Best Linux Distro For Playing On Steam?
I am switching to Linux for the first time.
I heard Mint is really good but am not sure exactly which distro is best to use with Steam, as well as with newer games, as I primarily use my computer for gaming.
I generally play games like Final Fantasy XIV, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, Elder Scrolls Online, and Total War: Warhammer 3.
Technically speaking it is not a distribution.
"Bazzite is a custom image of Fedora Atomic Linux 40, utilizing Universal Blue’s custom image framework designed to bring users the best in Linux gaming for their PCs, including the Steam Deck and other handhelds."
Bazzite 3.0 Installer is here!
I'm too busy playing games and having no issues, to write why it's amazing.
I am at 237 days with no issues, and that issue was Valves anyway.
Newsletter:
I used to write personal GitHub gists in the 6 years I've been using Linux/Fedora. To share with others to tweak their Fedora installs for gaming. Don't have to do that anymore!
Bazzite has been wonderful. I went in skeptical about immutable distris for gaming but Bazzite has been such a great experience.
Using NVidia GPU? Use Pop OS. Managing drivers is really easier on it.
Anything else and whatever looks good to your eye.
I'm using Steam without any issues on Linux Mint. If you consider that, people prefer installing the .deb from the website over flatpak or the version of the Software Manager in Mint.
flatpak borks VR, per steam. For the Linux compatible non VR games Ubuntu worked great under Gnome. I am most of the way to having VR working but I had to switch from Gnome on Ubuntu to Kubuntu. Now to figure out how to get the room setup to run, some other file is running and setup cannot launch. 1 step at a time.
Most distros are going to run games just fine, but if you want something specifically tuned for games I recommend Nobara Linux. It comes with everything you need out of the box.
I would check the linux gaming wiki's distro recommendations: https://linux-gaming.kwindu.eu/index.php?title=Getting_started_with_Linux#Recommendations
Mint is fine for daily use type stuff, but there are some odd gaming bugs. IIRC Cinnamon (Mint's default desktop environment) specifically has higher input lag than Gnome or KDE, and Lutris dropped official Mint support due to issues from Mint's tweaks.
I personally use Pop!_OS and it's been pretty good, although I have been a little frustrated about the 22.04 base, as I've noticed some packages (like Mangohud and GOverlay) are very out of date. But aside from that, I have no complaints.
EndeavourOS
I found that Steam ran flawlessly on both Fedora and openSuse. I’ve played Age of Empires II, Half Life, Half Life 2 etc, Skyrim, Firewatch; all with no problems.
Anyone have advice for someone on Nvidia that heavily uses discord screen sharing?
I use Pop! OS Linux. Seems to work pretty well for me.
Fedora/KDE (on all AMD hardware).
No brainer, everything just works.
And for those games that aren't Steam based, I use Bottles, and then use the feature inside a Bottles that adds the game to my Steam library, so they can be launched directly from Steam.
Fedora seems to have the best support for hardware, of all the distros that I've tried.
nobaru