Edit: As of five minutes ago, I am aware that there is no official ui for the elgato stream deck which is a huge disservice to the users of this expensive piece of hardware. I was under the impression that streamdeck-ui was the official (and very outdated) official version, which is false. Those who bothered to explain this, thank you very much. To those piling up on someone who just hasn’t as much knowledge as you do: feels bad man. Maybe consider that this is not reddit and schooling someone does not have to be aggressive.
Hi folks!
I have switched to my Linux daily driver this week and after some starting issues, it’s working quite well.
But a few bits and bobs are quite annoying, such as streamdeck ui. The windows version looks and feels like a spaceship compared to the barebones version I have on ubuntu 23.04
Here’s what the windows version looks like.
Additionally, the windows version has plugins and stuff that pretty much make giant scripts that can do pretty much anything and everything. The Linux version doesn’t even have it’s own pictures that come with it.
If you’re curious I just used apt install streamdeck-ui instead of the complex stuff that is on the web (and doesn’t work anymore because outdated).
Am I just using a really outdated version or is the linux version just trash?
TL;DR: Linux version of streamdeck ui looks 20 yrs old while the windows version looks like photoshop.
Thanks for reading. Have a good one!
Just so you’re aware, streamdeck-ui is an unofficial program made by one guy in his spare time, so it’s kinda unfair to call it “trash”, and compare it with official software made by a team of full-time paid developers, who also have full access and documentation for the internals of a device their company created…
And now we are getting somewhere. I‘m sorry, I don’t have the time to find out if the ui for an expensive piece of hardware I bought is made by someone else than the manufacturer.
In this case I retract my question (not statement, thus not unfair btw.) and make the statement that elgato is just not taking care of its linux users.
This is one piece of crucial advice that someone needs to know before buying a streamdeck. They just dont have a ui for linux.
Please look up what you’re using next time, and keep in mind that on Linux, a lot of GUI tools for hardware config are community made, so you’re lucky someone already tried to make something for the streamdeck. With the exception of big software backed up by an organisation, most utilities started by one or two devs start small and are not perfect, but will get better over time as PRs and maintainers come in, so you also have to be patient and work with what you’re offered, or submit PRs yourself to improve it. If that’s something you can’t do because of time or whatever, then in the long run Linux isn’t for you yet.
Documentation for the streamdeck
Tip: when looking up a software for Linux, append Reddit at the end, like “streamdeck Linux Reddit”, plenty of people have already discussed this exact software and some others. Hope you find the tools you need.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll try that.
Concerning the “look up the things you’re using next time” feels like you assume I didnt do that. I looked up 20 different items in my config and even made some hardware choices based on that. the issue is that the information is not as easily gathered in some cases (see stream deck).
My point initially was that it is shocking to me that an expensive piece of hardware that has a pretty solid ui on windows should have (as I just learned) at least an official ui for linux at all.
Btw. I’m using linux for 2 yrs on a home server and am an admin for linux servers. The server side of linux is just a lot less complicated and thus I feel like the information as well as the software are easier to understand imo.
Also, I find the “then linux is not for you yet” a bit rough. I would argue that my point is valid, assuming that for profit companies usually do bother to at least have some kind of ui ready after linux is on the rise for quite some time and windows is deep down the enshittification spiral. I feel like asking what troubleshooting steps were undertaken before judging that someone is not ready for desktop linux would have been the appropriate way here.
Thanks anyway. I will check on reddit in the meantime.
You looked it up but didn’t realize it was made by one guy, if you have been on the repository you would’ve seen that!
I’m just saying please look up everything you install, and around it, what language it is written in, whether or not is being maintained, how many issues in the issue tracker, do they have their own support group via GitHub discussion, Discord, IRC, matrix, discourse, or whatever, then ask there if you need help. I know Reddit sucks but there’s the Elgato one with existing Linux discussions that you could’ve seen if you searched “streamdeck-ui linux”, at least with my search engine, relevant Reddit links came up second for me after the documentation with the dev’s name in the URL.
I meant you as in general you, not specifically you, i.e. Linux isn’t for you yet IF the antecedent clause applies (one is not patient to wait for new features, can’t submit PRs, which is a valid reason for some people with limited time due to family and stressful job), I didn’t say or judge that it isn’t ready for you.
