I Built My New Linux Gaming Desktop in 2021 with AMD (CPU+GPU) and GNU Guix

Word on the street is that the TPM 2.0 requirements for Windows 11 are, in part, to provide a common DRM platform for all Windows applications including games. Meaning that instead of custom DRM software like Denuvo, antipiracy measures will be implemented as common Windows APIs that take advantage of the TPM to provide secure attestation of genuine, nonpirated binaries. Remember Palladium? Yeah, it's that again, quietly implemented piecemeal beginning with Secure Boot.

Linux will have to implement this DRM down to the kernel level, or it will be simply locked out of many Windows games.

Forget it. Linux gaming is over. Proton for me has been busted enough to have spotty support from release to release anyway.

Other than that, the approach taken by Guix and Nix to package management (or even fedora silverblue) is quite interesting, and I've been folowing it rather closely.

You get a more ansible-like (one config file for deployment) way of configuring your system, with rollbacks possible, it lets you have multiple software configurations exist simultaneously, that would be hard to achieve on other distributions (say, different environments with various versions of glibc). And portability+reproductibility of your environments.

Declarative config = entire system config specified in a single config file - all config that is normally scattered across different /etc files and other locations now goes into a single config file (which instructs the system to write those /etc files on install, so /etc is still used but there’s a single source for configuring all of it). All packages and package config, boot loader, systemd/init system config, networking, etc configured in one file. And all config is declarative, not imperative - eg, you tell the system what you want in your build, and the system handles how. In NixOS this all just a big JSON file, and GUIX it’s a Scheme data structure.

Immutable builds = any time you make a configuration change, an entire new system is built with the change incorporated, and the system updated to point at the new build. Prior system builds are retained unchanged, and you can rollback to them any time if needed, if your new one is broken in some way not caught by compiler. Since current and prior builds are immutable, you can be sure that if a prior build worked reliably, it will continue to do so in case you need to rollback to it. In NixOS, builds are stored in /nix and soft-linked as needed to /bin, /usr/bin/, etc. Not sure about the equivalent on GUIX but that’s the idea.

Reproducible builds = you can take your system configuration file and use it to install an identical system build on other hardware. Everything will be the same except different hardware drivers for different hardware. Reinstalling the same configuration on the same system with no hardware changes will result in an identical system build with the same checksum.

One thing this does is make rapidly experimenting with different system configs much more possible. There’s no penalty to experimentation and failure, you can’t brick your system. If you do, just rollback to the prior working config, only takes a few seconds. You can iterate through many different config ideas, testing them all, and optimizing it to your needs.

I spent the past spring/summer migrating to NixOS. There’s a learning curve, but now that I’ve gotten through most of it, I could never go back to a normal linux. GUIX/NixOS is really the right way to architect an OS, so much farther out of the tarpit than anything else I’ve seen.

E.g. for me, the classically confined nodejs snap cannot be used to run a simple mocha test suite for our backend app, as it causes every test to time out. native install, no problem. The classically confined golang snap, installs a bunch of go tools as you'd expect, which are weirdly invisible to VSCode's Golang addons. You install Slack, click a link in a conversation, and it opens in a new Firefox window with all of your settings and addons disappeared; you have to delete an about:profiles profile in Firefox to make it use the existing configuration. App startup times can range from hundreds of milliseconds to 10+ seconds. Its just really not a good situation; some of these problems have solutions, but these are issues I've seen in, who knows, 19.04, 19.10, 20.04, 20.10, 21.04, we'll see if they fix it in 21.10 but I'm not holding my breath; we're talking years of decay.

Flatpak is definitely better. I've never ran into any compatibility or functionality issues. But, availability isn't as good; it seems like flatpak is geared more toward UI software; so, Discord, Slack, Spotify, Atom, Steam, even nvidia drivers, these I have installed through flatpak (Manjaro Gnome; so, Arch). You search flathub for Golang, or NodeJS, or other more dev/cli focused software, and it has nothing. So, I don't know if that's a cultural or technical thing, but it at least seems like flatpak has a focus, and excels within that focus.

