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I have no choice but to use Windows at home due to 200+ Steam games I own. Many work only on Windows only. Emulation don't work for most on Linux. I got a se

I have no choice but to use Windows at home due to 200+ Steam games I own. Many work only on Windows only. Emulation don't work for most on Linux. I got a separate PC just for linux btw, so no biggie

MaulingMonkey 10d ago
I shelled out for a Steam Machine (SteamOS ≈ Arch Linux.) I do gamedev, and I figured having a test machine was a decent enough excuse for a purchase. It's working suprisingly well for the games I'm actually playing. They're playing better than on my last Windows desktop tower, even, presumably due to a better GPU. Granted, catalogs vary - anti-cheat and DRM may not play nice, and EvE Online wasn't stable until I switched the renderer from D3D12 to D3D11 (and I haven't tried playing with multiple accounts) - but you might revisit Linux gaming if it's been awhile since you last have. The enshittification of Windows has finally driven me to the point where Linux compatability is going to start affecting my Steam purchases.
- mrec 10d ago
  Out of interest, are you doing any dev on the SM? If so, how is it for that?
  - MaulingMonkey 10d ago
    Only a token test amount so far. The root filesystem is read-only by default, but without the whole Nix ecosystem, which is a little awkward (can't install packages even as root without changing that.) On the other hand, it comes with `distrobox` preinstalled, so it's easy enough to spin up a container and use that (including package installation.) My raw notes are here: https://github.com/MaulingMonkey/notes/blob/master/programming/platforms/steam%20machine.md#developer https://github.com/MaulingMonkey/notes/blob/master/programmi...
asdff 10d ago
Whenever I used windows for games I just installed it on a partition and solely used it for steam. Nothing else installed but steam and games. Usually with the free unregistered version of windows because I could not care less about setting a desktop background. Too insufferable for any other use.
worble 10d ago
Meanwhile my steam library of 900+ works pretty much flawlessly on linux. Yes the odd esoteric game needs a workaround or two, but honestly if you browse the pcgamingwiki then you'd notice you also need to tweak them on windows too, such is the problem with older games.
- brianwawok 10d ago
  Ditto. Nothing I want to play doesn’t work on Linux / bazzite.
- mitxela 10d ago
  [dead]
- NamTaf 10d ago
  Echoing this. I would have to go out of my way to find one that does not work simply by double-clicking the steam entry. This is on Arch
  - bigstrat2003 10d ago
    It does happen, but it's pretty rare. Specifically, the MechWarrior 5 games don't work with my VKB joystick out of the box (had to do some config shenanigans to get that to work), Rome II Total War crashes pretty regularly, and the sound doesn't work right in HBS Battletech (which is odd cause I'm pretty sure that's a unity game). But the vast, vast majority of my library works without any tinkering.
- jawilson2 8d ago
  2 of my kids play a total of 3 games: Fortnite, Rocket League, and Madden NFL. We're locked in for a while.
verdverm 10d ago
I have the separate PC just for Steam, at least that's how I look at it :] There are far more penguins in my homelab

I have no choice but to use Windows at home due to 200+ Steam games I own. Many work only on Windows only. Emulation don't work for most on Linux. I got a separate PC just for linux btw, so no biggie

MaulingMonkey 10d ago

I shelled out for a Steam Machine (SteamOS ≈ Arch Linux.) I do gamedev, and I figured having a test machine was a decent enough excuse for a purchase. It's working suprisingly well for the games I'm actually playing. They're playing better than on my last Windows desktop tower, even, presumably due to a better GPU. Granted, catalogs vary - anti-cheat and DRM may not play nice, and EvE Online wasn't stable until I switched the renderer from D3D12 to D3D11 (and I haven't tried playing with multiple accounts) - but you might revisit Linux gaming if it's been awhile since you last have. The enshittification of Windows has finally driven me to the point where Linux compatability is going to start affecting my Steam purchases.

mrec 10d ago
Out of interest, are you doing any dev on the SM? If so, how is it for that?
- MaulingMonkey 10d ago
  Only a token test amount so far. The root filesystem is read-only by default, but without the whole Nix ecosystem, which is a little awkward (can't install packages even as root without changing that.) On the other hand, it comes with `distrobox` preinstalled, so it's easy enough to spin up a container and use that (including package installation.) My raw notes are here: https://github.com/MaulingMonkey/notes/blob/master/programming/platforms/steam%20machine.md#developer https://github.com/MaulingMonkey/notes/blob/master/programmi...

asdff 10d ago

Whenever I used windows for games I just installed it on a partition and solely used it for steam. Nothing else installed but steam and games. Usually with the free unregistered version of windows because I could not care less about setting a desktop background. Too insufferable for any other use.

worble 10d ago

Meanwhile my steam library of 900+ works pretty much flawlessly on linux. Yes the odd esoteric game needs a workaround or two, but honestly if you browse the pcgamingwiki then you'd notice you also need to tweak them on windows too, such is the problem with older games.

brianwawok 10d ago
Ditto. Nothing I want to play doesn’t work on Linux / bazzite.
mitxela 10d ago
[dead]
NamTaf 10d ago
Echoing this. I would have to go out of my way to find one that does not work simply by double-clicking the steam entry. This is on Arch
- bigstrat2003 10d ago
  It does happen, but it's pretty rare. Specifically, the MechWarrior 5 games don't work with my VKB joystick out of the box (had to do some config shenanigans to get that to work), Rome II Total War crashes pretty regularly, and the sound doesn't work right in HBS Battletech (which is odd cause I'm pretty sure that's a unity game). But the vast, vast majority of my library works without any tinkering.
jawilson2 8d ago
2 of my kids play a total of 3 games: Fortnite, Rocket League, and Madden NFL. We're locked in for a while.

verdverm 10d ago

I have the separate PC just for Steam, at least that's how I look at it :] There are far more penguins in my homelab