As nitefox said already, you can start the steam deck on desktop mode and it’s already running Linux with KDE. My first thought when I read your post was also that Steam Deck could be exactly what you need. Plus they just refreshed it with better thermals, battery life, and display. A usb c dock would get you a pretty decent dev machine on a budget. Plus it’s great for retro gaming.
I like how
garage
is a class butcar
is an intrinsic element.