If I can also dock it to my screen, keyboard and mouse then I can see myself doing some light development on it too.
If I end up getting one, I'd probably install Arch over the Arch-based distro they use. I don't mind the OSTree approach (I guess it makes sense for consumer tech), but I'd like to get the most out of that thing; ProtonGE and MangoHUD included.
Is that really relevant? The Steam Deck is not trying to be Desktop Linux - it boots directly to Steam and most users won't ever care what runs underneath. Just because you can run other Linux programs does not mean that problems with Linux (even the self-inflicted kind) will apply to the Deck.
I'd like to think so. Linus' conclusion was that Linux is inappropriate for any PC gaming, so I'd really like to hear his line of reasoning that has given him newfound hope in the platform if his own experiences were so rough.
> it boots directly to Steam and most users won't ever care what runs underneath.
Correct. It still uses DXVK though, and it's arguably even worse than desktop Linux for gaming since it's harder to tweak the files that might be necessary for smooth gameplay. We'll see how things turn out, but certain titles like Fallout 4 and the Battlefield games are borderline-unplayable on Linux without hacking a few INI files.