I’m thinking about switching to SteamOS since it’s built for gaming. Most of my games run fine on Linux Mint, but not all of them. I also heard Valve say “it’s just a PC”, does that mean it’s suitable for software development too?
I’ve used it. It’s fine on the SteamDeck but it’s not made for desktop yet. Just use CachyOS or Bazzite.
Game compatibility and overall performance will be mostly the same regardless of which Linux distro you choose.
Yes some gaming focused distros add a few small extra tweaks bit in the grand scheme of things it’s largely the same.
I wouldn’t suggest using SteamOS outside of steam hardware het as its not built for general purpose computers. Futhermore, I wouldn’t suggest using Bazzite (the steamos-like distro for general purpose computers) unless you were installing it on a gaming focused pc or htpc.
There’s really no reason to use it on a general purpose desktop. It’s designed to basically make a PC into a console. You do still have full access to the (mostly) normal Linux system behind it, but it’s not something I’d use unless I was setting it up for someone who didn’t want to deal with any of the behind the scenes stuff.
CachyOS, Nobara, and Bazzite all should get you the same level of gaming support with more flexibility as a normal OS, and they can all run Steam Big Picture which is basically the SteamOS UI.
If you want to JUST game, SteamOS is great, like for a handheld, a living room gaming PC, etc.
If you want to do software dev, look elsewhere like Nobara, CachyOS, etc.
SteamOS is an immutable Arch. Valves aim is to reduce support costs by ensuring everyone has the same build and to only support a hardware subset (AMD APUs) so it’s less general purpose than a regular Linux distro intentionally. A steam deck is just a PC though and it is usable for non gaming tasks the same way a gaming focussed immutable system like Bazzite is. I even did development on a Chromebook for a month or more years ago as a challenge. It’s possible. It wasn’t ideal. The further you get from steam hardware and use case the more hoops you will need to jump through.
Games generally run more or less the same on any Linux system if they have the same kernel , steam runtime, mesa and proton in my experience. CachyOS might get a few more FPS until the patches they use get more widely distributed. Some compositors will get a little more performance than others.
Some games have detection for Steam deck that works around bugs they haven’t bothered fixing for proton users in general. I have one game I had to set an environment variable so it would behave like on steam deck.
I think SteamOS on a mini amd apu system hooked up to a tv as a gaming system would make a lot of sense. Running it on a regular desktop for non gaming taks is more of a novelty thing. It’s less practical than using a more general distro.
Most of my games run fine on Linux Mint, but not all of them.
You’re not changing much when you’re changing distros, you may have slightly newer or older packages but we’re all running essentially the same Linux Kernel, Proton versions, etc.
You’d probably have less of a headache by trying to diagnose the games that don’t work than swapping OSs blindly and hoping that works.
If you were to swap, I’d look at something Arch-based. This way you’ll have access to the newest versions of everything (for good or ill).
I am relatively new to Linux and first tried to go with Linux Mint, because it was advertised as user friendly and good all around. But games, especially eldenring, did not run well and with a lot of stutter. I was kind of disappointed and switched to nobara. Now i am really happy with the experience, everything runs perfectly and without much problems.
Any idea what could cause this, if evey distro is the same? As far as I could tell, I updated everything on mint to the latest available version and the GPU (7900 gre) was also correctly identified. Would be interesting what i could have changed to make it work.
We can’t know for sure, but if I had to make some guesses:
It could have been something as simple as Nobara using GE-Proton instead of just defaulting to Steam’s proton. You could do the same thing on Mint, just by either manually downloading the zip from Github and extracting into Steam’s compatibilitytools.d/ directory (or, as most people do, use protonup-qt to install/manage proton versions).
Also, Mint uses a different Desktop Environment than Nobara. Mint has a custom DE called Cinnamon while Nobara uses the most popular DE, KDE Plasma. So there could be differences in how Cinnamon and Plasma implement Wayland that were causing hitching.
