If you’re assuming the user will have trouble with SteamOS’ write protection, which I totally agree with, Bazzite is also surely going to cause headaches. The idea of a locked down system that gets most apps as Flatpaks sounds appealing, until the cracks start to show up.
I strongly suggest going with your other proposal, something like plain Fedora with KDE.
Bazzite founder here. I started Bazzite after spending a few months helping with support on the steam deck Discord because I had already been using atomic fedora and knew the proper workarounds for people who wanted to install applications on a read-only distro like SteamOS.
Bazzite was initially an experiment to see what it would take to get SteamOS packages working in Fedora Atomic, because I knew Fedora Atomic provided a better experience for installing applications that had to be a part of the root system than SteamOS could.
Unlike SteamOS you can layer applications over the root system and they will be kept across updates instead of being removed entirely. You’re also able to spin off custom images with any changes you want through a GitHub action. You have full access to the roof file system during the build process.
If you’re assuming the user will have trouble with SteamOS’ write protection, which I totally agree with, Bazzite is also surely going to cause headaches.
For the specific context I was replying to – Nvidia drivers – Bazzite’s write protection is completely irrelevant because there are editions with Nvidia drivers preinstalled.
The idea of a locked down system that gets most apps as Flatpaks sounds appealing, until the cracks start to show up.
Depends on the use case. SteamOS comes with Distrobox. All non-Flatpak needs of mine can be achieved through this.
Most linux OS with locked down file systems allow you to install apps permanently if you need something that doesn’t work with flatpak/distrobox/etc. It’s usually called something like atomic updates, and it installs the software in a layered image, and will require a reboot to load.
It’s not the ideal way to install software, but it’s a lot easier than your options for installing packages on SteamOS.
I haven’t personally used Bazzite, so I’m not 100% sure that it supports it, but I’m assuming it does. If anyone else wants to confirm it I would appreciate it. Edit: you can, here’s the documentation page on it
If you’re assuming the user will have trouble with SteamOS’ write protection, which I totally agree with, Bazzite is also surely going to cause headaches. The idea of a locked down system that gets most apps as Flatpaks sounds appealing, until the cracks start to show up.
I strongly suggest going with your other proposal, something like plain Fedora with KDE.
Bazzite founder here. I started Bazzite after spending a few months helping with support on the steam deck Discord because I had already been using atomic fedora and knew the proper workarounds for people who wanted to install applications on a read-only distro like SteamOS.
Bazzite was initially an experiment to see what it would take to get SteamOS packages working in Fedora Atomic, because I knew Fedora Atomic provided a better experience for installing applications that had to be a part of the root system than SteamOS could.
Unlike SteamOS you can layer applications over the root system and they will be kept across updates instead of being removed entirely. You’re also able to spin off custom images with any changes you want through a GitHub action. You have full access to the roof file system during the build process.
For the specific context I was replying to – Nvidia drivers – Bazzite’s write protection is completely irrelevant because there are editions with Nvidia drivers preinstalled.
Depends on the use case. SteamOS comes with Distrobox. All non-Flatpak needs of mine can be achieved through this.
Sure, but the original context was a new user wanting to try Linux on their gaming laptop.
Both Bazzite and SteamOS will result in headaches from their limitations.
And I was giving a heads up regarding Nvidia graphics and only Nvidia graphics. I know what I wrote.
Sure…?
Most linux OS with locked down file systems allow you to install apps permanently if you need something that doesn’t work with flatpak/distrobox/etc. It’s usually called something like atomic updates, and it installs the software in a layered image, and will require a reboot to load.
It’s not the ideal way to install software, but it’s a lot easier than your options for installing packages on SteamOS.
I haven’t personally used Bazzite, so I’m not 100% sure that it supports it, but I’m assuming it does. If anyone else wants to confirm it I would appreciate it. Edit: you can, here’s the documentation page on it