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Alternative to Steam Link/Sunshine? (feddit.org)
submitted 11 months ago by Ulrich@feddit.org to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have an exclusive gaming PC. Ideally what I'd like to do is shove it in a closet or other vacant room to contain the heat and then stream games over LAN.

The problem with existing solutions is:

  1. They need a monitor connected
  2. The monitor to be powered on
  3. They don't support varying refresh rates/resolutions. Only whatever is displayed on the connected monitor. I want to play on my 4k/60Hz TV in the living room for AAA visual spectacle games that work best with controller, and the 1440p/120Hz display in my office for FPS or otherwise fast-moving games that demand KBM, and the 5k monitor for photo/video editing.
  4. I haven't had much success getting these working at all. Red screens, 1/4 screens, image noise, etc.

They're literally just mirroring the screen of the connected display.

I really don't want to have to buy a dedicated PC for each use-case. Does a solution like this exist? What are their pros and cons? Preferably something that doesn't require a degree in software engineering.

Currently I am using Bazzite OS with 5700x + 6800xt, if that matters.

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[-] abeltramo@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago

Shameless plug: I'm the main developer of Games on Whales.

I've built Wolf exactly because of those shortcomings of other solutions: it runs fully headless, spins up virtual Wayland desktops that matches the resolution/FPS that's requested from the clients and everything runs in Docker so it doesn't pollute your host OS (just your HDD).

I'm currently working on a massive performance improvement in this PR if you'd like to try it, I'd suggest to pick that tag.

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That's very cool. Thank you for creating this and for sharing it here. No shame necessary as it seems to fulfill exactly what I asked for.

Unfortunately Docker containers and terminal coding is a bit over my head.

Also YT doesn't like to let me watch their videos so if you uploaded them somewhere else for sharing, that would be cool.

[-] abeltramo@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Unfortunately Docker containers and terminal coding is a bit over my head.

That's absolutely understandable, getting comfortable with the terminal is definitely the first step to be able to shove that PC in a closet. 😉

Ideally, in the meantime I'll have made all this stack even easier to run!

[-] ZeroHora@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago

Games on Whales... the naming department was on-fire this day.

[-] abeltramo@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Probably the only thing I wouldn't change in the project after all these years!

[-] mighty_bombero@feddit.org 1 points 11 months ago

I really love your project but couldn't get it up and running on Bazzite due to only supporting podman out of the box. Do you know of a good guide for Bazzite?

[-] abeltramo@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

We support podman, you just have to enable the Podman System Service so that Wolf can use that socket to spin up and down additional containers.

I really should add a section in the quickstart guide..

[-] mighty_bombero@feddit.org 1 points 11 months ago

Many thanks, I will look into this.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Needs a monitor that is also turned on

What? You don't need a monitor to use Steam Link. 🤨

Is this something specific to Linux?

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org -1 points 11 months ago

Yes you do

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 points 11 months ago

Unless it's a limitation specific to Linux, or you're talking about the physical Steam Link and not the app: No you don't.

I just unplugged my monitor from my PC, fired up the Steam Link app and started Elden Ring no problem.

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 11 months ago

I'm talking about the host machine.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 points 11 months ago

Yes, that is obvious.

[-] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 months ago

How… how else would this be referred to? What would be the point in starting it headless on the client side?

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I have no idea. But they seem to be confused in some way.

[-] skozzii@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'm not sure if I am just picky but I have literally tried everything on brand new wifi 6 and access points and it just never is that perfect feeling, I always notice a tiny bit of input lag and I'm not sure if it's possible to fix it at all. Playable, but I just can't do it - miles ahead of cloud gaming still.

[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

I found steam link to be heavily game dependant because of the input lag. It's not a great solution for fps games, but anything that didn't require fast reactions was fine.

[-] mighty_bombero@feddit.org 2 points 11 months ago

I wrote a tutorial that might be of interest to you:

https://feddit.org/post/12000513

It describes setting up Sunshine on Bazzite without a HDMI dongle. Hope this helps.

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 11 months ago

I did see that (and even commented on it) but I'm not nearly smart enough for that.

[-] mighty_bombero@feddit.org 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Maybe you have to wait for Artemis/Apollo becoming available for Linux. They seem to be looking into Linux support.

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 11 months ago

Interesting, I'll keep an eye on that, thanks for the heads up.

[-] Snoopey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

This does everything you need with a super simple setup, but all the screen trickery is Windows only unfortunately. Still I can heartily recommend it: https://github.com/ClassicOldSong/Apollo

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 2 points 11 months ago

It's not currently working for Linux, unfortunately

[-] wccrawford@discuss.online 2 points 11 months ago

Parsec? It has virtual monitors.

[-] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That’s what I use

Edit: I see you’re using linux though, I can’t really speak to its performance there as I only use it for windows

[-] omega_x3@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Can't setup a parsec host on Linux only a client.

Some motherboards lock out video output without something plugged in but never found one that did it with a dedicated video card. You can always just plug in an HDMI dummy plug to get around an expected display requirement.

[-] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 1 points 11 months ago

I just got a 10 m HDMI cable that brings 4k 120Hz video from my office to my living room. Then I use a bluetooth mouse and gamepad.

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 11 months ago
  1. HDMI signal well start degrading after a couple of meters.
  2. My office is a lot further than that.
  3. I don't want cables all over my house.
[-] GammaGames@beehaw.org 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Buy a headless plug, like this: https://www.amazon.com/EVanlak-DisplayPort-Headless-Emulator-3840x2160/dp/B07YLP1GG4

I use one to do VR, I can leave the computer in the corner and still do desktop stuff. Works great!

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 11 months ago

It looks like this plug only emulates 4k@17Hz?

[-] GammaGames@beehaw.org 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I just found a random one as an example, I don’t remember what I bought a few years ago

this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2025
23 points (96.0% liked)

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