With the shenanigans Windows has would a Steam Deck based OS be the best for Gaming going forward?

[kapone32]

I am not going to get into the first part of the title but he 2nd. The Steam Deck is entrenched and has created a brand new form factor for PC. With that comes money and support. The Steam Deck is entirely based on RDNA and Zen5 and we know the Z2 Extreme is a thing. People are gushing over the new AMD laptops as well. Let's get back to the thread though. As a PC Gamer (if that is most of what you do) is it a good bet to by this time next year to remove Windows and use the at the time available Desktop version of Steam OS as a platform?

 

[Onasi]

You do realize that Steam OS is just a Linux (Arch, if we are being particular) distro, right? Valve is being rather good at contributing to Linux and there are already gaming-oriented Arch-based distros that make use of all their work and apply it to a desktop OS. Like CachyOS, for example. So what you want already exists. You are free to switch right now no problem. There really isn’t any need for Valve to release a separate dedicated desktop Steam OS version.

 

[wNotyarD]

You do realize that Steam OS is just a Linux (Arch, if we are being particular) distro, right? Valve is being rather good at contributing to Linux and there are already gaming-oriented Arch-based distros that make use of all their work and apply it to a desktop OS. Like CachyOS, for example. So what you want already exists. You are free to switch right now no problem. There really isn’t any need for Valve to release a separate dedicated desktop Steam OS version.

As far as I'm aware, Proton/WINE still has issues with kernel-level anti-cheat engines.
However, I understand @kapone32's point of view, and I say I myself am interested in doing so in the near future: going Linux for gaming and ditching Windows as soon as I do some testing for the games I play the most.

 

[Solaris17]

You do realize that Steam OS is just a Linux (Arch, if we are being particular) distro, right? Valve is being rather good at contributing to Linux and there are already gaming-oriented Arch-based distros that make use of all their work and apply it to a desktop OS. Like CachyOS, for example. So what you want already exists. You are free to switch right now no problem. There really isn’t any need for Valve to release a separate dedicated desktop Steam OS version.

Not to mention that you would essentially be turning your PC into a console. This would be no better than buying a steam deck or any of the hand helds they plan to support.

I think what steam is doing is right. If you want a windows replacement then you need market share to increase. Gaming is the aspect that probably means the most here in terms of that; for which steam has already made progress in a few short years that surpasses the work prior by decades.

They are already making Linux more viable for the target audience of well, games.

But they have a long way to go. Even proton magic won’t get your destiny 2 or valorant working.

 

[Onasi]

As far as I'm aware, Proton/WINE still has issues with kernel-level anti-cheat engines.

It does, sure. Not much Valve can do about that except to work with anti-cheat developers to make those function, which is what they already do.
And if one doesn’t play MP sweat-fests where such engines are used, well… that’s a non-issue, innit?

 

[wNotyarD]

It does, sure. Not much Valve can do about that except to work with anti-cheat developers to make those function, which is what they already do.
And if one doesn’t play MP sweat-fests where such engines are used, well… that’s a non-issue, innit?

Correct, hence my interest in moving ground: I personally play nothing that uses such anti-cheat solutions.
What remains is testing if whatever multiplayer I do play (mostly Phasmophobia, for example) have no issues.

 

[Marcus L]

I play Fortnite with my kids, that's the only reason I haven't gone full Linux, no egs or fn support under Linux, though I'm returning to Windows 10 and will dual boot with Linux like I'm already doing once I settle on a gaming friendly distro

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Not to mention that you would essentially be turning your PC into a console. This would be no better than buying a steam deck or any of the hand helds they plan to support.

I think what steam is doing is right. If you want a windows replacement then you need market share to increase. Gaming is the aspect that probably means the most here in terms of that; for which steam has already made progress in a few short years that surpasses the work prior by decades.

They are already making Linux more viable for the target audience of well, games.

But they have a long way to go. Even proton magic won’t get your destiny 2 or valorant working.

IIRC SteamOS can install various launchers on it, right? I was thinking someone on here showed me how it was done, but I don't have a Steam Deck.

 

[bug]

As far as I'm aware, Proton/WINE still has issues with kernel-level anti-cheat engines.
However, I understand @kapone32's point of view, and I say I myself am interested in doing so in the near future: going Linux for gaming and ditching Windows as soon as I do some testing for the games I play the most.

I would say not being able to bastardize the kernel just to make sure some human moves the mouse is actually a pro rather than a con.
(I know it's crucial for competitive games, I was mostly a single-player kind of gamer.)

