The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming computer developed by Valve and released on February 25, 2022. The device uses Valve’s Linux distribution SteamOS, which incorporates the namesake Steam storefront. SteamOS uses Valve’s Proton compatibility layer, allowing users to run Windows applications and games.
This doesn’t sound like a valid option for desktop PC users. Do other linux OSs have something similar?
It sounds like something very limited in capabilities that was designed only to run steam games on their handheld gaming computer. Another person suggested Chimera OS, and that seems similarly limited. I did a quick search for “how to choose a linux OS to replace windows” and found this article https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-make-the-switch-from-windows-to-linux that suggests Mint. I guess that plus Wine https://itsfoss.com/use-windows-applications-linux/ should work.
Yeah, https://chimeraos.org/ or https://rhinolinux.org/ or https://garudalinux.org/
But any linux with modern hardware really. I play games on my desktop (and get work done too) with EndeavourOS (which is an easy to install and maintain version of Arch Linux, which is also the base of SteamOS. With Arch Linux you have bleeding edge updates, like new Linux kernel versions. SteamOS slows that down, only letting in those bleading edge updates after they’ve vetteed it on the SteamDeck hardware).
Steam takes care of proton support. You can try to support other store fronts with applications like Lutris, that try to apply that compatibility layer to those games.
I looked at the first one and they advertise as “Instantly turn any PC into a gaming console”. That doesn’t sound like a replacement for Windows 10/11, that sounds more like a chromebook vs a PC?
I did a quick search for “how to choose a linux OS to replace windows” and found this article https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-make-the-switch-from-windows-to-linux that suggests Mint. I guess that plus Wine https://itsfoss.com/use-windows-applications-linux/ should work.
Mint is a solid choice as a first Linux distribution, as it’s very user friendly and with cinnamon as Desktop Environment (GUI) build to be easily understood as windows user
A gaming focused distribution is not really necessary. Just pick a modern distribution you like and jump in. Wine, Steam, Proton can be installed on pretty much any modern distribution directly from the repository.
For a first try choose a distribution with good documentation and maybe a forum to ask (distribution specific) questions.
Fedora, Mint, Ubuntu are all good choices.
Personally I like Arch systems, but out of convenience I’m currently using Manjaro on my workstation - can’t really recommend this to a gaming focused first time user, although the Arch documentation/wiki is pretty great.
It depends a bit on how much time you want to invest to also learn about the Linux operating system or you just want to have something to game on and do some work with it.
One of my paradoxes, im anticapitalist and I’m greeting valve for their work on steamdeck (not an owner) and proton.
That’s participate to democratize the use of Linux as a daily OS a lot.
Yeah they did a great job to promote an alternative to windows. They are behind Proton.
Let’s give some credit and praise to Codeweavers, the main contributors to WINE, who Valve worked with on Proton.
https://www.codeweavers.com/blog/aeikum/2019/8/20/a-year-since-protons-launch
You can be anticapitalist and still agree with certain companies. Especially when those companies are private, and are not beholden to corrupt shareholders. Private companies are significantly more capable of having and sticking to their morals.
Public shareholders are no more corrupt nor less moral than private shareholders, but all of their incentives and information end up being based on more short-term results. Valve is every bit as driven by money as any other company, but they’re thinking long-term, and they believe that there’s more money to be made long-term by treating customers better than their competitors do. That means they release open hardware that isn’t locked down, unlike what their competitors do. They want to mitigate business risk by decoupling PC gaming from a dependency on Microsoft, and all sorts of very capitalist entities mutually benefit from a healthy, usable Linux ecosystem that they can each make work for their own needs.
Whether or not public shareholders are more or less moral than private shareholders is not really quantifiable, and neither of us can say with certainty that it is true. I certainly agree that that public shareholders often focus on short term results, but it’s not true all the time. There are public companies that think long term and private companies that think very short term.
What we hope is for them to continue this approach that is helping both them (detaching from Windows, where they see Microsoft Store as a threat) and the users. Even if in the future there is a chance they might either back down or do less than liked actions, their positive contribution will remain.
