• @pathief
    link
    131 day ago

    I understand that people are hyped about a Linux distribution developed by a company they really care about. However, please be aware that SteamOS is focused at being an (almost) exclusive gaming OS with very limited hardware support. It doesn’t support NVIDIA video cards, for instance.

    Steam already runs perfectly fine in most generalist distributions and you’ll have a wonderful time if you install them.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      161 day ago

      It doesn’t support NVIDIA video cards, for instance.

      Rather NoVideo doesn’t support their video cards on Linux

      • @pathief
        link
        4
        edit-2
        14 hours ago

        No, their Micro-compositor was written exclusively for AMD cards. The SteamOS setup just borks if you try to install it with nvidia. People coming from Windows won’t really care who is to blame, they’ll just be baffled it doesn’t work.

        It makes sense since steam deck only has AMD cards. SteamOS is targeted at gaming devices, not as a generalistic distribution.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          111 day ago

          No, their Micro-compositor was written exclusively for AMD cards.

          Because NVIDIA drivers suck. That’s on Nvidia, not Linux or Valve.

          • @pathief
            link
            41 day ago

            Sure, nvidia drivers suck and I haven’t had the best experience migrating to Wayland. However, it’s important that people know this “limitation” in using SteamOS, especially since many other Linux distributions run both steam and Nvidia video cards just right.

            SteamOS is a distribution that is great for a gaming device but I see people believing this is going to be a generalist Linux distribution and it’s not. Having a clear idea of what SteamOS is, what is good for and what are the current limitations is very important. Linux is amazing, Valve is amazing but SteamOS is not replacing Windows. Which is fine, that’s not the goal. I can recommend a bunch of distros that do replace windows if you want…

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          8
          edit-2
          1 day ago

          This thing?

          https://github.com/ValveSoftware/gamescope

          It runs on Mesa + AMD or Intel, and could be made to run on other Mesa/DRM drivers with minimal work. AMD requires Mesa 20.3+, Intel requires Mesa 21.2+. For NVIDIA’s proprietary driver, version 515.43.04+ is required (make sure the nvidia-drm.modeset=1 kernel parameter is set).

          • @pathief
            link
            31 day ago

            It borks when you try to install SteamOS. It does not work. Bazzite just added beta support for nvidia, so check that out if out really want something as close to SteamOS as possible.

            Or just use a generalist distribution because gaming on Linux is in an amazing state right now. Install steam, boot games.

      • @AnUnusualRelic
        link
        21 day ago

        That’s odd. They’ve always worked fine for me.

      • @pathief
        link
        41 day ago

        When it happens I will. Currently, installing SteamOS with a nvidia card just borks.