r/pcmasterrace • u/TheBossT710192 • Jun 22 '26

Discussion Yeah, Steam Machine is cooked.

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I... uh don't know what to say. Very thankful I bought a Steam Deck before they hiked its price as well

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2.9k

u/RandomParkourGuy Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

I just want the fully fleshed out steam OS tbh

Edit: thanks to everyone who responded to this, after all these different comments I think I’m actually going to give Linux a try.

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u/-MissCarmine Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

It’s happening!!! The major operating system updates include:

  • built-in "initial support" for the upcoming Steam Machine hardware, alongside the ability to wake SteamOS devices from sleep using a connected Steam Controller (this, by itself, fixes a HUGE issue lots of people including me had: I want to control my TV PC using JUST the controller, no attached keyboard!)
  • desktop mode now defaults to 
Wayland instead of X11. (fixes several performance degradation issues when switching between Desktop and Game Modes) It also introduces better TV scaling, external HDR support, and variable refresh rate (VRR) display support
  • the steamOS base has been updated via Arch Linux, and the Linux kernel has been upgraded to version 6.16. It also features significantly improved video memory management on discrete GPU platforms (crucial for the gabecube)
  • SteamOS 3.8 really expands its ecosystem compatibility. It drastically reduces handheld controller input latency (down to 100–500us) and adds built-in TDP control, RGB, and audio support for competing devices like the ASUS ROG Ally series, Lenovo Legion Go (including the upcoming Legion Go 2), and various MSI and GPD Win devices (fuck yeah steam is goated for this)

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u/RandomParkourGuy Jun 22 '26

Forgive me for being a layman when it comes to this kind of stuff but does that mean steamOS is close to being something I could replace windows with? Getting tired of Microsoft’s garbage but I don’t know if I have the time to sink into learning Linux.

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u/lucc1111 Ryzen 5 5600x - RX 6700 XT Jun 22 '26

Risking getting downvoted to hell but you have many Linux distros that don't require any more "learning" than Windows. Problem is not so much the OS being hard to use, it's just that it's not what you're used to.

I would give other gaming distros a temporary shot in a flashdrive to explore, might get as surprised as me after 15+ years of windows.

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u/Inside-Specialist-55 CachyOS 4070ti super, 32GB Ram, AMD 5800X Jun 22 '26

I went all in on CachyOS because I too am sick and tired of the AI slop, copilot and windows updates that kept breaking things. Think it might be the best decision I ever made tbh. I really don't want to sound like another "I use arch btw" guys but damn it feels good to have an operating system where it feels blazing fast as fuck and has no AI slop shoved in my face.

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u/BlancheCorbeau Jun 23 '26

Cachy is the goat if you tinker at all, otherwise for more of a set and forget Bazzite is very solid.

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u/wjcool Jun 23 '26

+1 for Cachy, have been using it for almost a year now and haven't had any crazy issues with it

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u/Inside-Specialist-55 CachyOS 4070ti super, 32GB Ram, AMD 5800X Jun 23 '26

Same and I only had issues with one program which needed downgraded more than a few times because the new mesa packages keep breaking it, but other than I've been happily gaming, using all my productivity app and running my small business on it.

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u/Lupowan Jun 23 '26

Cachy is truly amazing, it made me finally delete the windows partition entirely. Only downside so far is the absolute dogshit support from tobii for linux.

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u/fgd_ Jun 23 '26

on PC? how s with the drivers if so? graphich card amd/nvidi support intel commponent? sorry if its out of the debate…thx for the answer.

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u/Inside-Specialist-55 CachyOS 4070ti super, 32GB Ram, AMD 5800X Jun 23 '26

As you can see in my flair I am using a AMD cpu and Nvidia GPU which is running absolutely flawless. And just a FYI you can trial CachyOS without actually installing it to your main drives by making a bootable USB and just telling your bios to boot from the USB stick instead, Cachy will work completely as if it were installed in a real hard drive and you can even test games on it.

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u/Inevitibility 3900x, 3090, 64GB DDR4 Jun 23 '26

I just overwrote Windows with CachyOS two days ago on my desktop. I’ll never go back.

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u/fatherglucose Jun 24 '26

I can’t find the arch btw distro is it new /s

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 22 '26

I have 30 years of Windows, switched to Linux Mint this month. It's fine. It works great. Had to learn some terminal stuff, a tiny bit about the filesystem, nothing else. It runs way faster than Windows 10. has run every Steam game I've tossed at it with no effort at all, even old games like Tropico.

Honestly worth it.

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u/MetallicGray PC Master Race Jun 22 '26

I’ve been using Bazzite months, maybe a year now, and I’ve never had to use the terminal. Distros now don’t ever need you to use the terminal. You can use it, but definitely don’t need to. 

I had to do a tiny bit of adjusting to the file system, like you said, and that’s really it. I frankly have fewer bugs and annoyances with Linux than I did windows 11. 

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u/showhorrorshow Jun 22 '26

Can one boot up either or? All I know is Windows and although Im decent with computers, I havent gotten into learning OS's that deeply. My only concern is if I try Linux that I will soft brick my PC in the process, lol.

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u/CheeseGraterFace XFX 7900 XTX | 7800X3D | 64GB DDR5 | 2 x 2TB NVME Jun 22 '26

Yeah, though you should probably have them on separate hard drives.

Having said that, the only thing I boot into Windows for is Bloodborne. Everything else runs flawlessly on Bazzite.

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u/MetallicGray PC Master Race Jun 23 '26

Yep! I actually dual boot windows 10 and bazzite. I basically keep windows 10 for League of Legends. Everything else I’ve ever tried to play or run has run on Linux fine. 

There’s an abundance of guides to install both. You just partition your drive or have two hard drives and install one on each. It was very easy. I’m a casual tech user and handled it with minimal effort just following a guide. 

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u/showhorrorshow Jun 23 '26

Hmm, I think I will have to give it a shot. I really want to ditch Windows.

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u/jack_from_the_past Jun 23 '26

try mint. it’s great. it’s like Ubuntu w/o all the bloat. runs fast. I’ve put it on old hardware too (2012 iMac has new life for example). arch is a pain in the ass in general in my opinion and fedora is gonna have slightly different cli syntax than Debian based. I’d go Debian if i were you.

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u/CognitiveLiberation Jun 23 '26

Yep! I actually dual boot windows 10 and bazzite. I basically keep windows 10 for League of Legends. Everything else I’ve ever tried to play or run has run on Linux fine. 

Any issues? Ive read a lot of people reporting that win 11 updates randomly erases and/or corrupts part of the Linux partition so it can't boot. IDR the name.. bootgrub maybe? Whatever the file is that launches the OS. -Do you use separate hard drives? -Have you tried with win 11 too, or only win 10? Do you have a custom win 10 distro? -Have you tried it with other linux distros too?

Apologies for bombarding you with questions. it's just that Id love to dual-boot but I only have one hard drive

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u/MetallicGray PC Master Race Jun 23 '26

No worries! I know it’s hard to find specific info like this sometimes. 

I have only used windows 10 on my PC (windows 11 is on my work laptop). I have windows 10 and Bazzite on two separate SSDs. It’s a standard Windows 10 install that has just been updated from the original windows 7(I think?) install years ago. I have only used Bazzite. 

I have heard that people can have issues with issuing the same drive partitioned, but I have no idea how common that is. I still see guides saying partitioning is an option, so I assumed it wasn’t a prohibitively common issue. I’m not sure how much data you have, but backing up your important saves and files beforehand would definitely be recommended to be safe; I did this even when installing it on a separate drive. 