The Kernel also was recently(-ish) updated to include NTSYNC primitives which makes Wine’s not-emulation a bit smoother in some games. Different distros update their kernels at different times (I don’t know how nobara and mint do this, one could be behind the other)
I’m glad it worked for you, it’s frustrating to have to deal with poor performance and sometimes just rolling the dice on another distro will fix everything (and also, swapping distros when you’re learning is great experience!). Learning the process of tracking down problems will serve you better in the long run, even if it is frustrating. If you get lost or don’t know where to start, make a post in this community, no question is too dumb. At worst, some people will be assholes because it’s social media in 2026 but you’ll usually find someone to get you pointed in the right direction at least.
Thanks for the detailed reply. I will try to follow your advice the next time, I run into problems.
I thought it might be a bigger problem with mint, because eldenring is not a new game and i also found posts of people running it on Linux without any problems about 3 years ago. So I figured it should run well with the state of the art version of things without having to update to any special new versions.
You mentioned distro swapping. So far I deleted all partition when installing a new distribution. (Happened only once, and i did not setup a lot before the new install) Can i just switch the distro without having to redownload every game as long as i do have them on another partition or are they kind of dependent on the used distribution?
You can keep your steam library across distros. Games are usually Windows executables, which run through WINE so they’re completely independent of the distro.
A common recommendation is to make a partition for your home directory and another for your system directory (they can be on different disks too if that’s easier). That way, if you decide to try a different distro then you will still have all of your data/games/settings/etc. If you do this, then everything will move between distros because you only need to overwrite the information on the system partition.
If you just want to keep the Steam stuff, it is typically in ~/.local/share/steam (~/ means your home directory, if you didn’t know). If you move it into that same location on your new distro then Steam will see all of your installed games.
Thanks for the explanation. So it works similar to the system partition on windows. I somehow struggle a little to understand the role of distribution. When researching how to install Linux, it seemed like an important choice with lots of differences between the various distributions. Some are based on arch, some fedora or ubuntu. It seems like all need different types of packages to install software. And so on. A little ironic, that this is less a problem when running Windows executables through a compatibility layer like wine.
Thanks for the explanation. So it works similar to the system partition on windows.
Yeah, same bit. Just put everything on another drive/partition and then mount that on /home (so you get /home/user) and that’s it.
I somehow struggle a little to understand the role of distribution. When researching how to install Linux, it seemed like an important choice with lots of differences between the various distributions. Some are based on arch, some fedora or ubuntu. It seems like all need different types of packages to install software. And so on. A little ironic, that this is less a problem when running Windows executables through a compatibility layer like wine.
Distributions are essentially just a selection of the basic software required to make a system work. Things like, what version of the kernel you will start with, what init system (systemd is the current popular choice, but sysvinit is still widely used). Then there is the package manager, which is responsible for installing/updating all software on your system (you can install software without the package manager, but here there be dragons) and often a distro will include a Desktop Environment (which is, itself, another package of various software maintained by another group) like KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, XFCE, etc and some default software packages (like, LibreOffice, Firefox, or Steam).
There’s a ton of little differences between distros in how they do things. Like one distro may release a full system update periodically and that update will have been in testing for months to ensure stability (Debian). While another strives to ensure the most current version of all software is available (Arch).
Often, groups will like how one system works, let’s say Arch, but want to try something else, like adding a graphical installer, and adding some additional software and they’ll create a new distro that is built on top of the work done by the Arch distro. This is why you see them described as Arch-based(EndeavourOS) or Fedora-based(Nobara).
That being said, there is no major differences between KDE Plasma that was installed on top of Mint and KDE Plasma installed on Arch. They may have different versions which are available in their respective package repositories, but it’s the same software. Mint may not be on the same Kernel version as Nobara but they’re all using some version of the same underlying Linux kernel code. Systemd is Systemd on Bazzite, Mint or Debian, etcetc.
I’m glossing over quite a bit and there are exceptions to almost everything I’ve said but I’m just trying to give you the broad strokes.
