Im a total child in terms oft Linux distros. Since im sick of Microsoft i decided to switch my gaming completely to Linux (Xbox to Tower with bazzite, switch to steamdeck). Im quite happy that i installed the distro by my self and found the place where i was able to change the keyboard layout. Because i want to play in my livingroom form the couch i got a bluetooth keyboard. The mouse i already have connected perfectly the keyboard didnt. I tried finding a solution online but soon realised that i have to learn to read the Linux lingo.
Can please someone teach me or point me in the right direction were i can learn the basics. Treat me like i know nothing about distros (because i dont) and PC (because i barely do).
This is also to try the Linux community. Show me what you got.
Something I haven’t seen anyone else here (that probably won’t matter if you’re just doing basic gaming) is that bazzite is what is called an atomic distro - meaning that key system files are immutable (they can’t be altered) and certain directories are also read only.
It means that installing packages with a package manager can be a little bit trickier. Setting up a dev environment can be tricky. And certain other things can be more difficult.
There’s a huge chance this won’t matter at all to you, but in the event you run into issues like “this directory is read only” or something along those lines, that’ll be why.
Again, may never matter but something to keep in mind.
To the point of a very new person to linux asking about the lingo and the basics of using linux, the Debian Administrators Handbook has an excellent “remedial” section in its appendix. It covers a lot of the basics of working with your first linux computer. I have run various distros over the years but when i finally pulled the trigger on migrating to debian from ubuntu, i did take the time to read the remedial section and the first 8 or so chapters to have a more in-depth understanding of the logic and design choices but i found the remedial section to be a particularly good refresher and explanation of the basics that everyone takes for granted.
There is a suggested donation but the author is kind enough to not enforce a paywall.
Serious question: are there any reasons to prefer debian over ubuntu?
Yes, but if you are happy with Ubuntu don’t worry about it.
- Open-source purity
- Stable
- Traditional
- Upstream sources for much of Ubuntu
Good summary!
I heard ubuntu is easier (Server wise). Any comments on that?
Stable (Debian) means that when you get it working it is less likely to break when you update. A broken installation on a server is quite stressful. Downside for desktop/laptop is that it may not support the latest games and hardware.
Ubuntu is probably more stable than Mint, but less stable than Debian. Which you choose may be more personal preference than objective value.
Imo, yes but the things that are dealbreakers (for me it was ads in the terminal) that Canonical has done are across the spectrum. In the end i felt they were too opinionated (see also why i like kde plasma) and wanted to control the “experience” of using my hardware. Always compromises within any complex system and i thought Debian was a good blank-ish slate for me to work on. Plus i self host quite a bit and am sick of windows licensing and microsft shenanigans so i need something for my servers as well.
I think Ubuntu Servers are still good but Ayo? ADS on the Terminal??? I haven’t used it in a while ig…
Does the keyboard need to be put into pair mode first? If so, how are you then trying to connect it or pair it with your machine?
Just FYI while I am here: https://docs.bazzite.gg/ is worth bookmarking.
Yeah, sometimes bluetooth keyboards require you to enter the PIN pairing code after connecting to your computer. You should refer to the keyboard’s manual, sometimes it’s not super obvious that it’s waiting for input.
Bazzite is pretty plug and play.
It will auto-update itself. So you don’t need to worry.
Install your apps from Bazaar.
I don’t think bazzite ships with Heroku, but I like it much better than Lutris for handling non-Steam games. I think you can download it from Bazaar. There are guides for how to get some apps running from it. So I’d search for those if you need to.
Your Windows games run on Linux due to a thing called Proton. It used to be a thing called Wine. Steam automagically does this for you in the background.
If you encounter issues with games in Steam, go to ProtonDB.com, search the game, and see if anyone else has run into it and provided a solution in the comments. They typically have.
One common solution is needing to change the version of Proton you’re using. You can right click on a game, go to Manage (I think that’s what it’s called), and select the Compatibility tab. Check the box and select a specific version of Proton. It might have to run some updates when you do that.
Don’t be afraid to Google whenever you encounter a program. Just type the error message in, the name of the game with problems, and you’ll probably be able to find someone else with the same problem and potential solution.
For keyboard, if you’re still having trouble, you can try connecting from the terminal with the command
bluetoothctl. Terminal commands often tell you more details than GUIs about why things failed.Regarding distributions, you are on Bazzite, which is an immutable distribution, meaning the root file system is read-only. That makes it a bit different from “normal” distribution. The upshot is that most things should just work and the system is harder to break. The downside is that you sometimes have to jump through more hoops and do things differently from “normal” distributions when you want to do some deeper level tinkering.
