I’m genuinely not sure where to put this, I hope this is the right place.
I use a Dell XPS 9700 that has been retro-fit with the motherboard of a XPS 9710, it appears to have “four USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C Thunderbolt 3 ports with DisplayPort”. I would like to connect my Steam Deck with my laptop, so that I may send footage of me playing on the Steam Deck to OBS for streaming or recording. The desired end result would simply be to get the video input into OBS via any means possible.
I suppose this would reduce the strain that my laptop is under (as it doesn’t have to run the game), and allow me to use the Deck’s control scheme for games that I prefer to play with controllers. I have tried using Steam Remote Play, and it does work fairly well, but is also dependent on network connection and occasionally fluctuates. It also appears as a fullscreen window, which is acceptable but somewhat annoying when trying to record with extra OBS scenes.
I’m not sure where to even begin with this. I suppose the solution lies somewhere between connecting the Steam Deck to a monitor with a USB-C to USB-C cable and allowing the laptop to take video input. Most things I can find on the web either directly install OBS on the Deck or use a USB-C to DisplayPort output to plug the Deck into a dedicated monitor.
I started by just directly plugging in my Deck with two of the USB-C to USB-C cables I had on hand. Neither seem to have achieved anything beyond charging the Deck. I see these logs in journalctl:
kernel: usb usb2-port1: config error
kernel: ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: UCSI_GET_PDOS failed (-5)
kernel: ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: unknown error 0
kernel: ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: UCSI_GET_PDOS failed (-5)
kernel: ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: unknown error 0
kernel: ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: UCSI_GET_PDOS failed (-5)
kernel: ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: unknown error 0
kernel: usb usb2-port1: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
kernel: usb usb2-port1: config error
kernel: usb usb2-port1: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
kernel: usb usb2-port1: config error
kernel: usb usb2-port1: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
kernel: usb usb2-port1: config error
kernel: usb usb2-port1: config error
I’m going to assume that these cables are not designed to take video output, but beyond that I’m stuck. How would I go about undertaking this task?
inxi -Fazy
It is worth noting in this inxi that the Intel Tiger Lake audio output is entirely nonfunctional. Attempting to play any audio with it will create a loud crackling sound on the top-left corner of the keyboard, then the screen will go black with the only sign of life being keyboard backlights. At this point a force shut-down is necessary. I use the Conextant in an external audio dongle for audio input and output.
System:
Kernel: 6.6.19-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64
root=UUID=9f1e15e1-145d-4d25-94c0-790195da9733 rw quiet apparmor=1
security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 sysrq_always_enabled=1 ibt=off
iommu=soft snd_hda_intel.power_save=0 intel_iommu=igfx_off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.11 tk: Qt v: 5.15.12 info: frameworks
v: 5.115.0 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Dell product: XPS 17 9710 v: N/A
serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Dell model: 0TXN0W v: A00 serial: <superuser required> part-nu: 0A5D
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell v: 1.22.0 date: 08/11/2023
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 92.2 Wh (100.0%) condition: 92.2/95.1 Wh (97.0%)
volts: 12.8 min: 11.4 model: SMP DELL 01RR3YM type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
status: full
CPU:
Info: model: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Tiger Lake gen: core 11 level: v4 note: check built: 2020
process: Intel 10nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8D (141) stepping: 1
microcode: 0x4E
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 640 KiB desc: d-8x48 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 10 MiB desc: 8x1.2 MiB
L3: 24 MiB desc: 1x24 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1519 high: 2094 min/max: 800/4600 scaling:
driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 1705 2: 1654 3: 1130
4: 1514 5: 1541 6: 800 7: 1738 8: 1774 9: 1639 10: 1631 11: 2094 12: 1635
13: 1292 14: 2057 15: 800 16: 1314 bogomips: 73744
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities:
Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
Type: retbleed status: Not affected
Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS, IBPB: conditional,
RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel TigerLake-H GT1 [UHD Graphics] vendor: Dell driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-12.1 process: Intel 10nm built: 2020-21 ports:
active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DP-4 bus-ID: 00:02.0
chip-ID: 8086:9a60 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA GA106M [GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: Dell
driver: nvidia v: 550.54.14 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 545.xx+
status: current (as of 2024-02; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx
process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-2023 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0
chip-ID: 10de:2520 class-ID: 0300
Device-3: Realtek Integrated_Webcam_HD driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-11:5 chip-ID: 0bda:5510
class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: nouveau alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa
dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2400 s-dpi: 266 s-size: 366x229mm (14.41x9.02")
s-diag: 432mm (17")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: Sharp 0x14d6 built: 2020 res: 3840x2400 hz: 60
dpi: 266 gamma: 1.2 size: 366x229mm (14.41x9.02") diag: 432mm (17")
ratio: 16:10 modes: 3840x2400
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0
drv: nvidia device: 1 drv: iris device: 3 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast
surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: iris inactive: wayland,device-2
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.0.2-manjaro1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (TGL GT1)
device-ID: 8086:9a60 memory: 61.07 GiB unified: yes
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 5 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA
GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU driver: nvidia v: 550.54.14
device-ID: 10de:2520 surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 1 type: integrated-gpu
name: Intel UHD Graphics (TGL GT1) driver: mesa intel v: 24.0.2-manjaro1.1
device-ID: 8086:9a60 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-H HD Audio vendor: Dell
driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl
alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
chip-ID: 8086:43c8 class-ID: 0401
Device-2: NVIDIA GA106 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8
link-max: lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228e class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Conexant Systems (Rockwell) Hi-Res Audio
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-3:7 chip-ID: 0572:1b08 class-ID: 0300
serial: <filter>
API: ALSA v: k6.6.19-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.0.3 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: pipewire-media-session status: active 3: pipewire-alsa
type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli
Network:
Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake PCH CNVi WiFi vendor: Rivet Networks
driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:43f0 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-14:6 chip-ID: 8087:0026
class-ID: e001
Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 1.86 TiB used: 690.2 GiB (36.2%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: KIOXIA model: KXG60PNV2T04 NVMe
2048GB size: 1.86 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 10704103
temp: 31.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 64 GiB size: 61.94 GiB (96.79%) used: 41.36 GiB (66.8%)
fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 284 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 1.73 TiB size: 1.7 TiB (98.37%)
used: 648.85 GiB (37.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 68.79 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0 C mobo: 39.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 1702
Info:
Memory: total: 64 GiB note: est. available: 62.53 GiB used: 10.96 GiB (17.5%)
Processes: 407 Power: uptime: 1d 20h 25m states: freeze,mem,disk
suspend: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 24.96 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd
Init: systemd v: 255 default: graphical tool: systemctl
Packages: 1716 pm: pacman pkgs: 1706 libs: 472 tools: pamac pm: flatpak
pkgs: 0 pm: snap pkgs: 10 Compilers: clang: 16.0.6 gcc: 13.2.1 alt: 12
Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.2.26 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.33