Linux, Windows, or macOS

I've been running Linux and nothing else for quite a while now. Currently: Bazzite -->> https://bazzite.gg/

I use it for gaming, office work, and my daily web browsing.

I find Bazzite pretty convincing as a gaming Linux distro by now, especially because Steam/Proton and the preconfigured drivers take a lot of the manual work off your hands. The downside for me is still certain multiplayer games with kernel-level anti-cheat and specialized software. Linux can run as well as it likes—but if the provider doesn’t support it, you’re out.

How do you handle games like that? Does Bazzite run everything on your main PC, or have you kept a Windows installation for individual titles?

I don't have Windows anywhere anymore.

Anti-cheat isn't an issue for me either. It affects almost exclusively shooters, and I don't play those anyway.

I can understand that. If the games you play don’t require kernel-level anti-cheat, one of the biggest stumbling blocks for Linux is already out of the way. For single-player games and many Steam titles, Proton has become remarkably unobtrusive by now—things used to involve a lot more tinkering.

I’m still glad to have a Windows SSD around for emergencies. Not out of any love for Windows, but more as a digital crowbar for some specialized software that suddenly decides it only wants to exist there. That said, I’d definitely take a look at Bazzite if I were building a new gaming PC these days.

This is actually the most comfortable scenario: If your own games and programs run, there’s little reason to voluntarily put yourself through the hassle of a second installation. Bazzite really plays to its strengths when you want to treat a computer more like a console and don’t want to check every update for possible side effects first.

I’d also be interested to hear how you handled the hardware and peripherals. Linux usually isn’t an issue with keyboards and mice, but things get difficult pretty quickly depending on the manufacturer when it comes to RGB software, headsets, special macro keys, or proprietary Wi-Fi drivers. You often only find out after buying something whether “runs on Linux” really means more than just displaying an image.

And do you use Bazzite with the more console-like interface on a TV, or in the classic desktop setup with KDE? I find the approach intriguing, but I’m still somewhat skeptical about whether it really means less maintenance in the long run than a standard Fedora or Linux Mint installation when it comes to gaming PCs with changing hardware. Not because of Bazzite itself, but rather because of all the additional software surrounding the devices.