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  • Steam Deck – The Future of Portable Gaming?

    Date Posted:

    Valve Corporation (aka Valve Software), the makers of the popular Steam gaming platform announced the Steam Deck a portable gaming handheld on the 14th July 2021, reservations were opened on the 15th for a small fee, first batches are expected to ship in December 2021, although most people will probably receive theirs in early to mid 2022, reservations are currently only open to select countries and require a previously active Steam account, this is clearly in an effort to deter scalping which has plauged the GPU market.

    Spectifications

    The specifications of the Steam Deck have generated a lot of interest, it uses a 64 bit x86-64 CPU made by AMD using the Zen 2 architechture with 4 cores and 8 threads, this is only one generation behind the current Zen 3, this includes the RDNA 2 APU which has been proven to be very capable at running most modern games at or above 60 fps at 1080p.

    Combined with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM it’s expected to out perform nearly all current gaming handhelds, as with many of Valve’s previous products they are likely to be selling this at close to a loss, since the majority of their income comes from the Steam platform rather than the hardware itself.

    It features a 7 inch LCD IPS display with touch, which is optically bonded to the front glass, some have questioned why it does not use an OLED display, but given how low they are pushing the price already I would say this is expected, given it’s an IPS panel it will still look great, the display resolution is 1280×800 giving it a 16:10 aspect ratio, this may seem a bit low resolution, but it’s a sensible tradeoff, RDNA 2 may be powerful but resolution is still a big framerate killer, an external monitor can be connected via USB-C DisplayPort if you really want a larger display.

    Other features include a 6-axis IMU, bluetooth 5.0, dual band WIFI. stereo microphone and stereo speakers, connectivity includes a 3.5mm headphone/headset jack and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port.

    Battery Life

    Valve have stated that it will last between two to eight hours from the internal 40Wh battery, this is more or less what I expected, ultimately how long you get depends on the games you play, very intensive games will naturally drain it faster than a simple game.

    For charging and for continuous power it specifies a USB-C 45W PD3.0 power supply, which will likely be included with it, one thing that remains to be seen is if they offer replacement batteries, lithium batteries degrade over time so this could be an important consideration.

    Steam Deck as a PC

    Valve are advertising the Steam Deck as a portable PC, in many ways this is true as it is capable of doing anything a PC can do, to facillitate this Valve will be releasing an official dock for it which includes DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, Ethernet, one USB 3.1 port and two USB 2.0 ports.

    It can be connected to any monitor or TV up to 8k resolution, although if intended for gaming you should not exceed using it on a 1440p monitor as it may struggle to maintain a playable FPS, resolution scaling is an option for higher resolution monitors, although I tend to find this degrades image quality significantly.

    It’s hard to say for sure how well it will perform in this scenario, we will need to wait for benchmarks to be sure, but certainly if you don’t have a PC or your PC is very slow this may be a viable solution.

    Input

    On the front, the Steam Deck has two analog joysticks with capacitive touch sensing, eight buttons, two trackpads (which Valve note are 55% more responsive than the Steam controller ones); on the top are two bumper buttons and two analog bumper buttons along with the power and volume buttons, on the rear there are four grip buttons, this gives a total of at least 20 assignments which can be adjusted with Steam input.

    This should be sufficient for many games, but if you need more then using the USB port or Steam dock with additional controllers is an option.

    Storage

    The Steam Deck is available in three tiers, the bottom has 64GB of eMMC storage, the middle has a 256GB NVMe SSD and the top has a 512GB NVMe SSD, it has been revealed that it uses a standard M.2 2230 socket, so upgrading your memory should be possible, Valve seemed reluctant to advertise this as it opens the possibility of buying a low tier version and adding your own SSD, which is cheaper.

    Because 64GB is such a small amount of storage I would not recommend it unless you plan on adding your own storage, it might do for some more basic games, but if you want to play large AAA games it will quickly become unworkable with some games exceeding 64GB as it is.

