Well, I did say “maybe with a real d-pad”, it’s just the thumbsticks that aren’t necessary.

I actually did play with the Steam Controller for years using the trackpad as d-pad. It was more of a comfort thing that made it less than ideal which was due to the shape/texture of the original SC, but I could live without it personally if it’s done right.

I’ve even played shmups with it, with the right settings, but I get there is a learning curve and its easier to use a physical d-pad.

I understand the trackpads somewhat since they take up space, but the lack of back buttons is inexcusable.

Personally though, I’d buy a trackpad only deck (maybe with a real d-pad) but I know I’m in the minority on that one.

It’s just saying it’s not supported, not that it doesn’t work. Depending on your country, I doubt that warranty voiding claim is enforceable either.

Also, if you get one of their units that has an ARM chip inside instead of an intel one, there is basically no chance you’re ever going to be able to use anything other than the software that they have by default.

Their x86 models are fine as you imply, just avoid ARM and you can install any OS you want.

The ZOTAC handheld looks interesting, and while it’s nice to see decently sized touchpads, they are very low on the device and it seems like that would be uncomfortable to use.

A bunch of back buttons would have mitigated the issue a little, but it seems like there is only two, which is a shame.

It’s a bit of both, along with the Linux AMD drivers being superior in many cases to the Windows drivers.

I’ll add for completeness that vkd3d-proton handles DX12 titles, and of course OGL and Vulkan are supported natively.

For me, it’s not the steam machine itself but the peripherals like the steam controller that would come with it. There still isn’t a proper replacement for the original SC that has: trackpads, gyro, back buttons, and full steam input support.

Everything else is missing trackpads and aimed at emulating a console controller, so you get weird situations where one mode supports gyro because it emulates a switch controller but doesn’t support the back buttons and analog triggers, and another supports the back buttons and analog triggers but not gyro.

Funnily enough, the steam deck itself is the best option as a controller if you want all of these features.

Of course, a new steam machine wouldn’t be required for a new SC to happen, but it makes sense to pair them, as they did originally.

Only thing I’m missing is the ability to only download a subset of videos from a channel. There is a workaround by making a playlist but I believe that requires a Google account.

(not sure if btrfs can do that too but it might)

It can. And they’ll both alert you of problems if you do regular scrubs, which might be enough even with non-raid installs, if you have secondary backups.