Ukraine Is Now Using Steam Decks To Control Machine Gun Turrets (vice.com) 86
Thanks to a crowdfunding campaign dating back to 2014, soldiers in Ukraine are now using Steam Decks to remotely operate a high-caliber machine gun turret. The weapon is called the "Sabre" and is unique to Ukraine. Motherboard reports: Ukrainian news outlet TPO Media recently reported on the deployment of a new model of the Sabre on its Facebook page. Photos and videos of the system show soldiers operating a Steam Deck connected to a large machine gun via a heavy piece of cable. According to the TPO Media post, the Sabre system allows soldiers to fight the enemy from a great distance and can handle a range of calibers, from light machine guns firing anti-tank rounds to an AK-47.
In the TPO footage, the Sabre is firing what appears to be a PKT belt-fed machine gun. The PKT is a heavy barrelled machine that doesn't have a stock and is typically mounted on vehicles like armored personnel carriers. It uses a solenoid trigger so it can be fired remotely, which is the cable running out of the back of the gun and into the complex of metal and wires on the side of the turret.
The Sabre system wasn't always controlled with a Steam Deck [...]. The first instances of the weapon appeared in 2014. The U.S. and the rest of NATO is giving Ukraine a lot of money for defense now, but that wasn't the case when Russia first invaded in 2014. To fill its funding gaps, Ukrainians ran a variety of crowdfunding campaigns. Over the years, Ukraine has used crowdfunding to pay for everything from drones to hospitals. One of the most popular websites is The People's Project, and it's there that the Sabre was born. The People's Project launched the crowdfunding campaign for Sabre in 2015 and collected more than $12,000 for the project over the next two years. It's initial goal was to deploy 10 of these systems.
In the TPO footage, the Sabre is firing what appears to be a PKT belt-fed machine gun. The PKT is a heavy barrelled machine that doesn't have a stock and is typically mounted on vehicles like armored personnel carriers. It uses a solenoid trigger so it can be fired remotely, which is the cable running out of the back of the gun and into the complex of metal and wires on the side of the turret.
The Sabre system wasn't always controlled with a Steam Deck [...]. The first instances of the weapon appeared in 2014. The U.S. and the rest of NATO is giving Ukraine a lot of money for defense now, but that wasn't the case when Russia first invaded in 2014. To fill its funding gaps, Ukrainians ran a variety of crowdfunding campaigns. Over the years, Ukraine has used crowdfunding to pay for everything from drones to hospitals. One of the most popular websites is The People's Project, and it's there that the Sabre was born. The People's Project launched the crowdfunding campaign for Sabre in 2015 and collected more than $12,000 for the project over the next two years. It's initial goal was to deploy 10 of these systems.
Speaking of decks (Score:5, Funny)
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I believe this news because it aligns with my belief system.
A Steam Whatnow? (Score:2)
I hate to be the old man here, but I don't know what a Steam Deck is. The article doesn't really describe it either, other than it runs Linux. What is a Steam Deck? Does it allow remote control of the turret?
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It is a gaming console, being used to play the most realistic FPS known to man, with an opponent that has no redemption arc story.
Re:A Steam Whatnow? (Score:5, Informative)
There have been plenty of tutorials on how to load Linux on a Steam Deck, so I'm guessing they are just using a convenient device that has a built-in display, good input devices, is somewhat available, and enough computing power to view a remote camera and send aiming and fire commands to the Sabre weapon.
Other than the convenience of having all the need components in a single device, they could have cobbled together a Raspberry Pi board, custom case, added a screen, added a battery, and installed Linux to run the custom software to control the Sabre. The Steam Deck just has the advantage of having all the needed components in a single device.
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I thought Valve installs Linux on it from the factory -- you don't have to load (install) Linux, it's just what it runs.
I guess you could install Windows on it if you want, but ... why would you do that?
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Correct, it runs Arch Linux out-of-the-box, although you can install other Linux distros or Windows if you want to.
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Well, the one thing the Steam Deck adds that's still kinda hard to get from a "hobby mode" construction is gyroscopic aim.
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It says the deck is connected to the gun through a large cable, so I presume they're using the USB port.
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It's a video game focused portable computer (Score:5, Informative)
Think of a Nintendo switch on steroids and you've got a good idea of it
I'm not surprised to see them being used as remote turret. They're cheap and well made and the software that runs them is open. They're also readily available.
Re:A Steam Whatnow? (Score:5, Insightful)
Can we stop doing this boring "I dont know what this thing is!" comment on repeat.
