3w ago

Trying Out Pop OS on my laptop

Hi all,

I'm traveling for a few months so I picked up a used gaming laptop from one of those trading sites. It's an ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2024.

I initially went with Windows because I wanted to game. I was gonna miss my terminal for dev and a bunch of other things but I thought compatibility and not dealing with hassle was more important for now. The thing is, for some reason, the laptop would be running really hot all the time ... even when idling.

I got fed up and I put Pop OS! loaded steam with the compatibility stuff and ran a few games really well. My only issue so far was that the laptop keyboard didn't work during installation but after an update it was fine. The laptop obviously gets hot when running games but when idling it runs really cool.

This is now making me feel like I can convert my gaming desktop over as well!

I was considering Bazzite too? Anyone know if it's worth it?

33 comments

Bazzite is great if you want to just game, but you run into trouble if you're trying to tinker with it because of the immutable nature of it.
- This. I'd say it's perfect for people who don't want to tinker at all, and it's excellent for experts who either know or will enjoy learning how to make its containerization/sandboxing/whatever approaches work out. "Tinkering" is the specific doughnut hole where it is a problem. I replaced it with Tuxedo OS because I was frustrated with trying to set up the toolset for the QMK keyboard firmware, and it turned out there's a whole layer of things you have to do to make it work, and some of the simpler ones simply break the immutability. A few other tools I wanted to use were running into similar hurdles.
  NOw, it's not that I beleive any of this stuff was a showstopper for everyone; I have too much confidence in the community for that. I am just old and dumb and while I love using Linux, I don't necessarily want Linux itself to be my hobby. Now all that said, my Minecraft and Starfield installs were working really well on Bazzite, and I haven't done any gaming in recent weeks so I hope they'll be as good on Tuxedo.

I love POP OS, but it being stuck at 22.04 until Cosmic is done is less than ideal. But I'm hoping Cosmic's full release is both awesome and ready when 26.04 is upon us.
- Even if it's out of beta for 26.04, you'll probably want to wait a few releases before giving it a go. It's bound to be quite unstable for a few years.
  
  Been running cosmic as dialy driver for a few months now. It is good enough
- Botched my prior install and went with 24.04
  It is worth upgrade even with cosmic alpha
  GNOME 46 works perfect if you don't want minor glitches

If it's mainly for gaming Bazzite is the bees knees. I just like to get creative and try crazy stuff and Bazzite no likey. As a commenter said below though, there's some drama around future releases. At the same time I'm honestly just waiting for the proper PC SteamOS drop.

Pika OS is a gaming distro based on Debian which in my experience one of the most stable and reliable upstream distros that I trust, Pika adds all the gaming stuff you could possibly want and all the library and driver updates that you need to stay current and basically fixes what I consider Debian's only flaw (that its stability can make non-security update and driver updates slow and unsuitable for the latest and greatest games and technologies). Overall I'm really enjoying it, I'm daily driving it and have it installed on several laptops with no hardware issues at all. Just be careful that you need to use the NVIDIA-specific install ISO if you have a recent NVIDIA card.
I've also heard good things about CachyOS, personally it would take a lot to drag me over to the Arch ecosystem but if you already have a Steam Deck anyway it might be a great place to be.
- Pika OS is looking pretty good. The website is saying all the things that I like!
  The laptop has an RTX 4000 card so it looks like I'll need the specific OS, but I think it was the same as Pop OS. I had to download a specific Nvidia distro version as well, so it's very similar here. I'll give it a spin shortly!

The thing is, for some reason, the laptop would be running really hot all the time ... even when idling.
Because it's not idling. Windows is never idle.
My only issue so far was that the laptop keyboard didn't work during installation but after an update it was fine.
I've heard and seen this so many times (especially in a viral video featuring PopOS "Yes, do as I say"), I really don't understand why distro devs don't immediately force/ask you to update the system after installation.
This is now making me feel like I can convert my gaming desktop over as well! I was considering Bazzite too? Anyone know if it's worth it?
I did it a few years ago (previously ChimeraOS) and it's 100% worth it. Unless you play competitive multiplayer or any kind of sims that require peripherals.

Bazzite works pretty well on ASUS laptops, just be sure you select the ISO for ASUS so you get the ROG control software to manage stuff like your fan curves.
- Thanks to this one comment alone I stayed up a few hours last night to switch to Bazzite.
  I had a few oddities with Pop OS and I wanted to turn off the fans and do stuff. The fact that Bazzite had it all rolled in is impressive. The keyboard worked immediately. I don't think I read the instructions well enough but I figured out I was supposed to use bazzite as the pw to get in.
  This is what I think I was looking for, at least from what I see so far!
  Thanks so much!

I went from PopOS to Bazzite on my desktop. My take is things feel smoother and well polished on Bazzite and I could customise it to my liking (using KDE). I have other machines to tinker with so I’ve installed other distributions on those and the modern take on containerisation of services is something I wanted to learn!

