That famous Linux distro…
I’m not going to pretend that people won’t have a good time gaming on Windows, but this is like someone asking for Italian food recommendations and you recommending sushi.
Presumably this person knows Windows exists. They don’t need to be told about Windows.
I’d stay away from Manjaro, personally. They’ve had a number of organisational and security fuck-ups that in my opinion makes it hard to take them seriously. Once is forgivable, but when they make the same mistake 3+ times it’s just completely unforgivable and unprofessional.
Plus there’s the whole “we hold Arch packages back two weeks but not AUR packages” - which means there could be dependency issues if you like installing stuff from AUR. In fairness though, they do request that users do not install AUR software on their site, so people do get warned about that.
Endeavour is good. If I was to go back to an Arch distro, it’s what I’d use hands-down. Fundamentally just Arch with a better installer and a nice theme.
I’d also consider something Fedora based, like Fedora (duh), or Bazzite (if you want an atomic/immutable OS). Up-to-date, extensively tested. Bazzite even allows you to install it with out-of-the-box Gamescope support (in simple terms, you get some of the performance options and performance overlays that the steam deck has).
There’s loads. Several Anbernic devices, Miyoo Mini (I have a couple and they’re great), etc.
Most of them support custom firmwares, themes, etc.
I’d agree with the other user. SteamOS is great, but it’s very much focused on a console-like experience.
Even in desktop mode, the Plasma desktop is pretty outdated, and software you install will be wiped between updates if it’s not a Flatpak (although tbf, Flathub has almost everything these days). I also believe the kernel on SteamOS has some alterations that are great for the deck, but means a bit less hardware compatibility for a general-purpose PC.
E: not sure what’s upsetting about this comment.
Well I use Arch Fedora btw
Desktop icons 🤢
They’ve been trying to make a cross-desktop standard for a little while now, but progress is certainly slow :/
Already done like a couple of releases ago.
I’m not the above user, but I also went from Endeavour to Fedora.
I had a couple of issues with Grub after updates - this was an Arch bug that was quickly resolved, but it was still an annoyance that highlights that the bleeding edge isn’t without risk.
Fedora pretty aggressively pushes modern tech into their distro. They’re kind of the main driver that paves the way for other distros to join the modern world, IMO. Wayland, Flatpaks, Portals, PipeWire, they push all of that.
Last time I tried Endeavour, despite the packages being new, it still defaulted to a lot of older technologies (that may have changed now, it’s been 2 years since I used it). Fedora doesn’t, and it plays a part in shaping those technologies. Some people may not like that, but personally I love it.
Like I said in an earlier comment, though, I do love EndeavourOS. If I went back to Arch-based distros I’d use it without a doubt.
I do have annoyances with Fedora. Stuff like having to enable proprietary media codecs via a command is utterly brain-dead and not intuitive for new users.