Downloads in Sleep Mode

[mok]

I dont know if it is possible but, it would be cool if the steam deck is still downloading games while it is in stand-by (only with power cable plugged in), like the playstation 5. some games are > 100gigs and i let my steam deck run with display on over night, this is not very 2022.

[Clone303]

It would be awesome

[Master Ace]

honestly surprised it didnt have it

[Prezidentas]

not possible. display powering off? yes. but while sleeping? no.

[mok]

yes, sleep is sleep i know. but this is the job to be done. i think maybe it is possible in a lower runlevel with a small amount of processes, display off to save power and listening on the power button to "wake up". again, it should be only possible in docking mode/plugged in power cable.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by mok:

yes, sleep is sleep i know. but this is the job to be done. i think maybe it is possible in a lower runlevel with a small amount of processes, display off to save power and listening on the power button to "wake up". again, it should be only possible in docking mode/plugged in power cable.

what "lower runlevel"? The CPU is busy extracting the compressed downloads, and is using quite a bit of power for that too.

[mok]

runlevel 3, no display manager but with network, a small download process could handle that.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by mok:

runlevel 3, no display manager but with network, a small download process could handle that.

but whats the point?

[Rai]

Would be nice but sadly this is more of an issue with Steam Deck being a fully fledged PC than a console. Since consoles have a simpler operating systems, they can enter special low power states like Sleep and keep wifi/LTE stuff on due to their specialized design. Not sure how easy that would be on Steam Deck, since most PCs stop downloads during sleep mode

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by Rai:

Would be nice but sadly this is more of an issue with Steam Deck being a fully fledged PC than a console. Since consoles have a simpler operating systems, they can enter special low power states like Sleep and keep wifi/LTE stuff on due to their specialized design. Not sure how easy that would be on Steam Deck, since most PCs stop downloads during sleep mode

consoles don't have simpler operating systems. they literally have a co-processor while the main components are off.

[AnimatingFeller]

Seeings how this is a Feature Request page, I'm not sure why anyone would be defending the case not to have background downloading.
We (the consumer) make requests for what we like and then it's up to Valve to make that happen. In the case of background downloading -the Switch does it and Androids do it so I'm sure they can make this work. This may be a full fledged PC but they also entered the console market, so they should be competitive in all fronts.
For me, the biggest downside to the Deck is this download issue. PC games are huge and keeping this things awake to download them is pain in the butt. I'm really hoping Valve adds this soon.

[maxRunner]

Android and ps4 do this, so "not possible" seems a bit exaggerated.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by maxRunner:

Android and ps4 do this, so "not possible" seems a bit exaggerated.

the PS4 has an entire separate processor that stays active while the main AMD APU remains off. The deck simply lacks hardware to do this.
Smartphones use a different different approach too - it never enters such deep sleep that the CPU stops executing completely.

[maxRunner]

True, normally what happens is android will enter a low energy mode and do an occasional wake up and check for events. It seems plausible to me that something similar could be implemented for the deck, say, while connected to external charging.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by maxRunner:

True, normally what happens is android will enter a low energy mode and do an occasional wake up and check for events. It seems plausible to me that something similar could be implemented for the deck, say, while connected to external charging.

Really there is no point in any "low energy modes" for the deck since the decompression of downloads need quite a bit of energy. Auto shutdown on completion and disabling the screen seem to fit this task a lot better.

[maxRunner]

Right, but it only needs that energy while decompressing. Hence the "wake up". But I'm not really disagreeing, it could be that there are better solutions in this case, or mitigating circumstances that make it impractical. That's more a question of an implementation. I am merely establishing the "possibility" of it.