This is stupid and not really a use case since I guess I could technically hook into the Steam Frame’s desktop mode via some sort of Steam Link shenanigans if I really wanted to, but since the steam frame’s selling point was “This is a standalone Linux machine!” I kinda want to see if I could actually use it as a standalone Linux machine.
I tried the naive approach of just plugging it into a monitor via HDMI to USB-C dongle, but the monitor did not show up or react in any way. There isn’t even a “Displays” setting in the KDE Settings menu at all :o
I found some random thread about the Steam Deck that said external monitors are disabled unless you set your device to “Boot into desktop mode” so I tried that and it still didn’t work.
My second attempt was trying to get Displaylink Drivers installed because those are needed for the Docking station I have (StarTech DK31C4DPPDUE). Disabled Read-Only Mode, failed to install paru due to some sort of rustc incompatibility, then managed to install pikaur (whatever that is) and through that the displaylink and evdi-dkms package.
The Guide on the Arch Wiki says to configure DKMS but I just couldn’t figure out how to do that. So the displaylink service kept failing to start due to some sort of kernel error, as expected.
Honestly, I’m kinda stupid so I’m all out of ideas on how to get this running. I’m also probably too annoyed from today to interact with my Frame for at least a week.
spoiler
Ugh, I spent like an hour trying to figure out how to click Ctrl on the frame keyboard because I borked my pacman.conf file but couldn’t save changes that would fix it because I couldn’t press Ctrl and the only Virtual Keyboard available via Discover just didn’t work and the only other solution I found online was to install a different virtual keyboard via pacman but my pacman didn’t work because I borked the .conf file… I relented and plugged a physical keyboard into the frame.
Has anyone had any more luck? Please also tell me about other stupid things to do with the Frame.
Afaik unless someone builds an adapter for the front side extension port, all you can do is a wireless display, which tends to be too laggy for most uses.
The back side USB-C port is USB2.0 only and doesn’t support display out.
oooh, that totally explains it, thank you so much!! I would absolutely have continued to fiddle with drivers for days and never realized that it’s a hardware limitation haha
You could build one, they’ve released some example expansion boards when they released the CAD files last week.
https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/SteamHardware/SteamFrame/-/tree/master/example-expansion-port-full-usb-3.0?ref_type=heads
You might be able to get PCB way to make it. Just a thought.
Huh, that actually doesn’t look too complicated! I have no experience at all with anything like that but I bet my partner would be down to at least supervise (he’s an Electrical Engineer) so it might be doable :o
Keep in mind, while Displayport out can’t work, DisplayLink runs over normal USB and should have no trouble with USB 2.0. So for DisplayLink, it’s only a software issue.
Wireless display is too laggy? Steam Link is how half of the people using the frame are playing games in the first place. Not having the dongle doing the transmitting might add a couple of ms of delay due to the second hop, but there are many people who have been gaming with steam link for years.