    All versions also support additional storage via micro SD card, although this is typically quite slow making it the least desirable option, while we don’t have full specs yet it’s reasonable to assume that eMMC will achieve 300-400MB\s, NVMe 2000MB\s or greater, a good UHC-I SDXC card will give at best around 120MB\s.

    Another final option is connecting external storage via the USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, although this kind of defeats the main point of the Steam Deck being portable.

    Pricing

    steam deck prices

    The lowest tier version currently costs £349, the mid tier £459 and the top tier £569, this is extremely good pricing for the hardware you’re getting, the nearest competitor in performance would be the GPD Win Max which is around £584, but it’s not really comparable .

    The highest teir is not really that great value for money, so I would suggest going for the mid tier, if you’re willing to install a SSD then the low tier is overall an excellent choice.

    Software

    The Steam Deck will be releasing with a new Steam OS 3.0, this time based on Arch Linux, along with the KDE Plasma desktop environment, this is not currently available but I’m hoping they will release this before the Steam Deck starts to ship.

    Steam Deck does not place any restrictions on your software, you’re free to essentially do whatever you like, including installing other operating systems, although given hardware support this mostly means Windows or other Linux distributions, although I’m sure people will have fun getting obscure OS’s working on it.

    This opens a lot of options besides your Steam library, certainly I expect emulators will become a popular choice allowing you access to many thousands of games, using alternative stores like Epic Games is also an option if you so desire.

    The Steam Deck is fully capable of running most Windows only games using Proton, it’s not perfect but it works in most cases, the only real problem at the moment is that Proton will not work with some anti-cheat software, Valve have already confirmed that BattleEye and EAC will have support ready by launch but other anti-cheat software remains uncertain.

    Suitable for Casual Users?

    This remains a big question, and generally I would say no, even with the increasing support for Windows games there will be people frustrated at it for not running certain games, or software, at the end of the day it’s still running Linux and some Linux knowledge is preferable to get the most out of it.

    Installing Windows is of course an option, but for casual users this may present too much of a problem, it would have been nice to see Valve offer a choice of operating system, maybe they will, it remains to be seen.

    Overall Verdict

    Overall while there are still many unanswered questions, what we have seen so far is quite promising, we will likely get more details as we get closer to launch, for now you should reserve it as soon as possible before stock runs out or you end up waiting a long time, reservation is only £4 and you can get it refunded if you change your mind.

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  • TinySA Spectrum Analyser Review

    Date Posted:

    The TinySA is a low cost portable spectrum analyser that also functions as a signal generator, this is a true spectrum analyser that has a wide dynamic range and can measure a signal up to 960 MHz, it is developed by Erik Kaashoek and has open source firmware but not hardware.

    It features a 2.8″ LCD color touchscreen in a 90×58 mm plastic case, it includes a rechargeable internal 650mAh battery for portable use but can also be powered and recharged by the included USB C cable, it has two SMA female ports for input and output and a jog switch for additional control.

    Hardware

    The TinySA is primarily designed to operate between 0.1 to 350 MHz, input and output for this range uses the low SMA port, this includes a 0-31dB attenuator (1dB steps), the minimum RBW (Resolution BandWidth) is 3 kHz giving it a reasonably good signal resolution, it has a maximum of 290 measurement points when not connected to a PC and overall RF performance is decent, keeping in mind this is portable and low cost.

    The high port operates between 240 to 960 MHz and is lower quality than the low port, but still quite functional for many usage cases, this also includes the calibration signal generator fed from a 30MHz TCXO which is used to calibrate the level of the low port, a single level attenuator is included which varies from 22.5dB to 40dB depending on frequency, image suppression of this port is poor so it should be considered as a free extra rather than the main purpose of the TinySA.

    Overall the hardware is exceptionally good for the price, but you should not expect similar performance to a modern spectrum analyser, it is however more than good enough for most applications that do not require high precision measurements.

