'AppStore-like' Access to Apps via Non-Steam Games section in Deck Mode:

[Daasin]

Similarly to how Chrome is offered as a Flatpak simply by looking at the tab, there could maybe be an option to setup what apps would be available to download?

People do say Linux Desktop would be complete if a user can get by without needing the terminal. Perhaps same could be said of desktop mode?

1.) GUI Frontend for Terminal Commands that are run in the back - Like it'd pull from pamac using a GUI frontend and run the 'Sudo App Install' command in the back somewhere.
But to the User it looks like they clicked a button. Like on Ubuntu with the TUI options & Not sure if this is how Pop OS handles it but I often see the same output & errors as from 'Sudo Apt Update && Upgrade'

2.) Launches Existing Stores with Chosen DE - Or to open a controller friendly App Catalogue like_*_ Gnome Software. (Not sure how Discover would be used but I guess if Chrome can work then nearly anything can?)

3.) AppImage - Just a filter that only shows AppImages that are known to work from a catalogue, I did hear about AppImage Managers, AppImage 'Repos', and AppImage Stores which was interesting to say the least.

Could even just have shortcuts to or a script for bringing up whatever Flatpak App (That lets people browse around using a controller) into focus and it should work within Deck Mode.
...Although...I've had odd behaviour differences with Chrome. Deck Mode doesn't like additional dialogue boxes like file select and doesn't 'click' on anything even if it does on Desktop.

I suppose the implementation on something like that depends on how heavily customisable the Deck UI is... Perhaps would know more on that when Valve makes it the default big picture mode.
I just used the SteamDeck thinking about how Apps could be handled relatively easily but only got one that was accessible without Desktop mode.
If I remember correctly, didn't Desktop Steam have some kind of global theme support alongside the Keyboard theme?

[Daasin]

SteamDeck would make for a decent tablet, the type of UI needed is the same that works well for Controllers too, big buttons everywhere haha

Do let me know if I didn't make sense at any point, I tend to have issues with expression in general 😅

[LukeShortCloud]

We ship Pamac as our preferred GUI package manager with plugins that allow installing Pacman, AUR, Flatpak, and Snap packages. It doesn't get much better than that! I do believe there is at least a lack of AppImage support.

I'm a back-end developer by trade and have no desire to learn front-end/GUI. Also wouldn't want to reinvent the wheel by creating another package manager. We try to stick to existing upstream projects wherever possible. Is Pamac a great experience on a Steam Deck? Probably not. It would at least get the job done.

Currently, our target audience is traditional desktop users. Would love to focus on a wider audience and provide a better user experience for touchscreen and portable devices. I've got a couple of touchscreen Chromebooks and hopefully my Steam Deck will arrive in the next couple of months.

I'm still playing around with the Steam Deck client UI on winesapOS. One of our users mentioned some additional flags we can possibly add: -steamos3 -steampal -steamdeck -gamepadui. I wonder how hard it would be to add shortcuts to Steam automatically. Fun fact: we actually have a Pacman hook to delete a global Steam shortcut that gets installed from SteamOS to prevent it from launching upon login. We can easily re-enable this for users who want it.

Let's keep the conversation going and see where we can continue to improve in these areas.