this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2025
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Linux Gaming
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Where are all the Ubuntu Core 22 installs coming from? Is there some large device or distro that uses it?
AFAIK, this corresponds to the snap package of Steam.
TF2 bots
I feel like Ubuntu has the greatest exposure among non-Linux folks. It's the only OS any place I've ever worked used on WSL back when I was still on windows. Probably a lot of corporate nerds want to stick to what's comfortable?
I have no idea if that's the reason, but Ubuntu and Mint are the only two distros I've tried for basically that reason. Heard good things about PopOS. Might try it some time if I wind up with an extra computer.
Regular Ubuntu I get; it's specifically the separation in the list between core and the standard 24.04 distro that I don't get. I can't imagine that droves of nerds are installing straight Ubuntu Core unprompted. I'd absolutely buy though that some distro or some handheld is based on one.
I think PopOS was made especially for the System76 hardware, no? While it can still work on other hardware, System76 hardware is the one it was meant for.
Honestly, Ubuntu is great. It's not bleeding edge where you can encounter yet unfixed bugs or other problems, and it's not old enough that you can run into problems where the software is so old it doesn't support the latest gaming stuff. It has great support from the community, it's widespread, and comes with tons of quality of life things like tools to install 3rd party drivers, like graphical drivers for NVidia. Why change?
I worked with a guy who ran PopOS and loved it. He said the UI was really good. I've seen it get some love in social places. Figured I'd give it a shot some time.
I'm pretty happy with Mint. It's comfortable and the conventions feel more familiar than even my work MacBook—like I don't even know what the desktop is for except my screenshots show up there for some reason. I don't think corporate would let me run Linux, but if they would I'd be happy with Mint or Ubuntu. They probably don't want to support a million flavors of Linux desktop.
Personally I prefer Kubuntu.
I find Mint's or Cinnamon's look and feel a little too outdated. Reminds me too much of Gnome 2.
And Gnome changed their whole desktop paradigm since Gnome 3. I find Gnome 4 more suitable for a tablet. I feel too constrained and limited by it on a desktop PC. It's awesome on my Surface Pro tablet though!
KDE Plasma kept the classic desktop paradigm like Windows, with a fresh modern look and tons of customizations. (Though I try to limit those as much as possible) You can configure it to your liking and add tons of really practical shortcuts. Its applications are also very powerful. Much more so than Gnome's I find, which are more minimalistic.
Kubuntu is the way to go. KDE Plasma is such a great desktop. Just be sure to do the “Minimal” install so you can avoid Snaps like the disease they are.
Snaps aren't as bad as people make them out to be. The only problem in Kubuntu is thflathead. Independent app to manage Snap security and access like flatseal. There is one, but you gotta install so much dependencies that you almost end up with the whole Gnome desktop. Otherwise it's a great solution for use in Ubuntu Core for example.
I do prefer Flatpaks though.
Yeah I was asking myself the same question. But it looks like they've started doing an Ubuntu Core setup for the Steam Deck.
what if it's dedicated game servers?