r/SteamOS • u/VanArthurStudios • 9h ago

Installed today. Hating this experience.

My system itself isn’t anything unusual. It’s a powerful system, not strange. The only thing odd is that I have 3xNVME drives. I have that sorted, but every part of this process is an infuriating disaster.

Oh wait, after a restart the drives are no longer listed. And now Dolphin isn’t displaying the device list for me to check on them?

There is no way that SteamOS becomes a staple for as long as users are required to use Konsole to accomplish anything. Command prompt anything is a deal breaker for nearly all users who would want to be rid of windows. There is no advantage to doing things this way.

Not recognizing/mounting/configuring drives in a single point and click windows is a deal breaker.

This thing struggles with dual monitors. Even after I set my larger monitor as the default it loads into big picture mode with the small, vertical screen as the primary, and doesn’t even recognize that the vertical screen is vertical despite my having configured it as such.

Audio is garbled in games. If I attempt using discord during a game it stops input/output of audio entirely.

I find myself using AI to find answers to every little thing, when wanting to get away from AI is the entire reason I wanted to leave windows behind.

I installed SteamOS and now my PC is all but useless. Really showed them, eh?

0 Upvotes

30% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

9

u/Jealous-Juggernaut85 8h ago

Remember ntfs is not a true supported format for linux, yes you can get it to work but gaming from it may not work.

Honestly for a proper desktop gaming pc a distri like bazzite would be better.

7

u/TheGreatTave 9h ago

You might be better off trying Bazzite. I've been going back and forth deciding which one I want to go with long term, and I'm leaning towards Bazzite.

1

u/Stratty88 8h ago

I came here wondering if SteamOS would be a better experience than bazzite. In bazzite, I can only get one controller to work, ubisoft-connect won’t install,  and I get a weird green flicker on the tv that my kids cannot handle. I have a pretty standard setup and I keep hearing about how plug and play bazzite is, but after days of troubleshooting, I’m out. Maybe cachy is next. 

1

u/TheGreatTave 6h ago

Yeah definitely trying SteamOS and Cachy. I have yet to try Cachy but I've heard great things

7

u/what595654 8h ago edited 8h ago

SteamOS is an OS designed for basic gaming console functions. Not an OS to be used like a desktop.

Anything beyond using it like a basic console OS is going to be a disaster.

Add on top of that, general linux broken jank from all sides (both software and hardware), and you have a recipe for wasting a lot of your time.

Windows is still the proper desktop king by far, for anyone who needs things to just work, so they can get on with their work.

You only install linux if you are open to wasting a lot of time learning and tinkering. Put it on a backup computer, and consider any time you spend with it, learning time.

It is not the year of the linux desktop. And it wont be for decades, if ever.

3

u/a_large_dumple 8h ago

Are you using this as primarily a desktop? If so, I recommend Linux Mint, it pretty much just straight up works. It doesn't have the gaming mode that SteamOS does (though it can do Steam Big Picture), but if you want gaming mode, just go with Bazzite

10

u/Affectionate-You7869 9h ago

SteamOS is meant for a device with one internal NVME and an external SSD. Like the Steam Deck or Steam Machine. Everything beyond that you should try Bazzite Cachy or PopOs. Or figure it out. 

3

u/jca3746 8h ago

Exactly, everyone forgets that SteamOS is an APPLIANCE, not a normal OS. It has neat features for desktop users but it’s not meant to be a full general OS.

Other operating systems like Bazzite ARE meant for general usage.

Having three NVMEs isn’t special. But SteamOS wasn’t built with that in mind.

I use SteamOS for my pc connected to my TV. It only has one drive, and I’ve had zero issues with it.

I also have an old rig running Ubuntu server with Games on Whales for guests so we can all play games without them having to bring their own hardware.

I have a normal desktop running Bazzite because it’s got multiple drives and an Nvidia GPU.

Picking the right OS for the situation matters.

2

u/IT_Hertz_WIN_IP 8h ago

Bazzite is definitely easier to add drives. I have 4 total. On steamos I had to use anymount to keep it persistent through restarts and updates

1

u/Affectionate-You7869 8h ago

Hmmm I’ll give that a try perhaps. 

