Bazzite the popular SteamOS-like Linux gets NVIDIA support in Beta
If you're wanting something similar to SteamOS right now that has much wider hardware support for your gaming handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go, ASUS ROG Ally, GPD, Ayaneo or even your laptop / desktop then Bazzite is likely one of the best choices.
This means, the gaming mode is now available with Nvidia GPUs (and only Turing models).
Bazzite in non gaming mode has been working with Nvidia GPUs for a long time now.
What does "gaming mode" change?
It uses the steam deck/big picture ui with gamescope I think. Gamescope(valve) added beta Nvidia support.
So the distros that offer the Steam Deck ui for home theater PC's are now Strating to support Nvidia. (Think bazzite in game mode, chimeraos and holoiso.)
If you’re used to Steam, gaming mode gives it a big picture mode UI, it’s the main UI for the Steam Deck. However like on the Steam Deck with SteamOS, it also has a desktop mode and Bazzite give you options for other Desktop Environments like GNOME and Budgie (which is coming soon) and also KDE Plasma which is what comes stock on the Steam Deck.
Would this be a good distro for a noob who's thinking about switching from Windows? Or is this more advanced to maintain and use as a daily driver?
Yes, it's designed to be as easy as possible to manage and exceedingly difficult to break in a permanent way.
It's also turnkey in comparison to Windows, in the sense that you already have all of your hardware drivers and have Steam installed right from the get-go.
Yes, with one caveat: it isn't going to work like a lot of other distros when it comes to installing packages. If you need help, use the uBlue forums.
Otherwise, it's great, and very stable.
I advise against using Bazzite as a Windows convert, unless you're happy to do a lot of reading to understand what you're actually signing up for. The founder doesn't really care about Windows Gamers (or anyone outside of the professional linux world), according to a comment they made earlier today in response to criticism of the description "cloud native".
To save you a click, the conversation was about the description of Bazzite as "cloud native" on the bazzite homepage can be confusing or even misleading for people who assume it means "will run in the cloud". The founder explicitly commented they'll keep doubling down on the term until people no longer complain about it.
Their argument was that there is an entire foundation for Cloud Native Computing and that the concept is "an incredibly common thing in any professional paid Linux job." They understand that Windows Gamers in particular might have the aforementioned misconception, but they don't care if you get it.
That doesn't necessarily make Bazzite a bad distro, but I'd be wary about the level of assistance you can expect from people who think that a technical word soup featuring terms like "build our images" and "deploying Linux environments to users" is enough to explain that "cloud native" actually just means the development process and the end product has nothing to do with the cloud.
Specifically, the homepage's text opens with:
"Bazzite is a cloud native image built upon Fedora Atomic Desktops that brings the best of Linux gaming to all of your devices - including your favorite handheld."
I don't know why they'd lead with the development method, rather than describing what the OS actually does, but apparently that's what they care most about.
As an aside, I don't see any obvious description what "atomic" means on the Fedora Atomic site either.
