I use arch, btw

[rejectconvenience]

@CitricScion Welcome to the forum! I've been tempted to try Fedora recently, I might spin up a VM and give it a whirl.

I'll also check out Bazzite!

[xan]

@CitricScion Welcome to the forum! I've been tempted to try Fedora recently, I might spin up a VM and give it a whirl.
I'll also check out Bazzite!

Check out Ultramarine Linux, Fedora with all the stuff already there! or Nobara idk

[rejectconvenience]

Check out Ultramarine Linux, Fedora with all the stuff already there! or Nobara idk

Heck yeah, you got it! Also welcome to the forum to you as well!

[Stefen_Maxwell]

I've used Fedora for almost my entire time with Linux (about 2 years). It works great and I highly recommend giving it a try!

For about a year I've been using Fedora Kinoite, which is the atomic version of Fedora KDE. It's been nice to have a chromebook-like experience from my Linux desktop and not have to worry about an update messing something up, which has happened in the past. I'm very into the whole cloud native world that the atomic desktops are opening up, so I finally made the switch to Aurora, a custom image of Kinoite by the Universal Blue project.
https://getaurora.dev

I saw Garuda being mentioned in this thread, so I will also mention Bazzite! It's another custom image but specifically geared toward gaming and very much started as a SteamOS clone. If you're looking for something similar with a few more bells and whistles, I recommend checking it out. They make it a point to bake in as much as you would need to have success with gaming on Linux.
https://bazzite.gg

But use what works for you! Linux has never been as open as this for new people to give it a try.

I just installed Bazzite on my steam deck. While it isn't a game changer (I can't see why most people would need to switch), I love how it easily installs 3rd party tools for me. Also, my steam deck seems to boot faster??? I think I messed something up with the steam os install, but either way, I like the distro so far.


Also, on top of switching out the steam deck's os, I swap out my laptop too. From pop!_OS to OpenSuse Tumbleweed. I was thinking about installing Fedora Kinoite, but coding in flatpacks has been annoying for me. So, for now, I am installing packages natively.

[rejectconvenience]

I so badly want to know if a steam deck would work as a portable animation tool for my Blender workflow (but I also know that I should just get a laptop). But it would be really interesting to know. I don't play games often, so it'd be a basic Blender computer lol.

[Stefen_Maxwell]

I so badly want to know if a steam deck would work as a portable animation tool for my Blender workflow (but I also know that I should just get a laptop). But it would be really interesting to know. I don't play games often, so it'd be a basic Blender computer lol.

Huh, now you got me thinking.

[CitricScion]

I just installed Bazzite on my steam deck. While it isn't a game changer (I can't see why most people would need to switch), I love how it easily installs 3rd party tools for me. Also, my steam deck seems to boot faster??? I think I messed something up with the steam os install, but either way, I like the distro so far.


Also, on top of switching out the steam deck's os, I swap out my laptop too. From pop!_OS to OpenSuse Tumbleweed. I was thinking about installing Fedora Kinoite, but coding in flatpacks has been annoying for me. So, for now, I am installing packages natively.

I think there is less benefit to putting Bazzite on a Steam Deck vs the Legion Go or the ROG Ally because you're getting a similar experience to what you already had. For the other handhelds you're switching from Windows to a purpose built Linux so it's a huge difference.

In regards to flatpaks, yeah that is the recommended way to get applications. However, they can be found easily in your software center through Flathub. The recommended order for looking for how to install software on a Fedora Atomic system is flatpak > containers > rpm-ostree layering. If you use a Universal Blue custom image like Bazzite, Bluefin, or Aurora then you also have the option of Homebrew. Ideally over time more and more graphical applications become available as flatpaks and it's not as much of an issue. But when it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you - that's alright.

[Stefen_Maxwell]

In regards to flatpaks, yeah that is the recommended way to get applications. However, they can be found easily in your software center through Flathub. The recommended order for looking for how to install software on a Fedora Atomic system is flatpak > containers > rpm-ostree layering. If you use a Universal Blue custom image like Bazzite, Bluefin, or Aurora then you also have the option of Homebrew. Ideally over time more and more graphical applications become available as flatpaks and it's not as much of an issue. But when it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you - that's alright.

I should probably look into how to get containers loaded in so my flatpak dev tools can actually work. For the mean time though, I prefer native packages for the smaller size and so my system can just see all the code languages I have on the system. I only use flakpaks for things like a web browser or for discord where the sandboxed security is important to me.

[rejectsocietynorms]

I actually use vanilla arch (btw). I have to say i genuinely don't get all the fuss around the difficulty. Yes, it takes a week or so to set up properly, but after that it is imo easier to use than any other distro cuz any bugs you run across u can usually solve with tinkering , wiki or ai chatbot (ikik) but i really think arch is easier to use than other distros if you do the install properly. But ig the installation is most of the difficulty so that's that. Do use plasma , so ig im not a sweat in that, but i just love the ui and customization. Not trying to convince anyone to use arch, because somethings do be stupid. but just saying. sorry for yap

[rejectconvenience]

Firstly, welcome, @rejectsocietynorms! Also, I know it's a meme, but I had a realization the other day - why does arch have such a devout fanbase? It is more stable? Is it more customizable? Like what's the big catch? I'm really curious as I've never actually thought about it before.