    Included with the package is two SMA male cables and a SMA female to female adapter, as well as a small SMA extendable antenna, although mine broke pretty quickly.

    Signal Generator

    The TinySA also functions as an excellent signal generator, note that this cannot be used at the same time as the spectrum analyser function, the low port can put out a 0.1 to 350 MHz sine signal between -76 and -7dBm, it can also perform a frequency and level sweep as well as AM, Narrowband FM and Wideband FM modulation making it extremely versatile.

    The high port can also put out a signal between 240 to 960 MHz square wave, with a level between -38 and +16dBm, as well as frequency sweep and narrow and wide FM modulation, it’s important to note that being a square wave there is a very high harmonic content which easily exceeds 2GHz making this capable of producing a signal in the many GHz range, as such it should never be used to drive a power amplifier and antenna.

    Harmonic output at 1.75GHz with FM modulation

    Software

    The software is extremely well made and easy to use, and for the most part reliable although I have had the occasional freeze, even with the small touchscreen it’s quite usable by those possessing fat fingers, the firmware is easy to update and impossible to brick due to mistakes making it very user friendly.

    Software for PC use is also available for Windows and limited use with Linux, this can extend the number of measurement points to many thousands giving even more resolution.

    High port connected to an antenna and PC, 3000 points

    Overall

    I’m very impressed by the value for money offered by the TinySA, normally for a spectrum analyser you’d need to pay several hundred pounds, to get a reasonably similar alternative for $50 is huge, even though it’s more limited, the functionality is perfectly good for many usage applications such as verifying the output of a radio, tuning filters, RFI and EMI testing and much more, as such any electronics lab should have one of these as a must buy item.

    Beware that there are some poor clones being sold out there that may perform much worse, an official list of sellers is available on the wiki.

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  • Thrustmaster TCA Quadrant Airbus Edition Review

    Date Posted:

    After having endless issues with my Saitek X56 HOTAS I decided to pick this up, it’s available at the relatively low price of around £100, I got mine from scan.co.uk.

    Build Quality

    The overall build quality is very decent, even though it’s mostly plastic it feels like good quality plastic that does not creak and bend when pressure is applied, the paint job is of high quality and I suspect will last a long time.

    It’s quite compact which works well on a cramped desk and despite it’s low weight it doesn’t move much on my wooden desk, a mounting hole is provided if needed, the throttle leavers move quite smoothly to the point when I had to increase the tension adjustment quite a bit, but once done it feels good just don’t over tighten it or you will break it.

    The only real negative I can find is the mechanism to link the throttles together, it’s possible with a bit of pressure to move one throttle slightly but it isn’t generally a big deal in practical usage.

    Functionality

    Four push buttons are included, two on the throttle levers, and two on the lower pedestal, there is also two switches and a three position switch, not a lot but it’s sufficient, it’s possible to link two throttles together to give yourself four throttle levers which is ideal for something like the A380.

    Thrustmaster also sell an addon module which includes speedbrake, gear, flaps, parking brake and more for around the same price, although at the time of writing this there was no stock available.

    Another useful feature is it allows you to plug in a Thrustmaster T.Flight rudder pedals helping to save your usb ports, speaking of USB it uses a type C connector (on the product side) which is a nice touch.

    The throttle includes detents which are found in the real Airbus aircraft, these can be disabled by removing four screws and switching some plastic parts around, this could be a bit annoying if you switch a lot so I would have liked to have seen a different mechanism to do this, the included detent range is also not ideal as it leaves little room for the manual thrust range, fortunately someone has already produced a mod to fix this minor issue if it really annoys you, personally it seems ok to me.

    The thrust reverser can be disabled to allow you usage of the whole range if desired.

    Overall

    Given the relatively low price this is a good throttle that offers some degree of extension if you need more controls in future, I’ve used it a fair amount in MSFS now and it appears to work just fine, some complaints about certain functions not working appear to have been resolved, overall I have no hesitation in recommending this.

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