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Attack of the clones! Well, sort of anyway. We have Bazzite, ChimeraOS, HoloISO and now SteamFork as well. There's so much choice to get Linux on your handhelds.

Much like traditional Linux distributions aimed at the desktop where there's hundreds of different versions, the same is beginning to happen for those targeting handheld gaming PCs now too.

So why another? Well, SteamFork "is intended to be as close to 1:1 compatible with upstream SteamOS as possible" while making changes to expand the hardware support. So it's not trying to add in tons of extras like Bazzite for example.

As the developer explained when sending it in:

It's a SteamOS based distribution that is intended to be as close to 1:1 compatible with upstream SteamOS as possible while making changes to support a wider range of hardware. It originated as a fork of HoloISO but it has been majorly overhauled to eliminate things like post-copy operations (as much as possible), introduce our own signed package repositories, add an automated release process, and provide many bug fixes and refinements. The focus has largely been on handheld gaming consoles, but it's in use on a variety of AMD based mini PCs as well.

Features:

  • Full SteamOS UI/UX, including desktop mode.
  • Minimal changes to SteamOS to preserve upstream compatibility.
  • Power management optimizations ported from JustEnoughLinuxOS.
  • Improved fan curves on supported devices.
  • RGB off by default, will flash on low battery (on supported devices).
  • Supports booting from removable media such as usb drives and micro sd cards (64GB minimum).

See more on the website.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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4 comments

Solarwing Sep 4
QuoteAttack of the clones!
This means me! I have always wanted to clone myself and tomorrow I will fulfill my dream of a lifetime! Yes I shall clone myself as many times as possible! Then there will be an army of me and that army will firstly take on gol.com and after that:the world! And so begins the good slavery of Linux led by me!What an awfully good dream and tomorrow it'll become reality. Well hopefully everyone has a good sense of Humor here!But nice to see more alternatives to SteamOS But I'm satisfied currently with WinesapOS which I'm using from external SSD drive.
WMan22 Sep 4
Still waiting eagerly for the day I can use a SteamOS-like distro with Nvidia cards, complete with working real time TDP/framerate cap settings and such. But from what I hear gamescope-session isn't even ready for Nvidia cards yet, even after wayland explicit sync became a thing.
missingno Sep 4
Still waiting for someone to get SteamOS onto something that fits in my pocket. I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus on sale last year, just an impulse buy for how cheap it was, and I liked it so much I wish I'd bought a more expensive model with analog sticks. Meanwhile my Steam Deck is gathering dust because it's just too bulky.
DogsRNice Sep 4
As always there's a relevant xkcd
https://xkcd.com/927/
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