
Getting a waiting ticket around a week later was a much smoother experience, but then again: that was just for a waiting queue. And a good chunk of enthusiasts already had their thing on the way.
...and yesterday evening, I finally got the mail. Had to admit I started worrying that valve had just put up the queue to deter scalpers and that their promise of it coming "soon" was optimistic. But here we are: got the mail, ordered (and refilled address and phone yet again ) and am now awaiting the post package. I might blog later, but thanks to a gazzilion users I know I'll "just" be getting a steam deck without screen. And unless something drastically changes, I'll be just glad I'll have it.
Bazzite on a non-console:
The thing with windows is that you can count on it to slow down over time. Give it a few years, and it's gone from a smooth machine to a slog. Linux proved me that it's just microsoft doing consumerism. The 2012 gaming PC I've turned into my first linux mint in around 2016-2017 gave it a second life, and it stayed steady until the hardware became too outdated in 2024. By that time I've shifted to a laptop for basic tasks and steam deck and tablet for casual gaming. Okay, and a switch and a steam deck on television for consoles. With 2 bazzite projects as backup gaming devices, but that's another topic. Lemme circle back to that laptop...
I don't buy new hardware. As a PC repairman, I'm the person who has to troubleshoot and retire those things. Sometimes due to hardware errors, but quite often for the dreaded "it's too slow" argument. Rebooting's not the problem, and one more than one level, it's not even microsoft's fault. It's office workers who don't get computers but understand power. They complain that their computer is slow, and when pointed out that their "computer" is but a terminal that runs citrix (so all calculations are done server-wise) they just double down, head to my manager who just tells me to just get them a damn new computer. Which I do. And recoup the old one. But some hardware is just too good to just toss out, but not good enough to brush up and give to someone else (usually due to jackasses who feel the need to put stickers on "their" device).
My trusty laptop was one of those. Had a few personal stickers on it that you could still spot the remnants of years later. But ran fine, especially after I put mint on it. Doing taxes the first year was slightly tricky (Belgium uses tax-on-web, and the ID verification wasn't done with non-microsoft operating systems in mind), but proved to be the only hindrance. Writing, browsing, youtube...it all worked, and continues to work.
That's the thing. I'm not here to sell you linux, but "it just works" is a good summary. I've upgraded the version two or three times, each time without a hitch. Installing an outdated printer on it had its issue, but when I tried that same printer on windows, it turns out that said printer (from mid or early 2000's) had even worse drivers on windows. And getting a network printer at home was...well...LITERALLY no job at all: the moment it was properly set up on the network, mint gave me a pop-up that it not only found, but also installed a new printer (the only reason it wasn't the default is probably because that older printer still was ).
So why am I upgrading? Well...because my mum asked me if I had a spare computer for my nephew to learn how to type. Did I have one? Well...yes-ish. That is: I've come across one that's just a smidge better but not usable at the job (read: best kind without TPM module), but hadn't done anything with yet.
Until now. Given that situation, I think I'll just pass along my mint laptop after cleaning it up.
But there's something else: I've written about bazzite in the past. Mostly about turning PC's into consoles. But truth be told: I'm quite impressed with how it handles the more PC-side of things. Like...once plugged in as a desktop, I didn't thought it'd be hard to put a bittorrent client on it, and it hadn't been. And while it's there...why not handbrake to convert video's? And why not thunderbird, given that my last bazzite project was more a hybrid case. All the time, it's all thumbs up.
Don't get me wrong: linux mint had been the distro I came back to after distro hopping in the '10s (tenties?). But bazzite is at the very least more than "just an attempt at being steamOS". It's clean, fast, optimized for gaming (duh!) and has already proven itself to me to be easy to manage.
Important: this isn't an fair comparison to my older laptop, as this processor's about 30% faster and has 16GB RAM instead of 8. And again: while I won't shy away from gaming, this is at best a side dish. This is for writing (ey...I'm writing this text on it ) and quick lookup tasks. Nothing that'll burden the processor somehow.
Steam controller:
From the new upcoming hardware line-up, the controller was (and is) the one I'm most looking forward to. I'm curious on the machine and frame, but I've got me my open consoles. With my game preference, running celeste on a steam deck, an old HP elitebook G6 or a quantum computer running an entire datacenter of RAM isn't gonna do much difference.
100 bucks was more than I expected, but I didn't hesitate. Rather the contrary: I checked the correct time, loaded up steam wallet and ensured I was ready to buy it as soon as it became available.
