Must have utility software?

[TimberWolf]

Brand new to Steam Deck and to Linux. What are some must have utilities you have installed?
I am thinking specifically to help you with the hardware

[Mahjik]

Decky

[Monkey Metal]

Disk Usage Analyzer - Use this all the time
ProtonUp-Qt
ProtonTricks
Heroic Launcher - Use this for my epic/gog games
VLC - media player

[retrogunner]

Be aware of your disk usage. If you have a 64GB eMMC model, you will run out of space fast. Flatpaks will eat around 2GB off-the-bat due to duplicate shared dependencies (different version of Gnome & KDE libraries between everything).

Browse around https://flathub.org . This is where the Desktop Software installs from. You will need to install Flatseal[flathub.org] which allows Flatpaks to access outside your /home/deck/ directory -- such as accessing the SD Card.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/category/HOWTO/
Great stuff here. Covers Decky Loader too. If you have Minecraft, you can use PrismLauncher flatpak and Midnight Controls mod (on Modrinth) to play it from the Gamemode with the controllers.

https://github.com/CryoByte33/steam-deck-utilities
This is must have.
No need to enable everything, but it will help you get more performance out of your Deck. I've not adjusted my VRAM yet as I've heard mixed results and I'm not hurting atm.

If going to Desktop mode, you'll want to install KDE Connect on your PC and phone. KDE Connect is built into the Deck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbP0YCdAvho (Bryant covers howto's just like Gaming on Linux.)

Welcome to the Deck Club.

[@R+5]

lutris > heroic launcher

works with gog, epic games, emulation and also steam for windows, and includes many tools to improve compat when attempting to install non-native games.

heroic only works partially for epic, and if lutris works better, theres no point having both game managers-launchers

also check appimage files: they work as portable apps (one file = 1 program-app). they may take more disk space, but you can run them from a sd card or external memory, so if some may be useful but you dont want to use them frequently, you can place some in different sd cards

[ReBoot]

Must-have: none.

Those tools serve specific purposes which you may or may not need served. Instead of looking for tools and then shoehorn them into your usage patterns, look what you actually need and then install what you need.

[MJ711]

CryoUtilities
https://github.com/CryoByte33/steam-deck-utilities

[[?]legit]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Must-have: none.

Those tools serve specific purposes which you may or may not need served. Instead of looking for tools and then shoehorn them into your usage patterns, look what you actually need and then install what you need.

Sooner or later you must install a bunch of 3rd party stuff to get the most basic tasks running under steamos.

[MJ711]

Originally posted by ?legit:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Must-have: none.

Those tools serve specific purposes which you may or may not need served. Instead of looking for tools and then shoehorn them into your usage patterns, look what you actually need and then install what you need.

Sooner or later you must install a bunch of 3rd party stuff to get the most basic tasks running under steamos.

same goes for windows, so nothing new

[[?]legit]

Originally posted by MJ711:

Originally posted by ?legit:

Sooner or later you must install a bunch of 3rd party stuff to get the most basic tasks running under steamos.

same goes for windows, so nothing new

Nope, nothing I need to install to get games running on my windows deck or desktop. What are you talking about?

[Drak3]

Originally posted by ?legit:

Originally posted by MJ711:

same goes for windows, so nothing new

Nope, nothing I need to install to get games running on my windows deck or desktop. What are you talking about?

You’re limiting yourself to a microscopic selection of games if you’re not installing .NET.

Which I suppose is comparable to installing ProtonGE on Deck.

[[?]legit]

Originally posted by Drak3:

Originally posted by ?legit:

Nope, nothing I need to install to get games running on my windows deck or desktop. What are you talking about?

You’re limiting yourself to a microscopic selection of games if you’re not installing .NET.

Which I suppose is comparable to installing ProtonGE on Deck.

I lol'd reading this.

[Drak3]

Originally posted by ?legit:

Originally posted by Drak3:

You’re limiting yourself to a microscopic selection of games if you’re not installing .NET.

Which I suppose is comparable to installing ProtonGE on Deck.

I lol'd reading this.

That's fine. When UAC is configured correctly, Steam often installs the correct frameworks and APIs games require, similar to how Steam can automatically install the correct proton version for games.

It's understandable that you wouldn't have realized that many games require specific .NET versions than what a particular version of Windows ships with. Intercompatability between the different versions isn't absolute.

Although, .NET has nothing on Visual C++ Redistributables, which don't have intercompatibility between versions. Again, it's understandable that you don't know that these utilities are required by many programs. After all, program developers are substantially smarter than Microsoft and include essential components in their own installers.

[[?]legit]

Cool story. How is this even remotely related to the core issue of steamOS? I can run everything with windows, steamOS can't run half of my collection.

[Drak3]

Originally posted by ?legit:

Cool story. How is this even remotely related to the core issue of steamOS?

You said Windows didn't need any extra utilities. That's blatantly false. Windows doesn't even ship with everything it needs to run most Windows programs.
Whereas SteamOS ships a system with everything it needs to run games that are verified or playable. It's only necessary to install additional utilities if you're wanting to run games that don't work under mainline proton or have Linux native versions.

Originally posted by ?legit:

steamOS can't run half of my collection.

Sounds like a you problem. It can run something like 80+% of most of ours. Conversely, many gamers with massive libraries can't run every game in Windows either. Windows updates have broken compatibility with tons of games over the years, ignoring that some hardware/drivers/software can further break compatibility.

Originally posted by ?legit:

I can run everything with windows

That's nice, didn't ask.