Steam Deck unable to install anything in terminal

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
1

Just got Steam Deck which has been fun, but boy did they lock linux down in this OS.

sudo pacman -S gimp

resulted in

warning: Public keyring not found; have you run 'pacman-key --init'?
downloading required keys…

First I ran

rm -r /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
pacman-key --init
pacman-key --populate archlinux
pacman -Sc
pacman -Syyu

Now when I

sudo pacman -S gimp

I get

touch: setting times of '/usr': Read-only file system

I installed some stuff like obs, kdenlive, wine, lutris with discover and flatpack. Though lutris isn’t work because of 32-bit.

I much prefer the terminal for installing stuff anyway. With manjaro I already have a list of commands to get everything up and running.
But it appears Steam designed the Deck to be difficult to install packages.
If you login as root you get this

tune2fs: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/nvme0n1p4

Also annoying they’re isn’t a restore game option in Deck mode. I had to use desktop to get my deck connected to my server and restore so games from server rather then using the internet.

mangohud isn’t working currently after installing, I’m shocked valve didn’t have mangohud installed already.

Horizon Dawn and Elden Ring do run amazing however, I can’t wait to check out the benchmarks once mangohud is working.

2

Wasn’t the steam deck advertised as having an immutable OS? I mean that’s common for appliances.

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3

if that’s the case then I suppose you have to stick with flatpak?

I’m not the educated on flatpak, how do you install i386 architecture for lutris?

mangohud is working in desktop mode, but not in deck mode

4

Steam Deck FAQ

Tells you how to remove the write protection.

Not done it yet, but it will soon. I guess a script to re-install all your stuff after an update wipes it all, is the way to go, or install a different OS.

Update: Removed the protection, installed Arch keyring, threw a ton of stuff on. Next update, all gone. Probably best to let things mature a bit and wait for solutions.

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5

I have to check, but I think I had to install two additional flatpack packages via command line in order to get Lutris working. Dunno if they are 32bit specific.

6

Would this relate to the issues some users have run into when attempting to move files over from Micro SD cards to internal and running into error that states ‘content locked’

7

I think you are missing following components for Lutris:

flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Plattform.Compat.i386

(This should be the 32bit component)

And

flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Plattform.GL32.default

These components can only be installed via terminal, but get updated through the discover store.

8

This is only a problem for the ‘normies’.
You can easily turn that off and modify the system however you want. =)

I personally think valve is doing a great job keeping things somewhat ‘standardized’ for the console crowd, and yet still entirely open for those who are more tech-inclined. Nothing is really locked down at all. It just takes a bit of learning to open it all up.

This is a good thing, because it adds some safety for the common user, but still allows the system to really be entirely free and open with a minor - easily cleared - hurdle to filter out those who really shouldn’t be messing around too much with the system.

It’s sort of like adding a button to cars right on the dash that lets you dump all the oil out of your engine anytime you want, and then hoping your 4 year old in the passenger seat never touches it. Requiring a wrench and the effort of crawling underneath the car keeps people from being silly and ruining their cars. BUT you can still easily learn to drain your oil, and that process of learning teaches you how to do it without damaging things. (hopefully!)

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