• NarrativeBear@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    2 days ago

    How is the software on these things? Is it a privacy nightmare with telemetry, or does it work without phoning home?

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      1 day ago

      There’s no way to be 100% sure as no one has this, but it’s likely to be just a Linux box, like the Steam Deck. Valve doesn’t need any more telemetry than what they already get from the Steam client, and they have consistently delivered hardware that you own and can modify the software at will, so I would expect this to be the same.

      • SatyrSack@quokk.au
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 day ago

        Valve doesn’t need any more telemetry than what they already get from the Steam client

        And, to be clear, Valve does get a lot of telemetry out of Steam. It is likely nowhere near as bad as macOS/Windows itself, but it’s not like it’s automatically going to be entirely private/secure just because it’s Linux.

        • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 day ago

          Absolutely, my point is that it’s likely no more telemetry than a custom Linux box with Steam would gather.

    • nialv7@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      2 days ago

      Well nobody knows because no one has this thing yet. But I would imagine it would be like a steam deck in this regard.

    • Björn@swg-empire.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 day ago

      It’s running an ARM build of SteamOS. And as is the case with the other Steam hardware you are free to use your own OS. Arch recently revealed an ARM build.

    • bigbangdangler@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 day ago

      Unknown but currently no reason to think that it won’t work without phoning home.

      Obviously this is a risk you take if you’re an early adopter, but I wouldn’t expect it from Valve.

    • Dadifer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      The marketing says it’s a streaming first platform, but also a stand-alone computer.