Hi guys,
Being really interested in things Tony Curry , M0rn1n6St4r , and more posted about Gaming Linux distros and Linux overall, last weekend I finally made it and started installing and trying out different gaming distros.
I can tell you! As a 30 years actively Windows using gamer, and as a total Linux noob, who just was aware of the Linux world and just new about the names Suse, Redhat and has used Ubuntu in his studies for a few sessions 15 years ago, it was a really intense journey of it's own!
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My targets are to find the best fitting Linux distro for me considering following points:
- Gaming
- Content Creation/Streaming (as I run a YouTube channel with the same name as my User name)
- Learning how to use Linux in general, also for being able to support our customers at work with it in special regards like rendering over servers with our software house 3D software.
So far I tried out Nobara, Garuda, Bazzite and will try out Chimera OS and Endevour. Endevour is Arch based like Garuda, but no extra gaming OS, as I understood. Even if I never heard it's name before it was recommended by a Linux experienced guy, being modern, fast, and having really good and fastly updated graphic drivers, and being easy to use for beginners).
For me Bazzite OS is the best and most stable gaming distro I tried so far, clearly.
I'm just really missing a good and flexible TDP control tool in it ... The build in just let's you set it up like to a maximum of 15 watts (like on the Steam Deck) or turn the limitation off, but still in Games, which would need more power clearly it doesn't take it by itsself, which is kinda frustrating...
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Nobara even if being based on Fedora Linux too and not too bad in my opinion is just worse the Bazzite, especially when it comes to controller support of the Go, therefore I'll exclude it for my future tests.
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Garuda based on Arch is awesome, but I had a few driver conflicts basically from the beginning, affecting Bluetooth, video playback and wifi functionality, for what I just overwrote it to test out Bazzite. But because I liked it so much, and because it also felt to me like the most proper Linux between the gaming ones, besides the look of the Dragonized version I used, I definetly will reinstall it at a later date.
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I wanted to install Chimera OS so badly, sounding like one of the most customized distros at all, and tried it to install it on a 400MB/s fast USB stick several times last week, because I'm out of memory with the Windows 11 and Bazzite partitions filling up my ssd... My USB sticks (bought 4 of them for different reasons) are over double as fast compared to my Sandisk Pro UHS 1 SD card also in the go... Unluckily Chimera OS has always failed to install properly and boot from any of the USB sticks several times...
-> It has by far the worst installer of all linux distros I installed..:
1st of all you can't boot into Chimera OS directly to try it out first (like with all other distros), but just can install it only,
2nd it requires internet connection,
3rd even if it runs through without any errors at installation, it doesn't mean it will properly boot up...
Here my experiences with this annoying installer;
- At the first attempt I tried to install the Chimera OS onto the same USB stick the installer was booted up from, even though I found it strange I could choose it to be installed to in the first place, because on all the other installer that wasn't possible at all.
-> as the Go restarted after installation it couldn't boot up, but I thought; ok no wonders, it might have overwritten it's own installer files, stupid they could let me choose at all to install it on the same usb stick, but ok, somehow I can still understand a bit it doesn't boot u from it from a technical standpoint...
- I thought, ok whatever, at least now if I'll install it on an own additional USB stick, nothing can go wrong... But it got even trickier...
First of all the stupid installer doesn't show you even the names of the USB sticks, but just the manufacturers names in an abbreviated form!
So for me having 2x 128 GB and 2x 512 GB sticks all from SanDisk undependently from their size (which was also was not shown in the installer ) being displayed as SDA and SDB I had to find a way to distinguish them by the first "A" and the second "B", which wasn't even possible with the standard Bazzite file explorer... Luckily I had Gparted, a partitioning tool installer installed on it and I could finally see the A and the B there... Still I had to be able myself to distinguish them, so I used the 128 GB Silver Stick as the installing one and the 512 GB black one to be installed onto. AND FINALLY I could even start my second installation attempt...
So at the end even when trying to install it from one stick to another over a self powered USB-A 3.0 Hub it couldn't even boot from the black stick it was installed without any issues running through great too... Which took about 12 hours this time over night though, instead of 30 to 45 Min. like in the first attempt...
-> But it depends on the USB 3.0 HUB with its own power supply for shore, as it isn't made for high and constant data exchange in two directions apparently, as both usb sticks were plugged into it.
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That's were I am at now, and at my second installation attempt I accidentally chose a boot partition for Windows too, so I'm left off only with Bazzite running great, but no Windows at all anymore. Will try to fix it with a newest USB Windows Boot Stick created on my Desktop PC this weekend, but that is another story...
-> As I really wanna try out Chimera OS, I will give it a last installation trial run chance from USB Stick to USB Stick, by directly plugging them into each of the USB-C connectors directly, having it fully loaded up, knowing it could run into battery issues, for not having a recharger connected... Or I will install it on the 1 TB SD card at the end. OR I will just install it onto a partition of my Desktop PC SSD drive without all that hassle... BUT NOT THIS WEEKEND!
-> As this whole experience costed me basically my whole last weekend, and I started into the work week nervewracked because of it...
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So my Resumee for Gamers coming from Windows just wanting to game on Linux;
- Or just leave it be and don't use linux at all, as on Windows everything is easier and runs great "out of the box" if doing the whole Windows Updates and installing all the drivers first (which on most Linux gaming distros isn't needed, and even if the Windows 11 OS is heavy and definetly has it's flaws compared to the Linux systems)
- Or just install Bazzite which is stable and great, and live with it's limitations and missing full compatibility of ALL Legion Go Hardware features.
- Or if you like to tinker around (which I like in general, but HATE constantly having to deal with technical issues, because I wasted way to much time of my life with it in Win95/Win98 times with it, and also are annoyed by strong limitations) install any Linux type you are most attracted to, and fits to your needs.
-> But first do yourself a favour and please watch comparisons/reviews on Youtube before starting comparing them by yourself as I did, because this can be a real time eater (it isn't just this "30 minutes of installation" praised by a few users), or like in my special case with Chimera OS a real payne in the a**.
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And sorry if I say so to the Linux enthiusiasts, but still there is no holy Linux gaming world, were everything runs out of the box perfectly, and in most cases still needs a lot of tinkering, even if Bazzite is really coming close to that, and one day, with some further tweak😉 ing it might be there 😉