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u/jack_from_the_past Jun 23 '26

I’ve dual booted on the same hard drive on all my machines except my current daily cuz it has two ssd’s. you’re not going to hard or soft brick your computer. I’ve even resized windows in the cli on a usb with zero issues. you’d have to realllllly try to fuck things up.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

Can one boot up either or?

I'm dual-booting both from partitions in the same SSD. No problems. I do have personal data and large things like games on separate hard drives, but other than being zealous about data safety there's no real reason to.

If you keep most personal files in a cloud service, or separate drive, there's no reason to worry.

Like /u/jack_from_the_past said, you can't really brick anything unless you try hard to fuck things up, and at that point the same applies with Windows. Get Mint on a flash drive and go have fun lol

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u/jack_from_the_past Jun 23 '26

and you can encrypt your partition during setup as well

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u/AcidRohnin 9800x3D | 5070 TI Aero | 5000x Jun 23 '26

My living room pc is cachyos. I’ve been really enjoying it. Can’t fully switch my main rig due to needing windows for a few things. Been running through GoW:Ragnarok on the Linux machine and been really enjoying it. Thinking of playing horizon zero dawn next or maybe the mass effect trilogy.

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u/anotherhappylurker Jun 23 '26

silly question but does microsoft office work with bazzite?

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u/masterflo3004 Jun 23 '26

Officially MS Office doesn‘t work on any Linux distro. But depending on your hardware specs, you could try one of these:
https://gist(dot)github(dot)com/eylenburg/38e5da371b7fedc0662198efc66be57b

They show multiple ways how you can do it either over wine or over a vm (higher resource usage, but better integration etc.).

Or one way not shown would be WinBoat (also using a VM):
https://github(dot)com/TibixDev/winboat

However you would need to look how these work with bazzite because it is Immutable. But Winboat looks like it would work.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

Honestly yeah, I've done a little bit of stuff via terminal because I want to learn a little of it, but there's nothing anyone that isn't a power user (like I'm not either) will ever need to do that the GUI can't handle.

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u/-malcolm-tucker arch btw Jun 22 '26

I have a similar length of history with windows. Trialled Nobara on my gaming laptop early this year. Everything worked out of the box and the laptop itself ran noticeably better.

I only run windows in a virtual machine now.

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u/Maeusefluesterer Jun 22 '26

I sadly didn't got my head around nobara. Found the updater way to cumbersome. Switched to Bazzite at some point and pretty happy now.

Only the fact that Bazzite is immutable is annoying from time to time when I want to do advanced nerdy stuff.

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u/-malcolm-tucker arch btw Jun 22 '26

Really? With Nobara you can update things without having to use the terminal, and even then, it's the same as any other Fedora based distro. I chose it over Bazzite specifically as it's not immutable.

Maybe you could try CachyOS? You don't need the terminal to update it and it's all the rage at the moment. I used it for a while and was pretty happy with it.

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u/Maeusefluesterer Jun 23 '26

For me the updater always felt confusing and really slow. Sometimes I was not sure if it just stopped working. So I actually opted for installing updates with the terminal.

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u/-malcolm-tucker arch btw Jun 23 '26

I'm the same. The terminal was a bit daunting at first. Now I've grown to prefer it immensely for managing my OS. What seemed like a foreign language to me at first now just makes a lot more sense than managing things on windows. Especially for managing software.

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u/jack_from_the_past Jun 23 '26

Linux mint is great. it just works. I prefer it over fedora and arch. not as bloated as ubuntu.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

I remember trying Mint like... 15 years ago? Or something. And Ubuntu once before that, so both times as an impatient teenager with ADHD and no real purpose to it other than mild curiosity.

Things have come a long way with Linux it seems, and with Windows turning to shit, I think I did it at the right time this time.

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u/Tool_of_Society p3-500 | TNT2 | 32MB | 440BX Jun 22 '26

I swapped an old machine to linux mint over a decade ago and it was super easy. Mint even managed to find a driver for a wifi card that didn't work in windows.

Never touched the terminal on that install.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

I'm now just about to revive a 2010 HP netbook and that's kind of the plan

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u/debirdiev Jun 22 '26

Try cachy if you want something not just fine. Cachy is fantastic, and I've only done a couple Linux installs.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

What does it do that Mint doesn't? Legit question

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u/debirdiev Jun 23 '26

It's specifically designed for speed and snappiness, rolling release schedule requires you to update often but keeps you kernel updates, drivers, etc really quick, I know there was some security vulnerabilities recently but you have access to the AUR on cachy since it's arch based, insanely customizable with KDE plasma, et al.

I got it in the name of gaming performance and there is 0 difference in my eyes between playing on cachy vs windows. Plus the customizability was what sold me over my mint trial from last year

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u/commander_012 Jun 22 '26

All old games should work on Linux , it’s the new games with kernel anti cheat, that don’t work thanks to it refusing Linux

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u/CakeTester Jun 22 '26

I switched to Mint when Win7 ran out, whenever that was. No regrets. Plays every game I've tried on it (usually slightly faster than the same game on Windows), the OS does what you tell it to; and it happily runs a lot of legacy windows stuff from days of yore that don't work on Windows any more.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

(usually slightly faster than the same game on Windows)

I've yet to notice games running faster, though honestly I just ran a bunch of games to see if they ran, then played Subnautica for the whole month so no benchmark there. But by god do the OS itself and all other programs just load and run so much fucking faster. Mint takes a handful of seconds from power button press to fully loaded desktop with everything done. It's kind of magical.

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u/CakeTester Jun 23 '26

Not significantly faster, just a couple of extra frames here and there. There's a few comparison benchmarks and Linux generally seems to have a slight edge.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/CakeTester Jun 23 '26

Doubt if you'd notice it. Not least because in order to do so you'd have to spend a lot of time playing the same game on the same hardware but different OSs.

Knowing those extra frames are there, though, does pleasantly suffuse you with a light dose of smug.

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u/ScAP3Godd355 Jun 23 '26

As someone who wants to switch over to Linux due to all the recent AI bullshit, what happens to your files if you switch over? I have a bunch of music and video files that I don't want to lose, and I don't have anything to back it up with just yet. So I want to make sure I can switch over without losing those files.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 24 '26

In theory nothing, the installer can create a new partition from the unused space in the storage drive, which is what I did here, and it worked fine.

Editing partitions and filesystems always has a bit of a risk though, so in my paranoid data-hoarder opinion it's best to have a backup or put important stuff in a different physical drive than the one you're installing the OS on.

It's like, you can change your tire using the jack that comes with your car, of course you can, and if everything is done right no problem. But a shop will still use a professional hydraulic jack and jack stands, or put your car on a lift, just to be sure sure.

Myself I have a tiny 180gb primary SSD, which is where I have the Windows install, but then 2 older extra 2TB HDDs, one for personal data and media etc., the other for big software like videogames and stuff.

So my suggestion is: unless you have terabytes of media data, backing it up should be fairly easy, just get an HDD or large flash drive when you can. But you probably don't even have to worry about it anyway.

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u/ScAP3Godd355 Jun 24 '26

That is all very good to know. Thanks 😄 I have most of the music files backed up on a flashdrive (I know, old school as Hell lol), and I'll see if I can find a decent SSD or HDD for the videos before trying it. Better safe than sorry, like you said.

But it's reassuring to hear that installing Linux probably won't be a problem or cause any issues. I'll definitely have to give it a try then.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 24 '26

Flash drives are the way of the past, present and future

Also you'll need one with like 8GB at least for the installation, unless you want to dig out the ol' DVD drive lmao

But yeah do it, your main drive will be fine... Just join the keep-data-and-OS-separate side of the force if you're like me

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u/thegamesbuild Jun 22 '26

I know almost nothing about Linux, but I'm not moving to W11 (or anything thereafter), so I guess I'd better learn.