So does the Deck make for a good introduction to Linux?
That depends on what you’re looking for.
If you want an example of how Linux is completely suitable for gaming and can be an extremely smooth experience, it’s fantastic! Everything just works and essentially feels like a console, but with more features available.
If you want an example of how desktop Linux feels to use every day, it’s not great. Again, it basically feels like a console until you drop into desktop mode, and then there’s limitations like the read only filesystem that you’re not going to run into on a typical desktop Linux system. Also, installing software is quite different, largely due to that read only filesystem.
It’s a great user experience, and you can do a fair amount of fiddling, but it’s going to be quite different from typical desktop Linux. I love it as a Linux user, and my coworkers that are Windows only also love it and have no desire to use more Linux.
I’ve only ever used Windows and Apple, but I’m seriously considering giving Linux a go, so it just occurred to me that maybe the Deck would be a good way to get a taste for it amd just see what it’s like, even if it’s kind of an idiot proof version.
Sure, give it a try. Just know that desktop Linux will be a bit different.
The Steam Deck is basically just:
- Steam Big Picture Mode by default
- option to drop to a KDE desktop (looks like Windows)
- read-only base system - think macOS terminal commands or WSL on Windows
- package manager for installing graphical apps - like macOS’s App store, but mostly open source software and no accounts needed
Regular desktop Linux is essentially the same except but without the read-only base system and probably a lot more system packages you can install. That’s a pretty big deal to me, but maybe it’s not a big deal to you, IDK.
As long as you don’t change the read-only filesystem (you won’t need to if you stick to the Discover app store), it’s essentially idiot-proof.
If you already have a Steam Deck, then yeah, play around with it. However, I don’t recommend getting a Steam Deck just to play around with Linux, just install it next to whatever OS you’re already using on your PC as a dual boot. I only use Linux, and I honestly treat my Steam Deck essentially as a console. I could do a lot more with it, but it’ll be more annoying than using my PC.
a year and a bit spent on the steam deck makes me wonder if daily driving linux would be all that hard. i’ve tried before but was always bounced off by the stupidest little things, like not being able to find wi-fi drivers or whatever. but nowadays i’m starting to think all that is worth it to be off windows
Wi-Fi drivers? Most should be supplied by the kernel. Do you have obscure Wi-Fi hardware?
At the time, I think I had uncommon hardware. I was trying to get Linux going on the cheapest little notebook you can imagine. I also got the same retort from support forums at the time, so my problem obviously wasn’t widespread. It was just the most definitive effort into Linux I had made, and I was just getting rebuffed by what I saw as silly little problems.
That was close to a decade ago now, though. After so much faffing around on the Steam Deck I think I’m ready to give Linux another stab.
Aye, it’s pretty uncommon these days to find Wi-Fi that doesn’t just work out of the box. Can indeed happen on occasion though. Usually if there’s no wiki entry on the issue, the community is pretty good about helping out.
I would definitely give it another go. I’ve been daily driving for about a decade now - I didn’t personally have any issues back then other than some games being pita or not working at all with WINE. But Linux gaming has made huge steps in recent years.
Technically I still duel boot and have always done (for just in case) but I can’t even remember the last time I booted into Windows.
I imagine Linux will cap at about 5% if not lower of overall use.
It’s good to see competition but I just can’t see it picking up much more. Steamdeck only has so many people willing to pick up essentially a console, and PC users aren’t gojng to change for the most part.
There’s a good chance there will be a virtuous cycle, where the Steam Deck’s popularity makes it easier to game on Linux for regular PC users too, which will help out everyone gaming on Linux. Especially as Microsoft keeps dicking around with Windows and trying to turn it into a subscription OS and people just get sick of it.
Yeah, that’s where that 5% is coming from. Without that virtuous cycle, I’m guessing it would stay between 2-3%. The Steam Deck is cool, but it’s still fairly niche, and many Steam Deck users don’t intend to ever use Linux on their home PCs (e.g. my coworkers that have them).
