Be wary of overloading file system in desktop mode.

[Salty SnaKC]

I used too much space on my 64gb model by installing flatpak apps from the store and some using pacman. Had about 1gb of free space on the ssd.

Steam gave me an error on reboot saying there wasn't enough space to run steamOS, after another reboot the os would not boot at all, leaving me at a console asking for my login where my deck inputs wouldnt work at all.
I did not try a usb mouse and keys, just decided to reimage the ssd with an external drive.

Hard work setting up linux desktop lost.

Currently upgrading the ssd, and lesson learned.

[kilésengati]

Ha, when switching to Linux, my Windows mindset told me that I have to download all this free software now, because it may not be available for free tomorrow, with similar but not as extreme results.
It took me a while to shake my greed for gratis software.

[Splashy]

Have this same issue, don’t know why you can’t set the install location for flatpak apps to your sd card…

[kilésengati]

Originally posted by Splashy:

Have this same issue, don’t know why you can’t set the install location for flatpak apps to your sd card…

Create a symbolic link to a directory on your SD card in place of ~/.local/share/flatpak/

[Marlock]

Originally posted by kilésengati:

Originally posted by Splashy:

Have this same issue, don’t know why you can’t set the install location for flatpak apps to your sd card…

Create a symbolic link to a directory on your SD card in place of ~/.local/share/flatpak/

or move specific apps from inside that folder to the sd card and symlink each one you moved, if you want to do this selectively

[kilésengati]

Originally posted by Marlock:

Originally posted by kilésengati:

Create a symbolic link to a directory on your SD card in place of ~/.local/share/flatpak/

or move specific apps from inside that folder to the sd card and symlink each one you moved, if you want to do this selectively

Exactly.

On second thought, Splashy has a valid point. For casual users, package managers should let us configure install directories via the UI.
A knowledgeable user can do this much faster and comfortable with the terminal, but to a UI-dependent PC user (which are most of them), this is a roundabout way.

[retrogunner]

you might check out my reply on space saving considersidations for 64 & 256GB models to reclaim some space:

• in desktop, issue: flatpak remove --unused
  
• removal of unnecessary proton_dist.tar files

And one more thing, you could use the symlink solution, OR, edit your $HOME/.profile to define your own *_DIRs per https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/flatpak-command-reference.html such as:

• FLATPAK_USER_DIR=/alt/sdcard/path # this replaces using $XDG_DATA_HOME/flatpak ( i.e. $HOME/.local/share/flatpak )
  
• FLATPAK_SYSTEM_DIR=/alt2/path # which should likely work as you're not install them as root. Great for a fallback location.

Update: you can create something "fancy" similar to this so your profile check on boot/login only is set if the sdcard exists:

if [[ -e /path/to/sdcard ]]; then
export FLATPAK_USER_DIR=/alt/sdcard/path
export FLATPAK_SYSTEM_DIR=/alt2/path
fi

This is just off the cuff. I'm sure some more logic needs to be in place. Keep in mind if you have this test, if you have flatpaks in your $HOMEDIR/.local/ they might not be available when the sdcard is installed. -- There's always some sort of trade off when conserving space.

[Splashy]

Originally posted by retrogunner:

you might check out my reply on space saving considersidations for 64 & 256GB models to reclaim some space:

• in desktop, issue: flatpak remove --unused
  
• removal of unnecessary proton_dist.tar files

And one more thing, you could use the symlink solution, OR, edit your $HOME/.profile to define your own *_DIRs per https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/flatpak-command-reference.html such as:

• FLATPAK_USER_DIR=/alt/sdcard/path # this replaces using $XDG_DATA_HOME/flatpak ( i.e. $HOME/.local/share/flatpak )
  
• FLATPAK_SYSTEM_DIR=/alt2/path # which should likely work as you're not install them as root. Great for a fallback location.

Update: you can create something "fancy" similar to this so your profile check on boot/login only is set if the sdcard exists:

if [[ -e /path/to/sdcard ]]; then
export FLATPAK_USER_DIR=/alt/sdcard/path
export FLATPAK_SYSTEM_DIR=/alt2/path
fi

This is just off the cuff. I'm sure some more logic needs to be in place. Keep in mind if you have this test, if you have flatpaks in your $HOMEDIR/.local/ they might not be available when the sdcard is installed. -- There's always some sort of trade off when conserving space.

Rip average user

The main issue i have with this is that valve has not offered a easier way fix this for less linux-savvy users

[Splashy]

Originally posted by kilésengati:

Originally posted by Splashy:

Have this same issue, don’t know why you can’t set the install location for flatpak apps to your sd card…

Create a symbolic link to a directory on your SD card in place of ~/.local/share/flatpak/

I've heard that symlinking files can affect performance tho

[Marlock]

Originally posted by Splashy:

Rip average user

The main issue i have with this is that valve has not offered a easier way fix this for less linux-savvy users

sure, that's absolutely correct, and is the reason it's called a workaround

it's better to have those, and when possible make easy to follow videos on how to do it, than simply not have them... but they're definitely not ideal

Originally posted by Splashy:

I've heard that symlinking files can affect performance tho

very very very unlikely to be true, given how they work

the file isn't hosed through it, only its location, so you request it at point A, get sent to point B instead, and do the rest (which is what can be impacted by performance) directly at the new location

what might impact performance is using an SD card instead of the built-in SSD... but only for write speeds, because tests have shown that read speeds are pretty similar (if you use a good enough SD card)

[kilésengati]

Originally posted by Splashy:

Originally posted by kilésengati:

Create a symbolic link to a directory on your SD card in place of ~/.local/share/flatpak/

I've heard that symlinking files can affect performance tho

I've used symlinks for space management and other cool tricks on both Linux and Windows and have never noticed any performance issues unless the linked directory was on slow storage (like a spinner or sub-par flash storage).
If you have a crappy SD card or have too many programs read and write simultaneously to the same storage device, it will obviously impact performance. Otherwise, symlink performance isn't an issue for average home users (even most server admins).
Oftentimes, when people are discussing performance drawbacks of certain system utilities (or whatever you would call a symlink), it's usually because they are either just nerdy, don't know what they are talking about or are professionals talking in the context of server farms and super-computers, where even performance hits unnoticeable to a desktop user would mean Megawatts of wasted energy over time due to the operation's scale. Either way, it's nothing a casual user should break their head about (unless they like rabbit holes).