Linux Gaming Distributions and Platforms

 Linux Gaming Distributions and Platforms

Linux gaming distributions are only a few but Batocera and Chimera tops the list and Debian Gnome is the worst of all. I have not tried all the Linux distributions but feel like trying Garuda Linux, soon. I do not support Pop Os dues to commercial nature and one has to buy their computers for greater enhancement (Good ploy and I have no objection to that). 

The best gaming platform that comes from Germany is openSuse Tumbleweed. There is a political issue brewing up in Suse Enterprise Linux to dissociated with openSuse Community Branch which does not have its own name like Fedora in Rethat Enterprise Linux. I have used both of them before convicting myself to Mandriva and later Debian Gnome full time. 

Go ahead and download openSuse Tumbleweed before it is discontinued. 

Germans have contributed a lot to Linux including publishing the Linux Magazine for a along time. Due to Russian Oil and Energy sanctions, they are going through a big downturn in economics and      I have no qualms they are selling Linux products to counteract American hegemony. 

American contribute very little to Linux that is their capitalistic behavior by default.

Good example is Valve and Steam Linux which I do not support.

What I am referring is, in the name ordinary guys like me who assemble bare bone computers for over 25 years and never use proprietary platforms and  now deeply engrossed in NUC want fair play in market economy. I do not like stock market manipulations.

By the way, ASUS platforms based on NUC are great platforms to play games but are very expensive.

Tuxedo Linux

TUXEDO OS gives you all the possibilities to easily port all your web activities from Windows or macOS to Linux. 

With Mozilla Firefox, which comes pre-installed as a Debian package in TUXEDO OS due to performance and functionality reasons, surf the web easily and safely.

TUXEDO OS is an Ubuntu based distribution developed in Germany by TUXEDO Computers GmbH, designed and optimized for the company's own range of Linux friendly personal computers and notebooks. The distribution uses KDE Plasma as the preferred desktop. Some of the differences between Ubuntu and TUXEDO OS include custom boot menu, the TUXEDO Control Centre, Calamares installer, availability of the Lutris open gaming platform, preference for the PipeWire audio daemon over PulseAudio, removal of Ubuntu's snapdaemon and snap packages and various other tweaks and enhancements.

Chimera

By the way, Chimera has many options from Base install to Baming platform to Default Linux install.

Features

Easy to install

Boots into your new gaming system within minutes.

Has powerful application.

Use the built in web applications to install and manage games from any device

It is minimal, in fact I have installed it on a USB stick with 10 other Puppy Linux distributions.

Only what you need to play games and nothing more.

Out of the box.

Start playing right away with zero configuration for supported games.

Always up to date.

Regular updates delivering the latest drivers and software.

Zero downtime updates

Fully automatic updates that run in the background without disrupting gameplay

Controller first.

Fully controller compatible interface.

Use any controller.

Support for Xbox, PlayStation, Steam controllers and more.

Play any game.

Support for Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, and dozens of console platforms

Bazzite

Bazzite is a Fedora-based distribution custom made for gaming on Linux desktops and Steam Deck.

On top of the latest stable Fedora release, it adds expanded hardware support in the form of more drivers. So, a new gamer trying a Linux platform like Bazzite should have a hassle free user experience. Additionally, it has some pre-installed applications and controller support by default.

Drauger OS

Based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Drauger OS aims to provide a platform for gamers and “make it easy for anyone to game, whether they use a keyboard and mouse or some sort of controller”. Please keep in mind that Drauger OS is NOT for everyday use. It doesn’t come with other Linux applications essential for day to day activities like office suite, video editors, audio tools etc.

OpenSuse Tumbleweed

State of the art desktop and server operating system.

With Tumbleweed you don't have to take difficult decisions about things you value, either freedom or safety, either control or security, technology or stability.

Tumbleweed lets you have your cake and eat it, too!

Continuously updated.

Install it once and enjoy it forever.      

No longer one has to worry every six months about massive system upgrades that risk bricking one's system.

Leading Edge

One gets frequent updates that not only address vulnerabilities or squash bugs, but reflect latest features and developments, such as fresh kernels, fresh drivers and recent desktop environment versions.

Stable

Updates are thoroughly tested against industry grade quality standards, taking advantage of a build service, other Linux distributions envy us. 

Not only is each new version of a package individually tested, but different clusters of versions are tested against each other, making sure the system is internally consistent.

Simple to use

With a single command one can update thousands of packages, rollback to last week’s snapshot, fast forward again, and even preview upcoming releases.

Plays nice with the Hardware.

