The main appeal of consoles is that you can essentially just plug and play without having to worry too much about extra configuration. As much as I like Linux, it’s generally not a good alternative for console folks who just want to relax and play video games.
I have a 360 with an rgh mod and a 2tb HDD in it… It’s fucking amazing! I have it running running Aurora and I’ve got literally every single game on 360 worth giving a shit about.
I also have an old PS3 running HEN (soft mod - works on every revision and every firmware) on it, that I keep around exclusively for PlayStation exclusives
Right? I still have my OG Xbox 360, Wii U etc, with physical discs.
For a while, I went the other way; I bought a Lenovo M93p (think: size of Wii) - it runs everything up to PS2 era at 2x resolution, as well as PC games to around 2015/6 era (and later indies). Total cost was under $100. I turned it into a kiosk with Playnite, so you could turn it on and be playing whatever in under 10 seconds.
Right now I have the OG Wii (modded) sitting in its place…something about the joys of original hardware speaks to me. But I could (should) swap the lenovo back in. That way I have Just Cause 2 sitting right next to Mario Kart Double Dash, right next to Luanti and modded Fallout 3.
Part of me thinks “eh, emulation” but the other part is “dude…not everything is Nintendo”.
A lot of Linux works out of the box now. If folks started selling preconfigured Linux machines like you can buy for windows, that’s all most people need. Valve is following a good strategy
Yeah, I have a steam deck and I’ve used the desktop a few times, just to check stuff out, but I very easily could have overlooked it completely. It’s perfectly possible for a linux computer to be as easy to use as a console.
I’ll admit, I don’t play games with intrusive anti-sheet, but frankly, I don’t remember the last time I had to configure a game on Linux because they mostly run out of the box for me
It’s on a case-by-case basis of course so it wouldn’t be the same for everyone. But generally speaking, Linux isn’t user-friendly (though I’m not saying it isn’t at all) in the sense that everything is guaranteed to be compatible with it and work immediately, whether it be certain peripherals that require extra setup to work correctly or software that was never specifically made to work on Linux. I know that from experience, having had some head-scratcher moments when trying to run an obscure/older game or trying to get certain hardware to run on my Linux machine without it having had compatible firmware out of the box. And I wouldn’t even say that I’m all that unknowledgeable with this sort of thing.
I’m not trying to disparage Linux or anything, but it’s definitely not so black-and-white as it easily working well for everyone all the time. It’s never really accommodated for that unfortunately, especially since there’s no one universal Linux distro with all those sore points snuffed out. Until that’s the case I don’t think it would typically appeal to the average person who only games on the side.
But generally speaking, Linux isn’t user-friendly (though I’m not saying it isn’t at all) in the sense that everything is guaranteed to be compatible with it and work immediately, whether it be certain peripherals that require extra setup to work correctly or software that was never specifically made to work on Linux.
On the hardware side, you’re really just describing custom PC builds.
Pre-built Linux gaming machines exist and do solve the hardware issues.
On the software side, outside of the big asshole publishers, it’s a solved problem. Five years ago I shopped super carefully for SteamDeck compatibility. Today, OS compatibility is rarely even a consideration for me. Games just work on the SteamDeck. SteamOS has replaced Windows as the gaming default OS.
Indie devs now use game development frameworks that work perfectly on Linux, in order to get SteamDeck verified.
Even most of my “Windows Only” games just pull the correct emulators and run perfectly, automatically, when launched from Steam.
what youre saying is important and true in certain cases, yes. In mine it took me 2 months to adapt my brain and tweak linux to the point it is now working like a well oiled machine.
however my needs were very explicit being that i was building a simulation machine (not AI) i even had it planned down to hardware spec regarding cores, chips and ram for a very specific task outside average gamer use.
your average user might just need a basic game box (they could even just reuse a crap box and itll run. thats the beauty of linux. ) and throw some mint on it which does work pretty much out of the box and with steam you might need some light configuring.
EG: just editing the launch command in general tab when you right click the game:
SteamDeck=1 %command%
or install gamemode and then: gamemoderun %command%
for some games especially old ones you might need to just swap around which proton you use(in compatability menu)
most games dont need any of this as the proton GE updates to iron out all the compatibilty.
This is what the Gabe Cube and Steam Deck are for. Price rises have been unfortunate and normies aren’t going to consider those anymore. I guess the Nintendo Switch 2 with some game cartridges might be their next choice…although this is obviously a huge mistake if the point was to find a company with consumer friendly practices.
True. But anyone installing on a bare metal build should seriously consider installing Linux, today. The set of games that actually run simpler on Windows is getting thinner every year.