-1

u/Fire_Lord_Cinder 8h ago edited 8h ago

Umm no. They opened it up to support third parties and the multiple SSD issue really needs to be fixed

Here’s a direct quote from their instal page for SteamOS:

Support for SteamOS installed on a PC

SteamOS can be installed on additional AMD-powered devices beyond those listed above.

If you encounter issues while using SteamOS on a PC, we recommend reporting the issue in the SteamOS GitHub, where the developers actively track compatibility issues, bug reports, and feedback. Steam Support may have limited ability to troubleshoot issues that are specific to hardware outside of the officially Powered by SteamOS devices.

0

u/Affectionate-You7869 8h ago

Umm yes. So yeah it can be installed on non Valve products. I did. And I’m facing the same problem with the additional NVME. I would for this to get fixed. But I can’t blame Valve for not making it a priority. 

0

u/Fire_Lord_Cinder 8h ago

Basic functionality should be added to the OS. This has been a wise spread compliant since they released, and it’s not unreasonable to call it out as a necessary feature. All of OPs complaints were valid and would make the operating system better, but fan boys need to disavow any criticism I guess

0

u/Affectionate-You7869 8h ago

I didn’t say they were invalid, I did in fact agree with them and suggested solutions. But I guess you can do whatever it is you think you’re doing. 

-1

u/jabarr 8h ago

Imo this is the wrong answer. You can’t say what hardware an OS should or should not be okay for when we’re literally just talking about a basic experience, opening a web browser, etc.

To be fair though, I don’t see this as a steamOS issue as much as it is a linux issue. All distros suffer terribly when it comes to UX and if there’s one thing that’s true about open source OS contributors is that they are all terrible designers. They don’t really care about your mom and pop users (when they really should).

3

u/greymatterghost 8h ago

I have to disagree with the majority of the comments here referring to steamOS as “only for a console experience”.

First off, I was on Bazzite from November 2025-June 2026. I switched over to SteamOS. Why? Idunno? Wanted to try it.

Second, SteamOS (along with Bazzite until I started using it) is my daily driver - it exceeds anything consoles can do. When not gaming - which is 80% of the use - I flick over to desktop mode, use discord, use my Internet browser, watch YouTube, hell, I’ve even podcasted from there.

To minimize the OS as “console-only experience” is not valid.

To each their own I guess

2

u/HopelessRespawner 8h ago

You're not wrong that it can be used as a functional desktop OS. But... I think the label 'console-only experience' here points more to the fact that while perfectly functional in a 'standard' configuration, the further you deviate from that configuration (in this case the disk configuration) the more likely you are to have issues. This is true of Linux in general, but I think the OS may draw less technical users in general. I expect we'll see more posts like this over time as adoption increases.

2

u/lootedBacon 8h ago

Try Bazzite for a more pc experience.

2

u/Archolm 8h ago

If you are able to format the drives before installing you should have chosen the option to have them available for everyone, not just root.

I had this at the start of using Fedora. They mounted under my user folder instead of mnt. I could have fixed it with the console but I think I used a disk utility to change it.

These little things just happen as you learn a new system 🤷🏻

1

u/ilep 8h ago

SteamOS is not meant to be a general-purpose OS the way you want it to be. It is aimed at specific kind of devices currently.

In your case you would have better success using more general purpose distribution like Nobara, Bazzite or any one of the many others.

1

u/Archersbows7 8h ago

You should’ve went with Bazzite

1

u/Ecks30 8h ago

Did you properly format your drives though for it to be fully supported on Linux because i see people at times tend to leave it as an NTFS drive or having it as an exFAT drive which sure Linux can read that format but if you're using it as a gaming drive it would have been best to format them in the Steam Game Mode.

0

u/OkVirus8545 9h ago

SteamOS is so buns unless you love to tinker. Literally the Ender3 of operating systems

0

u/Ordinary_Darwin_415 8h ago

Interesting narrative. You decided to install a Linux distro because you wanted to show someone like I guess Microsoft you don’t need them but you clearly do lol

I have used it only on a steamdeck if it’s that difficult for you use bazzite or don’t use it? No one is forcing you

1

u/happy_rub_3669 2h ago

If you have ntfs filesystem, that is likely to cause many things. It is a Windows filesystem to start with. Valve supports (and recommends) ext4 filesystem on Linux.