We've had search engines for getting close to 3 decades now. I implore you to learn about them.
It's a complaint to the editors (Score:3)
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It's a series of tubes that move a gun around using steam pressure.
Also, since when is a PKT a "high-calibre machine gun"? It's a 7.62x54R, that's a standard rifle cartridge [wikipedia.org].
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.223 and 5.56 are examples of standard or intermediate cartridges. .308 and 7.62 are high caliber.
The significantly bigger stuff, like .50 and 13mm, is anti-materiel.
At least, by a common modern understanding. Black powder weapons were substantially higher caliber, but they're no longer relevant.
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I would assume "high-caliber machine gun" to mean an HMG, as opposed to a GPMG which is what the PKT is. For the HMG equivalent, I can't imagine something like a Dushka being described by its users as an "anti-material machine gun" rather than "an HMG".
Not really disagreeing with you, it's just a strange way to describe a machine gun when there are pretty universally accepted and unambiguous terms for the different classes.
Re: A Steam Whatnow? (Score:2)
The "intermediate" part in cartridges is about pressure, not caliber. An intermediate cartridge has a higher propellant load (and pressure) than a pistol cartridge, but lower than a rifle cartridge. 7.62mm can be either of these three (7.62x25, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R).
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If you're interested in this you could always read the site Slashdot which covers stories about the Steam Deck regularly. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl... [slashdot.org]
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Welcome to the internet, I see you're new here [google.com].
Re: A Steam Whatnow? (Score:2)
Not to be confused with actual ... (Score:5, Interesting)
... steam-powered guns [citizensofantiford.com].
Shows you how scrappy they are (Score:1)
Brilliant (Score:2)
Until some bureaucrat at the ATF gets the idea that a Steam Deck is a component of a machine gun. And illegal as a result.
Yes, they are that dense.
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I'd be more worried about Valve being mad that something of theirs is being used to kill their cash cow.
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I still say, "alcohol, tobacco and firearms" should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
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Good weapon for defending a trench position (Score:5, Insightful)
I saw a recent video of Russian soldiers attacking Ukrainians in a trench, at very close distances. People shooting each other at distances of 20-30 feet. I thought to myself, if I was in a trench I would want a few guns mounted outside that I could control remotely with a game controller of some sort. It seems that Ukrainians are way ahead of me.
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Yeah, they've been fighting a war against a vicious and inhuman enemy for 9 years now. And are still somehow surviving.
Re: Good weapon for defending a trench position (Score:2)
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There has been no "Russia" for a long time now. "Russia"'s history ended in 1922, when it became a part of the Soviet Union.
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, a large part of it became what is today the Rossyan Federation (often spelled as Rossyan Pederation by the better-educated part of their population), a rather typical feudal failed state, with islands of early capitalism forming in some of its larger cities.
Besides, in "Soviet Russia" the steam doesn't "control you". The steam there just boi
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And thus, the myth of "Russian collusion" has been thoroughly debunked.
In that the only way there's no russian collusion is if there's no russia?
COMING RIGHT UP, TOVARISCH. Bend over and prepare for paving.
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Radical idea. Maybe both Obama and Trump were stupid about Russia? Maybe there aren't just two sides and binary thinking is ignorant.
Re: Good weapon for defending a trench position (Score:2)
Lol, I'm assuming that's a joke based on the comments.
But, Trump's actual 2016 campaign chairman confessed and was convicted of being an undercover agent of the Russian Federation. Also his first national security advisor.
They couldn't prove that the Russian agents running the Trump campaign actually coordinated with Russia, but they did prove that the actual person running good campaign was a Russian agent
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Precisely. It has been and is the Putin Collusion, all this time.
love of the fatherland(wrong part of the world) (Score:2)
I think for this part of the world the term you are looking for is motherland or more specifically mother Russia.
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It's a country where the vast majority of people are ethnically Russian, speak Russian, and identify with Russian history, located on top of Moscow and St. Petersburg. What the fuck are you talking about? You are at most half as clever as you think you are.
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Well, you could keep quiet and have everyone suspect you're ignorant, or you can open your mouth and dispel any doubt.
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YES
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com]
Seems kind of vulnerable.... (Score:1)
if I was in a trench I would want a few guns mounted outside
That seems good at first but wouldn't a kind of tech-heavy solution like this be prone to being easily damaged? Especially if out in the open in a fixed position where a sniper could take out key bits. Even if you had it in a armored box a sniper could take out the connecting cable...