There’s mostly fear driving the decision, and most people fear Linux more than they need to, and don’t fear Microsoft’s apathy toward their custom PC build outcomes as much as they should.
With all the license unlock bullshit, my last bare metal Windows install was a bigger pain in the ass than any of my recent bare metal Linux installs.
Steamdeck has numerous issues as the best case and is embedded AMD. Flakey Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, dealing with decky breaking every few weeks. Inconsistent resolution scaling issues on desktop mode.
I mean, I’ll agree 100% that docking a SteamDeck has been hit and miss, depending on the game. I have about the same annoyances docking a SteamDeck as docking a laptop. I’m not angry at Valve or Windows about that, but I am very impressed with Nintendo.
I haven’t had more wifi issues with SteamDeck than with my Switch or Switch Lite, or with a typical laptop.
I don’t use SteamDeck desktop mode, except to install my free copy of Luanti, so I cannot comment.
Now, when we dive into specific games - mutiplayer code varies wildly between games on PC, and SteamDeck is still much closer to a PC expeirence, in that regard. If that’s your point, I’m with you 100%.
A “Steam Remote Play Verified” badge would go a long way!
Edit: Decky is a mod right? I haven’t had anything on my SteamDeck break every few weeks.
Oh! We did have a long running bug where various network stuff never worked quite right after waking from hybernation, which I fixed by rebooting after any time I let the deck sit for awhile.
That was patched pretty recently. It never bothered me much (once I understood the solution was a reboot) because the boot time is like 20 seconds.
I admit, I am pretty technical, but guessing that it might need a reboot after hybernation is something I think I learned from gaming on a Windows laptop.
Still, to your point, a better experience for folks coming from PC gaming than coming directly from console gaming.
Yeah, Decky is a third party plugin loader that you can install on SteamOS. I’ve been using it for 3 or 4 years now. As long as you’re not dumb enough to update the OS before a Decky update is available, there really aren’t any issues with Decky breaking anything.
People… Windows and Xbox is not an improvement (it can be even worse). Build a Linux Gaming PC, that’s true freedom.
The main appeal of consoles is that you can essentially just plug and play without having to worry too much about extra configuration. As much as I like Linux, it’s generally not a good alternative for console folks who just want to relax and play video games.
windows isnt exactly plug and play either
I do hope people realise that 7th gen and earlier consoles are still fucking awesome. Yes, that’s PS3/Xbox360/Wii/GBA/DS era.
Some of those still have lively homebrew scenes. Hell, the Wii just got a new (physical) release game.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/its-2026-and-the-wii-is-getting-a-new-physical-game-release/1100-6538083/
Reject modernity. Embrace retro.
I have a 360 with an rgh mod and a 2tb HDD in it… It’s fucking amazing! I have it running running Aurora and I’ve got literally every single game on 360 worth giving a shit about.
I also have an old PS3 running HEN (soft mod - works on every revision and every firmware) on it, that I keep around exclusively for PlayStation exclusives
7th Gen is God tier!
Right? I still have my OG Xbox 360, Wii U etc, with physical discs.
For a while, I went the other way; I bought a Lenovo M93p (think: size of Wii) - it runs everything up to PS2 era at 2x resolution, as well as PC games to around 2015/6 era (and later indies). Total cost was under $100. I turned it into a kiosk with Playnite, so you could turn it on and be playing whatever in under 10 seconds.
Right now I have the OG Wii (modded) sitting in its place…something about the joys of original hardware speaks to me. But I could (should) swap the lenovo back in. That way I have Just Cause 2 sitting right next to Mario Kart Double Dash, right next to Luanti and modded Fallout 3.
Part of me thinks “eh, emulation” but the other part is “dude…not everything is Nintendo”.
A lot of Linux works out of the box now. If folks started selling preconfigured Linux machines like you can buy for windows, that’s all most people need. Valve is following a good strategy
yes i mean its so close now. there are preconfigured linux installs. nobara for example.
Yeah, I have a steam deck and I’ve used the desktop a few times, just to check stuff out, but I very easily could have overlooked it completely. It’s perfectly possible for a linux computer to be as easy to use as a console.
It can be on a steamdeck.
But building your own Steam-PC (with their distro) still is not plug and play like a console is.
That’s why I buy Valve hardware.
I’ll admit, I don’t play games with intrusive anti-sheet, but frankly, I don’t remember the last time I had to configure a game on Linux because they mostly run out of the box for me
It’s on a case-by-case basis of course so it wouldn’t be the same for everyone. But generally speaking, Linux isn’t user-friendly (though I’m not saying it isn’t at all) in the sense that everything is guaranteed to be compatible with it and work immediately, whether it be certain peripherals that require extra setup to work correctly or software that was never specifically made to work on Linux. I know that from experience, having had some head-scratcher moments when trying to run an obscure/older game or trying to get certain hardware to run on my Linux machine without it having had compatible firmware out of the box. And I wouldn’t even say that I’m all that unknowledgeable with this sort of thing.
