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Steam Proton doesn't works
(lemmings.world)
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this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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The problem is almost certainly your OS.
Devuan does not use systemd, it uses ... sysvinit, or OpenRC, or runnit.
Basically the entire linux ecosystem is built around and on top of systemd... other init based OSs that try to run most linux software... will encounter many absurd and esoteric problems, all of which ultimately stem from the fact that the vast majority of linux software is developed with systemd as the default, assumed, init system.
Basically, any Linux OS that doesn't use systemd should be considered entirely experimental, beyond any software that the OS devs explicitly state they support.
Some non-systemd OS developers will dedicate time to either forking or patching certain, specific, existing software or libraries to be compatible with all the init systems their OS supports, but realistically, given the niche nature of such OSs and their small dev teams, they are always going to be months to years behind the current support level for systemd based OSs.
You could attempt to fix this specific issue you are having, but it would likely require you to essentially become an OS developer.
It would be vastly easier to simply switch from Devuan over to standard Debian, which runs Steam and Proton and such pretty much just fine.
It's sad 😟
I truly wish there was some simple misconfiguration that you could change, or some reasonable hotfix that could easily be trouble shot by randos on lemmy...
But in all likelihood... yeah, you'd have to basically develop Devuan to support Proton, or develop Proton to support Devuan, or potentially both.
If you wanna do gaming on linux, right now I'd suggest Bazzite as probably the most user friendly, hard to break, runs games and most other software well alternative.
You could also just switch back to plain Debian, its not quitr as user friendly or gamer optimized, but it absolutely will work.
On the other hand, if you wanna jump into a different Debian based system... PikaOS is still somewhat experimental, but it is basically a stripped down and gamer-optimized version of Debian, its based on systemd so you won't have these kinds of problems... and from recent benchmark tests I've seen, it actually outperforms Bazzite, Nobara, CentOS, many other common distros typically suggested for linux gaming... meaning, more FPS for the same game at the same settings on the same hardware.
I'll try PikaOS then...
If you are new to linux, and you want something that basically 'just works', I'd suggest you try Bazzite first.
It is much easier for a person with little linux experience to use.
Linux is kind of infamous for allowing the user to have the ability to customize and alter basically every aspect of the OS.
This is great for very experienced linux users, but it can often lead newer linux users to accidentally ... basically destroying their OS.
Bazzite has good functionality, comes with pre configured tweaks to make gaming performance better, comes with apps gamers commonly use, much much easier... and, the way it is designed, it basically has a bunch of built in safety mechanisms to make it much more difficult to break the OS.
I have never actually used PikaOS... if you are considerably experienced with Debian based distros, I'd guess you could probably handle it...
But if you are brand new to linux, and mostly just want something that works for games, and other fairly common desktop apps?
I'd go with Bazzite.
If you do decide to switch OSs, please remember to make a backup copy of all your personal files on a seperate harddrive before you make the switch.
On the other hand... you could wait it out and see if other people in this thread can actually troubleshoot and solve your problem.
Personally, I am doubtful they will be able to, but I do not know everything, and I could be wrong, perhaps there is some fairly straightforward fix.
What are these apps? Because I don't use Discord or other "not-privacy"-friendly apps. I use only Steam of these 😅. Because from Steam I only plays in FA with my friend. For communication - I use Mumble for example.
Is this actually Linux? 🤔
It's too late 🙃
I also already doubt this 😟. And I've already cleaned that machine.
https://docs.bazzite.gg/
Well, you have things like EmuDeck, for emulating console games,
Lutris, for an alternative, non Steam way to run games via WINE or Proton,
Protontricks to help manage and configure WINE and Proton...
A whole bunch of other stuff that may or may not interest you.
Yes, it is, it is built off of the Fedora Atomic model.
So... the simple explanation is that the core operating system is read-only, unalterable, in most situations.
The core libraries of the OS are managed by the developers, who make the 'recipe' of all the core stuff, and update it and occasionally add to it... the user can override this and add in new core libraries, but it is highly advised against, and the terminal will yell at you that you are probably doing something stupid when you try.
That being said, if you do mess up the core libraries... you can use
rpm-ostree rollbackAnd that will revert you to the last, stable, bootable configuration, which it automatically keeps backups of, locally.
Then, almost all applications and software are run through flatpak, which keeps them self-contained, so if they break, it is only them that break, not your whole system.
If you want to do something that requires more control over a linux in a tradtional linux sense... Bazzite comes with DistroBox, which basically allows you to have multiple linux oss download their own libraries in their own box, and then you can do more advanced tinkering in there.
(technically it is quite complicated, as i understsnd it, distrobox is basically ... customized, fancy docker images, if you are familiar with docker)
sigh
I tried.
I tried to warn you!
Welp.
No turning back.
It looks like you are prepared to go all the way.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-00uQzXyujI&t=152s
lol
I.. I hope you do already know how to... flash an iso to a usb drive, and that you have not just wiped out your only means of downloading said iso.
Good luck!
As I know - Red Hat developed SystemD? Fedora - is Red Hat, Bazzite - is Fedora?
I... think SystemD has been around for quite a while, I am not sure who developed it originally.
20+ years ago, Fedora emerged out of Red Hat EnterpriseLinux, basically as the not business oriented, general use version of Red Hat.
The details are complicated, but by now, Fedora has advanced so much that RHEL is actually based off of Fedora; they use the more mature parts of Fedora that have proved to be very stable.
Bazzite is based off of Fedora, specifally the system Fedora uses for Atomic versions of Fedora. Like I tried to describe earlier, the Atomic variants of Fedora take a different approach and try to section off the core OS, keep it safer and more stable, and provide different kinds of containers or boxes for the user to run apps in, or experiment around in.
Bazzite is not officially a Fedora Atomic distro, made by the Fedora project... but their whole Atomic system is open source, so the Bazzite team uses it as a basis for their even more gaming focused OS.
Sort of similar to how PikaOS or Devuan or Ubuntu or PopOS! are based off of Debian... or the modern SteamOS that steam deck's natively run on is based off of Arch.
Ok. I'll know 🤔
Yeap! It's so)
Yeap! I almost an advanced user 🙃. I reinstall an OS on my PC about 9.999.999.999 times... (maybe a little bit less)
But I want to try firstly that here's someone can hint me 😉
It seems that it is the most user-friendly distribution. But there's so many proprietary softs as I guess 🤔