Anecdotal evidence, but Steams' Proton compatibility layer that lets you run Windows-only games on Linux works really really well. I haven't had to log into years and years by now.
7-8 years ago it was pretty frustrating to spend £4k+ on a gaming rig to be unable to play a bunch of titles but I will not use Windows, I just accepted it.
Fast forward to today, and I'm playing Helldivers 2, with its anti-cheat and everything online with my nephew who's on Windows and getting far, far better performance (granted my PC is also more powerful). I can play the modern DOOM games with better performance than if I was running Windows on the same hardware.
My point is, Linux gaming is only getting better, I now also own a ROG Ally which I "flashed" (installed the same way you would any other Linux distro) with Bazzite straight out of the box without even booting Windows and I can play the single-player games I like to while travelling, or can have a quick game of Helldivers with my nephew if I'm not near my PC but have a stable connection. When I need/want to I can plug it into a monitor/kb/mouse with a single cable and have a full desktop with HDR, VRR etc.
Obviously there are very cutting edge drivers you can't get on Linux, and Nvidia support is questionable, and some anti-cheat doesn't work, etc, but if you mostly play games released in [current year - a few] on hardware released [current year - a few] it's really a much more enjoyable experience.
> I'm mostly a Mac user but I tested Windows 11 versus Bazzite in VMs in my Unraid server, and the Windows 11 install was a nightmare to then be left with a nightmare UI and a bundle of GPU driver issues, meanwhile Bazzite took two clicks and worked.
> Obviously there are very cutting edge drivers you can't get on Linux, and Nvidia support is questionable, and some anti-cheat doesn't work, etc, but if you mostly play games released in [current year - a few] on hardware released [current year - a few] it's really a much more enjoyable experience.
The biggest issue I find is external devices that need firmware flashing require some crap piece of Windows software from the manufacturer in order to flash, so I'll spin up a Windows VM and USB passthrough to do the update then blow it away again.
I tried it, discovered that Nvidia has a known regression that causes anywhere up to 25% lower performance compared to Windows in GPU limited games in D3D12, and immediately went back to Windows.
I'll never understand why people keep championing Linux for gaming when it has such a severe regression on the most common gaming GPU vendor. Steam says 75%. An Nvidia employee even stated that the fix is not trivial so they're not committing to a timeline for a fix. This is a year+ old issue. They're never fixing it because it doesn't affect CUDA.
https://github.com/NVIDIA/egl-wayland/issues/164#issuecommen...
I have no idea what I can still try, and it annoys me, that for most games I still have to reboot into Windows to play them. I seem to have had more luck following guides for using WINE for specific games in the past, when I made games like StarCraft 2 work better than on Windows, than I have had with Steam and Proton so far.
So anecdote. It is not smooth sailing for everyone yet, unfortunately, and I don't know what the issue is.
Anecdotally, I've been using Fedora Workstation for a few years already, and my Steam + Proton Experimental experience has been fantastic with an AMD GPU using the drivers that come with the kernel.
Although I must admit, I miss having a Debian-based distribution sometimes, because in some situations I can't find rpm packages for more specific things I'm trying to do in my system. The problem is I just don't know any other distribution that's not Debian Testing that could work like Fedora Workstation but with .deb packages.
I add flathub.org and remove the fedora flatpak repo. The few other things I need are in copr/terra, but honestly they are very rare. I think I have maybe 1 piece of software per thing that doesn't release a native .rpm (ghostty is one)
https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/ https://terra.fyralabs.com/
When it comes to Steam, I go to steam -> settings -> compatibility -> Enable Steam Play for all titles
I have used Nvidia GPUs and more recently switched to an AMD 6700. No issues with either.
$ dpkg --list | grep -i steam
ii steam-devices 1:1.0.0.75+ds-6 all Device support for Steam-related hardware
ii steam-installer 1:1.0.0.75+ds-6 amd64 Valve's Steam digital software delivery system
ii steam-libs:amd64 1:1.0.0.75+ds-6 amd64 Metapackage for Steam dependencies
ii steam-libs:i386 1:1.0.0.75+ds-6 i386 Metapackage for Steam dependencies
ii steam-libs-i386:i386 1:1.0.0.75+ds-6 i386 Metapackage for 32-bit Steam dependencies
When a game doesn't work and the described symptoms happen, I usually try a few different Proton versions via the game's settings, but this has not helped me make a game run. If anything for some games it has reprocessed shaders or similar things that Steam games do before launching, maybe. But the result stays the same. Game is not starting, button changing back to "play" button.
Do you have any recommendation for an extremely lightweight Linus distro which installs and runs Steam fine? It would be used exclusively for that, so it shouldn’t run a ton of background stuff.
Basically, what I care is that as I’m running the game, the system is consuming as few resources as possible. It’s an outdated machine, so every bit matters.
> probably XFCE Ubuntu (Xubuntu)
Thank you. Will check it out.
- App Installation via repositories is more common than single program installs. No DMG files. There is a similar concept to DMG with "snap" installs. Steam should probably be installed via a snap. You trust the producer (Valve). But most software and security should come through repos (in CLI, sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade)
- Home directory is /home/<username>
Much of the rest is similar -- Apple's BSD and Linux share a common Unix design progenitor.
Linux is way open to rewipe, just pay attention that you don't lose files. My first day on Linux in the mid 2000s, I somehow overwrite the file system allocation table with the content of an MP3. It was recoverable!
Good luck, and have fun!
Or if you have an AMD GPU, you could even try SteamOS itself, though it's intended for handhelds.
Bazzite looks to be the next best thing. Probably what I’m looking for. Thank you.