If you search for “How to do X in Bazzite” you might get fewer results because Bazzite is relatively new and niche (though growing quickly).
If you search for “How to do X on Linux” you might find that the steps don’t work because you’re root filesystem is read-only.
So sometimes you need to search for “How to do X on Silverblue” , because Bazzite is (sort of) based on Fedora Silverblue, which is the immutable version of Fedora distribution.If you want to install some software that you can’t find in the app store (Flathub) or as AppImage, your next step is to look up the command
rpm-ostree. It layers new software on top of your read-only root system. Changes fromrpm-ostretake effect on the next rebootGood info here. The only thing I disagree with is turning to rpm-ostree if flatpak doesn’t have something. There is an officially preferred order and the ostree overlays are last resort. It will work short term but might cause headaches during future updates.
https://docs.bazzite.gg/Installing_and_Managing_Software/
I love Bazzite. It’s a great distro and I want it to do well, so this is something I hope the noob guides start making a bit more noise about, because otherwise some of the recent Windows refugees might have problems down the line.
Well today I learned.
I didn’t think “third party” likehomebrewwould be preferred overostree-rpm, but makes sense that you shouldn’t change too much from the tested main image.For anybody else, here’s the exact caveats with rpm-ostree: https://docs.bazzite.gg/Installing_and_Managing_Software/rpm-ostree/#major-caveats-using-rpm-ostree
Personally I mainly used it for fcitx5 language input method some years ago, but I see now that fcitx5 is included in Bazzite, and also that it should work as a flatpak or in distrobox, https://github.com/ublue-os/bazzite/issues/2996
A lot of guides can get overly technical but keyboards usually have a pretty standardised BT connection and all keyboards I’ve used have worked. Did you look up the manual and see if you need to put it into pairing mode/make it discoverable/reset it to connect to another device?
If yes, you should provide the keyboard model so people here can help you with it.
You dont need to yse the terminal/command line for this. Just open the settings app and look for the Bluetooth section. Pairing your keyboard is pretty much the same process as on a phone ir tablet.
Btw, Bazzite has different versions. Which did you install?
So a good place to start for anything is the arch wiki. It is very extensive and often helpful for people on any distro.
What keyboard do you have?
Edit: Also, just checking you’ve switched on your keyboard? Like your mouse, a wireless keyboard will have a small on/off switch somewhere.
The arch wiki is indeed excellent
It can get very in-depth though, sometimes more so than you need when just starting out learning Linux. So try not to get overwhelmed by it, OP :)
Also OP, since you’re on Bazzite, you should know that that Bazzite is an immutable distribution, meaning your root file system is read-only. So some of the “advanced tinkering” with system files from arch wiki or random forum posts won’t work the same way.
Long shot to try when all the other suggestions failed. If you’re dual booting, you may need to disable hibernation on the windows side so that when it shuts down it actually shuts down and releases hardware attachments. Ive have network, Bluetooth, and USB issues when windows wasn’t configured correctly to work in a dual booting setup.
This is likely not going to be a welcome comment on Lemmy, but here goes anyway: I would not have been able to stick with Linux without AI and I would recommend you use that.
It’s really difficult going through tech support steps with people online (all commenters are looking for more information and would have to guide you through multiple steps). AI has the patience to put up with absolute beginner questions.
Now it’s important to know how to use AI and not think it knows correct answers to your short questions. Claude had worked best in my experience. Primarily you should use it in this way: feed it a detailed description of your problem. Give it all the context of what hardware and software you have and exactly what you’re trying to do and what’s not working. Then it will give you an answer with some idea of where the problem might be. Then you should go and do an internet search of that identified problem to find a solution (not just take in the solutions AI gives you, although you could try initial simple solutions, but you may break things if you just go pasting commands into console without understanding). This is what AI is most useful for, pointing you in the direction of the cause problems… Not being a know all oracle. Paste in a detailed log output and it will interpret and tell you where the problem is, then you must go looking for solutions from a reputable source.
There’s a lot that sucks about AI, but I wouldn’t have been able to adopt Linux or set up my self hosted services on my home server without it; and I’m grateful for that.
Absolutely agree. I know much more about operating systems and software that the average person, and I’ve only been able to handle a number of Bazzite issues with Kagi Assistant. Trying to find how to fix something on forums and regular search is extremely time intensive.
