this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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Steam Deck

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Seems like a pretty weird idea. Thoughts?

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[–] Venat0r 46 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Sounds dumb, you don't need the battery, display, game controller or small form factor for a server. Just get a single board computer.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Id say there's no harm in playing around to see what happens, but I agree that there's no practical application to this. At least that I can think of.

[–] runjun 17 points 1 year ago

Not the most optimal solution but it is entirely self contained and has a long lasting “UPS”.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Battery definitely comes in handy

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Get a single board computer and an APC for the price of the most specced out Steam Deck.

[–] SuperIce 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You don't need the most specced out steam Deck though. A refurbished 64GB steam Deck at $320 is an insane deal for the hardware and you likely don't need more than 64GB for a basic home server.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

True! I was thinking of some media storage but just get an SD card. For $64 GB it is a good deal

[–] gornius 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Or just get used laptop with destroyed screen for $60. Way better performance than RPI or clones for same price and built-in "UPS".

[–] FlexibleToast 3 points 1 year ago

I've never thought to look for laptops with broken screens. That's a pretty good idea.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

I mean you can but it’s a big waste of most of the hardware. Better to use an old desktop or laptop as a server

[–] ManosTheHandsOfFate 8 points 1 year ago
[–] stardustsystem 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Probably not going to be worth it for a while, but some folks in a couple of years are going to have old Steam Decks they can't use anymore for gaming, and they might benefit from this. If nothing else, I hope that this becomes one more way to recycle one more piece of technology.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Eh, looks like a (sorta) fun project. But you can turn pretty much any Linux machine into a home server, so this isn't really that surprising - and as plenty have pointed out here, there are better hardware choices.

I have a file/dns server in my basement that is built of my desktop upgrade leftovers. Every so often I swap out the mobo/cpu and reinstall a Debian flavor of some sort. Run my setup scripts, start up my docker services and hey, presto! My server abides.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] Shrek 2 points 1 year ago

It seems like more of a "fun project". I wouldn't waste the resources, but I have servers already. I could see this as a great way to try out self-hosting if you haven't before. As long as you don't remove SteamOS (in the video, he kept both) then, it's not hurting anything.

[–] Russianranger 1 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately he lost me when he said he dual booted Debian. Was hoping for something with docker/distrobox that could allow for root without being wiped on updates. I already dual boot SteamOS and windows 10, and run very small solo servers for things like Everquest.

My ideal solution is finding a way to containerize a server like that, launch it via game mode along with the client to make the most use of Steam Input. I can do it on the windows side of the house, but requires things like Glosi and playnite to get setup, and just isn’t as streamlined as I would like it to be.