GamerOS

Q. Are there any SteamOS-like projects are out there?

A.. GamerOS


A few weeks ago I discovered GamerOS. I honestly had never heard of it before. Like SteamOS before it, GamerOS is a very specific, specialized distro intended for PC hardware that will be used as dedicated game consoles and nothing else. It's very lightweight, and is designed specifically with big-screen TVs in mind. For starters I need to point out, not all games on Steam are compatible with Linux. In fact, the majority of them still aren’t. With the implementation of Proton, SOME windows exclusive games are accessible on the Linux steam client. However games using complex DRM or anti-cheat systems will be difficult, or even impossible to ever get working.

GamerOS is based on Arch Linux. However there is no desktop environment. Gamer OS boots directly into Steam Big Picture mode. There’s no dual booting between Windows or other Linux distros. It is meant for  dedicated gaming PC providing a console-like experience on generic PC hardware. The core of GamerOS outside of Steam  is read-only and uses what’s known as “atomic updates.” It uses frzr  to automatically update the system. Frzr does not make use of Arch Linux's native package manager pacman. Gamer OS is open source, allowing users to build on or adapt the source code, but and the big but, the actual Steam client is closed source.

If you are a fan of proton. GamerOS developers maintain their own whitelist with small tweaks and quality-of-life enhancements for specific games. The system will auto select which version of Proton will work best for a specific title, and custom launch options to optimize the gaming experience. For those who play non-steam games there is Steam Buddy. Steam Buddy is a web-based tool for installing non-Steam software. It wasn't primarily developed for GamerOS.

Every gaming PC you build needs an operating system. OS is a free arch-based Linux distribution. By default, OS installs Steam, and boots into Steam's TV-friendly “Big Picture Mode” interface on startup. Big Picture Mode is an alternative Steam interface, and one you’ll likely become very familiar with if you decide to build a Steam Machine. If you’re curious about it and want to play around with the interface, it’s available on Steam for any computer. Go to the top right corner of your main Steam window, and click the controller icon. Immediately, you’ll launch Big Picture Mode. GamerOS also ships with a few tweaks, including proprietary drivers to improve game performance. the greatest drawback of OS is the limited game library. Because the OS is based on Linux, you will mostly only have access to the Linux game library. However, you can still play some games using proton.

ProtonDB is a great resource to see just how games perform on GamerOS. The unofficial ProtonDB website claims more than 6,000 games that work when Steam Play is manually enabled; The Witcher 3, Metro Exodus, Darksouls 3, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice are all reported to work well across a wide range of PCs. It's as simple as downloading the game to GamerOS through Steam and clicking play. Playing most games on Linux used to require difficult workarounds and annoyingly specific hardware. That started to change after Steam officially became available for Linux in 2012. As of 2020 there Linux native games: Dreamfall Chapters, Life is strange 2, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided,Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, to name a few.

Test System

• CPU:  Ryzen™ 7 2700
• GPU: Powercolor Red Dragon RX 5700
• RAM: 16GB (2 x 8GB) (PC4 19200)
• MOTHERBOARD: ASRock AB350M Pro4  (BIOS 5.90 2019/7/5)
• STORAGE:  Intel 545s Series 2.5" 256GB +WB Blue 1TB 7200 RPM

•     21.5" Acer Nitro IPS LED Monitor (VG220Q)
•     Xbox One S controller  (Wired via USB)
•     HORI Fighting Commander Wired controller (For Xbox One)
•     Logitech - Prodigy G213 Wired key Keyboard
•     Zelotes T-90 Wired mouse

My experience with GamerOS

 

Insulation on my system was flawless but that could be due to the fact that I have older hardware. Again there is no dual booting between Windows or other GNU-Linux distros. Once I booted into Big Picture Mode, everything was in a controller-friendly format. It’s also easy to navigate using a keyboard and mouse, but it’s definitely designed for game controllers. It has some elements that feel reminiscent of the a video game consul GUI. GamerOS automatically handles game downloads and installation, putting local game files in its Steamapps folder and getting them organized in the background. Big games can take a while to download even over fast connections, so prepared for a long wait if you plan to download the 40 GB Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. In the past, I always leaned toward Nvidia-based video cards for Linux machines. Nvidia has always done will with pushing out official drivers. There was a time when AMD/ATI had poor proprietary drivers and nvidas were faster. Now its a totally different situation. AMD video cards are also well-supported out of the the box . If you're and Open-source purists AMD cards on your Linux box is a good option. GamerOS also ships with RetroArch and a ton of retro console emulators working out of the box. More on RetroArch in a different post

Native Linux Games tested

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Dota 2
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Payday 2
• Dreamfall Chapters
• Life is strange
• Life is strange 2
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
• Hatred
• Witcher 2
• Total War: Three Kingdoms
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
• Alien isolation
• Dust
• Atari vault

All of these games worked like you would expected them to...

My next posted will focus more on Window games under Proton...