I installed Windows on Steam Deck and I regret it 

There is a reason, Sony and many other gaming device vendors are developing their own OS for their gaming device, and that is to having total control over the whole stack. Valve is developing SteamOS to no to be dependent on Microsoft to keep this is running as intended and hoping that after Windows updates nothing breaks. with their own OS Valve has the total control.

Everyone - desperate to get their hands on a steamdeck. Linus - hold my beer while I use a steamdeck to prop up another steamdeck

You don't press B to go back in retroarch. You are already on the root menu You need to press Left on the DPAD or analog stick to go back. Thats not a steamdeck issue, thats just the default bindings

Definitely knew that this would happen, it makes sense overall but it's pretty cool that you can do it for certain things you may want to do. Love the transparency steam is currently practicing when it comes to the deck.

I wouldn't put windows on a PS5 or a X-Box, and similarly I wouldn't put windows on my Steam Deck. But at the end of the day, it's my device, I should have that option for the principal of it. And it's amazing to see Valve respect my right to do what I wish with my device

“I own this and I can do what I want” If only most hardware devs understood this concept Edit: by devs, I didn’t mean the actual individual developers. I meant the development corporations. It was a reference to how they’re all fighting right to repair

2:26 Actually, when you boot windows on a steam deck, or any computer for example windows thinks of most of the hardware or controllers as "software controlled" unless you're using system level mouse and keyboard. This also affects USB Xbox controllers, which are able to navigate windows. When you start a UAC promt, windows locks off software controlled devices, preventing them from accessing a UAC prompt. This is supposed to have some virus or false admin control protection.

"I own this device" You don't now, you installed windows

As someone who's used Linux with lots of different laptops over the past 15+ years, I've become all too familiar with the unique type of frustration that comes from using a device whose manufacturer has only designed its various specialized components for one OS with a completely different one. This was pretty hilarious to watch from the other side.

You need to add retro-arch as a "non steam game" to the steam client and then the deck controls will work properly. Same behaviour with the steam controller.

As for Elden Ring, the reason it worked so much better on Linux is because they fixed a flaw in the way the game does shaders in the windows version. Due to very poor programming from Fromsoft, the game decides to discard any shaders it generates very rapidly, for no good reason. VKD3D (the DX12 to Vullkan layer) has a per game config specifically for Elden Ring, which tells it to NOT discard those shaders, thus performance is better.

Very interesting to see a mainstream device with drivers optimized for Linux and not Windows. It's full of all the "Oh, it works! No... wait, it does not... Ok, kinda" that all Linux users are familiar with or have experienced after switching at least once lol

If you've ever used a controller managed by Steam on your desktop this behaviour makes a lot of sense. Just think of the touchpad as a touchpad and the rest of the buttons on the steam as a controller.

I'm happy that Valve are putting effort into creating a polished OS (SteamOS) and an increase of games that can be played on Linux. It's nice to not have to depend on Windows as the only option forever.

I'm blown away by how much work Valve has put into Linux over the past couple years. I was finally able to move fully to Linux; it's gotten to the point where every game I throw at Proton just works, usually with no tweaking, as well as or better than native Windows.

Wtf, I was not expecting the GOG client I made in my free time while learning Python to reach a Linux Tech Tips video at some point 😱

Pre-compiled shaders was a very smart move by Valve as the hardware is the same on every SD.

The emulator is not being picked up as a "game" by steam, so it's working with the windows controls (which can be disabled) so it might be best to add the emulator as a non-steam game on steam and launching it from there. Or another solution would be to disable steams own controller to mouse+keyboard and use 3rd party software like DS4 windows

“I do wot a want!” _Five minutes later._ “This was a terrible decision.”

Ok, January 2024, this video is mostly 99% invalid now - I think LTT should put a disclaimer on it! We now have fully functional dual boot on the Deck, proper Windows drivers for everything required (including audio and WiFi). Heck, we even have fast switch between SteamOS and Windows now (Clover, etc.). I play Fortnite on my Deck on Windows (due to anti-cheat limiting it from running on Linux) and I am currently doing 60 FPS on medium settings. Also, if you want to access the running apps / tasks, swipe your finger from the left edge of the display - Windows will bring up the visual task manager on any touch screen device. Lastly, I recommend using Windows 10 LTSC instead of Windows 11, you get a significant boost in performance AND you also get ZERO bloat! Also, you can fix the sleep issue by adjusting the power plan settings to never turn off the SSD on sleep.