I’m not trying to disparage Linux or anything, but it’s definitely not so black-and-white as it easily working well for everyone all the time. It’s never really accommodated for that unfortunately, especially since there’s no one universal Linux distro with all those sore points snuffed out. Until that’s the case I don’t think it would typically appeal to the average person who only games on the side.
On the hardware side, you’re really just describing custom PC builds. Pre-built Linux gaming machines exist and do solve the hardware issues.
On the software side, outside of the big asshole publishers, it’s a solved problem. Five years ago I shopped super carefully for SteamDeck compatibility. Today, OS compatibility is rarely even a consideration for me. Games just work on the SteamDeck. SteamOS has replaced Windows as the gaming default OS.
Indie devs now use game development frameworks that work perfectly on Linux, in order to get SteamDeck verified.
Even most of my “Windows Only” games just pull the correct emulators and run perfectly, automatically, when launched from Steam.
Gaming on Linux is a very different world, today.
what youre saying is important and true in certain cases, yes. In mine it took me 2 months to adapt my brain and tweak linux to the point it is now working like a well oiled machine.
however my needs were very explicit being that i was building a simulation machine (not AI) i even had it planned down to hardware spec regarding cores, chips and ram for a very specific task outside average gamer use.
your average user might just need a basic game box (they could even just reuse a crap box and itll run. thats the beauty of linux. ) and throw some mint on it which does work pretty much out of the box and with steam you might need some light configuring.
EG: just editing the launch command in general tab when you right click the game:
SteamDeck=1 %command%
or install gamemode and then: gamemoderun %command%
for some games especially old ones you might need to just swap around which proton you use(in compatability menu)
most games dont need any of this as the proton GE updates to iron out all the compatibilty.
This is what the Gabe Cube and Steam Deck are for. Price rises have been unfortunate and normies aren’t going to consider those anymore. I guess the Nintendo Switch 2 with some game cartridges might be their next choice…although this is obviously a huge mistake if the point was to find a company with consumer friendly practices.
PC is PC.
For the first step it doesnt matter what OS you run.
Your issue is the second step.
True. But anyone installing on a bare metal build should seriously consider installing Linux, today. The set of games that actually run simpler on Windows is getting thinner every year.
There’s mostly fear driving the decision, and most people fear Linux more than they need to, and don’t fear Microsoft’s apathy toward their custom PC build outcomes as much as they should.
With all the license unlock bullshit, my last bare metal Windows install was a bigger pain in the ass than any of my recent bare metal Linux installs.
It’s still a mess. Only ready for technical users. Not even in the same ballpark for Xbox.
Tell me don’t have a SteamDeck without telling me you don’t have a SteamDeck.
Unless you just mean building a PC, in general. Sure. Building a gaming PC isn’t for everyone.
Steamdeck has numerous issues as the best case and is embedded AMD. Flakey Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, dealing with decky breaking every few weeks. Inconsistent resolution scaling issues on desktop mode.
I mean, I’ll agree 100% that docking a SteamDeck has been hit and miss, depending on the game. I have about the same annoyances docking a SteamDeck as docking a laptop. I’m not angry at Valve or Windows about that, but I am very impressed with Nintendo.
I haven’t had more wifi issues with SteamDeck than with my Switch or Switch Lite, or with a typical laptop.
I don’t use SteamDeck desktop mode, except to install my free copy of Luanti, so I cannot comment.
Now, when we dive into specific games - mutiplayer code varies wildly between games on PC, and SteamDeck is still much closer to a PC expeirence, in that regard. If that’s your point, I’m with you 100%.
A “Steam Remote Play Verified” badge would go a long way!
Edit: Decky is a mod right? I haven’t had anything on my SteamDeck break every few weeks.
Oh! We did have a long running bug where various network stuff never worked quite right after waking from hybernation, which I fixed by rebooting after any time I let the deck sit for awhile.
That was patched pretty recently. It never bothered me much (once I understood the solution was a reboot) because the boot time is like 20 seconds.
I admit, I am pretty technical, but guessing that it might need a reboot after hybernation is something I think I learned from gaming on a Windows laptop.
Still, to your point, a better experience for folks coming from PC gaming than coming directly from console gaming.
Yeah, Decky is a third party plugin loader that you can install on SteamOS. I’ve been using it for 3 or 4 years now. As long as you’re not dumb enough to update the OS before a Decky update is available, there really aren’t any issues with Decky breaking anything.