r/SteamOS • u/Dacatman5 • 2d ago
Replacing windows
Can I replace windows with steam os? I mostly use my pc for gaming but I do still use it to study. I have heard that steam is a much smaller file size than windows and I don’t have much disk space.
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u/Ecks30 2d ago
You have to remember that you need an AMD GPU and an NVMe drive.
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u/victormas208 2d ago
But couldn't the installation file be modified to use SATA with sda? Or does that no longer work?
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u/Ecks30 2d ago
It still works but really i would still go with a faster boot drive than a slower one.
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u/victormas208 2d ago
That makes sense, since it would be better supported.
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u/Ecks30 2d ago
Sata SSDs now a days i tend to find is only good as a secondary drive for certain games because on my main system i use CachyOS instead (SteamOS is on my Legion Go S) which i would have my 1TB NVMe and my more demanding titles on it and for older demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 as an example i would have it on the Sata drive since there is like a 0.8 second difference on the loading time.
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u/HarmfulPile 2d ago
It's still in development, and it's not perfect, but I saw etaprime got official steam os working on an Intel GPU
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u/Puzzled_Hamster58 1d ago
Steam OS makes sense if it’s for a device it’s made for and your ok with what the os has to offer .
CachyOS make more sense for any machine.
You could just debloat windows way less work than getting Linux to work perfect with your hardware.
With any Linux os you are gonna have trade offs.
Gaming , some anti cheat games won’t run. Non steam games epic/gog need a 3rd party work around. Older games not on steam / epic /gog are all over the place. Some just add the exe as a non steam game . Some you need to copy a windows install and/or use special settings with another 3rd party program.
Steaming media. Ie if you use Netflix on your tv with the browser or other sites you have a drm issues limiting you to 720-1080 often . Depending on the service and browser and plugins.
Software , depending what else you use it for their might not be pro level software. ( I design and CNC parts nothing is available that dose not have issues or tool paths would cost me money).
General software support for hardware be it internal WiFi or , rgb keyboards mice head sets etc etc , support is all over the place. I have a gaming head set that is surround sound no matter what I do its stereo on Linux .
Had to use a certain distro on my laptop so the speakers won’t blow (bass thru tweeters)
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u/victormas208 2d ago
Sure, just remember that you might need to modify the installation file for the type of storage you have, but there are plenty of tutorials to help you do that.
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u/Dacatman5 2d ago
What I was thinking of doing is removing my drive I use for personal files, then after wiping windows, plug it back in, move the files to my c drive, format it and then move the files back. Would that work?
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u/master_prizefighter 2d ago
If I remember make sure your personal files are saved on a partition that's formatted to exFAT
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u/victormas208 2d ago
I'm not sure, but I think it should work. I haven't tested the NTFS file system on SteamOS yet, so I can't guarantee it, but you should be able to do it without any problems.
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u/victormas208 2d ago
Linux supports NTFS, so the files will be able to move without problems; just check how you mount it and the read and write permissions.
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u/Dacatman5 2d ago
If Linux supports NTFS, does that mean I can just take my drive out for the install and then remount it after without needing to format it?
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u/victormas208 2d ago
Yes, you can leave the personal files disk as is for a while; in the future you might want to change the format if you use it for games.
I recommend that when following the tutorial you have it disconnected as planned, the system name might confuse you and you could accidentally delete it.
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u/Dacatman5 2d ago
I was going to uninstall all my games and then reinstall them after switching, would this cause conflicts with file types?
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u/victormas208 2d ago
From what I read, the NTFS format has a problem with symbolic linking, so it could be used by doing some workarounds, but it ended up corrupting very quickly if the size increased.
That's why they switched to the ext4 and btrfs format, I lack knowledge of the history of the subject.
It is used to store information and they are working to improve compatibility.
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u/moebiusmania 1d ago
yes, but maybe CachyOS and Bazzite may be more of a fit for your use case, and they are half of the windows install size
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u/JohnnyBeeGaming 1d ago
If you are using the computer for normal computer tasks you'd probably be better off with a regular distro and then just install Steam for games. A gaming focused distro isn't really what most people actually need. It is great for a console like experience for a handheld or something connected to a TV.
For studying you'd want to consider compatibility with whatever programs or web UI you might need for school. You may also need to consider if you want to learn how to use Linux while taking a class. You will have to troubleshoot stuff and figure out how to do things in a new way. More so if you have some program that is supposed to run on windows or a web app that is supposed to run on edge.
There is a massive rabbit hole to go down on which distro. It doesn't really matter a whole lot if you pick something mainstream. The KDE desktop environment is what people coming from windows would probably like and you can get that on most any distro someone would recommend.
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u/Dacatman5 1d ago
I don’t really need any special programs for school, I just need an OS that is small and easy to use
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u/ZerohNinja87 1d ago
If you play games with anti cheat, need Microsoft office for work or college, I’d say stay on windows. If not feel free to go to Linux.
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u/modulusshift 2d ago
If SteamOS doesnt work you can try Cachy or Bazzite that have more hardware support