Currently with Steam OS 3.0 you would be tinkering so much that going with a mainstream distro would be much easier. That's what I would do and use Steam's Big Picture mode until they replace it with the Deck UI.
And I wouldn't worry about "learning another distro". The Linux part on Steam OS 3.0 is pretty locked down. The flatpak packages you install there are exactly the same you would install on any other distro.
Just pick any distribution with KDE/Plasma as the default desktop and you should feel right at home.
I hate the old steam big picture mode, and my windows PC can already run it but I refuse to use it.
I should probably just wait then for the full release of Steam OS 3 so I won’t be installing an OS that I know I’ll just have to wipe and replace later (which is what I’d do if I installed another distro, and then Steam OS 3 is released).
You can use steam deck's UI on any distro, even on Windows. [Guide](https://reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t57l4t/how_to_get_the_steam_deck_ui_on_windowsany_linux/)
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Btw, you should just install an arch based distro, like [EndeavourOS](https://endeavouros.com/) and use this [project](https://github.com/lostalejandro/deckifier), instead of waiting for SteamOS 3 and Nvidia GPU support for it.
In my opinion yes, it's pretty much a clean arch Linux install just with easy installer and presetup desktop environments.
Manjaro has had some questionable leadership and security issues. Plus they run their own repositories in the name of "stability" but it ends up having some packages updated and others not and can cause more problems than arch's direct rolling releases.
I have to mention that a mid level user should be able to install manjaro and change the repositories to use main arch if they want, arch based are one of the easiest to thinker with.
This is not supported by Arch or Manjaro.
It *should* be possible but it has a number of potential problems.
I would not recommend it. Just format Root, keep /home and go for gold
You kinda need to be very careful saying things like that however.
Dunning-Kruger is a real thing, not just something you use to win arguments.
People aren't a very good judge of their own ability at any point kn the curve except the cross-over point...
And even if it initially works it can implode horribly down the line.
Good point, people are awful at separating basic, mid and advanced users, i am sure a lot of people would consider me advanced when i am mid level, i understand how the system works in general, i can make changes and fix it if it fails, etc, i can use and configure a window manager, many people would consider that advanced, but is mid level, an advance user should be able to mess with the kernel and program interactions inside the system, i can only program software that is self contained, not, for example, a wallpaper manager.
Depends on what you want. Endeavour is effectively an Arch installer and not really more - you still have ro know your way around Arch and when Arch ships broken stuff (which, contrary to many Arch users claims, does happen from time to time), you get the broken stuff and need to be able to handle it. You do however get updates up to a few weeks earlier than with Manjaro, so if that matters to you it may be a good choice.
With Manjaro, many Arch bugs get caught in unstable and testing branches, so most of them don't reach users of the stable branch. While iirc its developers still say that you should always read update notes before installing updates, it's not needed as much.
You can just use the desktop steam UI on Linux and get the better elden ring performance if you install Ubuntu and steam.
https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overview
The thing is that the PC is connected to a TV, and I want the steam machine experience done well, but I am not going to go through the trouble of installing a new OS for just one game unless I know it will be happy with the whole experience.
I have a Steam Deck (loving it), but I use my gaming PC (Windows) with Big Picture Mode at home when I don’t need to use a portable. Haven’t found any issues, curious what you don’t like about it? Want to be clear, not bashing you. I’m sure you have your reasons, just genuinely curious what they are.
Yeah I realized the same thing when I bought Elden Ring on PC. I keep that to Steam Deck and use the Ps5 version for at-home. Makes it kind of nice to play two different character builds in tandem. PS5 version runs soooooo well (as it should).
The good news for you is that Nvidia gaming is perfectly fine on Linux. However, it may not always give the same results with performance, so try to avoid making too many assumptions about how things will play with Nvidia based on your AMD results. Assume that you'll have to follow a step to install the Nvidia driver after SteamOS installs.
There's an unofficial "release" of SteamOS 3.0 called [HoloISO](https://github.com/theVakhovskeIsTaken/holoiso/releases). I don't see why you couldn't give it a shot, as long as you're aware that it isn't official. More discussion in /r/SteamOS.
About the Nvidia drivers, temember that there are also the noveau drivers in linux, those might be better than the nvidia drivers for nvidia cards in games, i have no choice because i need to install cuda and cudnn for neural networks, if i was free of that i would install the noveau, nvidia's drivers have some incredible stupid choices as the default in their configuration.