Of course keep in mind that if you’re messing around with your OS you might just screw something up and have to reinstall, but so far I’ve not had anything even close to that. Bazzite seems to be pretty hard to break.
Really for me, Linux only became fun once I started using chat tools to help me learn how to make it do everything I wanted. And I’ve been using Linux off and on for work and at home for twenty years. It’s just sometimes really arcane, and the differences between opensuse, Ubuntu, fedora, and mint made it feel like I never could learn how to fix things.
Sometimes things are harder than I want or just aren’t working right out of the box. But then sometimes I’m able to do things that are actually impossible on other operating systems. So it’s really a trade-off. Also it’s getting better every single day. There was an issue I had last month with a controller, I messed around for 30 minutes but couldn’t get it to work. I tried it last week and it just worked. So don’t lose hope entirely.
My BT keyboard never seems to connect unless I press a few buttons while the initial connection is being attempted, after you have entered the 6 digit code and pressed enter.
I have a knockoff Bluetooth Switch pro controller that only works on Linux when I connect through the terminal, and only when I put it in a different connection mode. But it’s an edge case.
Can you let us know what happens when you connect the keyboard? Also potentially the model of the keyboard.
The best way for me when i was learning the basics was to have a separate device to experiment and test things on, and not worry about having to wipe and lose anything, and any time I got something working right I would make the changes to my “main”. But that’s was a while ago and things improved since then, and also everyone learns different.
So I would recommend trying to follow any linux communities on lemmy or reddit to absorb new info (a lot might be wrong or outdated), maybe follow some youtubers ( a few popular tech ones are making the shift to linux and learning from scratch too), and honestly even just memes will help. Just keep in mind that a lot of people state outdated opinions as facts, or repeat wrong info they heard from someone else.
For more accurate but less hand-holding info, start trying to find good actual forums for Linux, like a disto’s (spin or flavor of linux) forum or “discourse”. As long as you read or search for things before posting, people will generally be nice and willing to help out. Just try to provide any info you can when you post, and don’t have any attitude.
Advanced and more technical info can be found on an apps or distros website or github.
If you have specific questions about the Bluetooth keyboard, let me know in the reply and I’ll try to help!
P.S ignore all distro recommendations till you get more experience, in the beginning the biggest hurdles will be switching from windows to Linux, difference between distros do matter but are much smaller than people sometimes make them out to be. You should stick with one, preferably whatever a buddy or favorite YouTube is using, and save distro hopping till later.
How did you connect the mouse? Do same think for kb.
Also for the life of me I don’t get how beginners like you decide to go with these kinds of distros. I for one never heard of it but I also don’t game.
I use endeavor with kde on my laptop and it just works.
Bazzite is a fine pick for someone who just wants to game. It is immutable so much lower chance of screwing up the system, and is based on Fedora Silverblue.
As I understand it, Endeavour is explicitly not for new users and instead is recommended as a new step for someone already familiar with a more beginner friendly distro?
Endeavour is explicitly not for new users
There is no such thing man. It just works really. But I am not trying to sell this distro, just saying that an immutable distro for a beginner is much more of a black box than any of the “advanced” distros people are afraid of. sure if you are luck and everything works with the immutable, awesome. if it doesn’t? then you need the “advanced” stuff anyway. and by that I mean read some documentation.
While I’m a happy EndeavourOS user, I don’t think Arch-based distros are for beginners, even if they work perfect, which they are most of the time. The problem is the most part. Because a beginner can’t fix a problem, even a simple one if they have no idea about Linux. It doesn’t have problems often, but even one time is enough for beginners and it’s a deal breaker.
Whether Arch-based distros are for beginners or not is the wrong framing imo (though it’s a reasonable first approximation).
I would argue it depends on what kind of beginner they are and, almost more importantly, what community they can access for support.
I installed Arch Linux on my MacBook air back in 2014 or 2015, after less than 2 years using macOS and having only known windows XP and 7 before that. It ended up being the perfect distro for me to learn Linux, which includes having spent 2 entire days getting the system to boot on the “correct” OS with only the wiki and my own google-fu for aid. However I was enrolled in a computer engineering course at the time and had joined my school’s computer club where 4 to 5 experienced Arch users were on-hand most days.
If a beginner is motivated and has a reliable source of aid then the problems they’ll encounter using Arch can be the perfect learning environment. If they don’t, then as you write it quickly turns into a dealbreaker.
