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8 Years later my Steam Link is still getting regular updates

⁨1267⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

https://slrpnk.net/pictrs/image/6ba018a9-26c1-4d92-82a3-f15ea07414bb.webp

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  • speaker_hat@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I just read in Wikipedia that Valve is privately helded.

    There must be something magical in the fact that they don’t need to feed their shareholders with mountains of cash every quarter, and actually focus on their customers, as happened in this post.

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    • Budd@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Fun fact, they used to be public but Gabe took it back private after realizing how shitty it was having to answer to shareholders.

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      • speaker_hat@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        That’s an interesting piece of info

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    • cmhe@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      True, private companies are generally more focused in customer satisfaction, but that can suddenly change, for instance when the owner dies, and the new owners don’t share the same ideals.

      Private companies have a certain single point of failure built-in by having a often just one or sometimes just a small number of owners.

      Nobody really knows what will happen when Gabe dies.

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      • Jessvj93@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Gabe-AI, it’s the only one I’d trust to run Valve. We need to preserve his personality starting today!

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    • cordlesslamp@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      And the fact is they still make a mountain of cash every quarter, just by focusing on their customers.

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      • Crikeste@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I don’t know about that. They run one of the most predatory examples of gambling in gaming.

        The new EU ruling really brought to light how big of a problem the CS:GO gambling is.

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      • Fedizen@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        but what about the latest investment fad like AI or NFTs? Won’t they think of the poor scammers?

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      • CosmicCleric@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        And the fact is they still make a mountain of cash every quarter, just by focusing on their customers.

        “Win-Win” for the win!

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    • MaxVoltage@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      to be fair Sony still updates the ps3

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      • olympicyes@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Also to be fair they tried to kill PSN store on the PS3 but the resulting backlash made them realize to do so would kill customer faith in the PS4 and PS5 PSN stores and so they backed off. Nintendo could only get away with it because they already trained us not to trust their online stores and buy physical only. Since Steam doesn’t have a physical option they need to play their cards right.

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      • dandu3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        They only do it to make sure the latest Blu Rays work AFAIK. this is also how they get the decryption keys for the latest movies lol

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    • SquigglyEmpire@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Twitter (sorry, X.com) is also privately held now so it’s not always a happy story :/

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    • scottmeme@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Easy answer. Valve prints money.

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  • The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    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.

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    • Infynis@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      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!

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      • tyrant@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        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

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      • Digestive_Biscuit@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        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.

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    • nihth@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      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

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      • Cqrd@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Tell me you don’t know how valve works without telling me you don’t know how valve works.

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  • newthrowaway20@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    That’s actually really awesome.

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  • ono@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    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.

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    • Jawa@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I thought this too, but unfortunately in terms of modding and general use they are very limited, afaik. When I looked into it, it boiled down to: There’s an sdk to develop stuff for it and you can get root access but good luck trying to replace the os or anything like that. That being said, this is what I remember from ~2 years ago, so if it can be customised more now, please let me know. I kinda bought 2 in hopes of being able to do that :D

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      • ono@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I meant that I ought to use it for its intended purpose after all.

        (But yes, I would still like the option of replacing the OS.)

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      • uis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Why would you need sdk? It’s literally linux box. Just use GCC.

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      • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I thought you could literally install sunlight/moonlight on it and have an even better experience. I never got around to trying after it got recommended to me

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  • blazeknave@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    8 years later and I still haven’t used it once

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    • BigPotato@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Every time I’ve tried to use it, I’ve either had to head downstairs to the PC to fix something or had terrible lag and artifacting making it unusable for even turn based games like Xcom…

      But I still love that little box. I’ve got two of them and I have Steam Controllers to pair with them but I’ve never had luck with them. Wired, wireless, no luck.

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      • Zyrxil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Have you tried Moonlight? It’s an open source streaming alternative software that you can install on Steam Links, streams using Nvidia’s GeForce Experience as the broadcasting part and Moonlight receives it.

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      • woelkchen@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Every time I’ve tried to use it, I’ve either had to head downstairs to the PC to fix something or had terrible lag and artifacting making it unusable for even turn based games like Xcom…

        That’s not normal. While Steam Link is a bit older by now and as a result there are constrains like streamed resolution, your problems look more likely connected to your network than Steam Link itself. Digital Foundry talked about PlayStation Portal recently which also includes a two minutes chapter about best practices that apply to other game streaming devices as well: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEoo_gbOBYo

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    • ieightpi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I use mine all the time. It’s a great peice of hardware

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  • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    That’s the thing about Valve. They really know and do software as good as anyone else in the business.

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    • HATEFISH@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Let’s not pretend alt tabbing a source game was possible pre 2013

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      • Fontasia@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        True, but the Steam overlay is a good workaround

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    • Lightsong@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Not like anyone else, they’re unique.

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  • BmeBenji@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    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.

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    • Carighan@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      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.

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    • MaxVoltage@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Bruh steam controller goes for 200$ idk what you talking bout

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      • olympicyes@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Valve was selling their controllers for $5 to blow out the stock (one per account).

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      • BmeBenji@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I’m talking about how Valve dumped them for $5 a piece because they clearly weren’t selling enough.

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      • ComradeKhoumrag@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        It’s technically a collectors item now

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    • scottmeme@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I loved my stream controller so much I recently bought a second on eBay

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    • paddirn@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      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.