Long time Arch user, and loved it, but now loving Guix. I'll be writing a followup article about how I set up everything in Guix, but as I mentioned here the only wrinkle on the software side was Steam via Flatpak. The beta version of Flatpak has solved the Proton issues, and it works great for me. Nonguix also has a Steam package, but we need to figure out some newer sandboxing that Valve has done to get newer Proton working.

Edit: And thanks!

If you weren't keen on a handle, I'd recommend the SSUPD Meshlicious instead though.

How did you find out about that? (first time I hear of this)

When you fire and electron app from a sandbox, it's a hog riding a slug, then you try to open your files only to find yourself in a temp folder or chrooted to a config subdir.

It think those tech can bring a lot, but there is still work to do.

We're close to the point where pretty much everything will be running in an year or so. It's remarkable how much can change in just a few years

And Linux Desktop is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed. Lots of innovators and early adopters, aka the cool kids, are now on Linux Desktop, including for gaming thanks to the above. It’s only a matter of time till the mainstream and late adopters follow.

Though iirc ROCm isn't supported on recent consume level cards which I find incredulous that wasn't a goal to have working from launch.

[0] https://github.com/podiki/dot.me/tree/master/guix/.config

Freesync works with in kernel drivers for sure, it was a little work, but worth it. Used it before i sold my undervolted <edit>(made it cooler, quieter and increased performance!)</edit> RX570, can't say how the situation is with newer cards.

Arch Wiki [1],[2] is an invaluable resource as always, applies to other distros as well.

If your base is Ubuntu you will need newer Mesa packages, which you can get here [3] (more recent/bleeding edge but used by default by some distributions, the one tested by Phoronix) or there [4]

(addition) Had this [5] in bookmarks, looks solid.

(edit) formatting

[0] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon-r...

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU#Overclocking

[2] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Variable_refresh_rate

[3] https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/ubuntu/graphics-driver...

[4] https://launchpad.net/~ernstp/+archive/ubuntu/mesarc?field.s...

[5] https://reddit.artemislena.eu/r/linux_gaming/comments/agwrc1...

Might try to get a Steam Deck.

Yeah, no more 5.25" drivers, but honestly I haven't used my DVD drive in the previous computer in a very long time. I'll probably get an enclosure or external one for the rare CD ripping I do.

IO panel is in the back, I didn't include a picture but you can find it on the Asus page for the motherboard of course. Pretty much what you'd expect: lots of USB, ethernet, display out (if you have integrated graphics), etc.

"Underutilized CPU"? It is not a server, but I do plenty of compiling and other CPU tasks. Water cooling is efficient and quiet too, so why not?

(Perhaps you've assumed a fan setup here, but I think I've configured them sensibly.)

"Over-stressed GPU...poorly air cooled"? I'd love a water block and custom loop, but that is outside of what I want to do/spend money on. The bottom fans are intake (as are the side radiator fans, the rear and top are exhaust). The GPU fans are off unless I'm playing games as it stays cool enough. And when I do play I don't notice any noise, no throttling, ... is well cooled I'd say.

crazy, I haven't used any optical media directly since 2009

>90% of custom PC builds do not install a disk drive and there is a large preference for aesthetics over function plus 5.25" drive bays also block airflow anyway. It's also easier to work in a case that has fewer drive bays. It's a lot easier to just buy a external disk drive anyway.

Using optical disks as a backup medium is pretty much dead. Optical disks are more expensive per GB than hard drives. (Bluray seems to be about ~$38/TB while HDDs are ~$25/TB). I would not be surprised if the main use of Bluray drives was ripping/saving the disk contents to a hard drive.

Anything plugged into the front panel just looks bad so most cases just have a USB A and C + audio ports. TBH the front audio ports are often useless anyway because they pick up a lot of noise.

Not sure what you mean about fan placement since most cases are designed to operate with positive pressure which reduces the amount of dust collected.

Also the case in the OP article is not a big case, it is just shorter and wider than a normal mATX case so it looks big in pictures.

I also have a shot of him wide-eyed at seeing the computer turned on for the first time, and still sometimes stops to stare at the lights.