this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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Even gamers nexus' Steve today said that they're about to start doing Linux games performance testing soon. It's happening, y'all, the year of the Linux desktop is upon us. ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

Edit: just wanted to clarify that Steve from GN didn't precisely say they're starting to test soon, he said they will start WHEN the steam OS releases and is adopted. Sorry about that.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

I would love them to partner with like micorcenter and have systems that are completely supported like an apple store.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (4 children)

I don’t understand this tbh. It’s here already. SteamOS will likely be just like the deck - immutable arch running the existing steam package.

You can totally do this today and it works great. Don’t want to mess with arch and that confusing command line? Use something easier like mint and install the flatpak - then you don’t even have to futz with nvidia drivers. Or use bazzite?

What does steamOS offer that we don’t already have? (Serious question)

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)

these people need permission from a massive corporation calling it something other than Linux so they can dodge the cognitive dissonance of hating Linux

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (7 children)

Or rather, there's someone who isn't going away anytime soon and someone who you can go to if their shit screws up, someone with an actual address and support number, and it's not just a Github issue tracker page that hasn't been seen by the owner in months.

Some people want that peace of mind. Some people aren't built to scour the internet for hours to maybe find solutions to their problems.

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[–] [email protected] 206 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (40 children)

To anyone reading this thinking "once SteamOS comes out, I'll switch", you should know:

Gaming on Linux is already here. Pick a distro and game. You can take advantage of Proton right now. You don't need to wait for one specific distro.

I've personally been gaming on Linux exclusively for about 3 years. Windows games, not Linux games.

Edit: based on other commenters' suggestions, I'll give you some.

I have gamed for those three years on PopOS. It is a distro based on Debian, ultimately, which means it's also related to Ubuntu and Mint. Realistically, you can pick any of those 4 and you should have a nice experience.

Arch is popular with the übergeeks, and I do use it on my laptop, BTW, but you shouldn't use it as a first distro.

The concept of "distro" doesn't really exist for Windows, because you pretty much get one monolithic product. But basically, it is a specific mix of software that works together and relies on the Linux kernel. Imagine it as a "version" of Windows with specific goals, some of which are overlapping (e.g. Mint and Ubuntu tend to cater to the same audience).

If you get far enough into it, the freedom that Linux allows means that you can turn any distro into any other distro.

[–] [email protected] 114 points 5 days ago (5 children)

"Pick a distro" is why they're waiting for steamos, presumably.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 days ago (8 children)

I think that is perfectly valid and I’ll happily recommend steamos to newcomers. I’m only a little worried about it being locked to flatpaks by default though. Hopefully that will change, but for most users it will be a good start.

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[–] [email protected] 67 points 5 days ago (11 children)

A Linux distro with a great OOTB experience for gamers would go a long way.

  • Steam pre-installed
  • trustworthy Flatpak packages for popular gamer apps like Discord (not uploaded by some nameless rando)
    • TeamSpeak for curmudgeons like me and my friends
  • desktop environment tailored to Windows users
  • auto-install and configure graphics drivers for AMD and Nvidia
  • configurable automatic updates and system backup
  • choice between Chromium, Firefox, etc. for default browser during setup
  • included in Steam Deck compatibility testing
[–] [email protected] 60 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Luckily for you this already exists, and it's effectively SteamOS:

https://bazzite.gg/

You can even put this on a Steam Deck as a drop-in replacement.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Bazzite is fantastic and it's what I'm running on my gaming laptop, but I've always wondered why you would want to put it on a Steam Deck? Is it for the people who use it as a laptop replacement?

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 5 days ago (21 children)

the biggest wall imo is still getting companies with anticheat games on board.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It does often feel like as soon as a significant hurdle is overcome, the industry just makes another one.

Hopefully SteamOS/Steam on Linux gets enough traction to force publishers to reconsider.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago

That will be more likely as more people start using SteamOS.
If SteamOS can get enough users, then not supporting it will start to hurt the game developers profits.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago

Or getting players & friends to stop playing those types of games when there are so many compatible games to choose from.

[–] [email protected] 103 points 5 days ago (5 children)

IMO, no one should be playing games with kernel level anticheat. There is no way I would let any big gaming company have that level of control over my PC. It's a security nightmare.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I wonder if Valve will eventually offer their own system of checks similar to Google Play Integrity? I don't think I'd care for it since it's an invasion of personal choice on a device that you own, but for people who want to play competitive games with cheating problems, running a partition with integrity checking seems a fair trade.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Yeah you can do most of that server side but they don't want to pay for it. Why pay when your players let you coop their machine for free or even better yet pay you for the privilege. Also player run dedicated servers would fix all of this. Don't like the cheaters movement servers. Own the server ban them. We had this working just fine in the 90s.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Just in time for Windows 10 to lose support in October 2025 and for me to never switch to Windows 11 because it sucks and I hate it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

Every so often they’ll release an update that breaks everything, or they’ll patch something and the processor improvements will be bigger than intel or amd get out of a generation, showing how gimped it was to begin with.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Plz gaben I want steamOS official so bad ;-;

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

PC gamers moving to console? What's next the existing consoles adopting keyboard+mouse?..

There is no downside to this

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago

Consoles have accepted keyboard+mouse for years now! Microsoft started with the Xbox one and Sony started with the PS3; Though there were select games for generations prior that supported k+m through their own implentations

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