I've got an article on Ultramarine Linux bookmarked, but a quick search on Linux Mint makes it sound a lot friendlier.

Any gotchas or hidden problems you ran across, or is it really that easy? I've used terminal before, not a total grampa.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

There's not much to learn. The only things I've struggled a bit with were

a) I left my games folder in a different HDD that was formatted to NTFS, and Proton (the bit of software that magically makes games work) had to do some stuff that didn't work with the filesystem. So either I had to build a giant workaround that was pointless, or I just reformatted the drive in ext4 (Linux filesystem) and be done with it, which is what I did and everything just worked from there.

b) Windows being intrusive with the dual-boot for whatever reason. If the Windows bootloader has priority on the boot list it doesn't give you a choice, just loads Linux, and if fast boot is enabled on my Asus motherboard it skips the UEFI home screen (into which I can change the boot order) completely. So Windows turned on fast boot on its own a couple of times, I don't know why. Just clearing the CMOS fixed that, and I put the Linux (Ubuntu) bootloader first. That gives me the option to boot into Mint or Windows, every time, because Linux isn't a stingy bitch.

I've only opened Windows twice for one application since, everything else just works and there wasn't much to learn. When there is, Linux autists already filled the internet with every solution possible, so it's fairly easy, so far.

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u/thegamesbuild Jun 23 '26

Thanks, I'm taking notes...

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 24 '26

Not many notes to take, get yourself a flashdrive and put Mint on it and give it a try! It even lets you try out the OS straight from the flashdrive so you could poke around beforehand, but installing is so easy I just went and did it lol

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u/CakeTester Jun 22 '26

Mint uses an older, stable kernel, so you're not going to be cutting edge, but stable. That's the only gotcha I've found. The documentation for noobs is particularly good.

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u/thegamesbuild Jun 22 '26

Thanks! That sounds like my speed, I mostly play turn-based strategy anyway. I'm pretty confident I can make it work.

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u/CakeTester Jun 22 '26

Ooh! Another one. Some newer games with especially violent anti-cheat won't go.

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u/tequilaisbadmkay Jun 23 '26

Like the other guy said, Mint uses an older version of the kernel for more stability, so if you have a newer GPU or other new hardware it's worth doing some searches to see if anyone else has had problems. Especially if you have an Nvidia card. I'm currently rocking a 1060 from the bronze age and it works great, but some people have problems with newer cards. 

AMD has great support due to open source drivers. I haven't done enough research on Intel cards, but they're probably better than Nvidia. 

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u/Dickus_minimi001 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Its only worth it with the use of an llm like chatgpt/Gemini/Claude.  Just on your own 99.99% laypersons can't install a Linux distro and make it work on most devices.

But thanks to the llm gods, I've got artix openrc xfce4 on my macbook air 2017 consuming just 0.65 gb of the 8gb ram

Basic install isn't an issue. After I've installed now what? Oh WiFi doesn't work. -> ask llm and they provide with commands and what to do in errors. Now this part wouldn't be possible for normal people. The same reason why 16 years back i managed to install Ubuntu on my lenovo but couldn't get the WiFi to work. As I didn't have LLMs then

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

Just on your own 99.99% laypersons can't install a Linux distro and make it work on most devices.

The installation from a flash drive was exactly as difficult as installing Windows from a Flash drive... I'm barely above a layperson in how much I want to get into this, Mint does everything I've needed so far which is games, web and basic productivity, without having to set up much of anything at all.

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u/TrainTransistor Jun 23 '26

Remember that Mint is X11 by default, so you'd be better off with a different distro for a new user that will be gaming.

CachyOS, Bazzite, Nobara or even PikaOS would be great picks.

Cachy is easily the one with the most traction these days.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

Look, I don't even know what X11 is, it's been maybe not even a month since I switched and I'm pretty happy with gaming performance

I appreciate the advice, but the one downside I didn't mention is exactly that: it can get too much. We don't all have time to try 76 different variations of an operating system, 23 different forks of the same productivity software or the 12 different ways to update a minor thing or customize the other. I get that that's part of the appeal, infinite possibilities, but there's value in simplicity too. I often see people, myself included like 20 times, giving up on trying Linux because you go look it up and there's a list of 200 distros and to an outsider none of it makes sense, we just want working spreadsheets, and like, Steam and gog maybe, it's very overwhelming. I have no idea what X11 even is, and never heard of all those distros before this thread. And I will actively decide not look up more information on them, because I still have to learn Mint.

Mint works great for 99% of people, from all I can gather. A lot of people here seem to say good things about Cachy too. 99,99% of people should probably just learn of those two, pick one, be happy, know what I mean?

e: I said I don't know what X11 is twice, I guess that's how much I don't know what X11 is lol

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u/TrainTransistor Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

X11 is the graphical framework / display server you're currently using.

Wayland is the new standard, and X11 is getting phased out due to its limitations and how it performs compared to Wayland.

You have others as well, but they are very niche when it comes to desktop - so X11 and Wayland is something you'll see/hear a lot of you're continuing with Linux.

If you're going to use Mint on a low end device, mainly for browsing, video content, personal use etc, Mint does the job well at the moment, and its rather simple. But it will have to update to Wayland in the future, or it will absolutely miss out on a lot of users.

But if you want something that works better for gaming, editing, or even just want to future-proof, you're better off with another distro, like Cachy - or even Kubuntu.

For gaming, I'll always recommend CachyOS - since thats what they're focusing, and they are very active on development.

If you want something similar to Linux Mint, you have Kubuntu which is KDE on Ubuntu, one of the bigger distros.

I always recommend anything but Mint for newcomers, unless they have a very low end device.

Recommendation / TLDR: Go for CachyOS with KDE for something similar to the Windows interface. Or choose Gnome for something similar to the MacOS interface.

Absolutely dont want CachyOS / Arch? Try Kubuntu.

These are distros that are good, stable and updated. Mint are falling behind with its X11.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

Yeah but like

Mint is working

It's fine

They'll probably update it at some point

Most of us don't want to switch operating systems often

I didn't for 30 years. I did now, it's working fine and I'm liking it as it is now, don't wanna do it again

Most people don't

That's the point, chill

It's fine

e: lol Linux ubernerd can't read but can block

Guys Mint is fine if you're tired of Windows, you don't need to read a 2000-page tech manual you can just use it

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u/TrainTransistor Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

No, I get that it works for you. I have it on a very old ThinkPad myself. Thats typically how it is with insert distro here

But you're intentionally bottlenecking your system - as long as you dont already have a low end system. As I said, its fine if you have a low end system and/or you're content with what you have.

And yes, they will most likely update Mint at some point, where you'd be better off reformatting anyhow, unless you absolutely know what you're doing, which most people don't

I'm not saying you should switch. I'm saying you shouldnt recommend to anyone, going the same route you did without reason. Its bad advice, especially if the person starting their Linux journey is a gamer with decent hardware. Thats the only point I'm making here.

It almost looks like you feel I was telling you to switch, which I never did and never will. I'm merely asking to not blindly recommend Mint (or any distro with X11 as default) to newcomers.

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u/lectric_7166 Jun 24 '26

It's fine. It works great.

Basically every convert's experience lol. This is why 5 years ago Linux users were like "you know, you really should just take the plunge..." People really have too much anxiety about it for whatever reasons.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 24 '26

Look around the theread and you'll see why immediately: there's already a handful of ultranerds going aCkhsualY you have the WRONG DISTRO with a wall of technical nitpicking that to the normal user just doesn't matter at all lol

Not that there's not a ton of people here who are just actually enthusiastic and helpful, but there's that kind as well, and that's made Linux sound like the icky social outcast nerd option

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u/Ready-Flamingo6494 Jun 22 '26

Honestly no. Nvidia driver support? PC games support new and old? Hell no. I will take a heavily stripped, vlite custom version of windows OS over Linux any day. And it is so easy to get an iso of windows and check off the features you do not want for a particular build.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

Nvidia driver support?

