I wish they’d still sell those as hardware units. Same with the Steam controller.
Sadly, they can’t sell the controller anymore because they got patent trolled.
They must’ve dealt with it somehow, otherwise the steamdeck would be in violation as well.
Fucking great. Do they even make anything themselves?
Edit: I looked it up, no, they don’t seem to actually make anything. They have a whopping 26 employees and make about $35m in revenue.
I’m unsure what I’m going to do when my steam controller breaks. No other controller even comes close, including the Xbox controller that I consistently see recommended. The gyro especially is so fucking nice, and AFAIK nothing else has one that works the same way.
I can’t believe people shit on the controller when it was released, they had no clue.
I think it had to do with the touchpads introducing a learning curve. Tbh I think if they decide to redo it then they should add swappable physical modules, so you can literally swap the touchpads for a stick/d-pad, or trackballs, or whatever fits. I can’t remember if they patented that or just had a prototype with it, either way I thought it was cool and was kinda disappointed it didn’t make it into the final version.
I have one of these that I never use. Good to know they’re still getting updates. I do have a potential application for mine in the near future.
This post reminded me that it’s supposed to be used for gaming. I’ve had mine since it was first released and have always used it to turn my TV into a PC monitor to watch YouTube and Movies from my bed
Wow , Valve is really an amazing company!!
Wow, when they were practically giving those away, I figured they were washing their hands of it. It’s amazing that it’s still being supported.
Think about it though. Probably some overlap with the deck. And hiring one dev very part time to keep this thing alive is nothing for them. Which makes the steam deck way more lucrative
Tell me you don’t know how valve works without telling me you don’t know how valve works.
How do they work?
Flat structure. If you want to work on something, work on it; if it’s not interesting to you, find something else. If you have an idea find people that also seem passionate for it and start making it, if you can’t find people then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It’s why valve rarely makes anything, but when they do it’s super high quality
Means that there is this one dev who still likes to use his steam link and so he keeps maintaining the project
Mine was $1! I love it. I just bought a wireless mouse and keyboard for it, because it’s honestly just a great way to stream stuff. Now my computer can be in my living room, and my office at the same time!
I’ve got one I never hooked up. Can you just control the computer in general or do you only get access to steam? I wanted to jellyfin with it maybe
You can control the computer but it boots in big picture so you need to escape it to get to the desktop
Isn’t that a setting, and you can make it connect without launching big picture, so it’s basically just pc streaming?
Oh cool I didnt know that. That’s handy
Yes, I have one and remember doing just that.
You can do both. The default is Big Picture mode, but you can back out if it and get a desktop.
But, you’ll basically have to be a foot or two from the PC to read anything unless you have a desktop environment set up for a large screen (KDE plasma has a TV version)
Can control it in general, but the first few times you’ll have to run over and look at the monitor to do stuff.
It generally assumes it’s being used “close” to the computer, so instead of complex pairing, it just shows a code on one you type into the other.
Sometimes windows will get antsy and pop up a dialogue that can only be interacted with locally, but it’s only one or twice ever.So, would you say, shit just works?
I remember that sale and annoyed I didn’t buy one. At the time I thought I’d never use it. Fast forward a few years and I occasionally use Steam Link on a Raspberry Pi, so I would have used it. Oh well.
My steamlink always updates when i power it on. Its like the updates are not persisted anymore.
There is nothing new being added.Ah, the Discord strategy of updates
I love when old hardware gets update still.
I love mine. It does one thing, and it does it well. That’s exactly what I wanted from it
Eh, I’ve had issues with mine being able to stream 1080p@60fps with my pc on wifi without it lagging like crazy, and my desktop had a strong AX connection to the AP (and speed/latency/jitter tests to and from the router were perfectly normal).
It’s definitely starting to show its age, but it’s great if you’re streaming at 30fps.
I would definitely not recommend a wifi connection for this
Valve being a cool company might be true and all but I think there’s also the real reason that steam makes money by selling games, and making it easy for users to stick to gaming (with steam) ensures ongoing income. Imagine someone who now loves gaming on TV but being annoyed by their broken steam link - what are they going to buy next? A PlayStation and years without a game sold to them.
I still use mine just about everyday.
That’s because unlike most other businesses steam understands that if you want people to keep buying your products, you need to provide a decent service
Which is why you can’t buy a Steam Link, amiright?
I use mine regularly, and I would be sad if it completely breaks.
So, a product that has been discontinued doesn’t mean that it needs to lose software support, was the point I was trying to make. It would be nice if they still sold them but still good that the people that own them can continue to use them and are receiving security updates for them.
I think it’s important that companies like google, samsung, apple, etc are held to at least this standard where products don’t need to be changed unless they actually break, rather than forcing software changes that break or reduce effectiveness of the product to try and force the consumer to produce e-waste and buy a new product.
Nothing wrong with wanting new products, however that should be a personal decision made at a personal level by a consumer not one forced onto them by a company who designed products using the planned obsolescence doctrine.
