this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2024
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You can do that with SteamOS too. It launches into Steam Big Picture, but you can exit it and just use it like a computer. It can do everything a computer can do. I don't own one but have used one, and I think it was running KDE, not Gnome, but I don't really recall. You can install whatever DE you want though. There's no need to switch distros unless you want to.
You can switch distros, but every update wipes it and puts you back with kde.
You can install different DEs on top of any distro. I haven't done so, but updates shouldn't reset anything.
SteamOS is immutable. Each update wipes that kind of that. You can do it, but it's a pita getting things back the way you like just for the next update to take it away. I'm familiar and comfortable switching DEs, it's how I figured out I like near stock GNOME so much, by distro hopping and then DE hopping. It's just an unfortunate part of steamos that they decided to go with only one DE and not give people a few options, but I don't think they intended the desktop mode to get enough play time for it matter.
Ah, OK. Well, that's certainly a choice. It sounds like a bad choice to me, but I'm sure they had some reason. I agree that I don't think they expected many people to use Desktop mode, but I wish they would. It let's people use this "gaming" device as a full computer. They should really lean into that in my opinion. They could probably get a lot more sales with a marketing campaign focused on that fact and a dock to go with it.
From what I understand there was some technic reason behind it, but I hate it. Kde works on a laptop or desktop, but on a small touch screen it's horrid. Gnome is more intuitive for a small device like that, and would let you use it almost like a tablet. C'est la vie, but I do think I'm going to try bazzite at some point
I get it a bit. It's a device almost explicitly made for people who don't have a strong understanding of technology (and especially Linux). It prevents them from messing things up too much. It's luckily not locked down though so people who do know what they're doing can switch Distros.