Bazzite-Deck Prepares For Update 44 With Improved Gamemode Features And OpenGamepadUI

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Even though I love SteamOS, there are some great alternative Linux distributions that are worth checking out. There are a few that focus directly on gaming; one of those is Bazzite. This Linux operating system is focused on gaming and is packed with extra features and support that SteamOS doesn’t have. They even have their own build that mimics some of SteamOS’ features, called Bazzite-deck. And there’s an upcoming update for that build that is bridging the gap to make it feel more and more like SteamOS.

The team recently announced that the stable 44 update is coming soon for bazzite-deck, and they are looking for some testers. While it isn’t out yet, it is going to include some great new features, like gamemode features behaving similarly to SteamOS, controls like TDP and RGB being done entirely through the SteamUI, utilizing OpenGamepadUI to open up options for gamepad customization that Steam doesn’t expose, open it up to other plugins, and all their updates will be done through the SteamUI.

A lot of the reasons for these changes are so that you don’t have to leave Game Mode as often. With SteamOS, we can get all of our updates in that console UI interface, and we technically don’t need to ever go to desktop mode. So, it looks like bazzite-deck is moving in a similar fashion, which makes sense since this is supposed to feel like we’re using SteamOS.

If you want to help test, you can join the team's Discord, which is their main way of communicating. The team is looking for people with AYANEO, AOKZOE, OneXPlayer, and GPD WIN handhelds to help out, since they don’t own as many of those.

Either way, it sounds like an awesome update to one of the alternatives to SteamOS. If you were waiting around for NVIDIA support before installing SteamOS on your desktop, Bazzite may be better for you right now since it does have that support already.

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