Windows on a Steam Deck just feels like a crime.
Be ashamed of using windows.
You don’t even need to “pirate” Windows anymore. You can download an ISO from Microsoft’s website, install it, and when it asks for your license key, you click “I don’t have one”, and that’s the end of it. If you look in the activation settings, it’ll say “not activated”, but nothing will ever become of it. This even works if you install it as Pro. It’s not like the Windows XP/7 days where you’d get a 60 day scare timer. They just don’t seem to care anymore, or maybe all that telemetry they siphon up from you is just that much more valuable.
Microsoft missed the mobile boat by a long shot.
Windows is ever shrinking as people don’t buy computers like they used to since phones can do what they need.
This means that for Microsoft growing Windows user base is a non starter. They are well into the extract portion of the product lifecycle. The os now only exists to support the products that still make money are extract what can be extracted from a shrinking user base.
PSA
If you see Windows 11 online DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT!!!
It will install a virus called Windows 11 and it will run Windows 11 on your PC!!!
Which is known to BRICK YOUR SYSTEM in some cases.
Technically true.
“technically”
https://massgrave.dev/ is your friend.
You’re right, they don’t care.
The very fact they no longer care about enforcing licensing anymore is itself the strongest evidence that selling Windows as a product is not where the money is.
They want you on their operating system for any price - including zero -because once you are there that’s when the advertising, cloud service upsell and data monetisisation can begin.
Even Windows 7 actually didn’t care if you had no key.
You could leave it unactivated forever and the worst thing that would happen is it would have a “Activate windows” watermark message bottom right over the desktop, and it wouldn’t let you change the personalization settings eg theming (oh no).
It’s way more profitable to audit corporations than fight Eastern European crackers and Asian “distributors”
I miss all those super weird XP editions seemingly made by colourblind and hyper 8 year olds (at least in taste). Like rockets, gold or muscle car themed distros.
Nowadays all themes seems so… adult and boring. Tried to find some weird stuff in Plasma but alas
Hannah Montana Linux OS keeping this proud tradition going singlehandedly. ✊
Edit: not singlehandedly, just learned of the two other parts of the holy Linux trifecta, RebeccaBlackOS & Justin Bieber Linux Distro
Don’t they lock customization settings and updates being the license?
And if you really do want to activate it (which is kinda worth it because some system settings are locked behind it), Massgrave takes 2 seconds.
I needed Windows the other day and it wouldn’t even let me change the volume without activating it.
JOIN TEAM LINUX INSTEAD
Does linux even work on steamdeck? Has anybody tried?
Nah, Valve would never allow it
Good joke, I did mean Linux on Desktop though.
I bet you can get some version of BSD running
Be ashamed of using Windows. If you paid for it, more shame.
I do regret paying for windows once years ago. I always hated Microsoft a lot, but truly never thought they could sink as low as they have.
Stop it hurts
Be ashamed when using windows and any microslop product.
Hate to admit that when I first got my deck at launch, I immediately set up a dual boot just so I could play Destiny 2 on it.
Needless to say, I no longer play Destiny 2 or even use Windows at all on any of my machines. Hell, I even installed CachyOS Handheld on my deck over SteamOS for shits and giggles.
How is it? I considered trying it, but SteamOS just runs so well. Not sure what I’d gain
I won’t lie, it hasn’t been flawless, as it’s a bleeding edge distro with a much smaller userbase than its desktop counterpart, but it’s served me well enough for 6 months or so now. Only ran into one major bug, which promptly reported after finally finding a workaround/root cause (i.e. steam’s background recording seems to break their latest customized gamescope).
If you like to tinker with your devices and SteamOS wiping out anything installed via pacman after an update pisses you off like it did me, then it’s worth a try, but if you literally just use it for gaming and never really touch desktop mode, it’s not really worth considering.
I run a Legion Go. it’s all I could afford at the time. Plays factorio and satisfactory fine. Wish I could afford a “real” rig but… it’s just not in the cards. Apparently buying wife’s car a new tranny is “important.”
Why does your wife need a transsexual for her car?
To fix the transmission. Lilith’s Tranny’s, it’s like femboy IHOP but with beautiful transgender women working on engines.
This guy trannies.
Girl* is* 😅 But maybe it wouldn’t be cool to say it that way, lmao
How about:
Tammy’s Tranny’s: “Transmissions & Transitions”
Okay, you didn’t have to completely one up me like that in public. That absolutely is so much better.
Are they hiring? I have experience in both fields
Femboy IHOP: Home of the wiggling wangs.
So the truck nuts can be installed properly. Can’t transition your car without a proper expert around to keep things going right.
When I bought my Legoin Go, the first thing I did was to turn it on, see it’s W11 asking for network settings without a way to continue without. So I turned it off and installed Bazzite instead. Much better experience.
Slap Bazzite on that bad boy ASAP.
thinking abt it!just gotta get some downtime.
Nothing wrong with the Legion Go hardware at all. I like that it’s got those Switch-like removable controls, tho I’m not sure if I’d use them.
If you’re interested in a non-Windows experience, Steam OS supports the Legion Go. There’s also Cachy OS a rolling-release Arch Linux distro, Bazzite an immutable Fedora distro with atomic updates, Nobara a customized Fedora distro maintained by Glorious Eggroll who is known for Proton-GE, and Chimera OS.
thanks!
I thought legion go ran steamOS??
Not at launch. Now it can
nope. win11. i mean i can run whatever but yeah. default is win11
A buddy of mine bought one of those a while back. We recently switched it over to steam OS and the performance improvement was substantial.
@PerfectDark@lemmy.world article on your attempt at this, when?
Don’t throw these stones until you’ve tried using a steam deck as a work computer
I’d be interested to hear a potential use case where both applies:
- Steam deck is a viable option as work computer
- MS Windows is the better choice for the task
SteamOS is a better work OS for most use cases than Windows. The few cases where it isn’t, Mac OS is the superior choice.
Have you tried it though?
I have and I can whole heartedly say that using Windows 11 on the Deck is an awful experience no one should be attempting as a daily runner.
I’ve done a good amount of maintenance on my home server setup through my deck on the couch. Just a keyboard and the touchpad. Works just fine, no Windows needed. Basically just a weird shaped laptop.
I don’t miss video games at all. I moved to board games. It’s not like playing games with real people in video games. It actually is playing real games with real people in board games.
I mean most of the games i play are just board games on the pc, less cleanup and easier to play with others on discord than meeting IRL
Board games are more difficult. There’s a minimum requirement of at least one friend.
No. It isn’t and no, it doesn’t. I meet to library board game events in my area. Start with Love Letter. Go that in varients with Lovecraft, Marvel, Adventure time, or several others with it. Karmaka, Sheriff of Nottingham, Quantik (OOP, sadly), and more I wouldn’t mind recommending more from my two tall shelves full of great mental development. Video Games are more of a mind trap from neglecting the notion of living long enough to forget doing so.
The vast majority of my game time is coop shooters, fighting, and racing games with real life friends on voice chat. We get to chat daily about things without spending an hour or travel each way.
So for me playing video games is playing with real people. We even play DnD on virtual tabletops some of the time and then play on a real tabletop in person when our schedules match up.
Board games played in person are great, but being able to hop online and play with friends for an hour more regularly is great too.
