I did it. For a few years now I’ve wanted to make the jump but lazyness and a bit of worry that my main game wouldn’t work very well kept me from it.
Then some effing windows update caused ridiculous stuttering on games (or maybe it was a auto-update of some other hidden thing, I couldn’t figure it out) so I decided that if I needed a system wipe, might as well as try gaming on linux.
Honestly? Much easier than I expected. Install Steam, turn two options on and 90% of your library is ready to go. I had to tinker with getting freesync to work (ended up just switching to wayland, which just worked) but other than the plugins I use for my main game requiring a bit of more work, smooth as butter really.
So yeah, if you are a lazy gamer like I am, next time you do a system wipe or get a new computer, try installing linux first. Don’t even bother Dual booting it, if you don’t like it just reinstall (setup your usb drive with ventoy and the images you want to try out.)
Some tips for lazy Linux gaming setup:
Install flatpak and flatpak steam
Install the ProtonPlus flatpak if you need custom proton versions for some games, I usually just add the latest proton-ge and don’t have to bother with anything else
Fedora, Arch, EndeavourOS, Nobara and Bazzite are all pretty good bases for a gaming setup. They all have their pain points so I’d boot a couple and see how you like them before making a decision.
I wouldn’t describe rolling release distros where you need to fix breakages for lazy gamers.
99% of breakages on a rolling release distro are solved by downgrading the broken package until a fix lands so it’s not much worse than windows. You want to be chasing recent releases of pretty much everything if you want the best performance for gaming. You could run Debian but you’ll be waiting 18mo for any new performance improvements to land.
They’re specifically talking about being lazy though.
Install the Steam deck OS and pray I guess, they’ll curate Arch for you
@seaQueue @lorty I always have controller problems with flatpak steam. Some games will work with a controller and some won’t Even if steam says control is compatible. I have the same problem with Debian and steam too. That’s why I always game on arch Linux and Fedora Linux. I have no problem with controller support but those two.
My steam install isn’t with flatpack, I just did an apt install to get it. My Dualshock 4 worked in Elden ring without any changes from my side.
Is it every game? Or only specific ones? Is your controller bluetooth or does it have a specific dongle?
@lorty only on certain games. Some games will work on my wired controller in some games won’t. I was using an original Xbox controller and Xbox One controller.
Sorry man, I haven’t used a controller for Linux gaming in recent years (outside of things like PPSSPP which worked fine.) If you can find specific error messages in your logs while you’re having trouble with the controller I’d copy/paste those into Google and see if you can find a solution that way, or make a new post in one of the Linux gaming communities and see if anyone has better information than I do.
Edit: this looks promising: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1342veq/steam_flatpak_controller_not_working_couldnt_open/