Its nice to see a company like valve to take such a different route compared to what the others take.. Huge respect to valve!

These games should run better natively in Windows, but the software support is lacking. It's the reverse situation we have historically seen with Linux - things should run better in Linux, but they haven't due to poor support. I can see why Valve would decide to use Linux instead of Windows. Rather than needing to collaborate with Microsoft to get support for their device, they can just do it themselves. Look at the issues AMD had with Windows 11. Linux is open-source, if they need something patched, they just do it.

Games *can* run just as well in Windows as they do on Linux on the Deck, problem is the Windows drivers don't increase the GPU memory as needed as it does in Linux, so you need to go into the BIOS settings, and set the shared video mem to 4Gb, this exponentially improves performance for gaming on Windows.

I'm amazed you didn't try the windows experience with a monitor, mouse and keyboard. I feel like a lot of people wanting to run windows would do so they can dual use it as their main PC and plug into a home dock. If they get dual booting you could Linux game on the go and windows desktop for home office use.

The main thing here (in my personal opinion), is that this shows why many people say that Linux is bad on desktop... Linux is not bad at all what happens is that it lacks support from hardware developers, now when you have a product designed to work well on Linux it is obvious that Linux was never the issue, then you put Windows on it and you see the same issues or even worst that Windows have with a product that is not tailored designed to work on Windows, at the end Windows and Linux on the desktop side have their ups and downs and user experience tends to depend more on hardware support than anything else beside user familiarity, that is why I will keep saying that Linux is the better OS for Gaming, because when you realize this then you can start understanding that the things that really matter are inside... the kernel, and the kernel of Linux is unquestionably better and more performant, so it is just a matter of intention, if hardware companies develop support for Linux the same way than to Windows and then game companies does the same Linux will beat always Windows, the Steam Deck and Steam OS is an example of that.

seeing someone install windows an a device and have flaky behaviour due to bad/nonexistent drivers is such a role reversal. wild.

The right trigger for left click and left trigger for right click is consistent with their Steam Controller. As are the two trackpads on either side of the device. They're essentially porting the Big Picture style experience with Steam Controller to the handheld form factor, more or less.

Given the volume of updates Valve has been pushing, both to the OS and (hopefully) their windows drivers, it might be nice to do a ‘Steam Deck 1 year on’ update to all of these reviews. See how much the system has improved over time. Supposedly they’re working on dual boot capability whenever OS 3 goes public. Given supply chain shortages and how slow their rollout has been, I’d bet there would still be a lot of interest given a ton of people will still be receiving theirs for the first time and there is nothing priced even close to as competitively. I reserved my 512 model, 3 days after reservations opened. I JUST hit the quarter Valve says I’ll actually be able to BUY mine. Sometime between July and September, ONE YEAR after reservations opened. Anywho, love the 4-5 you’ve got on it.

This is so weird... I'm so used to the fact that Linux would have issues when to boot compared to Windows... It's interesting to see the shoe on the other foot. It's really comes to show when a company actually spends the time to optimize any OS on a device, it works really well. It's nice to see valve make Linux a first class and show what it can really do when optimize for specific hardware.

It seems it recognizes the deck in windows, exactly the same way as the steam controller. If you added Retroarch as a non steam game, and launched it through there, it may then recognize it as a controller then. It appears its using it's 'desktop mode' when not in a game launched through steam

"I Own this device, it's mine, so whatever, I do what I want" Is exactly the same thing I think when someone complains about me using adblock to avoid creepy spyware from MY device

Steam deck has no way of knowing that you are using retro arch. You need to add reto arch as a non-steam game and map your own controller config to it. Same thing with the steam controller.

I absolutely love that this video is the exact thing all of us have had to deal with in Linux since the dawn of time. Things that CAN work well in Linux just don't - not because the hardware can't, but because they refuse to support it even when sometimes doing so would be trivial.

Hey! Nintendo! Look at Linus playing Mario on a Steam Deck. I know you want to make a copyright claim against this video. Come on. I dare you.

Seems like Valve brought full on Linux experience to the Windows users who are trying to install Windows on SteamDeck: Lack of optimization, not working audio and wireless, half-broken screen backlight - those are the most common issues for any Linux user installing Linux to the majority of recently released laptops :D I completely understand how frustrating that might be as I've been through that multiple times myself (installing Linux), and I hope that Valve will fix it, though.