IF you want more features, THEN please wait OR contribute, ELSE windows is perhaps more suitable if the streamdeck windows program has crucial things you need.
Also, please don’t assume expensive hardware = Linux support as well, not to come off mean-spirited, but because it will save you disappointment in the long run. I’m sitting here with an Nvidia GPU which is expensive and Linux is laughing at me. So don’t assume the same for other proprietary hardware, instead, bring it up with Elgato if you think you didn’t get what you paid for.
Thanks for making your opinion abundandly clear. That acutally helped a great deal. :)
I, sadly have the same nvidia problem. Good example btw how hard it is to find good information about linux stuff. I read a lot of posts on nvidia vs amd and most were like “it doesn’t really matter but amd is more cooperative”. Thats the issue. I would argue that someone who is making a linux build should absolutely stay away from nvidia but people are not as clear.
And thanks too for the suggestion. i will definitely write an email to elgato voicing my frustration.
Meta: May I ask something else? Why is it that linux centric subs often get called out for being condescending, dogpiling and gatekeeping? My case is a great example. I voiced frustration while apparently being ignorant. Instead of just telling me “take that up with elgato” people got offended (i assume) and downvoted and outright piled up on me. That is the exact opposite of welcoming new posters. I happen to moderate c/ubuntuserver and r/ubuntuserver where I delete comments dogpiling on ignorant people all the time and even get modmail asking why I allow ignorant people to ask questions in a support community. I don’t get it. Can’t we just try and answer peoples questions?
Sorry, lengthy answer because difficult question.
How I stop worrying about Nvidia and deal with it
I have voiced my frustration with Nvidia elsewhere, and there are still annoying bugs, that no one can fix because it’s proprietary, but I live through it because I love everything else on Linux.
I like that using Linux makes me more careful, I learn things all the time, I stopped feeling entitled to many things. The idea of a software is changed dramatically, it’s a code as an MVP, then built up slowly based on what the dev wants, as they often use the projects they maintain themselves, or contribution and requests from their users, which is so much more sustainable than what you get in the for-profit, proprietary domain.
For this reason, I avoid negatively talking about small community-driven foss projects on the internet, because I can be actively constructive by being the change I want to see, whereas on Windows I would be stuck with a subpar product with no source code to investigate.
I think in your case, and please don’t take it personal, we don’t know each other, I don’t know what you’re going through or how you are as a person, I’m making a small judgement based on word choice here, but calling something “trash”, even after you know it’s made by someone who probably wants to use their streamdeck on Linux (just like you) is quite a hostile thing to say and will invite some hostility back. I would retract it but you do you.
Caveat Now, some foss devs are whirling shit against each other all the time on their personal blogs but that’s within their own dev-dev domain, not user-dev domain. Say hypothetically if you start contributing to streamdeck-ui and the Dev starts being an AH then you can fork it and maybe then go online and vent.
Why forums appear toxic
I can admit some forums read very blunt and impatient, like BBS Arch Forum, but they only exercise patience when it’s a big they’ve never seen before, and will ask you to paste all sorts of command outputs to troubleshoot, otherwise, they are quick to recognise if the problem have been encountered, and will typically send you to the link of the solved post or tell you to RTFM because it’s somewhere in the manual. To be frank, this behavior I can understand and have no issue with.
On more general forums like this one, it’s often the case users ask question that they can do some precursor research and once stuck (no mention of issues anywhere, no similar thread), then if they do post, I’ve only seen poor quality comments like “works for me” or “same but idk the fix”, since the commenters will have to do the same searches the poster did and come to the same conclusions (here, it’s nice to send them links you researched to save them a few clicks). I’ve made similar posts with great details on what I tried but it’s still broken. If no one knows, then I open an issue.
Now, if they didn’t do research beforehand, commenters will look it up and then have to correct you but they might feel annoyed because why didn’t you do it before posting. Not everyone will be bothered by it. But I do feel like a search or two beforehand will bring a much more fruitful discussions.
I won’t defend inflammatory toxic language, but I don’t think there are any here present in this thread, it’s just a lot of “AcKtuaLLy” comments, but those were done to correct you and if I were you I don’t think I wouldn’t really get all defensive. I pride my time using Linux, and other commenters probably do too, but we all started somewhere so we know when we see the “I didn’t do my research but gonna post anyway” attitude. If one likes doing this, just get ready for people who want to correct things, I guess.
