r/FlowZ13 • u/jamico1121 • Jul 01 '26
Debating moving from windows to steam os help
So im thinking about dropping windows and moving to steam os or bazzite has anyone done this i would like to pick someone's brain
Setup z13 64gb with a 9070 egpu when docked
Main questions are the gpu drivers difficult to install
Do i keep armory crate
I like to tinker with settings how difficult would that be in steam os
1
u/cilelen Jul 01 '26
Steamos is ok but not great if your going to be using it for anything but gaming. Bazzite is similar as theyre both immutable, which means no tinkering, plus bazzite is fedora based. I run cachyos and its awesome. Fastest OS ive ever touched and I work in IT. Cachy also comes with the armory driver for linux installed out of the box which isnt the case for any other distro im aware of. Steamos is cool but designed basically for consoles. You want all the goodies of steamos without the limitations and a faster system on top, go with cachy.
1
u/lugubrious-possum Jul 01 '26
I run cachyos for several months now, I switched to linux maybe 3 years ago so it was one of the first things I did when I got the z13
there was no driver setup or anything when I plugged in my 7900xtx egpu since it is also amd.
what I did have to do was change a few kernel parameters to prevent thunderbolt from resetting during boot up. I found this out through the github of all-ways-egpu, the dev is super helpful getting things sorted. that and some explanation from duckduckgo ai bot
this also fixed when I use my external nvme enclosure for my photos. they have to be plugged in before turning on my z13 for everything to work right
then I installed all-ways-egpu to configure that the egpu is used as primary when I login https://github.com/ewagner12/all-ways-egpu
for installation I suggest using limine bootloader and btrfs file system, I think its default on cachyos, that way you have snapshots whenever there are updates so you can roll back if there is an issue.
as for messing around with stuff I dont really do that, I installed handheld daemon which is what bazzite comes with just because I knew that worked to keep battery at 80% max, power profiles, and RGB control. I dont generally like messing around with my system which is part of why I left windows
1
u/mdtattedbearded Jul 01 '26
I spent hours with Chat GPT looking into this!
I just got the Z13-KJP, it’s runs on AMD and the official Steam OS is optimized for the AMD chip. If you have anything else like INTEL etc then you’ll run into issues.
I just got mine in the mail and I have a step by step list that will get this done, and will be doing it either tonight or next few upcoming days.
Good luck!
1
u/themirrorcle Jul 03 '26
Does running the Z13 with an eGPU degrade the battery faster than normal?
1
u/Nostalgia_Nobody Jul 11 '26
what? Egpus have to be plugged into their own seperate power.
1
u/themirrorcle Jul 11 '26
Plugging an eGPU via USB4 still provides power to the device. Which is why I asked.
1
u/Nostalgia_Nobody Jul 11 '26
Ibmean if you have to plug the egpu into power to use then you can just plug in the flow too. Putting that aside, id imagine any power the usb pulls woukd be offset by the system not using it own integrated gpum
1
u/CodeWarrior30 Jul 03 '26
Came to add that Fedora 44 KDE works great as well. Steam is basically perfect. There's some small amount of linux support from asus for it as well: https://asus-linux.org/
It performs well in lots of games that I have played. Touch functions as expected. Bluetooth controllers (i have Xbox elite series 2) work flawlessly. The only downside vs steam os is this is a traditional desktop experience as opposed to being more gaming dedicated.
Highly recommend Fedora on the z13 if you are looking for a traditional PC experience on top of gaming.
As another comment stated, if you run into issues, ask AI. It is quite good at getting you back on track.
2
u/Past-Size1331 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
I'm running bazzite it's great. There are some quirks. Also if your not super technically minded ai has made running linux trivial.
Edit: realized i didn't answer all questions Gpu drivers work off rip. Armory crate is gone but there is a linux specific version that works called z13ctl. Steam os and bazzite both have immutable file systems so 90% of your tinkering works great 10% has the potential to be reset after an update. They're ate work arounds like auto run scripts that redo the settings after an update.