Is Bazzite an OS that I would use, or is it a set of drivers that lets SteamOS play nice with Nvidia?
You cannot install Nvidia drivers on SteamOS without jumping through more hoops than it’s worth because the system partition is write protected. You can unprotect it but the next SteamOS update everything will be reset.
All improvements from SteamOS eventually trickle down to all mainstream desktop Linux distributions anyway, just as all Red Hat improvements trickle down to SteamOS.
Bazzite happens to be a gaming-focused distribution but you can also just get Fedora KDE and have a good time as well. I happen to like the download assistant at https://bazzite.gg/#image-picker which more distribution should adopt.
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.
I use Linux for my server, VMs and networking hardware but get burned every time I try to use it for my hobbies/gaming. There’s always something that doesn’t work unfortunately.
Be mindful of Nvidia drivers, should that notebook come with a GeForce GPU. SteamOS does not support Nvidia. Use Bazzite in such a case.
Appreciate the heads up. I’m pretty sure it’s an AMD processor, but I don’t know about the video card.
Is Bazzite an OS that I would use, or is it a set of drivers that lets SteamOS play nice with Nvidia?
You cannot install Nvidia drivers on SteamOS without jumping through more hoops than it’s worth because the system partition is write protected. You can unprotect it but the next SteamOS update everything will be reset.
All improvements from SteamOS eventually trickle down to all mainstream desktop Linux distributions anyway, just as all Red Hat improvements trickle down to SteamOS.
Bazzite happens to be a gaming-focused distribution but you can also just get Fedora KDE and have a good time as well. I happen to like the download assistant at https://bazzite.gg/#image-picker which more distribution should adopt.
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.
Bazzite still has experimental support for NVidia GPUs, you should use Nobara HTPC Nvidia ISO
None of the Nvidia issues are because of Bazzite. They are all because of NVidia’s drivers and those are the same everywhere. Nothing Nobara or anyone else but Nvidia can do. See https://docs.bazzite.gg/Handheld_and_HTPC_edition/quirks/#nvidia-exclusive-issues
Windows works 🤷♂️
Not really on console-style hardware. That’s why sales of these are so low.
If that’s the intended use case of that notebook, Windows won’t be any fun.
That said, I prefer not to touch Nividia with Linux myself after some trauma a couple of years ago.
I use Linux for my server, VMs and networking hardware but get burned every time I try to use it for my hobbies/gaming. There’s always something that doesn’t work unfortunately.