I remember when Windows 7 was released. It was one of my all time favorite OS's. Ever since then I've never really liked Windows. I tired so hard. And even when Windows 8.1 released, I just never felt the same about it. The whole experience just died for me, seeing desktops be artificially limited by the idea of 'mobile architecture'. With linux it was EXTREMELY difficult to get into at first. Sure you could pull up a video or web page, but not much else. But this last decade has been a huge change as far as that goes. I for once, can use a distro like PopOS without hitting a road block every other program. It really is due to Valves investment. They put their money where their mouth is and that is enough for me to support them because they delivered on a lot of promises many have dropped. I don't even own a Steam Deck yet, but as a Linux user, they have made games which were previously unavailable, entirely playable, and available without requiring extensive effort and time. I will be buying Steam Decks for me and my wife, even though we have gaming Pc's because they work WITH them, not against them. I'm no corporate shill, but I will vote with my wallet. Even if it costs a few bucks more, and a get a few less FPS, I'll take that over the alternatives

16:08 SteamOS does that too. Steam Controller and Steam Deck are not Xinput device since they have to behave like mouse to allow using it on desktop to launch Steam for example. By launching Steam device uses Steam Input that is required for that extensive mapping capabilities. Any app outside Steam still don't recognise that by itself and it needs to be launched through Steam. Without that it still uses default desktop configuration. To have it behave like proper Xinput device you need to use GloSC which incorporates virtual X360 controller and can be used to play games easily

Linux Tech Tips

Hey LTT, Can you do an update on windows and Steam deck performance now that better drivers are available?

Id love see an indepth video of steam deck with win11 now that the drivers are more updated and with a nice list of pros and cons

This shows how much effort steam put into the steamOS for steamdeck to not be a dissapointment

The windows brightness thing is also an issue on some touchscreens on laptops. If I drag brightness on my hp envy it doesn't register unless I do it slowly, works fine on fedora though.

Thanks! It was interesting to watch!

I'm using Windows 11 on Deck. It wasn't easy, but once I've figured it out, it's great. I've tried a ton of games and they all work fine. After a couple weeks, first problem I'm having is right now my FFXIV install crashes on Windows. It worked great on SteamOS. I'm still troubleshooting to make it work. Good thing I have SteamOS still installed (dual boot) in case I need to go back and use that.

even though its janky right now, I'm very surprised valve is even bothering to make windows drivers for their new console. Awesome! cant wait to get one once this is cleaned up a bit with dual boot enabled, thats a huge selling point

having spent more than my fair share of time using a gamepad as a mouse, I appreciate that they swap left/right when using triggers as mouse clicks as that's the only way to do it imo.

That stuttering in Elden Ring is nothing like it is on the regular PC version. In general, the stuttering is typically on area loads like when you're riding across the open world and the game is frequently loading in new chunks of the map, with framerate dips in certain areas with lots of effects like lighting and weather. In smaller, more contained areas like dungeons or the chapel you start the game in, the framerate is a stable.

15:49 - The way Linus said "conspicuously" is amazing

UAC is like the "sudo" command in linux. Unless you launch the steam itself with UAC Admin, you will have things disabled for security.

The biggest positive I see about the steam deck is the opportunity to watch the rate of improvement in software and drivers. I would also still like a comparison between the etched glass highest end deck versus the less expensive ones.

I have the first GPD Win and yes, I set the right shoulder button to left click and the left shoulder button to right click. For some reason that makes more sense than the other way around with this kind of interfaces.

As a Linux fanboy I strongly believe that everyone has a right to install an OS of his choice on any device. As long as it's Linux.

2:35 not "for whatever reason". For a software to interact with UAC, it needs to run as an administrator, which makes sense. Imagine if you could run an app, the app could ask to elevate it's permissions, and said app could move the cursor to click yes. It would be pretty stupid. Solution would be to run Steam as admin and configure it such as it does not need to ask for admin, so all functionality works.

I think one of the huge advantages the Steam Deck will continue having over their competitors is the engagement and enthusiasm of the community. I'm pretty sure every problem that's software related it will be a matter of time until someone finds a fix in the community. Be it optimizing settings, installing mods, finding workarounds, whatever you think, you'll be able to find a discussion on Steam telling you the best way to play your games and most (if not all) of it will be with Valve's blessing, unlike with other consoles where it would be like jailbreaking.

