For many users, playing video games on a PC is synonymous with using Windows as the operating system. It is true that many manufacturers and developers still offer greater support and a broader catalog for the Microsoft operating system than for alternatives such as Linux or macOS…
…but, nevertheless, it is becoming more and more satisfying to play on GNU/Linux systems, and it is undeniable that the repertoire of video games available in this free operating system has multiplied exceptionally in recent years.
Steam, with the launch of its Steam Deck portable console, reminded us again how much Linux can still contribute to the ‘gamer world’. And for this reason, we decided to highlight some of the many options available to video game fans who want to bet on this other operating system…
…and don’t want to mess with repository changes, editing configuration files, nor any other of those facets of (some) Linux that tend to scare away the less experienced user.
Chimera OS
ChimeraOS was presented in society just over a month and a half ago, although it is about a mere ‘rebranding’ (change of name and logo) of the old GamerOS, a distribution that was born when SteamOS stopped receiving updates; It was born as an alternative to the official Steam distribution, but it was based on Arch instead of Debian.
This distribution is presented on its website as an operating system capable of making you sit down to play as soon as it is installed. However, in a recent interview, its creator states that it would be more correct think of ChimeraOS not as an OS, but as “the firmware of a video game console”.
This reference to game consoles is not free: ChimeraOS is focused on games that we can play without the need for a keyboard. And that is what, according to its creator, makes ChimeraOS very different from any other distribution:
“After installation, boot directly into Steam Big Picture”—a new full-screen mode of Steam, designed to be used on your TV and operated with a game controller—”If you want Steam in your living room, you want ChimeraOS” .
Those responsible for ChimeraOS maintain on their website an ‘official’ list with 246 Steam video games supported on ChimeraOS. It does not mean that these are the only ones that we will be able to play, but that they are the ones that have verified that they comply with your ‘certification criteria’– Stable running, no need for manual configuration changes, no dialogs that interrupt the gaming experience, etc.
ChimeraOS includes a collection of settings optimized for different video gamescalled Steam-Tweaks, which even patches the files of the games themselves to allow them to function optimally once started.
But not everything in ChimeraOS is reduced to Steam: one of its main components, Steam Buddy, is a web app that allows us (from a second device) install and manage games that don’t come from Steam, but from GOG, Epic Games Store, FlatHub… and even load ROMs for emulators:
The fact that ChimeraOS is based on Arch does not mean that the user needs to know that distribution or be familiar with its use. And it is that even its software installation and update system (called ‘frzr’) is its own and independent of Arch Linux’s native package manager, pacman.
Garuda KDE Dragonized Gaming Edition
Garuda Linux is another distribution that, like ChimeraOS, is based on Arch Linux. It is distinguished by having a multitude of different versions depending on the desktop environment installed by default: up to a total of 14including notably minority desktops.
However, the one that interests us is only one: KDE Dragonized Gaming Edition, with KDE as a desktop environment and explicitly aimed at the gamer public. So your selection of bundled software includes numerous native gamesplatform ‘launchers’ (from the ubiquitous Steam a Winethe famous Windows application emulator, going through several unofficial clients for stores like GOG or the Epic Games Store)…
…as well as the native NVIDIA drivers (saving us the configuration and performance problems that appear in other distributions) and useful tools for the most gamers: CoreCtrl (for setting hardware profiles), NoiseTorch (for microphone noise suppression, ReplaySorcery (for video recording of the last seconds of gameplay), etc.
Total. about 4 Gb more than the base KDE Dragonized weighs. But the selection of software is not the only customization for ‘gamers’ of this distribution: it also, for example, makes use of the Linux-Zen kernel, a system kernel optimized for gaming performance.
All of the above, together with its personalized aesthetics and ease of installation, make it the best option for Linux users who are more into video games who prefer not to use their PC as a ‘game console’ (as ChimeraOS users do), but as a desktop computer, with its keyboard and such.
Pop!_OS
For a Linux distro to be a good choice for gamers It doesn’t have to be specifically targeted at gamers: there are several ‘general purpose’ distributions. that can be useful both when spending hours playing Portal 2 and when working with office automation or software development programs.
And, together with the popular Ubuntu, perhaps the distribution that best represents this option is Pop!_OSa distribution created by the computer manufacturer System76 based on Ubuntu Linux.
It is a light distribution, with good performance (especially noticeable on laptops) and a user interface based on a beautiful custom GNOME (the COSMIC desktop) that makes it very easy and pleasant to use. Its app store, Pop!_Shop, allows a quick and easy installation of tools like Steam and Lutris.
And, in addition to that, it has the peculiarity of offering for download two custom ISO images, one for AMD/Intel GPUs and one for Nvidi cardsa, which —just like Garuda— offers us the latter’s exclusive controllers without the need for the user to spend time configuring them.