The SteamOS Konsole

#steamos #linux #beginners

SteamOS

In 2013 a linux based operating system developed by the software company Valve was created. This operating system was used by one of Valve's first hardware ventures the Steam Machine to give it a more console interface, this was valves first venture into the gaming computer space, but would not be the last.

In 2021 the Steam Deck was announced and up for reservation with the new steamOS 3.0, with this operating system came a variety of user friendly design features to make the steam deck one of the best portable gaming computers on the market. It also came with a terminal that we will be using in this dev post.

Enabling The SSH server

With the steam deck comes a built in SSH server. the only thing needed to be done is quick and easy steps to set up your password.
So to start go into the desktop mode by going through.

Power > Switch to Desktop

Then search for konsole on the home button.

To set up the password input the following.

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ passwd

the terminal will then ask for a password that you must input twice, keep in mind you wont see the characters on screen.

Then initiate the SSH with,

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ sudo systemctl start sshd

this will start the SSH at systemctl. to stop the SSH replace start in the command with stop. Now with putty or a Linux terminal you can connect to the SSH server!

Commands for the console

But that is just the tip of the iceberg. since steamOS is a Linux based operating system, all Linux/cli commands work out of the box! So lets take a look at just some basics to get you navigating the konsole.

ls | This command will return the names of the files in your current path

 (deck@steamdeck ~)$ ls

Applications  Documents  Games  Pictures  Templates 
Desktop  Downloads  Emulation  Music  Public  Videos

cd | This command will change the path your currently in

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ cd Emulation/
(deck@steamdeck Emulation)$ ls

bios  hdpacks  roms  saves  storage  tools

cat | this command will read the file specified

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ cd Desktop/
(deck@steamdeck Desktop)$ cat Dev-blog
linux commands (:

These are all just very basic commands so I definitely recommend learning more, here are 40 basic ones that you can test out right now!

conclusion

The Steam Deck is a incredibly powerful machine and I cant wait for the continued support from valve to add even more value to this operating system. With the steam deck already being somewhat available for desktop pc's I'm excited to see where this software goes. I hope that you learned something from this dev post and continue doing great things!