Please don't run scripts that a random person uploaded to Github if you don't know what you're doing. I didn't see anything malicious here, but most of the stuff is useless and some of it is even detrimental (e.g. the LLM "thought" the outdated Ubuntu Nvidia ppa was a good idea).

If you want to game on Debian, you can do that just fine. Installing Steam and Nvidia drivers (if applicable) should be sufficient for most people. IMO, the main issue with gaming on Debian are the very old GPU drivers (Nvidia 550, Mesa 25.0). This can be fine on older hardware, but is the reason why I wouldn't recommend Debian for gaming in general. The script you linked doesn't help with this at all.

If you really want these "gaming optimizations", for the limited benefits they provide, I would recommend that you just use one of the distros that ships them. CachyOS, Bazzite, Nobara, Pop OS, or PikaOS all seem like a better choice than these scripts. At the very least the maintainers of those distros will integrate everything and perform some level of QA for you.

This thing has like 2 commits by 1 person 2 months ago without any review

I wouldn't really trust this repo at all.

✅ What It Does

• Installs XanMod kernel with BORE scheduler (smoother frames, less stutter)
• Sets up a weekly auto-update pipeline to stay cutting edge

Just use Fedora/Bazzite or Arch/Cachy at this point?

You can game just fine on Debian based systems but if you want the latest and greatest from your recently launched hardware, running these scripts that installs a custom kernel and does a lot of tinkering, is of not much use.

This script is like buying a family hatchback car and then making a ton of changes to make it run like a sports car.

• Sets up EAC + BattlEye anti-cheat (Battlefield, Fortnite, GTA 5, Apex)

Seems LLM Generated as well. Because I don't think Fortnite works well (if at all) on Linux. This just seems an LLM reassuring the Dev that it works? IDK.

I run Debian and have done nothing special to game on it. All native games I've installed run fine. Only non native game I play is WoW, and it runs fine. Though requires a GE proton update every now and then.

I have an AMD 6600 gpu.

I use PikaOS which is a Debian-derived gaming distro with newer drivers and gaming packages, run by some of the same folks involved in Nobara and sharing a lot of the common framework used for other major gaming distros. It is mostly indistinguishable from Debian, and I use it basically interchangeably. The main differences include the installer, the default background image, and some post-install helpers to install the latest drivers for various different graphics cards and many types of typical gaming software. Biggest downside is that support and community is through Discord, blech.

Debian works just fine for gaming out of the box with a few commands from the Debian wiki. Maybe use a Debian testing or at least backports if you want newer packages by if you do its a little more work by Debian stable but less than something like arch.

https://wiki.debian.org/Steam

Just switch to Debian, I haven't used a script like this (or heard of it). Get Wine from WineHQ to run Windows apps, they have the instructions on how to install it, and look up how to install the drivers for your GPU, and it'll work fantastic. That's all you'll need provided the rest of the system is working, I don't even have shit like certain launchers.

Such a weird grab to avoid getting cachyos and installing the two gaming packages they have.

it just works man. You don't need to build-your-own-os or reinvent the wheel on an OS just not made for what you're trying to do.

I fully understand that you can game on any distro you want, and that linux lets you have a full time hobby just customizing it the way you want it to be. That's all fine, if your hobby isn't gaming but it's instead OS customization then gaming on debian is an awesome pet project, maybe you want to try your hand at arch next?

I just want something that works, doesn't break from updates often (6 months 0 breaks!) does good gaming customizations (kernel tweaks, new game FSR4.1 support, gamemode and other tools readily available in the OS welcome splash) and has enough users doing what i'm doing that when I do run into an issue with something, I can find info. This checks all the boxes. Many gaming specialized distros fit into this sort of thing.

I'm still struggling day to day with opensuse tumbleweed and basic tools. I launch moonlight and it barks about not having GPU acceleration, because they don't include whatever it requires since it's not really intended to be a gaming OS first despite being a rolling release and fairly bleeding edge. I can't select color depth in the controls to get hdmi @ 4k120hz working whatsoever (until linux ~7.2 drops with official support some day..) I use debian for my servers because it's rock solid stable but the bins are ancient.

If you're gaming on a system that could be considered ewaste because the parts are >5 years old and you don't play new releases or anything with bleeding edge tech, then i'm sure debian will support everything you're doing with next to no issues whatsoever once you take the time to install all the customizations you want it to have. Just a lot of work though to get that square peg through the round hole.

edit: literally the first thread I popped open about an amd issue and someone is bashing debian for gaming . I know this entire comment will be very unpopular in a thread about debian because that brings those users in- but I want honesty, not 'my team is better' for this topic.

I recently ditched Manjaro for Debian and it’s amazing. I installed Nvidia drivers as desceibed on Debian’s wiki and have never had to read the wiki since then. Games work fine, system doesn’t break after update, always wakes up from sleep (it was a gamble on Manjaro but mostly didn’t work) and shuts down properly (Manjaro tended to freeze with black screen once it exited DE).

I used to be reluctant about switching to Debian and its derivatives because i read so much about the outdated packages and haven’t had the best experience with pop os but Debian just works and it’s amazing.

I also use Debian. And it is awsome. very stable with KDE + wayland.

I wrote a script to do post OS installation: https://github.com/LuceusXylian/debian-desktop-setup/blob/master/debian_desktop_setup.sh

You do not need the stuff after # Focusrite Config

I use debian to game on a rather recent AMD desktop PC. It just works.

For using my gpu to the max, I installed the AMD rock stuff, I think that's some kind of gpu driver stuff. Helps me get most out of the gpu but it works just fine for games without that too. Steam games just work with proton or native, native games just work.

I even timed it well, last October when I thought memory was super expensive and didn't know how bad it would get, and with the new gpu architecture.

Debian just works. Debian is good.

I develop a similar tool and this thing is absolute slop: it's full of obsolete settings like RADV_PERFTEST=gpl,rt (both have been unnecessary for years), broken features like FSR4 (it needs a DLL from the AMD drivers to work that this thing doesn't provide), and anticheat support is a complete lie, none of that trash will ever work in wine.

Also, I don't know why you would ever use a debian-based distro for gaming, the drivers are 6 months to 2 years out of date, you're just asking for trouble.

If you want a Debian based Linux distro that is gaming focused, I would suggest to you either:

PopOS!

https://system76.com/pop/

Made by System76, who also actually make their own hardware as well, pre-built pcs, etc, and also successfully lobbied at least Colorado to not have a law that mandates age verification built into OS's...

PopOS! Is essentially Ubuntu but less shitty, and is also making their own Desktop Environment COSMIC, that is basically an attempt at 'GNOME, but better.'

There is also PikaOS.

https://wiki.pika-os.com/en/home

PikaOS is basically to Debian as Nobara is to Fedora: Its the base OS, but with a suite of cutting edge/bleeding edge optimizations geared toward improving gaming performance.