Now you know how Linux users feel when we get new hardware and there is no support. It takes weeks, months or years to get support for some devices. The good thing is users will often write drivers and software themselves to fill in the gaps if the hardware manufacturer is unwilling to. And when a game is a buggy mess on Windows, it isn't that surprising when it runs better on Linux these days as patches are often introduced to fix game bugs.

I don't need steam deck, but I boot my linux couch gaming PC straight into the new steam deck UI with gamescope, it's really nice and basically zero overhead as the game frames gets directly blitted to the screen through KMS. Pipewire is also amazing and allows zero-copy streaming / video recording.

This is effectively like using the Steam Controller on Windows like I do on my TV. Steam needs to be running for the desktop config to work, and I have it run as admin so that it can interact with everything like UAC prompts and priviliged software I would assume the haptics are done through Steam software and the Windows Steam client doesn't have that yet, it also still uses the old Big Picture. Hopefull it will support its own Deck Controller better once it arrives on Windows I think Elden Ring is playable offline so you could have used the same account on both Decks in offline mode, but you definitely have the funds to own two copies of the game anyways. Still good to know for some viewers I guess About the touch keyboard, you probably didn't realize you could do that (or it doesn't work with the Deck's controller) but I absolutely prefer the keyboard on the old Big Picture since you can use the trackpads of the Steam Controller to hover over a letter and use the triggers to type the letter. It's amazing, way faster than the default touch keyboard on the Deck. I really REALLY hope the Deck gets the Big Picture keyboard because I'm not looking forward to touch typing and awkwardly selecting letters with the joystick. I'm legit scared they might remove the touchpad keyboard instead of also adding it to the Deck, hope they won't because that typing experience is amazing Obviously with Elden Ring, this is a case of the developers making a bad port and Valve swooped in to fix it, (ab)using the fact that they need to use a translation layer anyways. Not exactly the fault of Windows, for clarity On Windows, you can add software like RetroArch to your Steam library which allows you to use the Deck Controller as an Xbox Controller as per usual. If you don't launch it through Steam then the Deck controller will be a mouse and keyboard (using the Desktop config) like Anthony said

Seeing Linus fiddle with the controls on Windows was funny only because when I used my Steam Link, I refused to plug in a keyboard, so I got really used to using Windows like that and I still can

I would honestly love to see a comparison between different distros such as Nobara, PikaOS, & other popular distros on the Steam Deck to see how they hold up compared to stock SteamOS.

So far, I haven't really felt any urge to want Windows. I've tended to stick with games that will suit a handheld device, although I have poked at the Desktop Mode and "desktop" type apps, so far just a little bit of basic web-browsing and again it works fine for me. I'll admit I'm not a power-user so I'm unlikely to hit the ceiling any time soon. So far, most games that flat out don't work are heavy enough that I'd want a pc with keyboard and mouse anyway, but I have enjoyed seeing LTT push the Deck as hard as they can, and impressed that Valve were confident enough to let them. As Linus says at the end; what Valve has given us for the price point is absolutely top-notch.

Would like to see a SteamOS on desktop gaming PC video when the iso becomes available

As a years long steam controller user I was cringing the entire time on this video. Obviously performance can't be helped, but if you're gonna run an emulator you have to have your controller config set to gamepad. The annoying issue with Windows security prompts has persisted ever since the steam controller shipped and it doesn't seem to be going away, ever. Easy fix for that is to just tell Windows not to darken the screen when giving you those prompts. Microsoft just doesn't care about fixing this. Seems Valve have made a much more optimized and performant experience with SteamOS!