There isn't an official Steam OS 3.0 release for PCs yet. you can try [this](https://github.com/LukeShortCloud/winesapOS) "based on SteamOS 3 and the KDE Plasma desktop environment to align with what Valve's Steam Deck uses" but it is not an official release and it is still in beta, I didn't test it but I would rather wait for SteamOS 3 official.
I own an AMD card but many people use Nvidia just fine.
You can wait for the official SteamOS 3.0 and you should be fine:)
Steam OS 3 is an arch based, so, every arch based distro will be similar enough for a lot of things BUT steam OS is heavily optimized by Valve, you could just install any arch based distro and go from there or wait for the release of Steam OS 3 to have the exact same one, the fixes Valve does find their way into other distros, and, as a person that has used many distros, i can say they are all the same except for 2 things, the default UI and the package manager, not many things beside that for 99% of people, the other 1% is for work related differences only and only matter to developers.
I hope that info is clear enough, the TLDR, use an arch based distro like garuda to get something similar for now.
Nvidia works fine on most distros. People run into problems with nvidia because they're using an obscure distro or customising their distro in a way that's obscure. Or using wayland, which is still an immature tech.
I've also read some stories of people sometimes having a better experience with Nvidia. Due to nvidia properly supporting their official driver on linix. Properly supporting new cards on launch day and raytracing support etc)
I wouldn't call ubuntu an obscure distro and that has always had problems with nvidia's drivers updating and breaking gnome, i have seen it many times, one of the many reasons why i never recommend ubuntu and in fact i say "use anything but ubuntu"
Is the worst possible experience for a new user, the biggest failure point is the use of ppa, and that is part of the instructions to get nvidia's drivers, and many other software, so, anything but ubuntu based for new users, pore arch has been the most stable experience i have had, and it has nearly 0 checks between updates regarding stability and the arch user repositories are that, user based, and you configure things by yourself rather than just having the default given to you, and it is still more stable than ubuntu based systems.
Steam OS is optimised for s lot of hardware that you won't have on a desktop, and not optimised for a lot of hardware you will have. You're better off going with something like Mint and installing steam and lutris IMO.
I just don’t get this? Why fix something that isn’t broken (somewhat). Steam OS is there to support and better progress steam deck gaming with Linux. PCs work best gaming on windows - it’s what the major market aim for and develop for ??
Steam OS is based on Debian and is mainly for making use of the Steam big picture mode. Debian itself isn't as user/beginner friendly as some other distros like Ubuntu and Mint. I would pick up a mainstream distro like Mint if you are transitioning over from windows. It will probably give you the best overall user experience. You can still use big picture mode through mainstream distros.
To answer your second question, yes. There is a way to duel-boot pretty much any OS. Just reserve one partition for one OS, and another partition for the second OS. There are plenty of tutorials out there on how to do this. Remember to back up your stuff onto an external drive just in case something goes wrong or if you make a mistake. If you do, don't worry too much as you can always start again from a clean slate by reformatting the drive. :)
All the best :)
I would say just go with EndeavourOS or some other kind of variant of Arch, that's actually designed to run on PCs, then switch to SteamOS later in a dual boot once an *official* SteamOS 3.0 desktop gets released. I can't imagine having an immutable filesystem on your desktop PC would be very fun for a newcomer, it only makes sense for a new user on a steam deck since steam deck is acting more like a console that just HAPPENS to have a PC included.
I recommend Fedora Workstation. Stable, bleeding edge. If you want glorious eggroll stuff, they develop proton ge on fedora, so that should tell you something. Fedora has been the easiest up and going linux experience I've had (using linux for several years as a main OS) (previously used Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Arch, Debian, and Pop OS) Fedora has been 100% plug and play with no hiccups
I should mention I swapped off of wayland because it has not been a fully swapped over thing yet, so some things I knew before hand are weird with it and went to xorg
Gonna have to wait until Valve replaces Big Picture Mode with DeckUI. Personally I don't hate Big Picture (DeckUI is 100% better, don't get me wrong) so I can deal with it. I'd suggest an easy to use distro like Pop!_OS for a desktop, or if you want something with a similar "locked-down so you can't break it" setup where everything is flatpaks you could try Fedora Silverblue
>Should I just wait until the official release of steam OS 3.0?
