My end goal is to get my desktop running functionally like a high-powered Steam Deck with my HDR monitor. I’m beyond fed up with Microsoft and really want a Linux distro to be the primary OS on my PC (and ultimately the only OS once Ubisoft decides to support R6: Siege on Linux). Eventually I’ll switch from my NVIDIA GPU to AMD since everything I’ve read makes AMD out to be far more consumer and Linux friendly than NVIDIA, but in the time being I’d love some help getting this working on my current hardware.
To get KDE Plasma 6 with HDR running, so far I have tried installing the latest HoloIso and Manjaro’s official Plasma desktop stable branch. Before doing all of the below I made sure that the option to use the iGPU ports was disabled in my BIOS.
For HoloIso, I’ve followed the directions from the GitHub readme file and installed from a USB drive to one of my internal 1 TB SSDs. I’m able to boot from the ISO on the USB drive and run the installation tool in HoloIso. The installation seemingly runs successfully and tells me to restart. After restarting and booting into that drive, I see the GRUB menu which disappears quickly, and then I see nothing but a black screen. I have tried booting with both of my monitors connected to my GPU via DisplayPort, and booting with only one monitor connected to my GPU via DisplayPort. Neither seems to solve the issue.
I then went on to try what seemed like a more stable distro that was similar to SteamOS - Manjaro with Plasma. Installation went smoothly and I was able to actually boot into Manjaro after installation. Noticing there was no HDR option in the display settings I did some Googling and found that I was using X11 and not Wayland (which is where the HDR support lies). I did some more Googling and found a guide to switch to Wayland (I can’t find the guide again now dangit) but upon doing so and restarting, all I saw was a black screen.
Honestly, if anyone has any suggestions for what to try I would love some help. I’m familiar with navigating Linux but relatively unfamiliar with installing it and VERY unfamiliar with display technologies so any suggestions for what to try are appreciated.
I do, using endeavourOS, which is basically "arch but with a graphical installer, using some sane defaults". Not 100% true, but true enough to think of it as such.
If you have no experience installing Linux, either use endeavouros, or go the RFTM way, and use arch. But that last one requires a lot of reading, and grasping quite a lot of Linux concepts, or be willing to learn them.
PS: I do use plain arch on my AMD laptop, but couldn't be arsed to go through the installation for my Nvidia desktop.
There are other Arch distros with a graphical installer: Garuda (which is my choice of distro) and Manjaro are the main ones I can think of. Doesn’t require the RTFM route, but Arch is definitely not your grandma’s Linux (or maybe it is, I don’t know anyone’s grandma).
While I know of Garuda, I have no experience in using it, hence I cannot recommend it. IIRC it's also quite gaming-focused? Their default neon look and feel throws me off, I would have to clean it all up for my tastes, which I don´t want to bother with.
I've become a lazy arch-based linux distro user...
Yep you’re right, it’s mainly set up for gaming (especially the Dragonized version). And the theme/style is a bit over the top.
I am with you on the laziness which is why I just accepted the default style :) I may, one day, switch to a different theme. I just wish KDE would not reset the apps I have on the application bar when I do.
I think there are quite a few non-gamers in their community, but yes a couple of the DE's they offer lean into the RGB neon style. I like that they actually provide some style (that I like, luckily) out of the box instead of just a regular ass desktop like every other distro.
I’ll definitely check out Endeavor. A lot of people are suggesting it. I’m far from ready to install a distro without assistance. I struggle hard enough when I have a GUI to work with already lol