Part of the draw of Linux is the ability to swap all of these different components around as you will. Distros are simply popular configurations/design ideas that have a community built around them.
That helped a lot, thank you.
You’re not changing much when you’re changing distros
This needs to be a pinned comment on every distro-hopping post.
But then all the distro hopping idiots who never get anything done on their computers would be grumpy!
For real. It’s basically do you like typing apt, dnf, or pacman more? Do you want stuff ready to go with potentially things you’ll never use, or do you want to do it all yourself? Do you want daily updates or just occasionally updates.
Strong disagree. I tried so hard to make Fedora and Mint work but it just wouldn’t play nice with my RTX 3080. Could it have worked with enough tinkering? Probably, but it took even less time to simply get CachyOS to work for most things out of the box.
SteamOS is arch based… As a note.
CachyOS is literally what people seem to think steamOS is. Bonus points it’s not atomic.
I have a Steam Deck and it works brilliantly for me.
bazzite is probably the better choice.
you can most likely get all of the same benefits from your existing install, though. just need the right configuration.
you can most likely get all of the same benefits from your existing install,
You can’t get Gamescope, which really makes all the difference in the world, especially in couch/controller gaming.
Why not just install game scope?
https://docs.bazzite.gg/Handheld_and_HTPC_edition/Steam_Gaming_Mode/
Bazzite utilizes Steam Gaming Mode by forking ChimeraOS’s
gamescope-sessionand modifying it to fit the needs of our operating system.Bazzite was offered as an alternative to “your existing install”.
Lol I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant that gamescope would be difficult to get working under Bazzite’s immutable architecture.
You do realize gamescope is just a package you can install, right? Do you think it’s a unique feature of SteamOS or what?
You do realize gamescope is just a package you can install
LOL It is not.
On many distros it is.
I installed game scope on my Fedora install.
FSR crashes sometimes, so I disabled that. The only real issue OSS that if you use game scope the steam big picture exit menu gets replaced with the steam deck options only, so I had to create a separate “game” to send a kill signal to gamescope.
really? i thought one of the main benefits of gamescope was that it can be nested inside an existing DE?
As others have said, Bazzite is probably a better choice as steamos is pretty much targeting the steam deck. But if you want there is also the HoloISO project that tries to make SteamOS work better on other hardware.
https://github.com/HoloISO/releases/releases
I don’t think HoloISO is developed anymore. Last release is from Jun 3, 2024.
Not much suitable for software development in normal classic way, all ur building tools u will have to run in distrobox or similar ways, u can disable read only file systems but it loose all point it basically just arch linux
SteamOS isn’t really avaliable 😅 they said they were gonna do it, but they never did.
Bazzite is basically steamOS for normal pcs- but I would try something like endevaros or other arch distros if u wanna aim for steam.
SteamOS is arch based.
I assume it will come once the steam machine is out in a few months
SteamOS isn’t really avaliable
It is available. Always has been. It’s just a matter of whether it will work on your machine.
^
For those looking to take the leap:
https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/download/?ver=steamdeck
Write image to USB, Boot to USB, press install from inside the live environment.
If you’re using AMD hardware you will have better luck, but it is not guaranteed to work.
Just a warning. Hitting the aforementioned “install” will wipe your machine’s first NVMe drive, and install SteamOS on it. It won’t ask questions.
Think you should edit your comment to remove the misinformation.
gurl what?
SteamOS is made for spesific hardware. hell a couple of years ago you had to try to trick it to even install on smth outside of steamdeck.
You said it isn’t available but it is. So you should edit your comment to not spread misinformation or clarify with a qualifier about hardware.
https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/download/?ver=steamdeck
It’s “available” in that you can get the ISO to re-install SteamOS on your Steam Deck in case you decided to try running Windows or your install got corrupted.