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  • dinckelman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I love mine. It does one thing, and it does it well. That’s exactly what I wanted from it

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    • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      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.

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      • dinckelman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I would definitely not recommend a wifi connection for this

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  • Kolanaki@yiffit.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Don’t even need the hardware anymore. The Android app is really good on its own. I can even play games while not on my own home network with minimal lag so long as I am on 5G or wifi. I use it to play a few rounds of Civilization when waiting at the doctor.

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    • Retrograde@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Kolanak, I’ve seen you comment on so many threads on Lemmy. I thank you for A. Being an active commenter, B: having valuable opinions and instigating discourse and C: having your name in emoji format so people clearly see you.

      Well done.

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      • blazeknave@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Emoji format? What client you on?

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    • Landless2029@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I sideload the app onto fire sticks. Works fine for the most part. Played games like plateup and RPGs without issue

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    • ripcord@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Android app is so buggy though.

      Right now for whatever reason it refuses - on two different android TVs - to stream from either Steam Deck or desktop (for Steam Deck I get sound but black screen, for desktop it genuinely crashes). Tried with Steam Link hardware and it’s fine for some reason. But that’s just the latest issue.

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  • rickdg@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Feels like a nice symptom of Valve’s flat structure.

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    • CosmicCleric@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Feels like a nice symptom of Valve’s flat structure.

      Elaborate?

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      • max_adam@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I was curious about it too and there was a paper about it with the following summary:

        Valve is a “flat” company without a management hierarchy or traditional boss roles: instead of top-down organization and management, Valve employees are free to work on whatever projects they choose and to convince other employees to join collaborative groups. Decision-making is thus “democratized” rather than centralized in key management positions. This peculiar structure, or lack thereof, seems to challenge conventional ideas about organization not only in the video game business but also business in general.

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    • worsedoughnut@lemdro.id ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Maybe, but it’s far more likely it’s just dependancies and other 3rd party library packages being updated.

      The Steam Link Linux package also still gets the taste update now and then on my old Ras Pi, but mostly these days it’s just the Android app being given bug fixes (even though the last one is from October).

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  • EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    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

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  • CH3DD4R_G0BL1N@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    But…but…vAlve doEsNt suPpoRt iTs haRdWare

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    • Retrograde@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’ve never seen people say this, but if they do, fuck em

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    • willis936@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It depends what you mean by support. They made the Steam Link for 3 years and have not made it for 5 years.

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  • Drusas@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    This post reminded me that I have a Steam Link. Somewhere.

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    • Retrograde@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Somewhere, someplace, steam link is there

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    • dlok@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I put mine in the original packaging and donated to one of these gifts for kids collections… in hind sight that product was so niche especially being pc gaming is probably quite rare in low income families I can’t imagine any kid being happy with it so I feel a bit guilty!

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      • Wolf_359@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I teach lower income students and they love technology as much as the rest of us. They usually opt for used electronics and a lot of them are getting scammed into buying secondhand enterprise rigs that are converted into shitty gaming PCs, but don’t worry, you made some nerd’s day.

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  • falsem@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    If you have proper full continuous deployment infrastructure setup then you can do minor updates of things like dependencies automatically. I'd guess that's what's happening here.

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    • Kata1yst@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Amazing how many products just don't.

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  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    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.

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    • knightly@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      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.

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      • BoastfulDaedra@lemmynsfw.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        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.

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    • keefshape@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Give Sunshine (host) and Moonlight (client) a try.

      Haaaaaands down better quality and latency.

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      • CosmicCleric@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Does Sunshine only work on PCs that have Nvidia cards, or also those with AMD video cards?

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      • nailbar@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Ooh! I’ve been looking for something like this, but didn’t know the right words to google.

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    • bitwolf@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      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.

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  • trackcharlie@lemmynsfw.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    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

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  • garretble@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    This post got me to dig mine out after all these years.

    After literally 99 updates, I got it running and again and played some games from the couch. It was a good time! I don’t know why I packed it away.

    Valve needs to update this little dude, but they never will, of course.

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  • Suavevillain@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I love when old hardware gets update still.

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  • kratoz29@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The hardware that became an app, good thing it has updates yet.

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  • ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I swapped over to a Sunshine + Moonlight combo for game streaming and it absolutely blew Steamlink out of the water for me. Went from lag, resolution switching and disconnects to buttery smooth on the same hardware.

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  • Blackmist@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Mine never worked very well. I’m assuming it’s very dependent on which GPU you have.

    Had much better results with Moonlight and Sunshine.

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  • kosanovskiy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    What do you use it for?

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  • Feugnis@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Same! That thing is so useful.

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  • Honytawk@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    And what are those updates?

    Are they adding new features? Patching security? Fix bugs? Or just update their DRM with new encryption codes?

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  • mrgucci@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Love mine, use it constantly to play games in the living room!

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  • Apollo2323@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Wow , Valve is really an amazing company!!

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  • RDAM_Whiskers@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I love this little piece of hardware.

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  • Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I bought one back in the day but always had input/video lag. Does yours work smoothly?

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  • CameronDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    My steamlink always updates when i power it on. Its like the updates are not persisted anymore. There is nothing new being added.

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  • TheQuietCroc@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I don’t know what it is but I don’t get sound on mine, at least for most games.

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