Can you just install Linux Mint?
this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2024
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I believe SteamOS is designed only for the steam deck, I wouldn't recommend it as a general purpose OS for a desktop or laptop.
I would recommend Bazzite, it's like a general version of SteamOS. It comes with a version that boots directly into steam's big picture mode (like SteamOS) or one that boots into the desktop (I run this on my desktop)
It also has improvments like nvidia drivers, printer drivers, package layering and because it's built on top Fedora Atomic you can rollback the system to a stable snapshot if an update doesn't work with your system.
I've been running on my desktop since September (I was in the same boat as you) and it's been really good. A lot of the stuff I would've had to configure and mess around with is already setup for gaming
Can't answer before SteamOS 3.0 releases, but hopefully it wil be ok for other things while focusing on gaming.
In the meantime I've just been recommend Linux Mint as a first time experience but there are other alternatives better for gaming than Mint.
Go for Bazzite, it's freaking easy and there's no way you can brick it.
Use a more standard distro, that way you have a community to help you with desktop needs.
Steam OS is not available to the public. There are some derivatives like Bazzite. I'm not sure if i would want to use that for productivity. Mint will game just fine and it's generally easy to use and a good distro for getting into Linux.
Highly recommend Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Fedora for your main desktop distro when coming from Windows. They have an extremely wide user base, huge list of easily installed and compatible software (like, search for it in the built in software center app and one click download and install it, instead of having to use the command line or build from source), and will definitely be the easiest to triage issues in/find answers online for.
One big consideration is driver support. Yes you should be able to set up all drivers you need on basically any Linux distro, but the three above basically are designed to do it for you, including the proprietary drivers needed for certain web content with annoying DRM, and for NVidia graphics cards. There is an open source driver for NVidia, but my understanding is that the proprietary one has way better compatibility and performance (this is purely hearsay, as I have an AMD card, so I'm not speaking from experience).
Others have mentioned the things about SteamOS being made for the one specific handheld, which is true. It boots straight into the gaming handheld mode by default, so if you wanted to see the desktop you'd have to load that, then go to the menu and select "switch to desktop mode" every time you boot.
Plus you can just get that exact same gaming mode UI on any desktop with steam installed by going into the menu and selecting it or hitting the home/Xbox/PlayStation button on a connected controller when steam is open.
There is an open source driver for NVidia, but my understanding is that the proprietary one has way better compatibility and performance (this is purely hearsay, as I have an AMD card, so I’m not speaking from experience).
Driver quality depends on the day of the week. This week its stable but that stupid bug where the KDE tool bar and background flicker through apps is back again.
For pseudo-casual I'd suggest Pop!OS. It's what I have running on my wife's machine which is an AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU. She claims not to be a techy, but I think it's more that she doesn't want to be bothered with tinkering.
+1 for Pop, have run it for years without issue
Pop! was my first choice also. But it's so locked down that if you want to, say, add another HDD the OS makes that a massive pain.
I moved away from it shortly after that.
I have not used it much but I don't see any linux as not working as a casual distro. Only issue is I can see is if the 3d printer needs a windows program that wine can't run but that would be an issue with any linux.
SteamOS is currently only supported on Steam deck and while there are efforts to make it work on desktop I would advise against using them because of reliability concerns. However if you want a SteamOS like experience made for desktop I recommend Bazzite. You should be fine with it, but if you want the easiest experience possible then I would highly recommend Linux Mint. I would just put them on USB drive and try them both, check if your 3D printer is working and then install the one you prefer
@RmDebArc_5 @figjam
"... while there are efforts to make it work on desktop I would advise against using them..." many people including me use Proton on desktop and everything just works smoothly & flawlessly, Proton in reality came out on desktop before on handheld console, I mean Proton was able to be used on PC long before the SteamDeck was a thing, problems are mostly user-end outage
I was talking about projects like HoloISO which bring SteamOS to desktop, never said anything about proton
off steamdeck its supported as much as most linux distros. It existed for a long time before the steamdeck.
SteamOS prior to steamdeck is an entirely different distribution FYI
like older. its optimized for steamdeck but its not like they made it less capable overall. At least that I know of. Like if steamdeck did not exist I don't think the current version would be more capable on other hardware but it would lack some stuff that gets it to run better on steamdeck.
No, I mean it was debian based. When Steam Deck released, they moved to being an immutable arch based distribution instead.
It also isn't currently made available for install outside of the Steam Deck yet.
there is tow versions is all now. https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown
"NOTE: This image is not compatible with Steam Deck. "
That is the old distribution based on Debian 8, which stopped receiving LTS updates in June 2020. You should switch to something else unless the system isn't connected to the internet.
holy crap. I am totally in the wrong here. I did not realize the core was that out of date. I actually just have steam installed on another distro which I think steamos does not really add any benefit for but I had thought at times about installing the os thinking it would kept up to date.
It's not "the core". It's simply an outdated distro that's not used nor maintained anymore. It was used for the Steam Machines, their attempt at a console-like PC, which failed to garner enough interest. Current Steam Deck's Steam OS is a completely different system and has nothing to do with this one.
yeah I was not using core in any official way just to mean what it was based on. I had no idea it was so abandoned.
That's what we're trying to tell you. It's not based on that at all.
I don't know any other ways to reiterate. my bad. I get what your saying and again I did not use core to mean anything more than the distro was based on which you already pointed out. Let me make it very clear. In this discourse you have won the internet this day. I learned something.
I went with Bazzite. It’s built on Fedora and intended to be installed on both Deck and desktop.
It’s been working out well so far!
Running Ryzen 3000 and RTX 4000 hardware.
Question, changing the OS on the deck, do you still get all the updates to steam and everything? Like, I'm a fairly surface level Linux user, with a steam deck. I run silverblue on one laptop, vanilla os on another. I don't do a lot of tinkering in general. I hate kde on the deck. I prefer gnome as a rule, but kde on desktop is okay. On the deck it's a pain in the ass. Gnome seems so much more suited to a smaller screen with touch controls. If I switched to something else, could I just get the benefit of having gnome without losing the set it and forget it benefits of steam os?
Question, changing the OS on the deck, do you still get all the updates to steam and everything?
Yes, I think so. I haven't used SteamOS, but it seems like it gives you Steam, and exactly the right drivers for the Steam Deck? Steam is packaged for basically every distro, and you get the same experience everywhere, including "big picture mode" if you opt into that. Bazzite is designed with the Steam Deck in mind so it should have the right drivers.
I don't own a Deck, sry baeb.
I started with Ubuntu and it was super easy. You can technically use it pretty much the same way you use windows, you're not forced to use the terminal. It's super easy to find step by step tutorials and instructions through a search engine, too.
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