I am doing my very best to follow the rules as posted in http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-forum-103564/, namely As I am asking for suggestions/opinions and my question is not technical, I feel this is the best place for it. I hope I made the right choice. I know you will tell me if I haven't


Now, on to the question!
I am noticing more and more of my games on Steam are not only linux compatible, but run better naively in linux then they do windows (Kerbal Space Program x64, for example). Currently my gaming rig only boots into Windows7x64 however I have another SSD on the way that I plan on dedicating to a gaming linux distro.

But which distro?
SteamOS hasn't come out yet. CentOS7, though I love it on my server, not sure if it would be easy to install vid card drivers on. Could always try Fedora. I have installed both steam and vid card drivers on fedora before with no issues, but that was a while ago. I want to avoid ubuntu because of it's update cycle and that I really do prefer RHEL derived distros and distros that use yum. And I have never tried to get my Saitek flight controllers to work right with any linux distros. However, I am open to distros that use other package managers. I just want to hear ideas. These are not gudelines, just my personal musings

So, What do you guys think? Any distros spring to mind that would make a great gaming distro? What are your thoughts?

Is there really a point to give you advice considering you've already stated you want to stick with a RHEL based distro that uses rpms and yum for package management? If you were to ask me I'd say Ubuntu specifically because that's technically the only distro Steam "supports" last I checked. Though steam does run on other flavors with some minor hacking I'm talking about supported distros.

If you really want a yum based distro then choose one. Otherwise choose an LTS version of Ubuntu which has a support cycle of 5 years. Being upgraded too quickly shouldn't be an issue there. Unless you're specifically talking about package upgrades in which case your point is moot no matter what distro is chosen.

Thank you for your reply. You really could have worded it better. It comes off as hostile. We want to be friendly, right?

Yes there is a point to giving me advice . What I was attempting to say is that I am most comfortable with RHEL distros cause I have used them the longest, same with RPM's and yum. There are a lot of RHEL based distros out there and I can not think of them all. In my latest research I found PCLinuxOS, which is a RHEL derived distro with the APT package manager. I would not be apposed to trying it. I will try any suggestions people give me. Any distro type, any package manager. I am very flexable and want to get a good number of ideas to test in VM. I am just hesitant to try ubuntu. Had some very bad experiences with that distro namely how it operates and how quickly it updates.

As for steam, you MIGHT want to update your info: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/...am_under_Linux

Fair enough, perhaps I'm cranky for other reasons so apologies.

Good luck in your search. I tend to use Kubuntu myself. Thanks for the link; good to know.

Greetings
Gaming is one of the most intense set of processes one can ask a computer to perform. It combines all the graphics and audio demands of HD videos, much of which requires solid networking capabilities (especially if accompanied by voice chat and/or music players particularly in team-based games) and as low a latency as can be mustered for user input and feedback. For this reason and many others, although I have tried and still try other distros, I still prefer my main, Slackware.

Many unfamiliar with the evolution of Slackware still think it locked into the past especially in regards to package management but this is no longer accurate but the option to either install from source or build one's own package remains. OP mentioned graphics driver installation and this is one important case in point. With Slackware I don't need to wait until some kind person builds a distro-specific repackaging for the manufacturer's driver (usually relying on the additional "hack" for use with DKMS). I can easily install the manufacturer's driver as it was designed to be installed, outside of X and unmodified.

Furthermore, it is still easy to build a custom kernel direct from kernel.org so I can choose exactly how tweaked my Low-Latency kernel is to suit my hardware and my preferences exactly. I can generally choose whatever version I prefer of kernels/drivers/modules as well as any supporting software and AFAIK there is no downside to this as there is nothing any other distro can install that I can't but considerable that I can install with Slackware that others cannot.

Many games, even through Steam still require Wine, especially DX-11 games. Wine installs easier and runs better on 32 bit Linux. Custom building in Slackware allows me to build a PAE kernel of just the right support so that I get full use of 8GB of RAM without accepting the somewhat buggier 64GB support version. I also have the choice, which I do exercise, to not accept the overhead of PulseAudio. AFAIK this level of flexibility does not exist in any other distro with the possible exceptions of Gentoo and LFS.

