Steam Deck Dock "KVM Switching" Mode...?

[teh_inquirerer]

Is it just me that wants this?

Have the Dock plugged into your main PC, KBM, and monitor. Flip a switch or press a button and your docked Steam Deck now uses the KBM and monitor instead of the main PC.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

You don't actually need to plug it into your PC. The dock itself has USB ports for your peripherals and a display port for your monitor.

[Haruspex]

Nothing preventing this at all. I'm sure it would work great. However, if you already have a "main" desktop PC setup, and you're already sitting at that workstation, why would you use your Deck? Why not just use your desktop at that point?

[teh_inquirerer]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

You don't actually need to plug it into your PC. The dock itself has USB ports for your peripherals and a display port for your monitor.

Yes, the Deck itself is a PC.

I don't mean to imply "connecting two PC's together". Just that the Dock can be used for both PC's. But, it would need to USB-c inputs and a switch... Clearly requiring more RnD = higher price. But I'm willing to pay for well developed quality products.

Originally posted by 8bitbeard:

Nothing preventing this at all. I'm sure it would work great. However, if you already have a "main" desktop PC setup, and you're already sitting at that workstation, why would you use your Deck? Why not just use your desktop at that point?

Your workstation could be encoding or doing other workstation things that bog it down too much for gaming while waiting for the job to finish. Why unplug KBM and monitor just to play a game on the Deck while waiting when it could be a button press, like a KVM switch.

[Balderick]

Some newer monitors like Gigabyte Aorus FV43U have KVM and PIP built in to monitor. They use win 10 desktop app OSD Sidekick, remote control or joystick on monitor to manage KVM and all the other features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5US7UiTknc

There are also usb-c docking stations with KVM built in and add extra I/0

Not all KVM support passthrough to android and so not sure how well linux is supported.

Would be cool if Valve or the community made a list of suitable docking stations and kvm options that are known to work with Steam Deck.

Very few usb-c docking stations provide DP 1.4 for 8K @ 60 hz and 4K @ 120 hz like Steam Deck Dock. Most docking stations seem to support HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60 hz) or Thunderbolt 3 through usb-c alt mode.

[teh_inquirerer]

Originally posted by Balderick:

Would be cool if Valve or the community made a list of suitable docking stations and kvm options that are known to work with Steam Deck.

That would indeed be very handy. I think the normal procedure, when there are no compatibility lists, is to just search for what you're considering buying and if anyone has posted that they have issues with it... Haha. The downside to that is of course (and certainly applies to unreleased hardware), maybe nobody has tried previously. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Balderick]

lol yes - am jumping the gun a bit.

But when doing some window shopping am finding it very time consuming making sure of DP 1.4 and linux support. Most usb-c docking stations only support windows, OS X and iPad Pro due to the thunderbolt thing and HDMI 2.0 or DP 1.2 (not DP 1.4).

Obviously Valve spent time, effort and money to make sure Steam Deck and Steam Deck Dock supported DP 1.4 for 8K @ 60 hz and 4K @ 120 hz to make everything future proof and unique.
Not sure what AMD equivalent of DSR is or how Steam Deck will run games at those resolutions and refresh rates without relying on game streaming.


It odd Valve did not add 4K@120 hz support through HDMi 2.1 like PS5 and Xbox X/S as monitors like that FV43U shown in video above were created for current gen consoles in mind. It has two HDMI 2.1 ports but not sure what spec the single DP is or what spec the usb-c port is.

When engineers use a non standard thread pitch it is referred to as abastard screw. Steam Deck Dock seems to use abastard spec for 4K@120 hz gaming.


Valve adding KVM option and/or PIP feature to Steam Deck Dock which supported all platforms Steam Link app and Steam client currently supports would be awesome.

[FatStupidAmericant]

You can actually use software to share your keyboard and mouse across screens. I do this with my desktop and a thinkpad laptop.

https://snapcraft.io/barrier

I use an arch based distro, Manjaro, and its pretty much seamless. SteamOS is arch based, it will have no issue running a free software KVM switch.

I'm going to do this to run the Deck off one screen, my desktop to my middle screen and have my thinkpad as a 'third screen'. They can seamlessly have the mouse and keyboard move across all three screens as though it was one computer.

I also use filezilla through SSH to share files through ethernet between my thinkpad and desktop when i need that, so I could, lets say, download 6gb of content on the desktop and transfer it to my laptop. You will also be able to do this with the Deck because it's Linux.