SteamOS as it is right now only works on an all-AMD setup, and there’s still issues with it if it’s installed on anything but the 3 devices that are officially supported at the moment
Perhaps then, for the sake of pedantry, a better fitting word could be “compatible”.
“Compatible” is not the word to use here. If you have Intel or Nvidia hardware you’re going to have tons of issues. Especially with Nvidia graphics cards where you generally don’t get a display at all.
Hell, I have an all-AMD system and I would likely have issues as well, since SteamOS doesn’t support GPU’s newer the the RX7000 series, and I have an RX9070XT.
If you’re going to insist on putting a label on the SteamOS install file, it’s “unofficially available for technical support”. Anything suggesting more than that is dishonest
You want to install SteamOS on your desktop PC? Because thats not officially supported. You can still do it, but you might get unlucky with hardware compatibility. Its primarily intended for use with custom hardware like handhelds or for dedicated gaming machines that you would put in your living room.
If you just want a desktop OS that can be used for productivity, but also goes well with gaming, i would choose something else.
Popular choices are CachyOS or Bazzite if you want to have very up to date software, but personally im just running good old debian even if it does not have the absolute latest drivers.
Unless something is badly configured, there shouldnt be a major difference between any of these distros game performance wise, so its more about what you like in terms of UX and UI.
And heck, I’m on Ubuntu and have no problems. I played BGIII and Cyberpunk 2077, full graphics,no glitches. Currently back on Skyrim with a couple hundred mods using Vortex.
Any Linux distro with Protontricks should be fine.
I’ll echo this, minus the Skyrim part because it’s been years since I touched it. Also, I’m on Debian, not Ubuntu. BGIII, Cyberpunk, Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West, Satisfactory, Doom 2016/Eternal, Diablo III when I’m in a particularly self-loathing mood…anything I throw at it, it’s handled. Haven’t played a single game on Windows in at least 3 years.
Also runs DaVinci Resolve Studio like a beast. That includes peripherals like the Speed Editor and Micro Color Panel, as well as the Blackmagic Intensity 4k capture card in a Thunderbolt enclosure. For my use case, there’s nothing Windows does that Debian can’t, apart from the whole “I paid like $200 for a license for this OS so the can serve me ads and spy on me all the time” thing.
I also heard Valve say “it’s just a PC”, does that mean it’s suitable for software development too?
Yes, I used my Steam Deck for software development briefly. But don’t use the flatpak versions of the IDEs, use the tarballs instead. The flatpak sandbox will cause weird issues when the IDE is trying to access resources outside its sandbox. Also keep everything -as much as possible- in your home directory as intended by SteamOS, don’t try to unlock the read-only filesystem, even though you can, you will lose everything when SteamOS updates.
I still haven’t gotten to give it a full proper go. But Toolbx is designed to assist with development on immutable OSs. Let’s you do regular package installs for all the various Dev tools into a container. Can either install your IDE into the container and run it like a regular app, or use an IDE with built-in Dev Container support.
Finally the discussion I searched for. I bought a steam deck killed steamOS the first day and went full bazzite. But since I used CachyOS on other hardware, I believe it is maybe better. So what? SteamOS, Bazzite or CachyOS?
I’m partial to CachyOS due to its mutable nature. Sure it gives you more tools to hang yourself with but it also means the most freedom for what you want out of your OS experience.
It’s optimized for gaming and you can install a lot of standard Linux apps. But it only works on specific hardware like the Deck and Legion at the moment, the Frame and Machine should be running their versions. A lot of things that come in a standard Distro for PCs have been removed that you might take for granted. I like to think of it as a balance between PC and game console, remember when you could side load Linux onto a PS3, sort of like that.
I use my Deck in desktop mode and connect it to my TV for web browsing, Steamlink to my tower and occasionally use the Libre apps, but I wouldn’t recommend using it as your daily PC. It doesn’t exactly feel like a fully fleshed out PC, hard to put a finger on it until you use it.
I use it as my daily pc. Though ive got another for docker and shit so maybe thats enough.
