Custom Linux Distribution just for Gaming
Bazzite - The next generation of Linux gaming
Bazzite comes ready to rock with Steam and Lutris pre-installed, HDR support, BORE CPU scheduler for smooth and responsive gameplay, and numerous community-developed tools for your gaming needs.
Just to clear some misunderstandings, TLE did a performance test on this distro and it was pretty much the same in terms of FPS as other distros. Gaming distros like Bazzite are made for a faster and easier setup process because gaming tools and stores and preinstalled.
But that's a legitimate reason for it to exist. A lot of people have reservations towards Linux because they're concerned about the gaming experience. Making it smooth and easy is a good thing. Having said that, I just installed Steam on Mint and everything ran just fine. I only play Steam games on that machine, though.
I can't fully agree with you about the smooth user experience on this particular distro because it's immutable but yea we should promote Linux for gaming. It's pretty good now.
I can’t fully agree with you about the smooth user experience on this particular distro because it’s immutable
Could you elaborate on why you think this is the case? FYI, I've been using Fedora Atomic for over two years. So, please don't feel the need to explain me how it works*.
Inconvenient package management, manual theme installation and anything that involves changes to the system.
Thank you for the reply!
Inconvenient package management
Fair.
manual theme installation
I assume this is based on an experience with Kinoite? Am I right?
anything that involves changes to the system
I'd argue "anything" is too harsh. But yes, there are definitely edge cases that are either very/too cumbersome or outright impossible to achieve on Fedora Atomic.
However, I'd argue that while the associated paradigm shift and learning curve do require some commitment to adjust to, it is a more sane way of running a system for most people.
This comment shows why I like Lemmy more than Reddit. Nuanced, acknowledging when the other person has a point without just yelling at each other.
Hehe. I agree that the community on Lemmy gives off more mature vibes. I suppose one should at least credit them for being idealistic enough to be on Lemmy rather than Reddit.
Thank you for spreading the positivity 😄!
Inconvenient package managementFair.
If there's a flatpak, no problem.
Once you realize you do package management in distroboxes rather than the main OS (rpm-ostree etc), no problem, plus you have the AUR at your disposal.
So Ima go not fair, although there is something of an education gap atm.
I'm a big fan of Fedora Atomic. However, even I have to admit that knowing how to install packages through dnf is simply more convenient than knowing and understanding the nuances between rpm-ostree, Toolbx/Distrobox and flatpak. And I haven't even delved into ujust and brew that are found on uBlue images.
Furthermore, even if we would limit ourselves with what Fedora Atomic prescribes, we see the following inconveniences:
rpm-ostree ; I know --apply-live exists and I know systemctl soft-reboot exists. But still, if you have to resort to rpm-ostree, then both the speed of update/installation as well as the need to reboot (or live on the edge with --apply-live) are inconvenient compared to dnf. flatpak ; It's inconvenient that I have to alias the installed package if I prefer sane naming conventions when accessing it through the terminal. Furthermore, stuff like the NativeMessaging portal not being available yet for sandboxed browsers and how that prevents any local password manager to interact with them (without hacking your way through; which, once again, is an inconvenience) is inconvenient.distrobox-export has to be resorted to for accessing these directly from your 'App Drawer' is an inconvenience.The fact that there's no centralized place for upgrading all of the above (unless you rely on an uBlue image) is an inconvenience.
I could go on and on, but these should satisfy in revealing some of the more obnoxious inconveniences.
Fair cop on the inconveniences, although I've found it fine after an adaption phase, coming from fedora it was lesser than hopping to a new distro. Hard agree on knowing the nuances being problematic, clarity and accessible education is sorely missing, certainly the steepest part of the learning curve.
I just run 'distrobox upgrade -all' in my Daily.service, didn't need quadlets (although after adaption I quite like them for containers now).
I’ve found it fine after an adaption phase
Though credit where credit is due. At this point, so well-beyond the adaption phase, I simply don't see myself use anything else. This is my home. Though I have to admit my serious interest in QubesOS (and the upcoming Spectrum OS).
Hard agree on knowing the nuances being problematic, clarity and accessible education is sorely missing, certainly the steepest part of the learning curve.
Agree. I'm at least thankful that it's a lot better than it used to be. Like two years ago, when as a total noob to Linux, I decided to cold turkey quit Windows and installed Fedora Silverblue on my machine. Well..., those first two weeks were pretty traumatic 😂. And, back then, there was not a lot out there. Luckily, I found this article that helped me to grasp the basics. And it has been smooth sailing ever since.
I just run ‘distrobox upgrade -all’ in my Daily.service
That's pretty cool (and straightforward). Why didn't I think of that 😂? But yeah, quadlets FTW.
