this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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You still need X11 or Wayland somehow. I would suggest something that can run in "kiosk" mode. That's essentially what you want - boot a single app and run that.
If you don't care about wayland, just install xorg-xinit (since you said Arch) and put this in
~/.xinitrc:exec steam -bigpictureRun startx to launch it on its own. There may be other dependencies you need for steam or for games, but you don't need a whole DE.
If you want, you can even enable auto-login and then set up auto-start by adding this to your
~/.bashrc(or whatever shell you use):Very interesting! God I love the customizability and playfulness of Linux :)
Thanks for all the advice!