Setting All Your Apps In Task Manager To High-Priority or RealTime Will Speed Them Up ( Details Tab Right Click On Processes ) ( Better Priority Settings ) Lower Display Brightness On Laptops To Get The Most To Your Chipset (Set Apps You Use Including Web Browser Etc. To High Priority or Realtime Set Everything Else Excluding Drivers And Device apps to Low Priority ( If Your At 100% Cpu Usage, Unless Your Benchmarking You Can Still Run Apps With No Problem. It May Slow Down a Bit When Your Running Out Of Memory. by that time you would be using your ssd/hd as system Memory. ) ( Same Applies To Gpu But the Vram Would go to Dram First Then To SSD/HD ) You Can Use An App Like Unlocker To Remove Cortana And Get Better Performance. Just Use Unlocker To Remove It From Your File System. ( You Can Use The Voice Search On The Bing Site In The Browser ) Control Panel, System & Security, System, Advanced System Settings, Advanced, Performance Settings, Visual Effects, Adjust For Best Performance, Select Ok ( Speed Up ) And/Or You Can Run a Custom Made Barebones/Lightweight Version Of Windows Use Apps Like Throttle Stop To Get More Performance From Your Cpu ( Maybe Even Turning Off SpeedStep ) Adjusting App Window Size Instead Of Going Full screen Can Give a Performance Increase. For Games & Videoes FullScreen Might Work Better. Check Out CCleaner & Opera Gx ( Has a Floating Window Mode For Videos )

1:19 If you think about it, this is the proper/correct way to configure triggers when using a controller as a mouse, and to make my argument I would defer you to games, especially fps games. In shooters on PC, right click is typically ADS (aim-down-sight) and left click is shoot. But if you are playing the same game on a console (or even PC with a controller attached), on the controller the configuration is right trigger for "shoot" and left trigger for ADS, so if you think about it in gaming terms, it is actually more intuitive to have left click on right trigger and right click on left trigger.

Regarding the issues with Horizon Zero Dawn, Digital Foundries talked about it in their Steam Deck review and mentioned that is related to the restricted memory capacity of the hardware itself and Zero Dawn caching shaders while you are playing it instead of pre-caching them before, and the workaround they recommended was leaving the game open for a while before you start playing. Those late game areas you are having issues with probably take longer to cache than the early game ones.

All imperfections aside it is admittedly pretty insane the kind of power and computing capability of todays tech. For something so small to be able to run the windows os and run a game on top of it is pretty crazy. Not only are the capabilities of todays tech insane but the price vs performance you can get today is mind-blowing. You can take 2 to 300 dollars today and build something on a 10 year old platform and be able to play modern games in 1080 p on medium settings depending on the game high settings. To me that's awesome 😎

You should create another video we’re you try windows on steam deck but with the latest drivers

Elden Ring is amazing btw. If you're not feeling it just make sure you get to the point with the mount and then go exploring. Best exploration and secrets in any game for years. (Does it run ok on the steamdeck with Linux?)

As an 8-year Linux user, I fully support your right to put whatever you want on hardware you own. That's the Linux ethos! Your computer, you're in control! Though I must admit to some schadenfreude seeing Windows support being the second-class citizen for once. :)

While as a Linux user I really rejoice over Linux hardware being actually first party and better supported for once, I think they should improve the controls on windows regardless.

I just got my Steam Deck today, and I was thinking of installing Windows OS on it. Thanks for talking me out of it Linus.

I'm going to try installing W11 Superlite on my SD this afternoon, if it does well I may go to it as my main OS. I have a feeling W11 with all it's bloatware and background data transmissions may run down a lot of the needed speed on the device. It seems to be so barebones that it may not be too much different to Linux. But again, I haven't seen anyone try this on it yet. So it may not work at all.

My respect for Anthony just keeps on increasing with every video in which I hear him speak. He's always got it, even when he's not onscreen. 😎

As a normally Windows user, I wouldn't install windows on my Steam Deck, regardless, it is amazing that they let you.

To be fair props to Valve for indeed making the Deck "customizeable",something Nintendo forbids on Switch,i mean Valve indeed makes the Deck the "alpha mobile console",and if things go well i can foresee the Deck become the best mobile console on the market,there's still progress to make but hey slow and steady wins the race.Even if it'll be a bit clunky most ppl specially tech savys will prefer the Deck over the Switch simply for the customizeability.

Definitely interested in dual-boot video. Thanks for the review - I reserved a top tier Steam Deck. 🆒

the touchpad click thing on the triggers comes from their expertise on VR. This has been the standard on PCVR and I'm surprised to not see you mention it Linus.