Re:Seems kind of vulnerable.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure. But thats gonna happen whether theres a person a servo pofinting that gun. The key here is to not have that pointer be a person. Dead guns can be fixed or replaced. Dead humans can not.
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Sure. But thats gonna happen whether theres a person a servo pofinting that gun.
A person can just pop out of the trench and fire though, a much harder target than a fixed position wired weapon (that also seems like it would be hard to move). Trench warfare historically has been very dynamic...
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Dead guns can be fixed or replaced. Dead humans can not.
That is not true at all. The only difference between a person and a machine gun (in relation to replacement) is that it takes 9 months to manufacture a person and another 18ish years to get them into a usable state. Machine guns are manufactured independent of biology and manufacturing them is a MUCH quicker and more controlled process.
TL;DR, Dead humans are replaceable, just at a more "sedate" rate than machine guns.
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How rugged is it? From pictures of it, it seems to have a lot of openings where dirt or water could get in, much more than a cellphone.
That was the other thing I was wondering, doesn't seem very safe from elements. Maybe really good to have guarding a city though where you could place it in a room looking out a window...
This was a triumph (Score:5, Funny)
I'm making a note here: Huge success.
Now apply chatGPT (Score:3)
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Origin of Terminator 0.9
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A large fiddle?
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I like the German word "Bratsche" for it better. It reflects the sound it makes when you step on it.
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That word accurately describes the sound of stepping on a large variety of musical instruments.
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But nothing comes close to the satisfying experience of stepping on a Bratsche.
Except maybe stepping on a bass guitar. Or its player.
Imagine... (Score:5, Funny)
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But there's no use asking "can I have your stuff?"
It is a quite good sub-laptop Linux gaming system (Score:2)
With gaming controls and very good A/V real-time reactivity. So its use is kind of logical. And since it uses Linux, it is quite easy to secure, unlike the crap out of Redmont.
What mifs me a bit is that I still cannot get one here.
Amazing news (Score:1)
What does Valve think of it? (Score:3)
I mean, someone took their console and turned into a weapon that literally kills people.
Once you own the hardware, you are supposed to be able to do whatever you want with it, including strapping a gun to it, but if it was Nintendo for instance, I don't think it would appreciate having their brand tied to weapons.
Valve values openness more than others in the industry, and it is used by the "good guys", so I guess they won't make a fuss, but still, is it the kind of publicity they want?
Re: What does Valve think of it? (Score:1)
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Honestly I would capitalise on this. Ukraine are the good guys to NATO countries. They aren't using the console to kill people they are using the console to liberate themselves. It's all a matter of perspective.
Now if Valve were a Russian company...
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Now if Valve were a Russian company...
..about that.
The jury is still out on that. However the actions of their forum moderators and the products they choose to sell doesn't put them on the 'good guys' side from what I've seen so far.
The best 'good guy' move from them so far has been the banning of many cheaters from their game Dota, a very significant amount of which seemed to come from russia as that's who was screaming the loudest when the hole was finally plugged. This also has the effect of making them spend money again, so not really all t
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The platform is CRAWLING with russians and 'russian language' adjustments
Yeah how dare they cater to an international audience. Don't they know English is the only language in the world worth speaking and anyone who can't speak it isn't worth having as a customer? /s
There's a world of difference between supporting a state actor and supporting a language from customers. Why does the fact that people exist outside of America scare you so?
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That 'language' has been used as a pretext for many invasions. So yeah, no problem with it's removal along with the people that speak it.
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The demo game Desk Job features using your Steam Deck to control a machine gun turret:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com]
You tell us?
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Heh, yea, I was gonna say: This idea was clearly inspired by their one bundled launch title, "Aperture Desk Job [steampowered.com]." Valve should be proud of real life imitating their art. You don't get better validation of your product's features than this. I wish it wasn't for a war, but sometimes you gotta look on the bright side.
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Smiling on their way to the bank? ;)
Variation (Score:3)
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You are insane.
"Used by one people to kill another people" ignores the background to this war, which is Putin wanting to commit genocide against the Ukrainian people for years, then sending hundreds of thousands of troops into their country and actually committing genocide (by internationally-accepted definitions).
The only thing *stopping* Putin from succeeding at that genocide is Ukrainians fighting back.
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Some will call it insane, but I think it's merely childishly naive. You don't want good things to be used for bad purposes, but bad guys still exist, and when they show up to do harm you want the good guys to have the best tools. In that sense, the real tragedy here is that this is clear evidence that we could have helped them more than we have.
Safety Warning! (Score:2)