I’m thinking about switching to SteamOS since it’s built for gaming. Most of my games run fine on Linux Mint, but not all of them. I also heard Valve say “it’s just a PC”, does that mean it’s suitable for software development too?
I’ve used it. It’s fine on the SteamDeck but it’s not made for desktop yet. Just use CachyOS or Bazzite.
Most of my games run fine on Linux Mint, but not all of them.
You’re not changing much when you’re changing distros, you may have slightly newer or older packages but we’re all running essentially the same Linux Kernel, Proton versions, etc.
You’d probably have less of a headache by trying to diagnose the games that don’t work than swapping OSs blindly and hoping that works.
If you were to swap, I’d look at something Arch-based. This way you’ll have access to the newest versions of everything (for good or ill).
but we’re all running essentially the same Linux Kernel
Uh, yes and no. If you’re on Linux Mint 22.2+ you’re on 6.14. If you’re on Linux Mint 22.1 you’re on 6.8.
If you’re running Arch or equivalent, you’re either on 6.17 or 6.18 at the moment.
Now that doesn’t seem like a huge gap, but 6.8 came out March 2024. 6.14 is from March 2025. Debian 13.3 I think is on 6.12 which is November 2024.
These all seem recent, but Linux moves at such a fast pace that if you’re gaming you really should be on the latest kernel for the best possible performance for gaming, especially if you have newer hardware.
Of course use whatever you like, but I would tell people to evaluate what would be the best option for their environment. For me I run my own websites and game servers. They’re all on Debian containers.
If my mom came up to me and said she wanted to try “Linux” on her laptop, I’d just throw Ubuntu 24.04(or 26.04 for the next LTS) on it because I know she just needs something to surf the web.
And for me I recently went all in on CachyOS for my laptop and gaming desktop. I’m not running the latest and greatest hardware(Ryzen 3000 and 5000 series, Nvidia 3000 series), but this is my first attempt at a Arch based distro(well except my Steam Deck) and it’s been pretty rock solid.
As others have said, Bazzite is probably a better choice as steamos is pretty much targeting the steam deck. But if you want there is also the HoloISO project that tries to make SteamOS work better on other hardware.
https://github.com/HoloISO/releases/releases
I don’t think HoloISO is developed anymore. Last release is from Jun 3, 2024.
There’s really no reason to use it on a general purpose desktop. It’s designed to basically make a PC into a console. You do still have full access to the (mostly) normal Linux system behind it, but it’s not something I’d use unless I was setting it up for someone who didn’t want to deal with any of the behind the scenes stuff.
CachyOS, Nobara, and Bazzite all should get you the same level of gaming support with more flexibility as a normal OS, and they can all run Steam Big Picture which is basically the SteamOS UI.
I also heard Valve say “it’s just a PC”, does that mean it’s suitable for software development too?
Yes, I used my Steam Deck for software development briefly. But don’t use the flatpak versions of the IDEs, use the tarballs instead. The flatpak sandbox will cause weird issues when the IDE is trying to access resources outside its sandbox. Also keep everything -as much as possible- in your home directory as intended by SteamOS, don’t try to unlock the read-only filesystem, even though you can, you will lose everything when SteamOS updates.
I still haven’t gotten to give it a full proper go. But Toolbx is designed to assist with development on immutable OSs. Let’s you do regular package installs for all the various Dev tools into a container. Can either install your IDE into the container and run it like a regular app, or use an IDE with built-in Dev Container support.
Is SteamOS even available for desktop PCs yet? I don’t think it is.
From the SteamOS page:
We expect most SteamOS users to get SteamOS preinstalled on a Steam Deck or device that incorporates SteamOS. The only devices officially supported on SteamOS right now are Steam Deck and Legion Go S. We are working on broadening support, and with the recent updates to Steam and SteamOS, compatibility with other AMD powered PC handhelds has been improved.
Until this changes, which I think is in the works, I recommend using some other popular distro.
It’s optimized for gaming and you can install a lot of standard Linux apps. But it only works on specific hardware like the Deck and Legion at the moment, the Frame and Machine should be running their versions. A lot of things that come in a standard Distro for PCs have been removed that you might take for granted. I like to think of it as a balance between PC and game console, remember when you could side load Linux onto a PS3, sort of like that.
I use my Deck in desktop mode and connect it to my TV for web browsing, Steamlink to my tower and occasionally use the Libre apps, but I wouldn’t recommend using it as your daily PC. It doesn’t exactly feel like a fully fleshed out PC, hard to put a finger on it until you use it.
If you want to JUST game, SteamOS is great, like for a handheld, a living room gaming PC, etc.
If you want to do software dev, look elsewhere like Nobara, CachyOS, etc.
Not much suitable for software development in normal classic way, all ur building tools u will have to run in distrobox or similar ways, u can disable read only file systems but it loose all point it basically just arch linux
I have a Steam Deck and it works brilliantly for me.
Finally the discussion I searched for. I bought a steam deck killed steamOS the first day and went full bazzite. But since I used CachyOS on other hardware, I believe it is maybe better. So what? SteamOS, Bazzite or CachyOS?
If it’s only for the games, maybe using steam flatpak can help. So the packages needed for gaming on steam will be up to date (if you have an NVIDIA card it will still be a problem I guess). And install maybe protonup-qt (don’t know if it is still used or replaced, sorry) to manage your proton versions and download the versions needed.
In addition, check protondb website to see if the problem you encounter are known and if it can be solved whether with a different version of proton or a command line in steam launcher exe of the game.