I own and like the steam link, but the reason they don’t sell it anymore is because the steam link app is on most smart devices now, and if your TV doesn’t support it, you can buy a streaming stick that does for like $30, give or take depending on sales. And those devices are more portable (less wires) and more versatile than a steam link.
Any competitive price for the steam link would be less than what Valve can produce them for. Weren’t they selling it for $5 at the end? Pretty sure I picked mine up for $10 or less. Steam can’t show ads to subsidize the price of the hardware like every other smart device does.
Do you just plug the controller/mouse/keyboard into the TV USB port?
The Steam Link itself has USB ports, the Steam Link apps all use Bluetooth controllers
I’ve never tried, that might work? Connecting via bluetooth works. You can even use the tv remote!
the reason they don’t sell it anymore is because the steam link app is on most smart devices now
Not available for Roku or webOS. That’s hardly “most smart devices”.
Not available for Roku or webOS. That’s hardly “most smart devices”.
From this article…
Steam Link connects your device to any computer that’s running Steam.
Get it now for:
- iPhone, iPad, & Apple TV (11.0+)
- Android (5.0+) phone, tablet, & TV
- Android users without access to Google Play
- Raspberry Pi 3, 3+, & 4 *Windows
- Linux
- MacOS
- Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro
I wonder if you added up the percentage of ownership for all those devices listed above, versus all smart devices including Roku and webOS, what the numbers would look like.
I’m not sure if Tizen OS (Samsung TV) is lumped under “Android” (I’m not even sure if it is Android?) but it also works great on every Samsung TV I’ve tried it on!
Bruh they sell 50 meter hdmi cords
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I bought one during the clearance sale for the price of shipping, assuming that it would be abandoned but maybe still useful as a low-power linux server. I guess I ought to set it up and take advantage of it.
Thanks, Valve, for not letting these things become instant e-waste.
Yeah still use mine! Best way to stream from my PC upstairs to my TV downstairs!
This is my exact usage case.
I just wish it worked on modern linux.
spent an entire weekend trying to get steam link to work only to find out it doesnt work on wayland.
It probably doesn’t work on your wayland compositor. Screencasting still is not part of protocol.
Steam Link is a piece of hardware in this case, not the software you are discussing (I would guess?).
neither work with wayland.
The Deck uses Wayland so that doesn’t make sense. And I’ve definitely streamed to my laptop to test a few years ago and it worked well enough.
Give Sunshine (host) and Moonlight (client) a try.
Haaaaaands down better quality and latency.
I would love to see Valve embrace these projects and integrate them for streaming in app at least, maybe even run on Links?
Does Sunshine/Moonlight only work on PCs that have Nvidia cards, or also those with AMD video cards?Read further down to this comment that had a link to the product page and what it supported.
Thank you to those who had already responded.
Works great on AMD as well. I moved from a 2800 Super to an AMD 7900xt, and its almost latency free even at 4k on gigabit wired. Reasonable on WiFi, even across the house.
Ooh! I’ve been looking for something like this, but didn’t know the right words to google.
I give it eight months. Wayland support is getting better every week and some major distros plan to drop X11 by the end of the year.
Well, there’s always the possibility of a Wayland compatibility upgrade. I know it’s a lot, but these guys are nerds hard-core about this, and thank God for that, too.
Works great on AMD as well. I moved from a 2800 Super to an AMD 7900xt, and its almost latency free even at 4k on gigabit wired. Reasonable on WiFi, even across the house.Wrong reply my bad
One of the primary reasons for moving to Wayland is it’s native security when it comes to screen sharing. To properly screen share you need xdg-desktop-portal installed. You should then get a selection window on the server side asking which window you want to share over the steam link session with the client.
A lot of people just use moonlight/sunshine now though instead of steamlink.
Maybe the Steam Link and Controller weren’t as popular as Valve hoped they would be, but damn everyone who still has them seems to love them. Maybe I’m biased because I still have my controller and love it, and I gave away my Steam link because my Deck can do that too, but my friend who received the link is loving it.
The Steam Controller is one of the best pieces of hardware I ever bought. There’s something incredibly chill about playing strategy games not originally meant for controller on the couch. I also genuinely like fiddling with cool setups and radial menus for it.
I never really liked the Steam Controller when it first came out. My Dad was actually the one that had gotten them and even he seemed to have set them aside after awhile, as they just collected dust for ages after that. I picked them up from him a few years back and I’ve started using them with my Steam Deck and they’re actually pretty nice, I get it now, though I kind of wish they still had analog sticks. They still work fine though after all these years, while every set of Xbox-style controllers I keep getting for my kids last for maybe 6 months before they’re useless.
Bruh steam controller goes for 200$ idk what you talking bout
It’s technically a collectors item now
Valve was selling their controllers for $5 to blow out the stock (one per account).
but today is 2024 my good sir
So a good year to use a static avatar and a readable user name is what you’re saying?
100$ pay pal and you can choose my font and image
I’m talking about how Valve dumped them for $5 a piece because they clearly weren’t selling enough.
I loved my stream controller so much I recently bought a second on eBay