...except my preparations fell short. I hadn't seen those errors before, so presumed it had something to do with my own settings. The fact that I had to enter my home address and phone number (which I thought was the error) meant I only clicked "checkout" like once for every dozen times others were spamming the button. Result: the thing sold out while I watched (not entirely true: I left after 20 minutes, as I had a karate class).
Getting a waiting ticket around a week later was a much smoother experience, but then again: that was just for a waiting queue. And a good chunk of enthusiasts already had their thing on the way.
...and yesterday evening, I finally got the mail. Had to admit I started worrying that valve had just put up the queue to deter scalpers and that their promise of it coming "soon" was optimistic. But here we are: got the mail, ordered (and refilled address and phone yet again
) and am now awaiting the post package. I might blog later, but thanks to a gazzilion users I know I'll "just" be getting a steam deck without screen. And unless something drastically changes, I'll be just glad I'll have it. Bazzite on a non-console:
The thing with windows is that you can count on it to slow down over time. Give it a few years, and it's gone from a smooth machine to a slog. Linux proved me that it's just microsoft doing consumerism. The 2012 gaming PC I've turned into my first linux mint in around 2016-2017 gave it a second life, and it stayed steady until the hardware became too outdated in 2024. By that time I've shifted to a laptop for basic tasks and steam deck and tablet for casual gaming. Okay, and a switch and a steam deck on television for consoles. With 2 bazzite projects as backup gaming devices, but that's another topic. Lemme circle back to that laptop...
I don't buy new hardware. As a PC repairman, I'm the person who has to troubleshoot and retire those things. Sometimes due to hardware errors, but quite often for the dreaded "it's too slow" argument. Rebooting's not the problem, and one more than one level, it's not even microsoft's fault. It's office workers who don't get computers but understand power. They complain that their computer is slow, and when pointed out that their "computer" is but a terminal that runs citrix (so all calculations are done server-wise) they just double down, head to my manager who just tells me to just get them a damn new computer. Which I do. And recoup the old one. But some hardware is just too good to just toss out, but not good enough to brush up and give to someone else (usually due to jackasses who feel the need to put stickers on "their" device).
My trusty laptop was one of those. Had a few personal stickers on it that you could still spot the remnants of years later. But ran fine, especially after I put mint on it. Doing taxes the first year was slightly tricky (Belgium uses tax-on-web, and the ID verification wasn't done with non-microsoft operating systems in mind), but proved to be the only hindrance. Writing, browsing, youtube...it all worked, and continues to work.
That's the thing. I'm not here to sell you linux, but "it just works" is a good summary. I've upgraded the version two or three times, each time without a hitch. Installing an outdated printer on it had its issue, but when I tried that same printer on windows, it turns out that said printer (from mid or early 2000's) had even worse drivers on windows. And getting a network printer at home was...well...LITERALLY no job at all: the moment it was properly set up on the network, mint gave me a pop-up that it not only found, but also installed a new printer (the only reason it wasn't the default is probably because that older printer still was
).So why am I upgrading? Well...because my mum asked me if I had a spare computer for my nephew to learn how to type. Did I have one? Well...yes-ish. That is: I've come across one that's just a smidge better but not usable at the job (read: best kind without TPM module), but hadn't done anything with yet.
Until now. Given that situation, I think I'll just pass along my mint laptop after cleaning it up.
But there's something else: I've written about bazzite in the past. Mostly about turning PC's into consoles. But truth be told: I'm quite impressed with how it handles the more PC-side of things. Like...once plugged in as a desktop, I didn't thought it'd be hard to put a bittorrent client on it, and it hadn't been. And while it's there...why not handbrake to convert video's? And why not thunderbird, given that my last bazzite project was more a hybrid case. All the time, it's all thumbs up.
Don't get me wrong: linux mint had been the distro I came back to after distro hopping in the '10s (tenties?). But bazzite is at the very least more than "just an attempt at being steamOS". It's clean, fast, optimized for gaming (duh!) and has already proven itself to me to be easy to manage.
Important: this isn't an fair comparison to my older laptop, as this processor's about 30% faster and has 16GB RAM instead of 8. And again: while I won't shy away from gaming, this is at best a side dish. This is for writing (ey...I'm writing this text on it
) and quick lookup tasks. Nothing that'll burden the processor somehow.
