• 3 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 7th, 2023

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  • Not trying to dump on your efforts or anything here, but you’d be better off first defining a scope of what you’re trying to do, and then work off an existing hardware or software platform.

    You can get phone dev kits for cheaper than $200 if you just want to build something that works without Android, but if you intend to take that further and design some of the software experience, you’d be better off just working or contributing to something that already exists.

    A single person can’t even begin to touch on the fundamentals of what it takes to run a phone experience in that that we currently understand and use them. Touch UX, software<>hardware integration, peripherals like cameras…it’s A LOT. Doing it well as a single developer is just not going to happen.

    If your goal is simply to not have to buy another shit Google-infested phone, you can get a cheap that runs other things right now.







  • It’s not “trouble” if you’re already familiar with Linux. It’s not the way I would go as a user of 20+ years, but it’s not just for desktop use.

    If you’re looking to build a platform for something, it’s perfect. Look at why Valve switched to use to for SteamOS. You have an underlying framework of a stable system, and you just create automation to slap it all together into the base layer of all the things you want without having to worry about specific things breaking the stack you’re building on top of it.

    It’s like a blank page instead of a notebook with line guides.

    It helps make more sense if you think of everything you’ve got to build on it already existing in a git repo. Merge > Build > Release. Makes perfect sense, and you save yourself creating an entire distro to maintain from scratch.







  • I’ll drop what I said about this in another thread:

    I think you probably need to understand the underpinnings of what Valve accomplished over the past few years to understand why the Frame is useful.

    Essentially, it’s a Deck strapped to your face. Same OS, same everything, just different hardware platform.

    Valve spent the time to revamp SteamOS in order to make it more portable to various devices, which are now launching. Couple that with their efforts on Proton, and you have an entire ecosystem with very little in the way of preventing people from adopting these devices with their ease of use.

    Steam Deck was just sort of the appetizer and test launch to gauge interest and build a fully functional hardware development and support vertical in the company, and it was wildly successful. I guarantee (if they can get the price right) that the Frame will sell WAY more units than the awful Vision Pro. I honestly think people might adopt this over buying another version of the Deck if it’s comfortable.

    Some things I expect to happen with the Frame launch:

    • A more expanded integration of Desktop features. If Valve doesn’t do it, the community will.
    • Virtual screen management
    • Theater mode for viewing media
    • Virtualized VR input (like steam-input but VR)
    • Pairing capabilities for multiplayer
    • Half-Life 3 release (not joking)