Of course it depends on the person but what I was trying to refer were non tech-savvy people. If you want to learn Linux wholeheartedly, Arch or Gentoo are perfect for the job, even LFS I would say. However for non tech-savvy people the distro should rely on GUI as much as possible I think, and it shouldn’t have the danger that it might get broken after an update, even if it’s a small thing and easily repairable by veteran users.
But is this any different than what is happening here with a supposedly beginner friendly gaming distro?
“Having a problem”-wise, probably not. However you most likely won’t see immutable distro won’t boot problem. This is not the case with Arch. To be fair, aside from gaming, I’m getting close to recommend more of the stable side of the distros to beginners, like LMDE or pure Debian.
Don’t know man, my two cents are to go with a distro that has good established documentation. Also if you want to learn you have to break your system. You are probably right, I had a different path ending up with endeavor.
Also, if op managed to get the Bluetooth mouse going there is no reason why his Bluetooth keyboard is not working.
I think Bazzite is a good distro for a beginner wanting specifically something to game on, but going for something common works too. I probably wouldn’t suggested Ubuntu to anyone these days but you can’t deny the long history of forum posts that come up whenever you search your problem.
Also, if op managed to get the Bluetooth mouse going there is no reason why his Bluetooth keyboard is not working.
It’s a nice thought, but his mouse is working and his keyboard is not, that’s why he’s asking.
I keep reading their documentation and wow oh wow! This is from their FAQ:
Is this another fringe Linux distribution?¶ Bazzite is not a Linux distribution in the traditional sense. Yes, it is a Linux operating system that is distributed for the public to use however it is a custom Fedora Atomic Desktop image with a recipe on top of it. Universal Blue images are a proof of concept of using containerized workflows with transactional and in-place operating system updates, and Bazzite exists by being gaming focused with inspiration from SteamOS. Bazzite is a Fedora Atomic Desktop installation, but with the aid of Universal Blue's tooling, adds packages, services, drivers, etc. to the base image of it. Bazzite is using a new "container-native" approach that Fedora has been testing, and we are taking full advantage of it. The team is utilizing the Open Container Initiative (OCI) to build the images, and are adding packages, services, and kernel modules to existing Fedora operating systems. Unlike traditional Linux distributions, most of the maintenance and security updates are done upstream by Fedora and Universal Blue contributors while the primary Bazzite maintainers only have to focus on creating a great experience for an OS geared towards playing video games. Bazzite provides several images that all get the same additions and fixes through updates at the same time unless specified otherwise. There can be a hypothetical scenario where everyone involved with Bazzite could stop maintaining the project at once and it will still continue to receive updates directly from upstream until the scheduled builds are broken. The purpose of Bazzite is to be Fedora Linux, but provide a great gaming experience out of the box while also being an alternative operating system for the Steam Deck and other handheld devices.This screams beginner distro to me!
ok OP what model keyboard do you have? maybe I should have started with this.
my point i was trying to make is: these days if you want to use linux and game, just install a “normal” distro without fear of what you read online. 99% of the stuff about arch based distros (except for maybe arch itself, i don’t have experience with pure arch) is simply fearmongering. stuff just works. Want to connect a mouse? Done. Keyboard? No problem. Same can be said about distros like mint and such. I wouldn’t bother with ubuntu these days.
i keep seeing so many comments about stuff that breaks and doesn’t work in linux but this is just not the case! unless you break it. in windows stuff would work, or not depending on how old the equipment was. there wasn’t much you could do about it. in linux you have options provided you don’t jump feet first into an immutable distro intended mostly for gaming.
my extra point is: ditch bazite and switch to a saner distro!
in linux you have options provided you don’t jump feet first into an immutable distro intended mostly for gaming.
I’m curious what options you think OP is missing in Bazzite for resolving this issue.
the most immediate one i’d say is how to connect the keyboard… there could be others too. don’t know. i tried to look for bluetooth on their documentation but they have no mention of the word.
It’s in the system tray. The same spot you’d look first in any OS.
Also if you want to learn you have to break your system.
OP wants to connect a Bluetooth keyboard and play games.
Messing around and breaking stuff in a well documented distro is great for learning, I agree. But that’s not what OP was asking about.
if they managed to connect the mouse with no problems, then the issues lies with the keyboard and not with Bazzite. so maybe fucking think about that before coming in and being an elitist shit dick while plugging your own distro. if your first reaction to a beginner needing help is to gatekeep and be an asshole, maybe you could go even further and just not fucking post at all and spare the rest of us your attitude.
Wow