It’s a kind of tough love here where it’s heavily encouraged that one does their own heavy lifting instead of relying on others. At least that’s what I’ve observed. It might be negative, but it’s better being spoonfed. I’ve managed to avoid such negativity by trying to exhaust all options before posting for help. I learned so much and I hope you find a way to approach Linux that works for you! There are still others out there who aren’t jaded by newbie questions and still will help, just don’t expect their language to be nurturing.
Also, please consider ignoring internet points, they do nothing but makes you feel distressed. In places like this it’s a bit like on Hacker News where it’s to show if a comment is helpful/ constructive, or not. It’s not personal.
I read through your answer completely. Thank you. It’s actually (again) mostly the same thinking process I have and my ideas are mostly the same.
That I am trying to say is that the reaction „post all logs and outcomes of these commands“ is exactly how I like it. Classic troubleshooting. Professional, just great.
What I take issue with is assuming to know why a person said something. I asked if the product I wrongly assumed is for profit made is just trash or if I got it wrong. The exact wording is different but the context of both my post and comments clearly shows that I am not assuming I know everything. Thats why I asked.
It’s a misunderstanding, I get it but it shows me that you actually shouldn’t ask here since you need to obey to an arbitrary rule of law which is completely different from any nettiquette.
And lastly, as you said, internet points show if a comment is helpful. My post and comments were helpful both in describing the problem and explaining how I drew the conclusion.
I‘m not taking this personal, I‘m trying to show that shitting on people, however wrong or stupid they may seem, is our problem everywhere. It’s actually why people get redicalized irl. Because they are misunderstood and then reigned in by bad actors.
So my conclusion is: be careful who you (as in everyone) shit on because you’re actively making the world a worse place. One post/comment at a time. It’s fun for you and your superior buddies, but not for the other one. That makes you bullies, nothing else.
Thanks for letting me know. I just learnet that the other ui is community made as well. Shame on elgato to not bother for the thousands of linux users.
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Edit: thanks for downvoting instead of explaining. Someone just told me that the ui is in fact community made and elgato didn’t even bother to make a linux ui. That’s pretty devastating imo. So, the functionality still is a lot less user friendly but quite understandably so.
My issue with it is not the integration but the basic functionality compared to ad-dows. It‘s really frustrating to buy an expensive product, use it for a year on windows and then downgrade to hell when switching to linux. Most FOSS software looks and feels more taken care of than this.
I think a for profit ui that looks and feels like the 20 yr older windows brother is kind of trash, sorry.
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As of 5 minutes ago, I’m aware of this myself since someone bothered to tell me. People need to get that not everyone is on their level of knowledge and it is perfectly normal to assume that an expensive product comes with a linux version of the configuration software. Currently editing my post to reflect that.
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Thanks for elaborating. I would simply argue that my question was legit and it upsets me that I get downvoted on every comment (and my post) for asking a question, of which I edited most to reflect the new knowledge I gathered. I assumed something that wasn’t the case, my bad. I still think my post and comments were a good addition to this community for someone who searches for this information in the future. Thats why I dont unterstand the downvotes.
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Thanks for explaining. This makes sense. In the subs I moderate I take care of this kind of behavior as it drives away the people I actually want in the community and only keeps bullies.
You still have to learn that the looks of an UI have absolutely nothing to do with its functionality.
You can asign scripts to each button, and you can write literally anything into a script. So the possibilities are endless. There is nothing you can’t do with that
I‘m totally with you on that. I get it. But I still think users should have the same options on linux than they do on windows if they don’t have hours to write scripts or the knowledge.
Arguing that the possibilities are endless is correct imo but it is leaving out the elephant in the room: This only applies to people who are not typical windows users.
i don’t want the same options as i do have on windows, i actually PREFER the options on linux.