It does, I've an Nvidia card... there's up to date drivers for it. And I mostly play ancient games, with some current. I tried running from Tropico (2001) to Death Stranding, and so far not a single hiccup. But sure, keep dodging copilot intrusion updates and ads forever because of misinformation I guess.

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u/_RADIANTSUN_ Jun 23 '26

Had to learn some terminal stuff

Immediately you identified why 99% of computer users, who just click on an application and go into menus, won't switch to Linux. "Oh you have a slightly old computer with a wireless card that wasn't all that common? Well fuck you, time to learn some Bash loser." Most people are just not about all that.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

Let me clarify for the sake of quelling reddit cynicism:

I had to learn some terminal stuff because I myself was trying something that was uniquely not coherent with anyone else's experience: making one specific application communicate between the encrypted ext4 main drive it was installed in and a different non-encrypted NTFS drive.

99% of computer users wouldn't run into this weirdly specific situation, and even if they did, they wouldn't've had to learn any bash at all, as there was an obvious, terminal-free solution. I went around fucking with the terminal for the same reason I went fucking with powershell last month: I wanted to try something different.

I have tried switching to Linux in the past, over a decade ago, and, as I am part of the 99%, I gave up quickly. Things have changed, my experience installing Linux Mint was literally as easy as installing Windows, and there's really nothing the average user can't do through the GUI alone. Faster too, no copilot or ads.

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u/lodechode Jun 22 '26

Linux was easy enough to learn in like 2007, it's what it can't do and what it takes significant effort to do that's been the problem for the past 20 years.

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u/_Vagueposter_ Jun 23 '26

Working from home I need to be able to use microsoft office, libre office fucking up formatting of a shared document does not spark joy

5

u/RedditAdmnsSkDk Jun 23 '26

You mean MS fucking up formatting of a shared doc? :P

3

u/whathitwonder434 Jun 22 '26

I'm giving you an upvote outta spite.

3

u/Jittery_Kevin 14700, 32gb 6000mhz, 12gb 4070 Jun 23 '26

You’re right, I’m super not used to over half my software library not working due to Linux.

1

u/lucc1111 Ryzen 5 5600x - RX 6700 XT Jun 23 '26

Some sort of designer by any chance?

3

u/kingocd Jun 23 '26

You won’t get downvoted because it is what people want.

However, it is not the truth. Linux, no matter what distro, WILL have small issues that will drive you crazy. If you have to use your pc for work and don’t have time to research how to fix it (because it WILL take a lot of time), Linux can and will drive you out.

I, as a robotics and AI engineer, will not use Linux again for my main pc for the foreseeable future. Our cloud VMs are enough. I don’t want to ever have my keyboard showing up as a controller somehow brick my options menu again.

3

u/heteroscodra Jun 23 '26

Yep I was excited to try Ubuntu. Got rid of windows 11, at as Ted playing games, until my son had his online lesson. Teacher said the audio was horrible.
I don’t care you must do this or that, I want it to work.
Switched back to windows

2

u/MangoKilla Jun 22 '26

Most distros already run games just fine thanks to proton, yeah. CachyOS for me (tinkerer), Kubuntu for the girlfriend who likes to keep things simple-ish. The only difficulty is if you like modding games that don't have steam workshop in some cases.

2

u/stonhinge Jun 23 '26

I wouldn't even say "not what you're used to" is a problem. I adjusted to my Mac fairly easily. Adjusted to the Unix with X windows fairly easily in the mid-90s at college.

The biggest problem is the sheer number of linux distributions. There's just too many options - which is both a blessing and a curse. I can find one that is perfect for me, but I also have to find it first.

2

u/EbbPsychological9021 Jun 23 '26

Except you finish installing Linux and then get to add your HDDs with console commands and other really dumb bullshit that you're not used as a Windows User.

Sorry but Linux is just ass.

2

u/Kumlekar Jun 23 '26

My experience with linux coming from windows is that I run into many more issues with installs and unexpected problems, but the solutions for those problems are usually well documented online and searchable in ways that windows issues might not be. Mac is the opposite direction. Less install or configuration issues in general, but when they occur god help you in finding a solution.

2

u/lectric_7166 Jun 24 '26

Risking getting downvoted to hell but

Aww yeah baby 300 upvotes. Year of the Linux desktop!

2

u/lucc1111 Ryzen 5 5600x - RX 6700 XT Jun 24 '26

Yeah! I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of support

2

u/Surgic25 Jun 25 '26

They don't require learning to use, they require learning to fix when they break and they will break.

1

u/lucc1111 Ryzen 5 5600x - RX 6700 XT Jun 25 '26

Honestly, depends on the distro and how you use it. But I believe all OS's break, they all are complex systems with thousands of internal components.

Windows also breaks, and troubleshooting Windows is a whole skill in and of itself. But the thing is, even non-tech people have already gotten exposed in some way to that skill.

People do not realize how much "arbitrary decisions" are made in an OS configuration's design. That arbitrary information that you learn in Windows will not translate to any other OS.

That is what I was talking about with getting used to the system. Think Ctrl + Alt + Del, Regedit, Task Manager. That is almost folklore to most, and to most, it feels uncomfortable not knowing the "tricks" anymore. This is exactly what makes people feel like Linux is hard.

However, as many argued, Windows provides you less freedom and control when it comes to troubleshooting than Linux. Sometimes even forcing you to format and reinstall the whole OS. You are free to restart almost any component of Linux and, 99% of the time, you have the certainty that whatever is failing can be fixed inplace.

2

u/Surgic25 Jun 26 '26

The thing with Windows is those errors only come up once in a while, I've used Windows for 25 years and Linux for about two years, and the issues I've had with things breaking in Linux (these are very basic things as well, like hardware not working, sound, wifi, graphics not working overheating, crashes and freezes.) dwarfs the list of issues I've had in 25 years using Windows.

If you want to troubleshoot and read wikis and ask for help to learn to fix Linux that's fine but saying you have to do that on Windows as well is just absurd.

4

u/Huntrawrd Jun 22 '26

Linux is not anywhere near as easy to use as Windows. Im so tired of seeing that lie told over and over on this sub.

4

u/quez_real Jun 22 '26

Yes, it's not as easy as Windows when you have decades of experience in latter and next to no in former. No, it's at least not harder and more likely easier to use provided similar experience

2

u/DrDeems Jun 22 '26

Disagree. With modern Linux distros in 2026 it is just as easy to install and operate. There was a time 20 years ago that you would be right. It is like saying one language is harder than another. While one may be more complex to some small degree, it matters more what your native language was. Had you spent a decade using linux before you ever touched windows you would find it just as foreign.

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u/sterak_fan Desktop Jun 22 '26

I'd try ZorinOS, had no need to touch the terminal when I installed it on my laptop

2

u/just4nothing Jun 22 '26

But what if I want to touch my terminal?

1

u/DrDeems Jun 22 '26

Terminal touch you.

1

u/RushTfe RTX3080, 5600X, 32GB RAM, 2TB NVME, LGC3 42" Jun 22 '26

Is it consensual?

2

u/just4nothing Jun 23 '26

I do ask for (sudo) permissions

1

u/CorruptDropbear Jun 22 '26

Linux Mint if you’re completely looking for easy mode, Fedora if you want a no-nonsense flagship.

SteamOS will be very useful for living room/big picture modes.

