Both works. It has a builtin ARM based PC running SteamOS but it also comes with a 6GHz dongle allowing you to stream from your PC wirelessly.

That was my read on it, not sure how I feel about it, I'd be happy enough with vr/ar/display glasses just hooked into the new gabe-box

Going for the both option, PC gives access to higher spec games, via streaming, and lower spec can run direct from the machine

Not only is it Standalone, it has a linux emulator that can run pc games.

What other people haven't quite touched on is that the in-built system certainly won't be powerful enough to run demanding VR games with good frame rates and resolution.

I also have my doubts about the 6GHz WiFi connection being enough for it, I hope there is also a wired option.

But it will be awesome to be able to do normal tasks like coding, writing, etc.. outside in the garden, as an example. I think for people that don't have a dedicated VR space, this could be awesome with 6GHz WiFi outside without needing base stations.

Less downtime in marathon gaming sessions? I don't know that this was meant to be portable outside of the house, I'd hate having to carry extra batteries with my deck...

Imagine trying to use these with a charging cable attached.

I had the same thought. I'm assuming it has something to do with them wanting the wireless puck for the Steam Controller to be able to charge the controller as well.

Otherwise, maybe there's some hardware reason why making the battery removable in the Steam Controller would be difficult.

This is one of the changes I'm most frustrated with, and one I didn't expect. Maybe it feels worse for me because I didn't expect it, unlike some of the other compromises.

I'll still buy one, but I don't like this change.

EDIT: The other big disappointment that I knew was possible but didn't expect was the loss of Lighthouse tracking.

May be this could help?
https://lvra.gitlab.io/

The LVRA Discord also consists of a lot of very helpful people.

??
what distro? does the index not show up among the output devices? is everything properly connected?

21Whr battery vs 14Whr on a Quest 2. Newer generation chipset with more efficiency. Probably 2.5-3hrs.

On the PC Gamer hands-on I read they got about an hour running intense games standalone. There’s a port to plug an external battery into to extend that, but it seems the focus is on streaming from a desktop, which will use much less resources and extend the battery life quite a bit.

Very likely. The Valve Index runs it super well when connected to my Linux desktop. Although I had to downgrade the version of Beat Saber to make it work.

Beat Saber is on Steam and is also the best selling VR game of all time, so yeah I'd say it will work. I'd be extremely surprised if it wasn't one of the very first games Valve worked on FEX & proton optimisation for.

Considering Beat Saber already works on Linux just fine, and it isn't particularly demanding/runs fine on less powerful standalone headsets, I imagine it'll work.