• 33 Posts
  • 466 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • Sure, nvidia drivers suck and I haven’t had the best experience migrating to Wayland. However, it’s important that people know this “limitation” in using SteamOS, especially since many other Linux distributions run both steam and Nvidia video cards just right.

    SteamOS is a distribution that is great for a gaming device but I see people believing this is going to be a generalist Linux distribution and it’s not. Having a clear idea of what SteamOS is, what is good for and what are the current limitations is very important. Linux is amazing, Valve is amazing but SteamOS is not replacing Windows. Which is fine, that’s not the goal. I can recommend a bunch of distros that do replace windows if you want…




  • No, their Micro-compositor was written exclusively for AMD cards. The SteamOS setup just borks if you try to install it with nvidia. People coming from Windows won’t really care who is to blame, they’ll just be baffled it doesn’t work.

    It makes sense since steam deck only has AMD cards. SteamOS is targeted at gaming devices, not as a generalistic distribution.


  • I understand that people are hyped about a Linux distribution developed by a company they really care about. However, please be aware that SteamOS is focused at being an (almost) exclusive gaming OS with very limited hardware support. It doesn’t support NVIDIA video cards, for instance.

    Steam already runs perfectly fine in most generalist distributions and you’ll have a wonderful time if you install them.


  • Unfortunately this is one of the cases where you’re going to have to do some research.

    Check ProtonDB to see how a game plays on Linux. I’m assuming the flight simulator would be problematic.

    Usually the periferal drivers are built into the Linux kernel. Your keyboard and mice will just work, gamepads as well. Niche stuff like wheels and flight controllers will likely not work out of the box and you’ll have to find a community based software to support it. Sucks.

    If I were you I’d boot a virtual machine or a live USB drive and try it out. If you’re not comfortable with the amount of compatibility just don’t install it. Nothing lost


  • If you have the exact hardware supported by the SteamOS then you’ll be fine. However, I don’t even know of they support nvidia video cards yet, I believe most of their stack is optimized for AMD cards.

    In that sense, installing a more generalist linux distribution will net you a better driver compatibility.

    Linux gaming is at a fantastic state right now, you install steam and games work. 20 years ago I would have never believed it to be possible.