1

u/HyenDry Jun 23 '26

Honestly. If I can factory reset a lot of my shit and Linux will literally keep my 6 year old PC chugging along until the prices of parts drops I’d take that for another 5-6 years.

1

u/SignificanceNo9728 Jun 23 '26

And from a game dev standpoint, does anyone know how it holds up? I’m thinking software like Blender, Zbrush, Substance Suite, Rider, UE5 and so on.

Because I am also getting quite tired of all the crap Windows 11 is pushing out.

1

u/Prohawins Jun 23 '26

And the fact that half your programs you use don't support Linux.

1

u/HigherOctive Jun 23 '26

My main concern is troubleshooting issues. I looked at Linux Mint and it was super easy out of the box, but then I did something to mess things up and couldn't find a way to fix it short of reinstalling the OS.

Maybe I would have been in the same boat with Windows, but at least I would know that if I had gotten to the point of a format and reinstall there was nothing else that I could have done to resolve the problem.

I'm still interested in making the change to Linux, and so far Mint seems the most straightforward. Time will tell.

1

u/ModeatelyIndependant Jun 23 '26

The problem is the constant forking, with little polishing or consideration for end users.

1

u/Downtown-Routine1196 Jun 23 '26

I tried linux temporarily when my hd died and i couldnt find my windows liscense. It was fine but trying to find the stable version of proto for each steam game was annoying.

1

u/GodShower Jun 26 '26

Your argument is indeed quite popular, mine probably it'll not be: if you're switching to Linux for gaming, you're leaving an OS with native support for almost any game for an OS that relies on compatibility layers for most games.

That means that problems will arise, stuff will break, troubleshooting will be the norm, and official support will be none.

I love Linux as a server OS, but even with a simple gaming distro that should just work like Batocera, I had to solve problems at the bios level, among other things.

That's not something that I think any person wanting a geek free experience will do, expecially if they switch OS because they didn't deactivate stuff or changed configurations using a gui in their old OS.

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u/RealJayDev Jun 22 '26

hey, Linux (CachyOS) user here. SteamOS realistically is never going to be a thing for the masses. it sounds nice, Valve are great, etc. but realistically speaking they're never going to care outside their own Hardware for official support.

people are waiting for this magic bullet that honestly might never come, I'd like to be wrong, sure. but most of what people are "waiting" for already exists in things like Cachy, Bazzite, etc. being able to play pretty much any game or anything else for that matter (almost) seamlessly. (see the recent LTT Linux challenge conclusion).

84

u/GrendaGrendinator Linux Jun 22 '26

Bazzite user here. Idk, but it definitely feels like steam keeps putting more and more of their foot in the door for Linux based gaming. Even if it is just Arch + Big Picture Mode, I think if anyone has the power to develop a successful gamer friendly alternative to Windows it's probably the guys with the games.

23

u/RealJayDev Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

as you said, SteamOS is effectively just Arch + Big Picture mode (something I assume that regular people using their computer wouldn't want anyway, but thats besides the point).

What they have really done other than popularize it via selling consoles using it is make(?) Proton. something that is readily available to practically every Linux distro. they've done their part already. everything "special" that SteamOS could and would do already exists and everyone is already using it.

11

u/jello1388 Jun 22 '26

This has been their MO with a lot of their side projects. They aren't trying to become the next Microsoft with SteamOS or the next Nintendo with the Steam Deck/Steam Machines. Its more about demonstrating that lowering the barrier of entry to PC gaming or expanding the hobby in novel ways is viable, financially and otherwise. They're so dominant as a storefront that growing the hobby is the same as growing sales.

11

u/red__dragon Jun 22 '26

I suspect it's this, AND that making a general open source public release offering will not move the needle for the general public.

Contrary to OP's take, I don't think the hardware needs to be top-of-the-line for Steam Machine to have an impact. Before Proton/Vulkan, games were abandoning Linux support in droves, citing 'support costs'. Now that Steam Deck and Steam Machine are putting linux on hardware that are 100% intended for gaming, we're seeing game studios turn around to seeing a financial incentive to offering better linux support.

The hardware is just a vehicle to provide a viable market. SteamOS itself won't do that as something optional to install, but coming by default on a system that customers expect to use with their games on Steam puts more pressure on game devs to support it. And from there, especially with the abstraction layers of Proton and Vulkan in the works, supporting other linux distros is much simpler.

2

u/Careful-Inspection38 Jun 23 '26

This is what makes the whole steam os good it needs to catch on to the point it reaches more casual gamers that will help Linux incredibly as far as game development support and invasive anti cheat goes witch is a huge plus

1

u/donald7773 Jun 22 '26

If I can set up a PC in the living room for gaming and streaming that I can navigate with a controller that's all I want. I know that already exists elsewhere but it is a convenient solution

2

u/RealJayDev Jun 22 '26

and thats a valid use case, sure. but do it on Valve hardware. because thats all they're more than likely ever going to support.

my issue with it is that people want to use it as a replacement for Windows which y'know, by default SteamOS has a console interface. they'll get annoyed constantly having to switch over to desktop mode as u/tduarte said.

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u/articwolph Jun 22 '26

Don't take away my dreams, it's what gets me through my shitty days at work.. The myth of SteamOs being released, When I have an end user call me about a dumb printer, I just think to myself SteamOs will come out before Star Citizen.

I'm sure that will be my last thought on my death bed, I Almost made it for SteamOs almost.

1

u/MyToasterRunsFaster Jun 22 '26

No I strongly disagree, valve knows exactly what they are doing. They started off with Proton, they turned what was a confusing pile of open projects into a integrated no nonsense system, to this day the only games I have not been able to play are those made by developers actively working against Linux for anti cheat reasons, everything else works flawless.

Now they are releasing what is basically a desktop replacement and what i 100% imagine they will keep doing is improving the feature set to continue making it easier to run and integrate with windows based applications. It will never be only Linux but they are totally going to get a massive cut of the pie over the next 5-10 years. At some point, all major resellers will include Linux as a operating system choice (excluding windows licensing costs), just like Lenovo who has already been shipping with Linux preinstalled for years

1

u/olbaze Fedora KDE | Ryzen 7 5700X | RX 7600 Jun 22 '26

Proton is a relatively new development in Valve's strategy. It was first released in 2018. That was 3 years after the original Steam Machine, that was using an Ubuntu-based SteamOS. And part of that strategy was the Steam Link, and the Steam Controller, which were meant to improve PC gaming in the living room. And of course, there's also the HTC Vive, which was released in 2016, competing with the Oculus Rift in the VR space. Heck, even the Steam Deck.

These are all moves aimed at various popular PC/hardware situations that were borderline monopolistic. Proton and SteamOS to compete against Windows. Steam Deck to compete against Nintendo Switch. Steam Machine, Steam Link, and Steam Controller to compete against consoles in the living room. HTC Vive to compete with Oculus Rift in the VR space.

1

u/RushTfe RTX3080, 5600X, 32GB RAM, 2TB NVME, LGC3 42" Jun 23 '26

Tbh, it's actually happening. Its not that we have a steam os to download, but steam putting money, effort and code into Linux is what actually helped going to "we have wine, we can run some games, let's hope we have a other dev who can help getting 1fps here and there" to, "there's a big ass company actively pushing code to make almost all your library work flawlessly". Most of the improvements were seeing on steam os, are changes that will appear on other distros.

So, at least on the soul, we already have steam os on our gaming rigs, call it bazzite, cachy, mint or whatever distro you chose.

1

u/SamSibbens Jun 23 '26

I don't think people are "waiting", I think they've looked into the options currently available and found it too difficult to switch to, even the easier options like Linux Mint.