Ubuntu 24.04 would both be a solid recommendation, as you don't really need a 'gaming' distro per se to game on Linux! It boils down to software choices, hardware support, and a recent Linux Kernel for said hardware support. (I edited this due to noticing the laptop you are using has an NVIDIA Graphics card, and historically Fedora takes umbrage with proprietary drivers).
I run Kubuntu 24.04, using Heroic Launcher for installation and playing my GOG games, Steam (with Proton Compatibility Layer for non-native games) for games I bought there.
If you want to, there's nothing wrong with using Bazzite on your laptop. Bazzite is more useful for gaming handhelds in my opinion; while any distro with sane defaults work just as well.
- Kubuntu with the minimal install is a great choice. All the benefits of Ubuntu and KDE Plasma without the Snap rubbish. Canonical still gives me ick, though.
  
  Kubuntu is pretty solid, I personally went with the full install...KDE Plasma is so flexible and can look it's best with the tweaks users can apply. For the getting Flatpaks over Snaps, you do need to enable the option in Discover, but once you have and restarted...Snaps (save system critical ones) will be optional to install, and Flatpaks will take priority in Discover. Canonical low-key annoys me with their insistence on focusing on Snaps over Flatpaks. They are creating fragmentation in the Linux space just to establish a proprietary packaging system; Canonical is one of the most corporate Linux distros, but damn, the advantages of third party support codecs and drivers right before installation is blessed. Makes setting up a PC so easy. I hit the ground running, often after only 20 minutes, being able to use my PC without further configuration demands.

Although it's certainly a popular distribution, my understanding is that Bazzite's future is currently uncertain due to Fedora's decision to remove certain 32-bit libraries in future and the folks behind Bazzite saying they may need to end the project because of it.
I don't know the details, and it's possible that Fedora will reconsider, someone may make those libraries available downstream, or the Bazzite folks may have been hyperbolic, but it's worth looking for the details and potential impacts. (Don't take my reply as an accurate assessment).
As an alternative, I can recommend an excellent game-friendly distro: EndeavourOS. It's based on Arch, rather than Fedora. I use it on my gaming PC and my general use laptop. I'm approaching the 2 year mark with this distro.
- Bazzite's future is currently uncertain due to Fedora's decision to remove certain 32-bit libraries
  My understanding is that they already walked that back due to overwhelmingly negative community reception.
  
  It's one of those changes that will happen sooner or later, bazzite and steam need to figure out a solution because fedora, and other modern distros can't and won't keep dragging around 32 bit libraries forever.

I've been using Pop OS on an old surface pro I have. I was surprised everything just worked out of the box. I've been enjoying it so far but haven't done much other than web browsing and using a few applications. I'll have to try a dual boot on my gaming PC.
- Due to some recommendations I am using Bazzite.
  I thought it was a bit of a locked down OS due to what I was used to. I realized that's because of what it's built on top of on? Like you should be using distrobox to boot up different terminals to install packages and stuff. It took me a little while to get used to it and I quite enjoy it. Although I suck getting wezterm to have a shortcut that will detect custom colours when booting into my specific container.
  POP OS has been pretty good for me as well. Overall, quite happy with my Linux experience.

Bazzite is fantastic for gaming. You can still tinker by creating new “layers” with rpm-ostree, but it’s a very different way of thinking about your system. It functions more like a container than a traditional system.
- hmm, I still think I want to use my laptop for media and gaming and general stuff ... I'm leaving next week so I may try a safer OS in the mean time. I think when I get back I definitely want to delve deeper into Bazzite. I think I wanna see if Bazzite would be a good match for my friend. He was thinking about an XBOX Asus ROG Ally X and I was saying that it's quite pricey if you're not going to use the handheld component. He said he just wanted a console-like experience so he can just turn it on and play and that he has a Mac for his other stuff. I'm reading the Bazzite github repo and it says: "Directly boots to Game mode matching SteamOS's behavior." for the Home Theatre PCs which is what seems to match for him.
  
  I think you'd be fine with Bazzite. I have it on my laptop and do more general dev and media things than gaming. I don't boot to game mode (you can make this selection on iso download). It's a typical KDE experience that encourages flatpack for apps instead of the traditional package manager.
  
  Since they mentioned the Xbox Ally version, check if they want Game Pass access, it's not Linux compatible.

asus-linux.org community specifically recommends against installing anything debian based (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint) because they use older packages/drivers that won’t have required support for many ROG laptops especially new ones. their site and discord advice running either fedora or arch if you want the current best support. they also have tools to control hardware things like mux switch and rgb lighting and stuff.

Bazzite is great. I tried it out for gee whiz. I don't use it because I use my PC for dev work. Bazzite is purpose built for gaming. If that's what you use that machine for, then I'd say it's a good move. But really, you'll be just fine for gaming if you stick with a standard distro too. I'm on Ubuntu now, but plan to move the second Pop!_OS hits beta.

33 comments