I’ve ordered myself some parts to build a PC for Linux gaming. In the meantime, i’m deciding on which linux distro to use.
For the desktop environment I typically use KDE.
I have used Ubuntu in the past but i’m ruling it out because of snaps and other such annoyances. This also applies to Ubuntu based distros that use the same repos (KDE Neon etc).
I see the wikis recommend Nobara, but I’m reluctant to use a Fedora based distro because I’m so used to Debian/apt (both as a desktop and server distros). I’m not ruling it out completely though.
Any reason why I shouldn’t just go with Debian + KDE and install Steam? Will I be missing out on lots of performance improvements or is this easily addressed by using an additional repo for a tweaked kernel and proton version or whatever?
It’s a gaming PC but I will use it for other things as well. I don’t want to complicate other tasks because I’ve chosen a really specific OS for gaming, if that makes sense.
It shouldn’t. A gaming focused OS will just come with all the necessary software and configurations for gaming, and not much else.
Chimera also adds a lot of the cool functionality from SteamOS like the in-game configuration options, Gamescope, and launching directly into the Steam Big Picture mode on boot so you don’t need a keyboard or mouse.
This makes it sound like Big Picture is preferred.
Surely I’m not alone in my dislike for it, right?
Right???
It depends on what you want to do. In my case, my PC lives in the living room and runs on the TV like a console.
Unfortunately, unlike a console, I have to walk over and hit the power button and then switch the input (because for some reason GPUs still don’t support HDMI-CEC) but after that, at no time do I need a keyboard or mouse for anything. Just power it up, sit down, and start gaming.
Right.