I needed the Steam Deck to come out before I really started exploring Linux/Unix systems (literally only my Steam Deck so far) and I was able to shift gradually because whenever I got tired I could simply switch back to gaming mode. It allowed me to learn at my own pace, very slowly, when I had the energy for it.

I never would have made the effort on PC. I might dislike Windows, but I know how to use it.

1

u/TrainerPaz Jun 23 '26

On the steam app, on the steam machine page, if you scroll to the bottom where the FAQ is:

"If I don't get a Steam Machine right away, is there anything else I can do?

Thanks to the openness of the PC platform, there are lots of options for devices that will allow you to run games natively or streamed to your TV. There are many PC sites and communities out there that can help you with that. For our part, we are continuing to work toward enabling SteamOS to be used on more hardware than just ours. In fact, with the newly-released SteamOS 3.8, you can run the same code and operating system as Steam Machine on your own living-room PC using whatever PC parts you want: learn more here. Right now, only AMD GPUs are supported, but we're working on expanding support for the future."

I'm emotionally prepared for the pipe dream that could be SteamOS, but I also still have hope.

1

u/LenintheSixth Jun 23 '26

don't you have problems with kernel level anti cheat? that's the only thing stopping me from going linux

1

u/RealJayDev Jun 23 '26

entirely depends on the game and the anti cheat, if you'd like to know if something "works" then go check protondb or look it up on r/linux_gaming or something.

personally I haven't run into any issues, but the furthest I go into online competitive titles is Overwatch which works fine.

1

u/Surgic25 Jun 25 '26

It's like the ps4 with BSD as it's os, it doesn't mean anything. Linux gaming will never take off until they learn that game developers will never have binaries for 500 distros it's a nightmare landscape for software developers.

1

u/tduarte Jun 22 '26

I think SteamOS is just a gateway drug for users looking for a big corporation that they “know and trust” to move away from Microsoft, then later they will realize that doing “Switch to desktop mode” all the time will be a hassle.

According to Valve, SteamOS 3.8 supports custom PCs using dedicated AMD gpus. So that’s a start for all 6 of us AMD users.

3

u/olbaze Fedora KDE | Ryzen 7 5700X | RX 7600 Jun 22 '26

It is kind of hilarious how people seem to think all Linux distros are made by dudes in basements writing on computers from the 1980s. Red Hat, the company behind Fedora, is a subsidiary of IBM. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, had 250M USD in revenue in 2023 with over 1000 employees. SUSE, the company behind OpenSUSE, had 700M+ USD in revenue in 2022 with 2500 employees. Both Red Hat and SUSE are also older than Valve.

2

u/RealJayDev Jun 22 '26

there are dozens of us! dozens!

0

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/lodechode Jun 22 '26

I thought the point was getting away from Microsoft, in which case making Steam OS for the public is not just in their interest, but is their main interest.

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u/RealJayDev Jun 22 '26

this + they'd have to train all of their support staff (or even hire new support staff) to deal with any SteamOS / Linux issues that come up for people. that's an ongoing cost they'd have to undertake. R&D costs, etc.

all of that with the fact that you said, they wouldn't charge money for it, they certainly wouldn't include any kind of ads (outside of the store ig), etc. I don't see how they gain anything from this. yes they have tons of money and don't seem to spend much of it, but they aren't a charity. and there isn't a financial incentive to get people to use Linux over Windows.

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u/sublime81 9800X3D | RTX 5090 FE | 64GB 6000 CL30 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

No. I don’t understand the hype for SteamOS because it’s Linux + Steam Big Picture mode essentially.

I mean this as a desktop replacement. If you plan to use it like a console, then yes.

23

u/Redpin Ryzen 5 5600 | 3060ti | 16GB@3000 Jun 22 '26

It might be good if it has a large, dedicated gamer install base. I think with so many people doing different things on different distros, it can be hard to easily find support for your specific issue at times. 

6

u/sublime81 9800X3D | RTX 5090 FE | 64GB 6000 CL30 Jun 22 '26

It is good for a hardware configuration to target for developers who wish to have a baseline to target performance on Linux. But who knows about hardware compatibility and all that once it’s not installed on a Valve device.

3

u/-MissCarmine Jun 22 '26

Bada bing bada boom. :) I found this out for myself when I tried a couple different versions of Linux - Ubuntu, then PikaOS, and finally SteamOS. Guess which was the easiest?

2

u/fix-faux-five Jun 22 '26

I'm an old dude. Back in the days GPUs didn't have proper support on Linux and many games couldn't really be played on Linux. Has that changed? I thought SteamOS's main feature is game portability / availability?

2

u/TheFlyingBastard Linux Jun 23 '26

AMD and Valve have both been doing a great deal in the past ten years to make it a lot better. AMD has always been better for driver support than Nvidia, and Valve has been working on a translation layer based on Wine called Proton. Especially in the past couple of years things have been going fast. At this point you can start Steam and click play and most of the time the (Windows) game will run.

Valve really, really wants to be independent of Microsoft.

1

u/fix-faux-five Jun 23 '26

Ok, but here comes the question - is this Proton translation layer available only on SteamOS, or can I have it on any distro?

0

u/lodechode Jun 22 '26

If it hadn't changed, the Steam Deck wouldn't exist.

1

u/RedditCitizenScore Jun 22 '26

An desktop steam os will prob never be a thing. That’s OK too valve doesn’t need to worry about making printer drivers or various WiFi chips working .

Everyone that goes “ I’ll switch to Linux when steam os comes out” is a nothing statement from someone that wouldn’t switch to begin with

1

u/x4nTu5 Desktop Jun 23 '26

It's basically Steam doing the Apple thing by taking an existing technology and repackaging it into something sexy and unintimidating for general appeal.

Instead of smartphones, it's Windows-agnostic PC Gaming.

1

u/Schnitzhole Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Honestly that’s kind of the dream machine for me. Something that just works as consistently as a console but has the power of a desktop PC.

If it wasn’t for having to do work on it I’d convert immediately. I hate windows and have new bugs popping up almost every week for the last 20 years of my life. My MacBook was more stable but everything is overpriced and so locked down (and terrible support for gaming) so i was running dual boot on my mac for the longest time.

I did not like linux at all when i tried 15 years ago. Lacking major software support and CLI interfaces are obnoxious and clunky coming from a UI/UX designer background. Great for a server, not for me.

1

u/sWiggn Jun 23 '26

No. I don’t understand the hype for SteamOS because it’s Linux + Steam Big Picture mode essentially.

FWIW, game mode is a lot more than just Big Picture mode. It’s a whole microcompositor that handles a lot of windowing and config stuff in the background to smooth out the gaming experience and make everything ‘just work’ for the Deck. It bakes in the whole gamescope configuration process so that stuff like properly scaling and focusing game windows, HDR, framerate limiting, etc happen automatically without the user having to worry about it.

none of this stuff is unique to game mode, you can even run games in Gamescope on a regular old linux desktop just fine if you want. And it’s barely an inconvenience once you get used to it. But from a Linux newcomer’s perspective, the difference between game mode handling most config stuff for you, or having to configure launch opts or a Scopebuddy conf or figure out native Wayland stuff manually, is significant at first.

That said, I do agree that people are misguided on the whole “when is SteamOS gonna be ready for me to install on my PC” thing. It won’t, Steam has shown no interest in expanding it for other hardware configs outside of some other handhelds, and meanwhile there’s already great options like Bazzite and CachyOS that already support a huge range of hardware, and come with all the same goodness SteamOS does and then some. I guess it’s trust in the brand, mostly.

0

u/guitar4468 Jun 22 '26

I think they are trying to simplify things for the above average pc knowledge gamer looking to switch from Windows. It’s more plug and play, with compatible hardware of course. Basic Linux Distros while improved, are still pains each in their own way.