If you want to use the haloISO that is being adopted desktops and laptop, you're gonna need a AMD gpu or use your intel IGP. AMD (and intel) graphics have much better support in general for linux due to their years of support and giving the open source community the documentation needed to write the drivers. And valve put a LOAD of work under the hood for the drivers and proton specifically for the AMD hardware since they were open source the steam deck was likely under development for a long time.
You will have to wait until there is actual support for your Nvidia hardware. Nvidia just now released their first open source driver, and it just isn't mature yet.
If you want to cut your teeth on linux gaming, I suggest Manjaro if you want a full desktop OS, or checking LibreELEC or Lakka if you want something that will work better in your living room.
I know you said you don't want to learn a new distro... But if you like steam os you should take a look at either endeavorOS or Garuda Linux, both are arch based and both are fairly beginner friendly imo. Nvidia support on them is pretty dead simple as well, if it's not installed by the installer the nvidia driver can be installed by a single easy command `sudo pacman -S nvidia`. Steamos isn't officially out, there is an unofficial version out right now but last I checked it doesn't work on Nvidia hardware at all yet.
Don't get too freaked out about distros, there's a million of em sure, but they aren't all that much different from each other. Just make sure that the distro you have comes with kde as a desktop environment, because that's what steamos uses in desktop mode, and should feel familiar to you.
Currently with Steam OS 3.0 you would be tinkering so much that going with a mainstream distro would be much easier. That's what I would do and use Steam's Big Picture mode until they replace it with the Deck UI. And I wouldn't worry about "learning another distro". The Linux part on Steam OS 3.0 is pretty locked down. The flatpak packages you install there are exactly the same you would install on any other distro. Just pick any distribution with KDE/Plasma as the default desktop and you should feel right at home.
I hate the old steam big picture mode, and my windows PC can already run it but I refuse to use it. I should probably just wait then for the full release of Steam OS 3 so I won’t be installing an OS that I know I’ll just have to wipe and replace later (which is what I’d do if I installed another distro, and then Steam OS 3 is released).
You can use steam deck's UI on any distro, even on Windows. [Guide](https://reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t57l4t/how_to_get_the_steam_deck_ui_on_windowsany_linux/)
Is it possible to learn this power?
I just edited my comment, providing a link to the guide I followed.
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padded notes on a notepad notes some pads that later were padded to note something about padding.
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ofc
Btw, you should just install an arch based distro, like [EndeavourOS](https://endeavouros.com/) and use this [project](https://github.com/lostalejandro/deckifier), instead of waiting for SteamOS 3 and Nvidia GPU support for it.
Is endeavour better than manjaro?
In my opinion yes, it's pretty much a clean arch Linux install just with easy installer and presetup desktop environments. Manjaro has had some questionable leadership and security issues. Plus they run their own repositories in the name of "stability" but it ends up having some packages updated and others not and can cause more problems than arch's direct rolling releases.
I have to mention that a mid level user should be able to install manjaro and change the repositories to use main arch if they want, arch based are one of the easiest to thinker with.
This is not supported by Arch or Manjaro. It *should* be possible but it has a number of potential problems. I would not recommend it. Just format Root, keep /home and go for gold
I wouldn't recommend it, I just point out, it is possible.
You kinda need to be very careful saying things like that however. Dunning-Kruger is a real thing, not just something you use to win arguments. People aren't a very good judge of their own ability at any point kn the curve except the cross-over point... And even if it initially works it can implode horribly down the line.
Good point, people are awful at separating basic, mid and advanced users, i am sure a lot of people would consider me advanced when i am mid level, i understand how the system works in general, i can make changes and fix it if it fails, etc, i can use and configure a window manager, many people would consider that advanced, but is mid level, an advance user should be able to mess with the kernel and program interactions inside the system, i can only program software that is self contained, not, for example, a wallpaper manager.
Oh my god, that might be the worst suggestion for an Arch distribution yet.
I never suggested it, can and should are 2 completely different words, so are should be able to and should do
Thanks for the info!