I don’t want developers wasting time in creating “oh-so-beautiful” UIs that makes things unnecessary slow and sluggish. Especially when the program we talk about isn’t even the one you primarily use; It’s the program you open once to configure, and then every now and then to add something…
In the times of ChatGPT that is absolutely capable of writing bash scripts for linux for everything you tell it to…the possibilities are endless for EVERYONE. You can find scripts for literally everything you can imagine online. And if you ask nicely in some communities so that someone writes you a quick script for whatever you need, you have everything you can imagine. More than on windows ^^
I don’t want to bash on you here, but you will see that you can do so much more with scripts on linux (and that they are quite easy to find / learn) than you can do on windows. You can automate soooooo much stuff with the press of a single button on your streamdeck. I do so with mine, it’s amazing
I agree on all points but one. I usually prefer to have more options and freedom as well BUT I am shocked that elgato didn’t even bother to make a ui for the streamdeck on linux. The community made ui (I know of this for like 10 minutes) is the typical “pro version” as most things in linux are. You can basically steer a spaceship with it, I get it.
My point does not seem to compute though: People are switching from windows en masse (as am I, too) and there not being a stream deck windows ui equivalent from the maker, with at least most of the functionality from the windows version is shocking to me. I am solely saying there should be freedom of choice which interface to use. Due to elgatos ignorance or unwillingness or whatever other reason, there is not. This is what surprised me.
Most of big companies don’t bother to make UIs for linux. You will come across this more often in the future.
Community-made is the way to go in 90% of usecases on linux. And i had so much more fun and success when using those programs, compared to the official windows counterparts. Because bug reports or feature requests i made on github for those projects, actually get answered by the programmers. They actually talk with me, listen to what i want to say, and in many cases even fulfilled my wishes for features.
I never ever in my life, had a programmer from a big company answer my feature requests… This was the moment i realized that i prefer this so much more.
It is a massive change, yes. And most people don’t really like it in the beginning. Many people will get accustomed with it sooner or later but there will always be people who don’t want to embrace this way. And that’s okay - Windows is and always will be an alternative for those.
Now I agree on all points. I actually have had no issues configuring linux server for the past two years and I probably just assumed the desktop variant would be as mature as the server variant. On top came the drastically different ui. And yes, community devs are very approachable. I have solved a lot of issues with minecraft servers that way, thanks to those devs.
Just so you know, these are the reasons I assumed linux is in most parts on par with windows, ui wise:
- firefox = non distinguishable from windows imo
- vs code = non distinguishable
- libre office = looks a bit older than ms office 2013 but is insanely responsive and works like a charm
- linphone = looks and works very good
- steam = looks the same and is a lot faster than on windows
- element desktop = looks and feels the same
- obs = same
- blender = same
These are 8 pieces of software that were mindblowingly good. Three of them are for profit afaik (but still open source) VS Code, Linphone, Element. Steam I think is closed. Imagine the shock I then had when installing streamdeck. All others are 99% on par (and some better) than windows.
I’m definitely impressed with Linux. I just don’t think it is helpful to dogpile on someone who is asking questions instead of just informing them. That is ultimately what a forum is for afaik.
Blender, obs, firefox, element, libreoffice all have big open source backgrounds and philosophies. Steam just went full on linux mode with the steamdeck - So that those all look and feel fantastic are no wonder. VS Code; Obvious aswell - Linux is the most popular OS to program on and even Microsoft uses it… so that they make a nice version of it also no wonder. Linphone, idk
But all of these comes from big markets and the companies you listed here (besides microsoft and steam) are the “alternative”. Firefox the alternative to chrome, element to discord, etc.
The streamdeck, is a niche market. It’s not used by “that” many people. Yes it’s popular, but far far far away from being as often used as firefox for example. So that the company that has closed-source backgrounds in a niche market where literally no alternative exists doesn’t provide a nice UI for the alternative OS… no wonder.
And btw, you were dogpiled on because you called the project trash… Not because you were asking yourself why it doesn’t look as good as on windows.
Thanks for elaborating. That makes sense.
And in the last part comes what I don’t understand. I never called the project trash, even before editing. I asked if it was trash or I was missing something (which I was, and someone could have just said so).
I assumed (wrongly) that is was abandonware or something since it literally looked like the windows version stripped of all but basic functionality.
And this is why people don’t like to come to computer centric, and especially linux centric communities. Being frustrated and maybe even out of line does not give anyone the right to dogpile.
a huge disservice to the users of this expensive piece of hardware
Sadly not uncommon for Linux, many companies dont care cause there’s no money in it. Thankfully we got awesome community
I read through the comments and can’t see the aggression you talk about.
