Preface
Happy 2024!
Bazzite is a custom image of Fedora Linux 39 utilizing Universal Blue’s custom image framework designed to bring users the best in Linux gaming for their PCs, including the Steam Deck and other handheld PCs. Bazzite’s newsletters highlight all of the work we have been doing to bring gamers the best features ready to go for their PCs, home theater setups, and handheld gaming devices.
If you are new to the project, then here’s how this technology works: Bazzite and other Universal Blue images follow the continuous delivery methodology of development, which means we’re constantly adding new features and squashing bugs to the image through updates. These updates also include anything directly from upstream (Fedora and Universal Blue) and upgrades from the packages we include.
Today’s Buzz is mostly focused on future updates, but there are still new features already included today. This newsletter will act as a progress report on Bazzite as a whole.
What’s New?
Since the last Bazzite Buzz post, most of the plans are still in development and available to use in the :testing branch right now. However, there still has been changes since the last Buzz.
The highlights include added better compatibility with other Handheld and Home Theater devices. Support has improved dramatically with the Lenovo Legion Go. Issues with the wrong display orientation should be fixed now. Intel GPUs should also work better with Game Mode which opens up more hardware that is able to utilize the -deck images.
We would also like to highlight this useful Decky plugin that allows users to adjust the TDP, GPU clock speeds, and other useful settings for non-Steam Deck handheld devices.
Other changes include virtualization improvements, a GUI to troubleshoot issues with SELinux added, and new applications can be installed from the Bazzite Portal like the Vivaldi web browser.
Improvements to GNOME power-profiles-daemon
Users on the GNOME Bazzite images should have improved battery life and your devices should run much cooler, so the fan doesn’t kick on as frequently.
Mario Limonciello from AMD has been submitting improvements to gnome-power-profiles. We’ve gone ahead and added them for you.
Plans for NVK Support
Nvidia users have the opportunity to test out NVK soon, and it’s as simple as typing a single command.
The next major kernel release in Fedora (for 6.7) will come with NVK, which will automatically become supported in all the builds. Switching between the NVK and Nvidia driver will be one rebase and reboot away. Work on a ujust nvidia shortcut is in-progress.
All the kernel arguments will automatically be handled by the existing setup, and the Firefox config in the :testing branch will ensure that the hardware acceleration will work in both images automatically. Things are looking up for a smooth experience on the Linux desktop using Nvidia GPUs!
Testing Branch Additions (The Future)
New features and fixes are still baking in Bazzite’s :testing branch. But like all Universal Blue images, these new changes will instantly be added to the image when they are ready. The next buzz highlighting most of these future releases will most likely be late reporting them anyways.
- Most items from the last Buzz
- Proper Steam Deck OLED support (still in testing)
- ASUS ROG Ally fixes (still in testing)
- Encryption support for Steam Deck/HTPC/Handheld PC images with unl0kr
- Sunshine improvements
- Re-organize GNOME application categories
- Nvidia image fixes
Soon you will be able to decrypt your Steam Deck and without the use of a physical keyboard!
ujust Changes in the Works
The ujust commands are being standardized to address inconsistencies with recipe names. There are also plans to combine several ujust commands into different options that can be selected.
As the year goes on, we might also decide to borrow some ideas from the Bluefin project too.
Heads Up for Bazzite Users Using -nokmods Images
Our -nokmods images will be deprecated for Bazzite and other Universal Blue images starting with Fedora 39.
Upstream Universal Blue images already do not have kernel modules except for Bazzite. The -nokmods builds will be dropped soon, so if you use these images, you should rebase back soon if you rebased to these images previously.
Github README and Documentation Changes
We have had increase in Github stars in the past week which was probably due to a post that gained traction on Hacker News about the project. Thank you to our users sticking with the project and those helping to improve it daily!
Documentation should have improved tremendously since the project started and is now displayed on our Github README. The README also has a Spanish translation thanks to CharlieBros. Language translations in our documentation is always welcome!
Eventually, there will be a properly designed website that will be much more user friendly, and nicer to look at. Less technical jargon that will only be seen on our Github page.
Conclusion
Bazzite had a public release in August of 2023, and we’re only getting started. 2024 will be chock-full of improvements to these images. We slowed down development during the holiday season, but now it’s full steam ahead!
Our installer should also be improved soon thanks to upstream utilizing a re-designed installer that we may be able to use early. This should fix all of the issues that plague the installer presently.
Speaking of installation…
Install the latest Bazzite here. Report issues on our issue tracker if you experience any major issues with Bazzite.
Bazzite and the rest of Universal Blue are open source projects, contributions of all kinds are welcome! If you would like to contribute to Bazzite, then take a look at contribution ideas that you can help us out with! Take a look at our guide on how to make your first contribution to the project.
Features
- CharlieBros has translated the README into Spanish!
- We encourage and appreciate anyone who would like to translate our README and other documentation into other languages to do so.
- Added Handheld Daemon (HHD) to the image
- Improved support the Legion Go
- Bring additional patches from ChimeraOS
- Rotation and orientation display fixes
- Intel GPU fixes
- Discover Overlay now works for Vencord Vesktop
- Added SELinux GUI software as a pre-installed applications
- setroubleshoot - GUI for when SELinux complains with notification support
- setools - Set of tools for SELinux debugging
- Virtualization improvements
- Enabled libvirtd service if virt-manager layered
- Added some more applications to the Bazzite Portal
- Moved Greenlight and BoilR from AppImage to Flatpak if installed from the Bazzite Portal
- Added VTFLib support
- Enabled num-lock by default on GNOME images
- More SteamOS patches included
- Enabled MTU Probing matching upstream SteamOS
Fixes
- Adjusted the font size for Vapor KDE theme on Desktop images
- Moved Bazzite into Utilities category as opposed to “Lost & Found”
- Fix for installing packages that are already present or remove packages that aren’t there
- Adjusted priv-write patch to only prevent writes to non-backlight hardware control without the enable flag for Legion Go hardware
- Added a patch to fix Waydroid related issues
- Remove “Return to Game Mode” from KDE Desktop images
- Fixed directory check on GNOME images for “Add to Steam” option
- Fixed issues with DisplayLink
- Fixed missing shebang to selinux-looking-glass
ujustcommand - Fixed Source 1 tcmalloc
ujustcommand hyfetchnow correctly displays the Bazzite branding