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Here’s hoping it matures enough for desktop use by the time my Win10 desktop is EOL.
My man, have you heard of Bazzite?
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If they went through this, they wouldn’t.
I’ve also been able to find 99% of what I need through discover.
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/installing-from-source/
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That’s why we got dem tar and dnf
And also that’s just not true. There’s also Space Cadet Pinball
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No, on bazzite because it’s a fedora distro
Edit: wasn’t trying to to come off as a dick, reread it and I could see it taken that way
Also I’m relatively new to Linux, so I’m sure with some things that may not be true, but 100% of what I’ve had to do has been either within discover, or I’ve followed pages on fedora to find out and it’s worked Everytime. Whatever bazzite installation you have whether it’s 38/39 etc, those line up with fedora versions as far as I’m aware.
It’s been solid for me. It’s the same or less amount of troubleshooting I’d have to do on windows, and I’m familiar with windows. Making windows work is my job. That coupled with the absolute mess that is windows support pages, bazzite has been good for me. Arch was pretty cool too, not nearly as bad as people said it was going to be, I just had an issue with audio I couldn’t figure out. I just wanted a works right now solution, and that’s what it’s been.
Honestly, even for a living room PC it’s a pain. My living room machine uses Corsair fan controllers, so I had to battle to get OpenLinkHub installed, and a realtek 2.5gbe card, which I attempted to get working and gave up (kernel src package does not match the kernel for some reason). Not overly fun.
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Not necessary, you can use dozens of distros where playing Steam games is pretty much plug and play
What about my alternatively acquired games? I’ve tried using Mint and Steam with whatever that is that runs compatibility. Sometimes doesn’t work for them.
You can just add the .exe to steam and then they are as plug and play as most other steam games.
I tried that but then there was a launcher and the launcher loaded okay but then when you tried to run the game from the launcher it didn’t run but just crashed…
What about non steam games? Maybe I’m in the extreme minority, but my most played games are things like Microsoft Flight Sim, DCS, Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, which not only have their own launchers etc (one of which is tied directly to MS), they also require peripherals… sometimes lots of em, that have config and/or telemetry software that is all built in windows.
Unfortunately this is one of the cases where you’re going to have to do some research.
Check ProtonDB to see how a game plays on Linux. I’m assuming the flight simulator would be problematic.
Usually the periferal drivers are built into the Linux kernel. Your keyboard and mice will just work, gamepads as well. Niche stuff like wheels and flight controllers will likely not work out of the box and you’ll have to find a community based software to support it. Sucks.
If I were you I’d boot a virtual machine or a live USB drive and try it out. If you’re not comfortable with the amount of compatibility just don’t install it. Nothing lost
Currently, my favorite ways of running non-Steam games are the Heroic Games Launcher and Bottles. Heroic is especially nice if you have games from GOG or EGS. However, looking at ProtonDB, it seems that both DCS and Flight Sim 2024 don’t work too well on Linux. Overall it sounds like it might be challenging for you to switch to Linux, but you can always give it a try and see how much works.
There are plenty of ways to run non-steam games and most games work out of box. Wine/Proton, the software that steam uses to translate windows calls to linux calls, can also be run outside of steam. Wine can also just run generic windows programs so config software will probably run fine.
The peripherals is where you may run into some issues as I’m not sure how well supported they would be on linux. I wouldn’t know as I don’t use any special peripherals.
Man, Steam has a real opportunity here to make Linux desktops more palatable. Imagine a SteamOS computer that’s as easy to use as Windows for people who don’t know Linux…
There are plenty of distros that have been doing that for years now
Except not really and about half the time there are breaking bugs that the average person cannot simply fix. Shit gets serious when a company like valve spends a load of programmers on this and gets it up to standard.
You’re either doing too much or using the wrong distros. Haven’t had breaking bugs for a long while using Fedora KDE.
It’s been nothing but as reliable as windows. Windows can have severe bugs too BTW
If you are tech savvy enough to install Windows, you can easily install Linux as well. If you install any of the big distros you will have a good time.
I think that the big thing for the general public is not that Linux will now be easy to use/accessible, it currently is pretty much there with many different distros, it’s that there’s a known face behind it. In the general public Linux is just this weird thing that isn’t really attached to anything besides the super tech savvy, so they think they can’t use it because they aren’t super tech savvy. By making it steam’s Linux, they can go “oh I know steam, they do stuff really well for people like me! This is probably easy enough that I can use!”
Another thing that will help is a centralization of support. With enough people using it questions and bugs will be more common and more accessible as well as answered. Currently for you to find help for your issue you need to look for your specific distro and try to also parse if the answers for other distros would help you with your issue.