Everyone has an opinion on this. Won't argue with yours.
Fair.
Btw, was I correct on the following?
I assume this is based on an experience with Kinoite? Am I right?
Yeah, I had that at the beginning, then added to my fstab
# enable sddm and therefore good themes /var/sddm /usr/share/sddm none rbind 0 0
and then it works, kludgy, but sddm is apparently working on allowing themes in /etc, sometime soon.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Bazzite also includes an entry in their documentation in which they explain how theming on Bazzite works exactly.
No. I know that installing a GTK theme requires putting the files in /usr/share/themes that is not in /home. That's why I said it. As an advanced user I love customization and freedom so immutable distros are a no go for me (and for many people imo). I didn't even bother trying.
FWIW, by creating your own images (through BlueBuild or tooling offered by uBlue) you could bake themes directly into those folders.
However, I totally understand why you'd not feel compelled to do as such 😅. Especially if your current distro/system works splendidly.
Sometimes, placing it to ~/.local/share/themes works as well*.
However, I totally understand why you'd not feel compelled to do as such 😅. Especially if your current distro/system works splendidly.
This.
Sometimes, placing it to
~/.local/share/themesworks as well*.
Ehh I prefer system-wide installation. I think it's a habit from times when installing an Android app with root (so the OS treats it as a system app) increased its performance.
Thank you for sharing those links, I have been struggling with making rpm-ostree compose go from a yaml to an ISO, these look like they might reduce the level of effort!
Yeah, I had that at the beginning, then added to my fstab
#enable sddm and therefore good themes /var/sddm /usr/share/sddm none rbind 0 0
and KDE themes with sddm components install fine now (most themes install fine into /home, does Gnome really not have per user themes?)
Essentially you can tactically make things mutable as needed, use sparingly, but maybe not even trying lessens your opinion, no?
Inconvenient package management
Can't you just use the Gnome App Store or whatever it's called?
GNOME Software but it only has Flatpaks which my machine can't quite run smoothly. It's weird that I use the GNOME ecosystem without Flatpaks though. Anyways I just use the AUR on my system that's based on Arch btw.
With an immutable system the flatpaks would be the way to go
I set up a bazzite HTPC specifically because of its immutability and smoother user experience. The steam deck also locks down the package manager because this yields a more predictable environment.
TLE did a performance test on this distro and it was pretty much the same in terms of FPS as other distros.
Without measuring any 1% lows or 0.1% lows.
I enjoy TLE's content, but that video is far from exhaustive on this.
Unless a better comparison comes out, we should reserve ourselves from making any judgements on this particular subject.
I still don't think there will be a difference. I tried distros with various schedulers and didn't notice a major positive difference except for the DE smoothness that was unbeatable on CachyOS.
I extensively tested apex legends with different kernels and found a difference.
Thank you for sharing! If you remember, could you share your findings?
So..., you don't think it will make a difference. However, you do affirm that whatever CachyOS does is noticably better than the rest.
Perhaps more importantly, have you actually measured 1% lows or 0.1% lows on games. And did you compare how different distros fared in this regard?
I didn't measure 1% lows but I noticed that regular distros (specifically Fedora and Arch based ones) performed noticeably better in terms of overall FPS.
Thank you for mentioning that! Did the slower distros you tested come with older kernels?
Fedora did have an older kernel but other distros were Arch based so always new kernels. Also I have to mention that CachyOS focuses on x86_64-v3 that my machine doesn't support so results can be very different on newer hardware.
Thank you for the answer and for your time! I wish you a nice day!
Same for you, fellow Lemmy user!
On one hand, I think some data is better than no data, so I think its fair to say that there is a lack of evidence for it being better in terms of in-game performance after setup based on it and that should just be the null assumption anyways.
On the other hand, its been over a decade since its been pretty well known that average FPS is not necessarily reflective of overall performance and throwing the frametime data into a spreadsheet and doing =percentile([range],.99) and =percentile([range],.999) and then dragging it to neighboring cells seems like a pretty minimal extra work for a commercialized channel. For niche testing like this, I'm less bothered by it because having some results seems better than nothing, but its still nice to see it pointed out.
I installed Bazzite on a sibling's thinkpad and it was amazing. Chose KDE, out of the box, it was amazing. Fingerprint fprint was pre installed, just had to scan them in settings. Battery management and power level settings (power save or performance) were also already installed. Everything has been flawless. Even full disk encryption works amazingly well without hiccups. I remember trying it on Ubuntu and it bricked itself or something and gave up on it.
Dual booting it and installation was a walk in the park.
Welcome to modern Linux where almost everything works, mister/miss
And way more reliability, even though it is pretty modified.