 

[Solaris17]

IIRC SteamOS can install various launchers on it, right? I was thinking someone on here showed me how it was done, but I don't have a Steam Deck.

There are tricks, like maybe adding a launcher as a game on steam manually. But that doesn’t mean your games will use steams built in proton library or even work at all.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

There are tricks, like maybe adding a launcher as a game on steam manually. But that doesn’t mean your games will use steams built in proton library or even work at all.

Oh, ok. I thought it was more native. It has been a while.

 

[kapone32]

Not to mention that you would essentially be turning your PC into a console. This would be no better than buying a steam deck or any of the hand helds they plan to support.

I think what steam is doing is right. If you want a windows replacement then you need market share to increase. Gaming is the aspect that probably means the most here in terms of that; for which steam has already made progress in a few short years that surpasses the work prior by decades.

They are already making Linux more viable for the target audience of well, games.

But they have a long way to go. Even proton magic won’t get your destiny 2 or valorant working.

That is a good point. The flexibility of Windows is real but you can have them both as long as you have partitions. I have seen versions of Linux load from USB.

 

[cvaldes]

That is a good point. The flexibility of Windows is real but you can have them both as long as you have partitions. I have seen versions of Linux load from USB.

The paradigm of thinking Linux as a PC operating system is completely obsolete. Yes, one has been able to boot Linux for PC on a wide variety of storage devices including (but certainly not limited to) USB thumb drives, microSD cards, whatever. Even back in the Nineties you could boot the basic kernel from a CD, maybe even a floppy or Zip drive.

Don’t think of Linux as a PC OS. It runs on a huge variety of devices: routers, gas pump POS terminals, even my Super NES Classic boots Linux to run the old SNES operating system in emulation.

This is a good opportunity to review what an operating system is. It‘s a big complicated program that lets other big complicated programs co-exist (relatively) peacefully on the same system.

Linux’s success as a PC based gaming system’s OS will be heavily influenced by the willingness of third party software developers port critical components such as kernel-level anti-cheat systems. Faithfully reproducing 3D raster graphics and audio is only a fraction of the total pie.

It’s possible but the devs need to be motivated to write the cod. One can play Fortnite and Overwatch 2 on Nintendo Switch. As far as I can tell Linux is not a drop in replacement OS for gaming on a PC in 2024. You only get a subset of the total game library. Obviously it depends on who is playing but for a very large percentage of the gaming community, Linux’s current incompatibility with kernel-level anti-cheat systems is a major roadblock to widespread adoption.

You can pick up a Windows 10 Pro bulk key for $15-20 right now and enjoy the largest amount of compatibility.

 

[dirtyferret]

I use my PC for other things besides playing games though...

 

[cvaldes]

I use my PC for other things besides playing games though...

Me too. But I have more than one PC. Two of my PCs are gaming only devices. I don’t game on my Mac mini M2 Pro nor my mini PC (Beelink with Intel N100 SoC).

No sense in running any OS but Windows on those two gaming-only PCs.

 

[dirtyferret]

Me too. But I have more than one PC.

I used to have a work and gaming PC plus a laptop at home than another PC in the office but I don't really game that much anymore so the home office PC and gaming PC became the main PC about a decade ago. We still have a laptop for the wife/kids & travel.

 

[kapone32]

The paradigm of thinking Linux as a PC operating system is completely obsolete. Yes, one has been able to boot Linux for PC on a wide variety of storage devices including (but certainly not limited to) USB thumb drives, microSD cards, whatever. Even back in the Nineties you could boot the basic kernel from a CD, maybe even a floppy or Zip drive.

Don’t think of Linux as a PC OS. It runs on a huge variety of devices: routers, gas pump POS terminals, even my Super NES Classic boots Linux to run the old SNES operating system in emulation.

This is a good opportunity to review what an operating system is. It‘s a big complicated program that lets other big complicated programs co-exist (relatively) peacefully on the same system.

Linux’s success as a PC based gaming system’s OS will be heavily influenced by the willingness of third party software developers port critical components such as kernel-level anti-cheat systems. Faithfully reproducing 3D raster graphics and audio is only a fraction of the total pie.

It’s possible but the devs need to be motivated to write the cod. One can play Fortnite and Overwatch 2 on Nintendo Switch. As far as I can tell Linux is not a drop in replacement OS for gaming on a PC in 2024. You only get a subset of the total game library. Obviously it depends on who is playing but for a very large percentage of the gaming community, Linux’s current incompatibility with kernel-level anti-cheat systems is a major roadblock to widespread adoption.

