Desktop Linux distros similar to Steam OS? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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To be clear, this question is for general PC use, and not only gaming.

Desktop mode on my Deck has easily become my favorite PC experience in a very long long time, and I use it more docked as a PC than for gaming. I've used Windows and Apple my entire life before now, so I have zero experience with Linux, other than the Steam Deck, but the OS is incrediby friendly to newcomers, and I'd say it's essentially a modern and polished version of Windows 95.

So what would you recommend as a similar experience for desktop?

Edit: I should probably add that I'm an artist and designer, and play around with Blender and 3D modeling stuff, and maybe even some game dev at some point. So Adobe support, and GPU Blender support would be superfantastic.

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[-] [email protected] 47 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Desktop mode on the Steam Deck is using KDE Plasma. You can use that on the vast majority of Linux distros.

Here is a few the spring to mind:

Bazzite - A good place to start, their project goal is to basically be SteamOS like experience you can put on any machine.
Fedora Workstation with KDE - Bazzite is based off of this project, it's a more general experiance, lots of people enjoy it.
Kubuntu - Ubuntu is very popular distro, this is their KDE version.
OpenSuse Tumbleweed - For folks who want the most up to date software possible.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I had seen Bazzite, and yes it does sound exactly like what I asked, but then on their website, every single feature/selling point is about games or performance. I don't see one word about general usability, or applications, support, or anything, and I'm not sure who builds a PC used solely for gaming.

I'm an artist and designer, and play around with Blender and 3D modeling stuff. Adobe support, and GPU Blender support would be fantastic.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Software support is basically identical across any Linux distro. It's not really a concern when choosing a distro to use. Of course some are easier to install stuff on than others.

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this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025

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