While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:
Reward Tiers:
Patreon. Plain Donations: 
PayPal.
This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!
You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Reward Tiers:
Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!
You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Login / Register
- Discord is about to require age verification for everyone
- KDE Linux gets performance improvements, new default apps and goes all-in on Flatpak
- New Proton Experimental update adds controller support to more launchers on Linux / SteamOS
- Prefixer is a modern alternative to Protontricks that's faster and simpler
- GE-Proton 10-30 released with fixes for Arknights Endfield and the EA app
- > See more over 30 days here
How to setup OpenMW for modern Morrowind on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck
How to install Hollow Knight: Silksong mods on Linux, SteamOS and Steam Deck- Total Noob general questions about gaming and squeezing every oun…
- Caldathras - Detailed breakdown of performance differences between Linux and W…
- Ehvis - Small update for article comments and forum posts
- FeRDNYC - Do you miss LaunchBox/Playnite on Linux?
- Dark574 - Will you buy the new Steam Machine?
- tmtvl - See more posts
Should i wait till SteamOS i fully rleeased for desktop enviroment? I keep hearing SteamOS might get a huge upgrade for the hardware release and possible HL3 ( hey i can dream can't i ? :) or jusy go with CachyOS right now?
I think i just want CachyOS or Gardua (gaming version) or steamOS if the new one is really good. I run a 7900XT AMD card and an older 5800X3D so all AMD which seems to do better on linux, right?
How do updates work for critical software like i was rerading a new version of KDE. Can an working install of cachyOS upgrade to a newer version ok KDE?
What built in software is best for back up if i make a mistake?
so
CachyOS
Brtfs
Limine
KDE Desktop
does that sound right?
I do a lot of gaming when i have the time and use Mod Organizer 2 for Skyrim Fallout 4 No mans sky etc. do i have to run that through Wine?
Also do i have to reinstall all my games or can i just move them to another partion then back to the orginal partiotn now using BTRFS or can i convert NTFS to BRTFS some how?
thank for reading this and responding if you can. Thank a million!
I can't speak to CachyOS (others here can), but, in my experience, Arch-based distros are typically best for intermediate users even when they say they are for beginners. SteamOS is a specialty OS designed for handhelds, not desktops.
Have you taken a look at Bazzite? It has a desktop version and is available with the KDE Plasma desktop. It is based on Fedora immutable (meaning that it is less likely to damage the core OS).
After toying with Manjaro and a number of other KDE-based distros, I went back to Linux Mint. I use Linux Mint XFCE for gaming.
GNOME-based desktop environments cannot create desktop shortcuts. From personal experience, KDE Plasma and Cinnamon can create them. Not sure about XFCE -- I haven't tried. I organize and run my games with a game manager now (Steam, Heroic, Lutris, etc.)
I use Timeshift for backups, myself. For heftier jobs, I use Clonezilla (not built-in). I'm not sure how well Timeshift would work with BTRFS.
I run portable installations of Mod Organizer 2 from within WINE, in the same prefix as the game. I have heard that there is a "global" Linux version but I have not tried it.
Yes, you will have to reinstall your games. Most Linux gamers like to put each game into its own WINE prefix. Steam, Heroic and Lutris do this automatically. Most Windows games have registry settings that are set during the installation process. Better to have the installer do this for you than try to do it manually. Backup your game saves (Steam does this automatically for any Steam games), record where they were located, and place them at the same location within the prefix (again, not necessary with Steam games).
To my knowledge, it is not possible to convert an NTFS partition into a BTRFS partition. You would need to copy your data over from one to the other.
Last edited by Caldathras on 15 Feb 2026 at 7:23 pm UTC