Gaming

Steam, GameMode and MangoHud are on the full ISO with 32-bit libraries enabled, and Heroic arrives as a Flatpak on first boot. On netinstall they download on first boot. On lite, run boykisser apps, or tick the Gaming bundle in the installer.

NVIDIA? Do this first

boykisser nvidia

The default open-source driver is fine for the desktop, but the proprietary one makes a huge difference in games. See after installing for the Secure Boot step.

Steam and Proton

Open Steam from the menu. The first launch downloads the Steam client itself, which takes a minute.

Proton runs Windows games and is on by default for games Valve has tested. For everything else:

1. Steam → Settings → Compatibility
2. Turn on Enable Steam Play for all other titles
3. Restart Steam

Look your game up on ProtonDB to see how well it runs and which launch options people use. Platinum and Gold mean it just works.

A game won’t start?

• Right-click it, Properties → Compatibility, and force a different Proton version. New games often want Proton Experimental, old ones sometimes an older Proton.
• ProtonUp-Qt installs GE-Proton, a community build with extra fixes.
• Add PROTON_LOG=1 %command% as a launch option. The log lands in ~/steam-<appid>.log.

Games with kernel anti-cheat only work if the developer enabled Linux support. ProtonDB tells you.

Epic, GOG and Amazon: Heroic

Heroic Games Launcher handles Epic, GOG and Amazon libraries, with Proton built in. Log in, install, play.

For everything else (Battle.net, emulators, old installers), Lutris is in the Gaming installer bundle, or sudo apt install lutris.

MangoHud: FPS overlay

Shows FPS, frame times, CPU and GPU load and temperatures. In Steam, set the game’s launch options to:

mangohud %command%

Right Shift+F12 toggles it in-game. Configure it in ~/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf.

GameMode

Tells the system to prioritise the game while it runs (CPU governor, scheduling, I/O). Combine it with MangoHud:

gamemoderun mangohud %command%

Controllers

Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro and most generic pads work over USB or Bluetooth. Pair Bluetooth controllers from the Bluetooth icon in the tray (PlayStation: hold Share + PS until the light flashes). Steam’s Settings → Controller adds remapping for any of them.

Stream it

OBS Studio is ready, including the Virtual Camera button, which shows up as OBS Virtual Camera in Discord, browsers and call apps.