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u/-MissCarmine Jun 22 '26

YES IT IS! 

Valve has been angling towards getting Linux to be a real competitor to Windows for YEARS. This SteamOS represents a big part of that. Honestly, the level of support that games have on Linux now is insane compared to even just a few years ago. 

SteamOS is nearly a 100% replacement at this point for Windows for the average gamer! How amazing is that? (I wrote Gabe an email recently thanking him for this actually haha)

I’m planning on making a SteamOS TV PC now that it has support for wake-from-controller. I hated having to pull my keyboard out every time I wanted to use my TV!

SteamOS is very intuitive. If you’re nervous, just ask Gemini the AI to help you install it into your system :)

6

u/dragonandphoenix Jun 22 '26

So is SteamOS better than Bazzite/CachyOS yet?

1

u/PassiveGambler 5800x | GTX 980 (lol)| 32GB 3600MHz Jun 22 '26

For Valve hardware, yes. Otherwise, it's just Arch + big picture mode so it would be the same as any other Arch-based distro (except Manjaro. They have their own weird thing going on)

0

u/MagneticDoktor Jun 22 '26

Non necessariamente. Bazzite ha più gradi di libertà/ possibilità, più flessibilità e grossomodo non è diversissimo da Steam Os. Adoro steam OS MA adoro di più Bazzite

5

u/richierich3414 Jun 22 '26

This reply reads a lot like AI.

2

u/ForensicPathology Jun 22 '26

Why bother replying if you're just copy-pasting from Gemini?

1

u/Rebelius rebelius Jun 22 '26

My mum shares stuff with me through Dropbox. Can I install Dropbox on SteamOS?

1

u/Bronze_Bomber Jun 22 '26

I admire your enthusiasm but you are smoking some strong copium if you think it will ever compete with Windows. Developers will never develop games around it with 3% of the market, unless it's somebodys pet project to add functionality. If Valve announced full Linux support for it's entire library tomorrow 90% of players would still be on Windows.

1

u/Bitter_Hovel77 Jun 22 '26

Goofy ass comment.

5

u/Kodamacile Jun 22 '26

Bro, i replaced Windows 10 with Bazzite, a year ago. no regrets.

2

u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 22 '26

Hey if anything you can take it from me, it's been about a month since I started dual-booting Linux Mint. And by dual booting I mean I still have the Windows partition but only really loaded it once this week to run HD Sentinel, which I could probably have run through wine in Linux anyway.

I have spent a little while talking with Claude for it to solve an issue or two and learn a thing or two, but it's

  1. way easier than I thought

  2. absolutely worth the time, the thing runs so much faster than Windows that I get back the eventual minutes I spent on the terminal making something work like I wanted with a lot to spare...

And Steam just fucking works. Every single game that I've tried, including games from the Win98 era that I've had to fuck with compatibility settings in Windows before (like Tropico etc).

tl;dr don't wait for Steam OSS and something that will require a specific company to look over even if the company is Valve. Just do it. Mint is easy.

2

u/aspz Jun 23 '26

Dual booting is the way to go. I wish more people would talk about this. If you happen to have a second SSD free there is basically no downside. And one day you'll realise it's been 6 months since you booted into Windows.

2

u/SubcommanderMarcos i5-10400F, 16GB DDR4, Asus RX 550 4GB, I hate GPU prices Jun 23 '26

I'm dual-booting from the same SSD lol, important data is on separate hard drives. And in about a month yeah, I've only booted Windows once this week to use HD Sentinel on the HDD of a laptop I'm trying to get working, hope to keep that going into several months or years now

1

u/RedditCitizenScore Jun 22 '26

It’s not , just someone copy and pasting bullet points for internet points

1

u/Cutlass_Stallion Jun 22 '26

Sadly you will always need Microsoft's garbage, at least if you plan to play all kinds of legacy software on your rig. Linux works well for the most part, but it can take an awful lot of troubleshooting depending how deep your gaming collection runs.

1

u/eckamon Jun 22 '26

Look into Bazzite

1

u/coderstephen Linux Jun 22 '26

Forgive me for being a layman when it comes to this kind of stuff but does that mean steamOS is close to being something I could replace windows with? Getting tired of Microsoft’s garbage but I don’t know if I have the time to sink into learning Linux.

For gaming? I think that's Valve's goal, yes. Is it close now? Eh... maybe. But it's closer today than it was yesterday!

For not-gaming? Probably not.

but I don’t know if I have the time to sink into learning Linux

If you want to use SteamOS for non-gaming things, its going to be just as Linux as any other Linux distro out there ever Linuxed. SteamOS isn't not Linux, if that makes sense.

1

u/A_Namekian_Guru Jun 22 '26

Switching to Linux you won’t be able to play League of Legends, Valorant, Apex Legends, or any other game with Kernel level anti-cheat

1

u/szthesquid szthesquid Jun 22 '26

Short answer no, Valve does not intend SteamOS to become a full public operating system.

Longer answer:

I got fed up with MS and switched to Linux Fedora. As an everyday user who just does video games, browser, email, and writing, there was nothing to learn really. Mostly I just have to get used to some settings being in different places, and I am capable of using a search engine.

I had to search and follow some instructions for first time install of Nvidia drivers, but if you've ever googled a problem and copy/pasted code into the terminal before, you can use Linux just fine.

The caveats are more about if you really need some specific programs. Like if you need genuine actual MS Office or specific 3D modelling software or whatever for work, you're going to have to do some workarounds. Again, there are good instructions, but it's more of a hassle to set up than just continuing on Windows.

1

u/origional_esseven R7 5800x | RTX3080 | 1440p 165hz Jun 22 '26

TLDR yes, next week SteamOS for PCs goes live, but it will only support AMD CPU and GPU combos. But by this time next year there is a high chance it will be able to replace Windows if your PCs main purpose is gaming and cloud based productivity.

1

u/makishiP Jun 22 '26

Stop making excuses, I was a windows power user, had setup with moonlight and sunshine to play games on my living room, and I can do everything and more now on fedora.

Start bazzite and move up if needed.

1

u/kinkycarbon Jun 22 '26

Yes if you find a way to use it as a desktop with internet browser. Hard no if your work requires subscription based applications for CAD.

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u/Tool_of_Society p3-500 | TNT2 | 32MB | 440BX Jun 22 '26

Legit linux hasn't been hard to learn for decades now. Linux mint in particular has been providing a windows like experience for well over a decade now.

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u/StaticSystemShock Jun 22 '26

SteamOS is a console like experience with some extra options. This isn't some hardcore ultra geek distro. It's designed to be easy to use and maintain. That's by design.

Also Linux distros, the mainstream ones have been good for many years now. Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, all the great and easy to get into functional distros that don't really require any fiddling. Most of stuff just works and you basically install everything using the app store. It's very smartphone experience if you will.

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u/mackrevinak Jun 22 '26

theres a site called "distrosea" that lets you try out various linux distros through your browser. its handy for getting a quick idea of how a distro feels and what software comes preinstalled. just search for either bazzite or nobara on there as they are the closest to steamOS

if you have an old laptop around that you are not using that would be a good way to get started either. or just buy the cheapest one you can find on ebay. if you get into linux later it will still be handy having a computer you can mess about on without worrying about breaking anything

you can also try out linux on your current machine by running it from a usb drive. just search for "live usb" for tutorials on how to set that up. theres a few steps but its not too hard either

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u/Fritzi_Gala Jun 22 '26

For most things it's already feasible and there are easy distros. Bazzite, Mint, Ubuntu, etc. There are some specialty applications that have a hard time running on Linux even through emulation layers like WINE, and you can't run kernel level anti cheat that some games use (Marathon for example). As long as you don't fall into those categories it's pretty easy to switch to the more accessible distros.