You can pick up a Windows 10 Pro bulk key for $15-20 right now and enjoy the largest amount of compatibility.

I understand everything you are saying but things like Windows borking performance on AM5 CPUs worries me going forward. In another thread someone mentioned the brain drain at MS and it is not just relegated to them

 

[cvaldes]

For sure the best and brightest Windows engineers departed for greener pastures years ago. The best and brightest are always the first to leave (and not just operating system programmers).

But Intel CPUs are having problems too so maybe it all evens out? LOL

But for sure Linux in 2024 isn’t some magic cure for Windows ailments at least from a PC gaming perspective. You can only hope that third party devs see some potential in Linux.

Linux is a tool. And like many tools it excels in some situations, it’s a mixed bag in most situations and completely sucks in a handful of situations. It is not a panacea regardless of what some Linux pundits might preach. Trust me, I know. I was a UNIX/Linux sysadmin in the late 90s/early 00s.

 

[dirtyferret]

Windows borking performance on AM5 CPUs worries me going forward.

But Intel CPUs are having problems too so maybe it all evens out? LOL

maybe both Intel and AMD should spend more time making their products behave better and less time blaming MS

 

[kapone32]

maybe both Intel and AMD should spend more time making their products behave better and less time blaming MS

They are all supposed to play nice with each other but that has rarely been the case.

 

[cvaldes]

It’s basically the responsibility of the hardware manufacturer to engineer their products (hardware plus software drivers) to be compatible with the operating system.

That’s why there are beta releases, developer resources, and things like the WQHL certification.

Ultimately it comes down to the end user keeping all of these parties in line.

Keep filing those bug reports. When there are enough reports for a particular issue it’ll get someone’s attention.

 

[chrcoluk]

Whilst its true that you dont need SteamOS specifically, I do think Steam has done a great job in making it tuned for gaming and very accessible in how its handling all the dependencies etc. You can also still access the desktop and cli, which I have done to do some custom stuff on my Steam deck such as installing 7th heaven for FF7.

 

[phanbuey]

i would absolutely run a gaming OS over windows... i would even run excel in a virtual machine if i needed it. All my other software actually runs better on linux with less faffing.

 

[AusWolf]

You do realize that Steam OS is just a Linux (Arch, if we are being particular) distro, right? Valve is being rather good at contributing to Linux and there are already gaming-oriented Arch-based distros that make use of all their work and apply it to a desktop OS. Like CachyOS, for example. So what you want already exists. You are free to switch right now no problem. There really isn’t any need for Valve to release a separate dedicated desktop Steam OS version.

Agreed. There's nothing that prevents you from building an all-AMD rig (for better Linux drivers) and switching to any gaming-oriented Linux distro.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I am not going to get into the first part of the title but he 2nd. The Steam Deck is entrenched and has created a brand new form factor for PC. With that comes money and support. The Steam Deck is entirely based on RDNA and Zen5 and we know the Z2 Extreme is a thing. People are gushing over the new AMD laptops as well. Let's get back to the thread though. As a PC Gamer (if that is most of what you do) is it a good bet to by this time next year to remove Windows and use the at the time available Desktop version of Steam OS as a platform?

Whether it is or not is not as important a question as "Can you". The answer is currently no. SteamOS is currently exclusive to the SteamDeck. Valve has no plans to port it to general PCs or other PC-like hardware.

You do realize that Steam OS is just a Linux (Arch, if we are being particular) distro, right? Valve is being rather good at contributing to Linux and there are already gaming-oriented Arch-based distros that make use of all their work and apply it to a desktop OS. Like CachyOS, for example. So what you want already exists. You are free to switch right now no problem. There really isn’t any need for Valve to release a separate dedicated desktop Steam OS version.

I looked into that. It's not as seamless as it appears. I also tried Nobara and Bazzite(https://bazzite.gg/). Bazzite was the best one for being a solid portable "gaming" Linux distro. However none have really hit the mark any better than the mainstream Linux distros. Bazzite is currently the best one I've found, but YMMV. Requires a Radeon GPU of recent vintage(RDNA+) to work right, so fair warning.

Valve should really consider making a general SteamOS distro that slipstreams all of the good things about the deck version into a general desktop distro. It would be an involved but likely not difficult effort.