Thanks to its leading edge and thoroughly tested nature, Tumbleweed serves the hardware and devices like few other Linux distributions, making it a superb installment for workstations, laptops and notebooks alike.

Safe

Should anything unwanted occur you can always rollback to a previous state and find your files and programs just as they were before a bumpy update.

Secure

Built from latest kernel releases, compiled with the latest Spectre / Meltdown mitigation patches, with firewall and strong security policies turned on by default, the security is covered out of the box.

Powerful

Harnessing technologies openSUSE is renowned for, such as the Btrfs file-system, the snapper command line utility as well as the battle proven YaST “control panel”, Tumbleweed empowers the user with full control over the system, letting the user defines the settings he/she wants and be done with it. 

No longer do user has to worry about a system interfering with the workflow.

Stands on Firm Ground

Tumbleweed builds on decades of usage, testing and debugging by hundreds of power users, developers, system administrators and demanding doers that cannot afford to jeopardize their workflow. Tumbleweed’s solidity is embodied in many core packages whose DNA stems from the venerable SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Gaming

Tumbleweed provides users with the latest gaming related software. With the Linux support for gaming improving rapidly, that’s an important aspect for smooth, performant and problem free experience in one's favorite games.

Pop! OS

This is my not personal favorite. 

Pop! OS by System76 is based on Ubuntu it has GNOME as the desktop environment.

It feels more polished than Ubuntu itself, and one can get most of the essential tools like Lutris, GameHub, and others from the Pop! Store (app store for Pop! OS). 

In addition to this it provides separate ISO files for NVIDIA and AMD systems.

So, depending on the GPU on board, one can decide to install Pop! OS using the correct ISO file, which should make the system ready to go out of the box. 

Not just limited to that, just because it is an Operating System developed by a PC/Laptop manufacturer, one can expect it to be ready for the latest and greatest hardware.

Pop! OS is easy to use, perfectly suitable for beginners and compatible with the latest hardware. 

Feel free to try out the latest Long Term Support version of Pop! OS.

Garuda Linux

Garuda Linux is a relatively less known distribution but could be a good fit for general purpose desktop computing and gaming. It is based on Arch Linux and provides several GUI applications to efficiently manage the system. 

The one thing that one would like is the Garuda Gamer application.

        Garuda Gamer

It’s a GUI tool that lets one easily install gaming related tools from one place. The user  can use it to install Itch, Wine, Play On Linux, Steam, Proton, GOG and many more such packages.

 

        Batocera

The batocera.linux is a Linux distribution for retro game lovers. One can play retro games from Atari, Super Nintendo, SEGA, Dreamcast, some GameBoy Advance games and a lot more. 

However, one need to own the games in order to play them.

  One does not need to install the OS by partitioning the hard drive, the user just need a USB stick and he or she can boot directly from it to play the games the user owns. 

It also comes with Kodi Media Center integrated, so that one can switch to watching movies when one gets bored with games.

        Nobara

Nobara project is yet another distribution that offers a gaming focused experience on top of Fedora with customization. It is an unofficial Fedora spin that comes with Lutris, Steam, OBS Studio, and Kdenlive pre-installed. 

So, the user gets some "streamer" and "gamer" essential applications loaded out of the box.

         

Lakka OS

Lakka OS converts old computers to retro gaming consoles.

This is a lightweight Linux distribution that transforms a computer into a full blown game console. Lakka OS can emulate a wide variety of consoles. 

It brings all these console emulators under the gorgeous front end of RetroArch. All the emulators are compiled with the best optimizations possible, and so Lakka OS runs the games more smoothly than the normal emulators. Most games will require very little hardware resource, except for the PlayStation or Xbox games.

The key features of Lakka OS are multiplayer, save states, shaders, netplay, rewind, and support for wireless joypads.

        Steam OS

SteamOS 3.0 is the new version based on Arch for Steam Deck users. Unfortunately, it not officially available as a separate offering for desktop users. That is my grouse about Steam Os and it is STUCK in one version.

HOLO OS tries to remedy this scenario but it is not freely avaible to test and i haven't done that yet.

If the do not prefer (that means stuck to one platform) any other platform except Steam, SteamOS can be the choice to go with for building a gaming machine with a console like experience.

SteamOS is not the usual desktop operating system. 

It is tailored for playing games via Steam on the user machine. 

One may not be able to run common Linux applications.

My suggestion (not my choice) is one to test it out only if, one wants to use Steam as the preferred platform for gaming.

It is not actively maintained and is outdated.

One can experiment with it if one has a spare system to test. 

It is a fork of Debian based on “Jessie” build which reached the end of life in June 2020.