A few things I want to note that may help you guys in future videos: -The Steam Controller aspects of the Deck would probably react to the same software, so GloSC would do you well for playing games outside of Steam without needing an external controller. Alternatively, adding Retroarch and other non-Steam games to Steam may allow you to use standard controller bindings. This doesn't always work from my experience, but that's why I mentioned GloSC first since it has wider support. -The on-screen keyboard in Windows is meant to be controlled with the touch-pads to allow for faster typing than a standard controller-based on-screen keyboard. It's about 1/3 to 1/2 of anyone's standard typing speed (depending on how fast you type), vs the 1/5 to 1/10 you'd expect from the standard on-screen controller-based keyboard. -The Steam Controller has a "real-time firmware", so when you're using Steam, the Steam API is in charge of that, but when Steam is closed, it defaults to the standard desktop config, which you saw. -The TDP is 1/2 of the max, but that limit is temporary as people are working on a way to raise the TDP from 15w to 25w or 30w. The maximum performance of the Steam Deck is yet to be tapped in Windows, we're probably a ways off before we see what that looks like between drivers missing and TDP allowances being a modifiable option. ETA Prime showed this in his video, so it'll be interesting to see how this evolves over time.

Fun fact, when it comes to testing games on steamos/wine, for some triple A games they'll go the full length and complete the whole game but for most games they'll just do a minimum playtime unless it's unplayable from the get go. A friend was testing it.

The steam deck is an awesome device. I bought the base model and upgraded it to a 256g m.2 for 40 bucks. Unfortunatley there are lots of bugs. I let my battery drain out and even after a charge the touchscreen wouldnt work until I googled for hours to find a fix. The onscreen keyboard didnt want to ever pop up, I couldnt connect a windows formatted hard drive to play my movies off of... and still too many steam games that didnt work... I installed windows and the steam app with the steam deck UI and love it. I can literally do and play everything now. Not a single game I own plays worse on windows, and if it does its by such a small margin that I havent noticed. I applaud Valve for making a great operating system... But I am a grown ass 52 year old man who has been using windows since even before windows xp... I dont have the time or interest in fiddling with a new OS. If I was just gonna play steam games I would have left it alone, but with windows and a 25$ after market steam dock this is now my go to device.

I don’t think these are Windows bugs, they are Windows FEATURES! I am so sure about it because I got similar features on my surface pro, Marcohard’s own machine.

As a sample size of one, I have to admit that Valve's "true mission" is a complete success ON ME. Before the Steam Deck I was never going to give Linux a shot. Now I'm actually excited to dive into Linux and learn about it's features and use cases. This is a device that I can tinker with but don't NEED to rely on working. I already have a gaming PC for the majority of my play time. This is just an extra device to help me game in places I can't. AND I can learn about Linux when I want to. The ability to run Windows on it is probably going to be nice for some people. But FOR ME, it's a toe in the water of the Linux ecosystem. I expect to be frustrated by some things but learning is a big motivator for my purchase decision. My plan is to have a little doc station with a monitor and keyboard where I can poke around the Linux desktop but use it as the "sick day/in bed/need to kill 2 hours dead on the road" machine the rest of the time. A project for a hobbyist technophile and a "nice to have" as well.

Would be interesing to see this revisited now.

Interesting video thanks for this

I'm so jealous that we can't get a Steam Deck in Australia (hopefully soon), and here's Linus stacking one on top of another as a stand hahah

For the RetroArch issue you could 1. Add the retroarch executable as a game and setup the controller to behave like a regular gamepad 2. Set the "desktop" setting as a regular gamepad in Big Picture

you can buy a label maker, I recommend the pt550e with wifi, it connects to databases, do a review and by the way change the handwritten labels, in mine I can put serial numbers, design and print from the computer, put codes qr, security notices, etc. aside and resuming the video, I don't know if it's possible to open the steam deck and check the codes in the audio chips and other peripherals that don't work and check if another computer has them, in that case it might be possible to modify those drivers and move them to the deck, sorry for my bad english

As of rn, with the drivers valve provided and with some help from the web I’ve actually only been using windows with the deck and I have very little complain

