So which distro are you referencing here? The Steam OS? I’m about to jump off the sinking Windows ship and wondering if the Steam OS one is stable enough or I should go with something else. All I use my comp for is gaming and web browsing.
SteamOS definitely isn’t made for a traditional desktop computer. It has a desktop environment for when you need it, but that’s basically bolted onto the side of Steam’s Big Picture mode. It would likely work well if you have a dedicated PC for your living room TV. But for a traditional desktop setup, you’d likely want something else.
Maybe Bazzite? It’s basically built for gaming, but doesn’t default to Steam’s Big Picture mode like SteamOS does. It comes with Nvidia drivers pre-installed, which is a big sticking point for lots of people; many have found and/or lost religion while trying to install Nvidia drivers on Linux, so having them ready out-of-the-box is a big selling point. And you can choose which desktop environment you’d prefer when installing it; I’d suggest KDE if you’re familiar with Windows, or Gnome if you prefer MacOS. It’s immutable, which is, to put it simply, controversial. Some people love it, because it means you won’t accidentally destroy your OS. But others find it limiting, because they enjoy being able to go elbow-deep in their OS config.
Any Linux OS with Steam installed, but yes most likely the same on SteamOS.
My experience with games on Steam:
75% of games: Click to Download, click Play, nothing more needed.
20% of games will work, might need to select a special Proton version or put in one command.
4% of games need tweaks specific to that game, to enable multiplayer, get around certain crashes etc., OR the game works fine but multiplayer doesn’t work at all due to anticheat set to block Wine users.
1% of games don’t work at all due to either anticheat, DRM or another problem.
Workshop works just fine, 3rd party mods will often work, but then you’ll need to get into the weeds of Wine to properly set it up, since installers are separate to the game.
I’ve been exclusively gaming on my Steam Deck since launch and have a slightly different experience. For me, if the game is certified “Playable” or “Verified” on the Steam page, I just download and play it. I have never once tweaked any settings or tried a different version of Proton. I’m sure there are tweaks that can achieve better performance on certain games, but I have never personally felt the need to research that on any game.
For reference, below are my recently played games. All but Trials worked great for me. Trials is marked “Unplayable” on Steam, though I did get it to work for a few hours before it broke.
I had the same experience introducing Linux to other people:
“Oh yeah, gaming just works out of the box on Linux”, one install later…
“Hey, it says ‘Only for 🪟’ for everything except Portal and a couple other games!”
“Whoops, you have to go in the settings and check this very particular box, then it just works out of the box.”
So which distro are you referencing here? The Steam OS? I’m about to jump off the sinking Windows ship and wondering if the Steam OS one is stable enough or I should go with something else. All I use my comp for is gaming and web browsing.
SteamOS definitely isn’t made for a traditional desktop computer. It has a desktop environment for when you need it, but that’s basically bolted onto the side of Steam’s Big Picture mode. It would likely work well if you have a dedicated PC for your living room TV. But for a traditional desktop setup, you’d likely want something else.
Maybe Bazzite? It’s basically built for gaming, but doesn’t default to Steam’s Big Picture mode like SteamOS does. It comes with Nvidia drivers pre-installed, which is a big sticking point for lots of people; many have found and/or lost religion while trying to install Nvidia drivers on Linux, so having them ready out-of-the-box is a big selling point. And you can choose which desktop environment you’d prefer when installing it; I’d suggest KDE if you’re familiar with Windows, or Gnome if you prefer MacOS. It’s immutable, which is, to put it simply, controversial. Some people love it, because it means you won’t accidentally destroy your OS. But others find it limiting, because they enjoy being able to go elbow-deep in their OS config.
Nice, thanks for the type up.
Any Linux OS with Steam installed, but yes most likely the same on SteamOS.
My experience with games on Steam:
Workshop works just fine, 3rd party mods will often work, but then you’ll need to get into the weeds of Wine to properly set it up, since installers are separate to the game.
Thanks man, appreciate the response.
I’ve been exclusively gaming on my Steam Deck since launch and have a slightly different experience. For me, if the game is certified “Playable” or “Verified” on the Steam page, I just download and play it. I have never once tweaked any settings or tried a different version of Proton. I’m sure there are tweaks that can achieve better performance on certain games, but I have never personally felt the need to research that on any game.
For reference, below are my recently played games. All but Trials worked great for me. Trials is marked “Unplayable” on Steam, though I did get it to work for a few hours before it broke.
Debian and Ubuntu have been seemless, I suspect you’ll find the same on all the other relatives.