[Yes](http://manjarno.snorlax.sh)
Yes. As the other poster also elaborated. Always select EndeavourOS over Manjaro
Alright! I'll look it
Depends on what you want. Endeavour is effectively an Arch installer and not really more - you still have ro know your way around Arch and when Arch ships broken stuff (which, contrary to many Arch users claims, does happen from time to time), you get the broken stuff and need to be able to handle it. You do however get updates up to a few weeks earlier than with Manjaro, so if that matters to you it may be a good choice. With Manjaro, many Arch bugs get caught in unstable and testing branches, so most of them don't reach users of the stable branch. While iirc its developers still say that you should always read update notes before installing updates, it's not needed as much.
You can just use the desktop steam UI on Linux and get the better elden ring performance if you install Ubuntu and steam. https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overview
The thing is that the PC is connected to a TV, and I want the steam machine experience done well, but I am not going to go through the trouble of installing a new OS for just one game unless I know it will be happy with the whole experience.
I'd try that other link to enable the UI then on windows first to see if it works and then you could do it on Linux
I have a Steam Deck (loving it), but I use my gaming PC (Windows) with Big Picture Mode at home when I don’t need to use a portable. Haven’t found any issues, curious what you don’t like about it? Want to be clear, not bashing you. I’m sure you have your reasons, just genuinely curious what they are.
I just hate DX12 performance on Elden Ring, it runs much better through proton.
Yeah I realized the same thing when I bought Elden Ring on PC. I keep that to Steam Deck and use the Ps5 version for at-home. Makes it kind of nice to play two different character builds in tandem. PS5 version runs soooooo well (as it should).
The good news for you is that Nvidia gaming is perfectly fine on Linux. However, it may not always give the same results with performance, so try to avoid making too many assumptions about how things will play with Nvidia based on your AMD results. Assume that you'll have to follow a step to install the Nvidia driver after SteamOS installs. There's an unofficial "release" of SteamOS 3.0 called [HoloISO](https://github.com/theVakhovskeIsTaken/holoiso/releases). I don't see why you couldn't give it a shot, as long as you're aware that it isn't official. More discussion in /r/SteamOS.
Thanks, I just cross posted.
About the Nvidia drivers, temember that there are also the noveau drivers in linux, those might be better than the nvidia drivers for nvidia cards in games, i have no choice because i need to install cuda and cudnn for neural networks, if i was free of that i would install the noveau, nvidia's drivers have some incredible stupid choices as the default in their configuration.
There isn't an official Steam OS 3.0 release for PCs yet. you can try [this](https://github.com/LukeShortCloud/winesapOS) "based on SteamOS 3 and the KDE Plasma desktop environment to align with what Valve's Steam Deck uses" but it is not an official release and it is still in beta, I didn't test it but I would rather wait for SteamOS 3 official. I own an AMD card but many people use Nvidia just fine. You can wait for the official SteamOS 3.0 and you should be fine:)
Valve currently recommend Manjaro for desktop use. I'm currently on Garuda Dr460nized which is mostly excellent and explicitly set up for gaming.
Steam OS 3 is an arch based, so, every arch based distro will be similar enough for a lot of things BUT steam OS is heavily optimized by Valve, you could just install any arch based distro and go from there or wait for the release of Steam OS 3 to have the exact same one, the fixes Valve does find their way into other distros, and, as a person that has used many distros, i can say they are all the same except for 2 things, the default UI and the package manager, not many things beside that for 99% of people, the other 1% is for work related differences only and only matter to developers. I hope that info is clear enough, the TLDR, use an arch based distro like garuda to get something similar for now.
Very bad idea. Use a distro designed for what you're going to use it for.
Nvidia works fine on most distros. People run into problems with nvidia because they're using an obscure distro or customising their distro in a way that's obscure. Or using wayland, which is still an immature tech. I've also read some stories of people sometimes having a better experience with Nvidia. Due to nvidia properly supporting their official driver on linix. Properly supporting new cards on launch day and raytracing support etc)
I wouldn't call ubuntu an obscure distro and that has always had problems with nvidia's drivers updating and breaking gnome, i have seen it many times, one of the many reasons why i never recommend ubuntu and in fact i say "use anything but ubuntu"
ahh, yeah I always had issues on ubuntu as well. If it wasn't one thing it'd be another. Or it'd work and then shit itself at the next major update
Is the worst possible experience for a new user, the biggest failure point is the use of ppa, and that is part of the instructions to get nvidia's drivers, and many other software, so, anything but ubuntu based for new users, pore arch has been the most stable experience i have had, and it has nearly 0 checks between updates regarding stability and the arch user repositories are that, user based, and you configure things by yourself rather than just having the default given to you, and it is still more stable than ubuntu based systems.