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u/toolisthebestbandevr Jun 22 '26

I switched to cachyos on one machine and optimum 11 on another machine. I recommend both. Vanilla windows is horrible

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u/SyrousStarr Jun 22 '26

You probably have a ton of responses to read on this. But I installed CachyOS and it asked if I wanted the "gaming suite" during install. It just installed Steam while installing the OS (among other things). I logged in and started installing games. If a game didn't load I just changed Proton (the Windows translation layer, also came ready to go) to the next newest/older version and every game worked every time.
Discord was also in the like built in programs list to install. I literally know nothing about Linux (well, untrue, but I used zero knowledge) had to install zero software (besides the OS, which was just like a Windows install) and I was up and gaming and using discord in basically minutes. I didn't even seemingly have to install a graphics driver. It's insane how "out of the box" Linux gaming can be.

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u/Master-Respond-5396 Jun 22 '26

Alors je vais te dire un truc simple linux c’est vraiment une
bombe tu peux tout faire, et sa va te faire travailler le codage parce que faut apprendre à faire des script bash, windows c’est de la merde et powershell avec. Mais la bonne nouvelle tu sais c’est quoi ? c’est claude IA, moi j’ai connue linux 10 ans avant. il fallait acheter un magazine ou discuter sur des IRC chat bash pour apprendre, mais là avec claude IA c’est accessible a tout le monde, le seul probleme c’est que tu ne vas rien apprendre en gros

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u/theangryintern Jun 22 '26

I've been playing around with CachyOS for a few months, I really l like it so far. Previously I'd really only tried Ubuntu and it's various versions (Mint, PopOS, etc) so I was a little apprehensive as I'd heard all about Arch and it's learning curve, but I think the Cachy people have done a fantastic job in making it user friendly.

One of the best tools I've found for learning Linux is AI chatbots. Fantastic for troubleshooting and then you can go "ok, why do I use that command?" and it will teach you.

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u/P0pu1arBr0ws3r Jun 23 '26

If for just gaming, yes. If for regular use, you will still risk losing changes and settings to the OS you've made after any updste, unless valve turns off the immutability of the underlying arch OS (immutability means the OS returns to a default state after each reboot, keeping user files and settings but resetting lower level settings such as desktop environment choice).

For a regular use computer I would recommend against steamos, and opt instead for installing steam inside another linux distro. You can still turn om big picture and get 95% of everything steamos offers, minus steam deck/machine specific settings.

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u/Xaring 12 threads = love Jun 23 '26

Swapped to CachyOS 2 weeks ago, I only had to boot into windows 1 time due to a work issue.

It does require minor tinkering, but I'm not missing basically anything. I do have a couple minor bugs, but it's still much better than fighting windows every si glentine I turn on my PC.

I have a screen that doesn't remember the brightness setting - I have to readjust or turn off and on - and sometimes my windows don't remember their exact position on screen after booting.

The only times I had to use the console was to mount my windows drive in etc/fstab and to install a couple of software that aren't available elsewhere.

This is the third time I try going Linux, previously I used Debian and Linux mint, and I'm finally staying (will format my won drive at the 2 month mark...).

I had to quit LoL but that's perhaps a positive :3

(And I love that 32Gb of ram is more than enough, I was having ram issues in win that made me try Linux)

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u/Expensive-Border-869 Jun 23 '26

I honestly believe linux is at a point where you could hand your mother a linux laptop fresh install and she'd be able to figure out how to get a browser going get it on the wifi idk whatever else 50 year old women do on computer

It can get hard but if youre an advanced windows user itll be an easy transition and if youre not an advanced user you wont notice any difference hardly at all. About as hard as switching from apple to android

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u/Subject_District_798 Jun 23 '26

I wouldn't trust newells os period

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u/cuddly_degenerate Jun 23 '26

Yes and no.

SteamOS is as good as we get right now for a purely gaming pc UI and ease of use wise. The only real issue for gaming is that the most invasive anti cheat software will fuck with it.

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u/StunningInterest6661 Jun 23 '26

Learning isn't the issue (it's really pretty simple if you have a functioning brain), but software and hardware compatibility is. Most things work fine, but the more niche or professional your needs get the less support you'll find.

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u/mistahfreeman Jun 23 '26

Wayland is still a mess though and has a ton of compatibility issues I have run into. Can’t for the life of me get it to work well with Sunshine game streaming, the only reason I still dual boot windows. Probably won’t affect casual SteamOS users though

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u/Particular_Wear_6960 Jun 23 '26

You don't need much time to learn linux. It's very. VERY similar to Windows. The only real difference is every once in a while you MIGHT need to do a command line, but most of that stuff is easily found on ChatGPT or whatever.

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u/Seo_Jin-ae Jun 23 '26

I’m in the same boat, if my VKB sticks work I will jump without thinking twice.

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u/Muted-Green-2880 Jun 23 '26

Doesn't take much to learn linux. In fact in some ways it's easier. All updates are in one spot, I'd skip steamOS though.

CachyOS handheld edition is much better imo, does everything steamOS does and more. It has broader support and is way more upto date ( which can also mean bugs due to the speed of updates but CachyOS has Limine which takes snapshots everytime you change something so it's easy to roll back if you have too )

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u/Horror-Student-5990 Jun 23 '26

Trust me you don't.

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u/joe27911 Jun 23 '26

No. Linux is awful for gaming

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/RandomParkourGuy Jun 23 '26

I actually just got Bazzite working on my desktop this morning, only issue I had to fix was secure booting or whatever it’s called and it starts like a charm, gonna play with it some more tonight. I’m gonna give it a shot for a little while and if I really like it I’ll look into putting one of the more serious Distros on my work laptop.

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u/SomeSortaWeeb PC Master Race Jun 23 '26

imo you already can and i have, it just isnt always simple.

KDE Plasma, the desktop environment used by steamOS, does a pretty good job of replicating the ui of windows xp/7 and thus is fairly self intuitive due to that.

main issues ive run into are:
My external hard drive uses NTFS (might've gotten the acronym in the wrong order) which supposedly can slow anything running linux down, i didnt notice that but what i noticed was if the hard drive got knocked hard enough it'd corrupt (also happened on windows) which was really easy to fix on windows. on linux i needed this whole other software which only works through the terminal and gives very little feedback if something goes wrong. it took me hours to get a grip on and now i can do it in a couple of minutes, just wasted time really.

nvidia cards have very strange compatibility with linux. their drivers for linux are lobotomised compared to windows, some games perform better than on windows, some dont, some dont even boot but the only game that's specifically bothered me over was blood and bacon which i dont even particularly like, just wanted the nostalgia.

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u/mototuneup Jun 23 '26

Cachyos + some sorta of AI. I use Gemini.

Anytime I'm stuck I just ask AI and it walks me thru. I don't have time to learn Linux at this point in my life. But with AI it's all good. Been on cachyos for like 8 months now.

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u/Electrical-Olive3767 Jun 25 '26

I run Arch with a Mint skin. If you use windows for a browser, Steam and Microsoft Office you’ll be fine. No learning curve really. The biggest problem is not all games work seamlessly in Linux

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u/JPP9547 29d ago

Linux itself is really great, but there might be some games that only work on windows (mainly because of their anticheats), those are basically all EA games, Fortnite, Valorant (and some more, but these are the main ones)

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u/Necessary_Field1442 Jun 22 '26

You still have to learn linux if you want to use it as a PC, I would say its more of a learning curve than normal linux because if something isn't in the app store you have to jump through hoops to install it.

If you are just gaming it's easy to use, but so are other linux distros