I ditched Home windows 10 for Bazzite, and have not appeared again since

As you may’ve heard by now, Home windows 10 has officially lost support, and Microsoft is pushing individuals to improve to Home windows 11. On my essential PC, I did this some time in the past, however my spare PC has nonetheless been rocking Home windows 10, and I haven’t got any intention of upgrading.

As a substitute of Home windows 11, I made a decision to give Linux a try for as soon as. I’ve solely used Home windows my total life, so I believed this additional PC may very well be used for some experimentation. Since I’ve a essential PC the place I do all my work, I wished to make this one for old-school retro gaming. I purchased a 1280 x 1024 pixel decision monitor, plugged it in, and installed Bazzite on my pc. All the course of took just some hours, and that is coming from any person who has by no means tried something like this earlier than.

As soon as it was put in, I used to be shocked by how intuitive the whole lot was. I had my pc boot immediately right into a model of what is basically the Steam Deck UI, solely on a desktop, so I did not have to make use of a mouse and keyboard. In the event you’ve used Steam’s Large Image mode at any level, this can really feel proper at house. Even when you have not, I do not assume you will have any hassle getting the cling of issues after spending a couple of minutes with the interface. Ultimately, I bought curious and determined to plug in a mouse and keyboard to discover the principle desktop.

There are loads of similarities with Home windows

It feels intuitive, and I can simply navigate it

I will not faux that I do know each out and in of Bazzite, particularly since I keep in Steam for almost all of my time, however the time I did spend on the desktop felt pure. The Bazzite desktop is so much just like the Home windows desktop at first look, and I discovered that I actually do not need to go there all that usually to do what I need to do.

The factor with Bazzite is that there are lots of other ways to do the identical factor. For instance, putting in Chrome on Home windows is as fundamental because it will get, but it surely’s not fairly the identical factor on Bazzite. The simplest method to do that is to open the Bazaar app in your desktop, however I took the route of putting in it on Steam. That is proper — I launch Google Chrome by way of a Steam icon. Now, it does not match appropriately on my display screen, and that doubtless comes right down to me utilizing a 5:4 facet ratio monitor.

I am unable to do loads of experimentation since I’m sharing a 500 GB arduous drive with Home windows on this explicit machine, so I do not need to go wild making an attempt to put in something and eat up what little house I’ve. I can inform you that not one of the Adobe suite works with Bazzite, so when you want that for any cause, I hope you’ve gotten one other pc useful. I am certain there is a ton extra I can do with this OS, however with one thing I put in to play Steam video games, I am completely glad. At its core, it is a gaming-centric OS, and I am certain there are different variations of Linux that replicate a Home windows desktop expertise so much higher.

It has some drawbacks, even for gaming

It could’t outright substitute Home windows for me but

Whereas gaming prowess is one among Bazzite’s promoting factors — it even runs higher than Home windows in some instances — I am unable to outright suggest you ditch Home windows for strictly gaming reasons simply but. The large cause is that Xbox Sport Cross will not work with Bazzite in any respect, so you have to hold Home windows round for that. Thankfully, I dual-boot Home windows and Bazzite, and that is what I would suggest you do if you wish to hold your entire choices open. I can change to Home windows immediately from Steam, so it is not like I’ve to dig into the BIOS or change my boot drive for this.

Different storefronts, corresponding to GOG and Epic Video games, additionally do not work out of the field. The nice factor is that each of these libraries will be accessed by way of the Heroic Launcher, so you’ve gotten a workaround obtainable that is not there for Xbox. In the event you’re high-quality with simply enjoying Steam video games, you do not have to do something in any respect. There are nonetheless extra limitations for video games which have anti-cheat programs that do not work with Linux. This implies enjoying Battlefield 6 is out of the question.

One remaining factor is that your NVIDIA GPU won’t work the very best with Bazzite. Many individuals suggest utilizing an AMD GPU for higher assist. The pc I am utilizing has an RX 480 put in, so it is not like I anticipate it to be a powerhouse by any means. In the event you like to remain updated with the most recent releases, NVIDIA driver assist is not as fast as it’s with AMD.

A few of this may be stuff you’re already conscious of, since individuals who set up working programs like this are typically lovers already. I wasn’t searching for an outright Home windows alternative since this was only a enjoyable aspect challenge for me. If you’re searching for an entire Home windows alternative, I do not assume Bazzite is there simply but. Nonetheless, when you largely play single-player video games on Steam, then it is a nice choice that is price contemplating. It is all I would like from this pc, and apart from being unable to entry to Xbox video games library, I haven’t got a lot else to complain about.