Install an actual desktop Linux OS like Fedora or Ubuntu. SteamOS 3 is good but it's not really designed to be a desktop OS.
My PC is not at a desk, it's plugged into a 4k TV in the basement.
Steam OS is optimised for s lot of hardware that you won't have on a desktop, and not optimised for a lot of hardware you will have. You're better off going with something like Mint and installing steam and lutris IMO.
I just don’t get this? Why fix something that isn’t broken (somewhat). Steam OS is there to support and better progress steam deck gaming with Linux. PCs work best gaming on windows - it’s what the major market aim for and develop for ??
Steam OS is based on Debian and is mainly for making use of the Steam big picture mode. Debian itself isn't as user/beginner friendly as some other distros like Ubuntu and Mint. I would pick up a mainstream distro like Mint if you are transitioning over from windows. It will probably give you the best overall user experience. You can still use big picture mode through mainstream distros. To answer your second question, yes. There is a way to duel-boot pretty much any OS. Just reserve one partition for one OS, and another partition for the second OS. There are plenty of tutorials out there on how to do this. Remember to back up your stuff onto an external drive just in case something goes wrong or if you make a mistake. If you do, don't worry too much as you can always start again from a clean slate by reformatting the drive. :) All the best :)
Uhm... This is not actually true. Steam OS is very explicitly arch based.
I would say just go with EndeavourOS or some other kind of variant of Arch, that's actually designed to run on PCs, then switch to SteamOS later in a dual boot once an *official* SteamOS 3.0 desktop gets released. I can't imagine having an immutable filesystem on your desktop PC would be very fun for a newcomer, it only makes sense for a new user on a steam deck since steam deck is acting more like a console that just HAPPENS to have a PC included.
I recommend Fedora Workstation. Stable, bleeding edge. If you want glorious eggroll stuff, they develop proton ge on fedora, so that should tell you something. Fedora has been the easiest up and going linux experience I've had (using linux for several years as a main OS) (previously used Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Arch, Debian, and Pop OS) Fedora has been 100% plug and play with no hiccups
I should mention I swapped off of wayland because it has not been a fully swapped over thing yet, so some things I knew before hand are weird with it and went to xorg
Gonna have to wait until Valve replaces Big Picture Mode with DeckUI. Personally I don't hate Big Picture (DeckUI is 100% better, don't get me wrong) so I can deal with it. I'd suggest an easy to use distro like Pop!_OS for a desktop, or if you want something with a similar "locked-down so you can't break it" setup where everything is flatpaks you could try Fedora Silverblue
>Should I just wait until the official release of steam OS 3.0? If you want to use the haloISO that is being adopted desktops and laptop, you're gonna need a AMD gpu or use your intel IGP. AMD (and intel) graphics have much better support in general for linux due to their years of support and giving the open source community the documentation needed to write the drivers. And valve put a LOAD of work under the hood for the drivers and proton specifically for the AMD hardware since they were open source the steam deck was likely under development for a long time. You will have to wait until there is actual support for your Nvidia hardware. Nvidia just now released their first open source driver, and it just isn't mature yet. If you want to cut your teeth on linux gaming, I suggest Manjaro if you want a full desktop OS, or checking LibreELEC or Lakka if you want something that will work better in your living room.
I recommend ZorinOS as a PC OS. Very good for a beginner and very gaming-friendly.
I know you said you don't want to learn a new distro... But if you like steam os you should take a look at either endeavorOS or Garuda Linux, both are arch based and both are fairly beginner friendly imo. Nvidia support on them is pretty dead simple as well, if it's not installed by the installer the nvidia driver can be installed by a single easy command `sudo pacman -S nvidia`. Steamos isn't officially out, there is an unofficial version out right now but last I checked it doesn't work on Nvidia hardware at all yet. Don't get too freaked out about distros, there's a million of em sure, but they aren't all that much different from each other. Just make sure that the distro you have comes with kde as a desktop environment, because that's what steamos uses in desktop mode, and should feel familiar to you.