It is likely that when reading the headline of this article there are more than one who has started pulling their hair out. How can I say that systems like SteamOS or Bazzite, immutable, etc., are they best for inexperienced users coming from Windows? Aren't they something to play with? Won't it be complicated for them? Yes but no. Furthermore, precisely because they are designed for gaming, and few titles can be played natively on Linux, they include tools to solve this problem.
Here we are going to talk a little about these two options, the Steam Deck system and one designed with that in mind that is based on Fedora. SteamOS starts by default and in handheld PC from Valve in game mode, but you can exit to the desktop from the shutdown menu. Game mode is fine if you want to play or launch loose applications, and desktop mode for everything else.
SteamOS and Bazzite: immutable, gaming-ready, Windows-compatible systems
SteamOS and the Steam Deck are designed with one goal: for us to buy Steam games. If your manufacturer doesn't do anything to fix it, there are few titles available for Linux. That's why they created – together with CodeWeavers, whose most popular product is CrossOver – Proton and other tools that They allow us to install Windows software.
Linux software installation is done through Flathub, and flatpak packages sometimes work or work less well. Another solution they provided was to add by default distro box, with which we can create, for example, an Arch Linux image and install all the software from its official repositories and even from AUR. Therefore, an immutable system that, in theory, cannot be broken ends up being something that allows us to:
- Play with good performance in a perfect interface for it.
- Install applications from official repositories of different Linux distributions.
- Run Windows applications.
Bazzite is available for more devices and with a more powerful assistant
Almost everything we have said about SteamOS applies to Bazzite. Is not a Atomic Fedora official, but they do support them, at least by advertising it on social networks. Unlike distributions like Chimera, the developers of Bazzite They wanted to go as far as possible, and offer their operating system for handheld computers, including the Steam Deck, desktop, computers to be used as TV Boxes and virtual machines.
As if this were not enough, the Bazzite wizard offers options to install packages such as Emudeck and other tools that will facilitate the use of the operating system. Installed by default we find BoxBuddy, a user interface for Distrobox with which we can create and manage images of other operating systems. That we still want more? Bazzite includes Waydroid by default, so you can run Android applications on the computer where you are using the operating system.
All of this is also available in other options, such as SteamOS, which is also the subject of this article. But that they are installed by default, well, it is very good if it is used and becomes bloatware but. In the same way that you can add what is from one system to another, you can delete what is already installed.
And why not leave this up to the user?
We might think that this is a kind of bloatware, which we can install just enough on any Linux distribution, and it wouldn't be a lie. But these operating systems already include the tools after installation from scratch, everything we could need. Zorin OS too, in part. Trust WINE and Bottles to work their magic, which is a step down from what these systems offer for the Gaming.
SteamOS is only available for the Steam Deck, but Bazzite, Chimera, HoloISO and the Manjaro Gaming Edition that will arrive in the near future can be installed on practically any computer. I don't see them as a bad option for less experienced users, although before directly recommending that they use one of them, what I would do is tell them that the option exists. They are unbreakable systems that allow you to play almost anything and are also compatible with Windows applications. Does anyone give more?