Here is a thing to remember. Valve can go into the Linux kernel to change things to make Linux work better on the Steam Deck and take advantage of the architecture. Windows, not so much since it is close-source and proprietary. Also, when you say "you should see generally the same performance between Windows and Linux on the same hardware." No, I would not. For example, not to long ago I was rocking an Intel i5-9400 with an RX 6800 XT. Control under Linux was seeing almost constant 144 FPS, with dips into 90 FPS. Windows, well, it would go around 120 FPS with dips to 70 FPS. RimWorld on Windows, late-game getting a lot of stutters, on Linux barely any stutters until really late game. And I am pretty sure I know how this is happening, and it comes down to a simple fact, Linux is a monolithic kernel while Windows is a hybrid kernel, where it has basic drivers baked in to get it going for external drivers to be installed. Because every driver is compiled side-by-side, this means that it can optimize the kernel and drivers together, lowering redundancy, lowering the size, and increasing the speed. The last thing I will say, and I don't think anyone can argue this, Windows is bloated beyond reason. Just to match as close to feature parity I have on Linux on Windows means that the Windows side is using up to 8 GiB of RAM while on Linux it only uses 1-2 GiB of RAM. Windows just gets bloated just to match feature parity, and the worst part is that Microsoft's C compiler is so bad when compared to GNU C Compiler. GCC is able to make programs that are, in some cases, 60% smaller than Microsoft's C Compiler, with those programs also running a lot faster as well. Windows just isn't as performant as Linux is.

What about game streaming from your desktop to the SteamDeck? I would imagine that works as usual. That would be my solution to running windows only games rather than installing windows on the Deck. I know not everyone who buys a SteamDeck will have a gaming desktop but most people probably will. I would be interested to see if there is a difference in quality between the Deck and a regular laptop when it comes to game streaming.

"the same architecture should be performing similarly" Except the windows has a ton of background processes that are notoriously resource hoggy. Since switching to Linux for gaming about a year ago I've noticed I get a lot more out of my hardware. For example, Apex was so laggy it was nearly unplayable, but on mint through protons it's like butter. Sure, ideally two operating systems should perform similarly, but due to just how inefficient Windows is that's not the case. On top of that, valve can only do so much when it comes to optimizing windows. With their OS they have complete control over it and can tweak everything, with Windows that's just not the case

So far getting my feet wet with Linux on the steam deck has been a fun experience. I like this OS so far and want to explore it more. I'm confused why they are making a big deal out of controller scheme changing when you installed a new OS on the device.

I’m just expecting that they improve the drivers since their not complete yet. Like adding WIFI drivers and Audio drivers, I’m not worried of the controls though.

I am really excited for when Linus makes a video about the 2Tb internal ssd upgrade for the steam deck. My guess is that it would be Micron’s newly announced 2400 series 2Tb 2230 Nvme ssd in the upgrade video.

The problems with controller mapping and big picture aren't specific to Steam Deck. That's just how Steam Controller and Big Picture are on Windows, and there are workarounds, but Big Picture has never felt great, and it's been 7 years since their last update. So, yeah, the Steam Deck is a new device, and they say they're going to fix it, but Big Picture should have been fixed years ago. Regardless of what Valve intends to do to improve this currently, the larger problem is that Valve doesn't stick with their ideas long term. So even if they improve the Steam Deck, eventually major updates will stop coming and we'll be stuck with whatever state Valve considered was good enough.

Definitely waiting for a while

2:27 That's one of the biggest pains in the ass that Windows has to offer, since this also applies to any kind of VNC, RDP or other means of remote connections like Virtual Desktop. Sometimes it somehow works, but most of the times you literally have to do it via keyboard simply because the "mouse" is dead there. 13:31 I'd install a dual boot Windows and throw my vhd with 98% of my programs (all portable) from my desktop rig in there when I go visit family, plug the thing to a monitor, keyboard and mouse and basically have everyhting I need that's not gaming related on a thing that's faster than my old 3rd gen Intel notebook and actually capable of running games even.

Just switched my desktop to Linux. Every time I try to do anything on windows now, I get reminded of all the annoyances I used to live with.

I installed Windows on my Steam Deck SD CARD and I don't regret THAT at all. Works great, especially for...uh, "borrowed" games. Plus there are some games the Deck won't play natively (such as Dead By Daylight) which work just fine on a Windows install (with Steam installed on that). I don't know if things have come a ways since this video or what but my Win10 experience on the Deck has been pretty great to be honest. I've got 256 GB to play with on the main drive and 1TB to spare for Windows and everything I want on it. That said, I would go with the general advice of this video: Don't replace the native Steam OS of the Deck hardware itself. There's simply no reason to do that. Just flash an SD card (I used Wagner's tutorial, it was relatively fast and totally flawless) and grab SWICD or some other third-party programs to make your Windows games treat the Deck as a controller.

1 year later it truly seems like their invested in making the OS an all encompassing experience. Glad to see the progress is going so well with the product going through the headache of a new os and make windows work on non native software seems like a new level of hell