Incidentally, I have several versions of Wine and Steam on this box through employing PlayOnLinux's virtual drive features and this gives me a very long list of compatible games, individually tweaked for best performance. As one might gather I am very happy with the gaming capability of my machine.

For reference, I also have Ubuntu, OpenSuSe, and SolydK installed on this box, and Slackware outperforms them all. It may seem daunting to contemplate such a wholesale change at first glance, but not only do I maintain that an "old hand" at RHEL won't find the learning curve at all steep, it is more like RedHat used to be while still benefiting from years of evolution, and is well worth the effort. Thankfully the Slackware support right here on LQ is second to none since the developers, even the "Head Honcho" himself, visit regularly, post information, consider advice, and answer questions. I'm pretty confident that's unique and important.

Slackware is a solid gaming distro that will run everything. It also has the advantage of not being preconfigured to use a compositing window manager, as these can sometimes cause issues with games. And for power users, it's easier to stay up to date with the very latest NVidia drivers (or to choose the version of Wine you want installed) on Slackware than it is on other distros.

If you have to ask, however, the answer is Mint MATE edition. It's directly supported by GOG, it's guaranteed to run anything Ubuntu (which is directly supported by Valve) runs, it doesn't use a compositing window manager by default either, and it puts all the cool stuff front and center in the GUI so that you know just how great Linux is.

Looks Like I will have to test out Slackware then, and Mint MATE edition. Thanks!

So I am up to four distros to test. enorbet, do you have any info/links on how you built a custom kernal for slackware? I tried that once with gentoo and ended up giving up in frustration.

Er, I recommend checking out Mint before Slackware. It gets you to the fun part faster. Check out Slackware after you'll been having fun with Mint for a couple of months.

One thing that you absolutely need to consider in a gaming distro is 32-bit support, as most games (and Steam) are 32-bit. Mint and Slackware both have 32-bit versions, and if you install those you'll have nothing to worry about. If you choose a 64-bit Slackware, you'll have to install its 32-bit support separately (http://www.slackware.com/~alien/multilib/), whereas the 64-bit version of Mint should have transparent 32-bit support out of the box.

This is important info. I am doing this primarily for Kerbal Space Program x64. After you add all the mods 8gigs of ram gets eaten up quick to the point where I am thinking about adding more ram. On windows, the x64 version of the game is very buggy, yet it is rock solid on linux. So I should have no problems with the 64bit version of Mint yet have to install 32 bit support separately for Slackware? Got it *downloads Mint* Thanks!

Hello again, and yes I have. Not only does it show how to build a kernel in general but even includes examples of scheduling and low-latency features. Maybe most importantly, the "how to" is written by Eric Hameleer (AlienBob) who is the man most responsible for building 64bit Slackware, MultiLibs, and hosting a superb site of Slackpkgs (automated source install scripts) who incidentally posts, and answers posts in the Slackware section.

Find it H E R E .

NOTE: As long as you keep your original kernel, or at least the install DVD, which has a very fast way to boot almost any borked system, and simply add your custom kernel to your bootloader, you really can't damage the system just by building a custom kernel. If you load a few things like filesystem support in the kernel, you won't even need to mess with any initrd. It's just rock solid.

Wow, Thanks. Always wanted to build a custom kernal.

A configuring a home server, learning C#, building a linux gaming rig with a custom kernel, taking up swiming, the 120+ games I got on steam....

I need to retire to have time for all this stuff!! You guys have any way to retire at 30?

SteamOS is based on Debian Wheezy (not Ubuntu).
A better installer can be found here:
https://directhex.github.io/steamos-installer/

You're correct but that really doesn't address what he said.

Mint is close enough to Ubuntu (particularly in its internals) that it's not even a consideration.

Debian.