It’s not going to happen in this iteration of SteamOS. It remains mostly a gaming “only” distribution.
You can quite safely jump onto any distro recommended for gaming. From me I would recommend PopOS, especially when 24.04 releases - easy install and Nvidia drivers work out of the box, and the super rare issue Linus encountered is long fixed
Anecdote alert: I mean, I went to Mint thinking this to be true. The first release I tried didn’t even support my (years old) WiFi drivers, and then the second couldn’t run levels in Hitman. (Bazzite did, however, so distro apparently matters)
Interesting, what year was that? Before Ubuntu shipped with pipewire by default I do remember it having the worst Bluetooth experience, so maybe something similar was the case with WiFi?
Anecdote as well: the non-working Bluetooth lead me to perform my very first (successful) dive into system files to replace Alsa with Pipewire
I really want to switch my main desktop to Linux, but use it for remote work too, so I have MS Teams… is there a way to reliably virtualize it?
Using it from chrome is how I use it.
Two limitations:
- You cannot let someone else control your screen. This is fine by me, I never want someone controlling my screen anyway. If I want to collaborate with them, I use any number of better ways to get them shared access.
- You cannot control other folks screen. This is often a challenge as too many people offer this up as the only way to remotely help them. I hate doing this because even in Windows the experience is utter garbage, but sometimes the other party just forces my hand.
Here you go.
Don’t use SteamOS as a desktop OS, that’s not what it’s meant to. You might be used to Windows and think that a different distribution of Linux is just a different customization of the OS, but it’s almost an entirely different OS that happens to run the same binaries.
If you’re interested in getting an alternative to Windows, try some beginner friendly Linux distros on a Virtual Machine or an old laptop. I recommend Linux Mint to newcomers, but if you’re used to the desktop mode on SteamOS maybe Kubuntu. The closest you can get is Bazzite but that’s also not a desktop OS so I wouldn’t use that unless it was for a Steam Machine. The second closest (that’s also somewhat beginner friendly) is Manjaro K DE version, but being Arch based I don’t tend to recommend it to new Linux users, but of you’re dead set on getting something as close as possible to SteamOS that’s it.
it’s almost an entirely different OS that happens to run the same binaries
What?
As far as I know, it’s literally just an immutable build of Arch Linux.
Yes, for you and me who understand what that means it’s just the same, but for someone with no Linux experience is going to be very different. Googling any issue he has will direct him to alter config files or install packages, neither of which would be permanent on SteamOS, while the OS is the same the usage of it is completely different, so for a person with no Linux experience to try to use it as their daily desktop system it would be frustrating because none of the help online would apply to him.
Bazzite is full fledged desktop OS. Perfect for beginners
Isn’t Bazzite an immutable OS with very limited package availability outside of gaming? At least that’s what I remember from a while back. If so it’s an excellent distro for getting a Steam Machine just like ChimeraOS, but I’m not sure it would be a good experience for someone just getting into Linux, since most of the help he will get online will direct him to edit config files which would get overwritten on update.
For example, say the person wants to install Skype, or something that is not in the graphical UI store on Bazzite. Most guides they would find for Linux would tell him to add a PPA, or download a .Deb, or if he manages to find something that works it would be to download an RPM and they would need to redo it every update, or they could find a guide on how to install it via flatpak (but for that they would need to know what flatpak is) or snap (and go into a lot of troubleshoot figuring out why he doesn’t have snap). We take a lot of Linux knowledge for granted, but people using it for the first time won’t know all of this.
I see what you mean. But I’m a Linux beginner myself and found that their package manager has everything I need. I’m guessing it’s the one from Fedora as it was the same when I installed Nobara last year.
That’s nice and all. But can it run Doom?
SteamOS:
Yes?
But, can I install it on a badger?
i would like to play video games without windows computer. thank you jesus Goldman or whatever his snake is
All the talk the last few months about SteamOS and Bazzite (plus Windows 10’s imminent death) got me to finally let up a Linux dual boot. Choosing a distro is a fairly contrary process with half the review lists being useless “tech media”, half AI buzzword word salad, and half distro stans trying to sell you on their version by pointing out flaws in the others.
I jumped in and am now on Manjaro as I use my computer primarily for gaming and media consumption. I originally planned this because of Manjaro Gaming edition, but Manjaro Gaming edition hasn’t been updated in years so looks like abandonware. Regular Manjaro it is, and add what I need as I go. I hope.
I decided to try Manjaro over PopOS due to enough anecdotal reviews about PopOS stability issues to make me second guess it. I have used Mint on old hardware in the past, and it was ok but I was concerned about gaming support and Nvidia drivers (accidentally jumped from Nvidia to Amd anyway, but that’s another story). Ubuntu has the same issue as PopOS on top of being the corporate distro. I also still have a bad taste from trying Ubuntu years ago and gaming attempts on it sucked.
