Post #2204096
2026-05-07 14:10 UTC
Replies (6)
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@loathsome_dongeater@toots.matapacos.dog 2026-05-08 09:50
@sushimcpe@possum.city I found that the hassle of installing a third party OS is simply not worth the hassle. Since it is a handheld console and you won't always have ready access to mouse or keyboard, when stuff breaks it can be very annoying. I used cachyos for a bit which is less stable than bazzite and ran across two instances where stuff broke (once the power button became unresponsive and once the display manager broke). Fixing stuff like this on a handheld console is annoying as shit. My main aim here was to install a mutable distro so I could install any app I want but it sort of backfired. For this reason I did not consider Bazzite, because Bazzite did not provide any specific advantages that appealed to me. On the Steam Deck I mainly need these non-steam things to work: Tailscale: their installation script works fine for thisSyncthing: I downloaded their binary release and created a user level service. It updated automatically and works perfectly. Anything else I need I try to get as an appimage or a flatpak. But please don't let me dissuade you from experimenting. It is fun in its own right. Experience is a better teacher than words of random strangers. So if something looks appealing feel free to try it. You can mention or dm me if you have more questions. Like if you have a use case in mind and wondering how it would play out on the Deck and so on.
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@thunfisch@chaos.social 2026-05-08 06:19
@sushimcpe@possum.city @cyplo@peninsula.industries I see zero benefit in swapping out steam os. Part of the value of the steam deck is that it’s more of a console than a pc. I don’t have to care about the os. It just works. I’m still free to do whatever I want, unlike with traditional consoles.
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@webframp@hachyderm.io 2026-05-08 03:13
@sushimcpe@possum.city Bazzite is interesting but I’ve kept to steamOS so far and been happy. Some experiments with it even docked and booted into regular KDE to use like a desktop. I tinker with different machines and like the deck to stay stable.
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@thufie@social.pixie.town 2026-05-07 16:27
@sushimcpe@possum.city regardless of which immutable distro you decide to stick with, there will be instances where software isn't available via officially supported methods or in your user folders. My girlfriend has a Steam deck with stock Steam OS and we've had some success using distrobox (distrobox.it) to manage other linux distros in containers so you can install applications in them and then "export" a launcher/shortcut/command to your host distro. KDE offers a GUI called "Kontainer" which does a lot of the work for you. So if you ever see a game distributed as a .deb, only from the AUR, or anything else, you can (quickly, at a button-press) install a container of the appropriate distro to install it and run it from (and then open it in a distrobox terminal which keeps access to your host filesystem for ease-of-use). This lets you work around the rough edges of things unsupported and unpackaged for your immutable Linux distrobution like SteamOS or Bazzite.
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@espyeen@meow.social 2026-05-07 16:03
@sushimcpe@possum.city SteamOS is going to be the most comfortable and seamless experience. I wouldn't replace it on the steamdeck unless you have a very specific reason for doing it.
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@thegail@possum.city 2026-05-07 15:34
@sushimcpe@possum.city why are you buying a steam deck if you want to swap the os? steamos is going to be the best experience imo