I do not want to distro hop to find the promised land or just to see what the other grass is like, it’s just not something I am interested in and never have been. As bad as Windows can be, I have usually been able to ride an installation for multiple years barring external incident. I want to primarily sit down and use my computer. Reinstalls should be reserved for hardware refreshes and new builds.
If SteamOS can eventually simplify the decision paralysis involved in making the jump to Linux, it is going to be an absolute win. As a hard core techie with decades of experience building PCs, if I had this much trouble making the switch then I expect an even worse experience for the regular Joe.
To slot machines?
That’s great if you don’t care about playing online games and are okay with games you buy becoming incompatible.
Said the person who did no research and has no idea what they’re talking about. Steam OS has been pushing game devs and publishers to be more compatible with Linux, not less. Additionally, the only online games that really have problems with steam OS are ones that require kernel level anti-cheat, and we all should be pushing for the downfall of that. It isn’t necessary.
Linux not supporting kernel level anti-cheats is an amazing feature, in my honest opinion.
And so Cod works now? Yeah, that’s not a thing. Does Paladins work? Oh, yeah crap. Was GTA V online compatibility killed? It was? Oh, damn. Does Destiny 2 work? Oh, you mean the developers threatened people with bans if they tried to play the game on Linux? Oh, oh crap. How is VR going on Linux? Not well.Oh, damn. 🤔
I do VR on linux, I don’t see the problem? And of the about 500 games I own, there is only a handful that doesn’t work on Linux. And most of those are specificly designed by the creator to not work.
Valve has been doing an absolutely awesome job with the compatibility layer and making it easier for devs to port natively to Linux.
What is your daily driver headset for linux on vr?
Been trying to setup wivrn/alvr on quest 3 and I am losing my mind lol. Thinking aboutt just going back to my rift and using openhmd.
Valve Index, basically worked out of the box for me (Nobara)
VR on Linux is a pain in the ass to set up and while Valve has done a great job you still can’t rust that all your games will work. Linux is amazing for web browsing, document editing, and retro gaming. Especially if you don’t wanna deal with Microsoft but it’s average for modern gaming. It’s still not there yet.
Bro do some research before you come in making outrageous statements.
There are absolutely a wide variety of plug-n-play headsets that just work. Take the valve index for example. I have heard that headset works just fine out of the box. Same with any steamvr relient headset if I am not mistaken.
When you use a headset that depends on third party software that’s when a little more setup is required. However we still have options that won’t be a massive headache.
Like the cv1 for example, you can use something like openhmd and use your cv1 just fine on steamvr.
And that’s also not to say that something like a quest 2/3 isn’t hard either. Alvr is easy to install it’s just about tweaking proper settings for your network. Which you may alrwady need to do if you’ve used virtual desktop.
Then there is wivrn. But you get my point.
Linux is more than gaming ready. Ever heard of protondb? Maybe give it a look. If an online game doesn’t work that is of fault of the dev/publisher not making the anticheat compatible. Valve has consistently worked with anti-cheat devs like battle eye and easy anti-cheat to make it easy on the dev side to make their anti-cheat version support proton. Yet somehow we have large companies like rockstar not putting in that simple effort.
https://www.engadget.com/arma-3-dayz-proton-battleye-support-224625719.html?guccounter=1
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/18/24248585/gta-v-steam-deck-battleye
Please stop spreading misinformation. It harms the absolute mountainload of work put in by people who have gotten linux to be where it is now. Get mad and point blame at your game devs/publishers for being so uncooperative.
COD - Requires Kernel Level Anti-cheat (RICHOCHET).
Paladins - Requires Kernel Level Anti-cheat (EAC).
GTA V - Requires Kernel Level Anti-cheat (BattleEYE).
Destiny 2 - Requires Kernel Level Anti-cheat (BattleEYE).
This is the fault of the developers themselves not making those games compatible with Steam OS, and has nothing to do with Steam or Linux and everything to do with the developers themselves. So, if you’re going to play the blame game, blame the correct people.
I don’t know about VR in Linux, but it looks like the other people in this thread have me covered on that and they have explained in detail what’s going on there.
I’ve been in this space since the original steam machines. You either have no idea what it was like 10+ years ago with Linux gaming, or you’re being willfully ignorant and not finding out anything about what’s going on now and you’re salty for reasons I don’t know and don’t care about. Do not at me. I don’t care what you have to say if all you’re going to do is be sardonic and caustic. You have a nice day.
