Gaming on Linux? Yes, that’s very much possible, and we have a dedicated new Linux distribution aiming for gamers.
Manjaro Gaming is an unofficial respin of Manjaro XFCE edition designed for gamers. No matter if you’re a Manjaro user or not, with Manjaro Gaming edition, you get the goodness of Manjaro Linux and an experience tailored for gamers and streamers as well.
In case you didn’t know, Manjaro is a Linux distro based on one of the most popular distros — Arch Linux. Arch Linux is widely known for its bleeding-edge nature offering a lightweight, powerful, extensively customizable and up-to-date experience. And while all those are absolutely great, the main drawback is that Arch Linux embraces the DIY (do it yourself) approach where users need to possess a certain level of technical expertise to get along with it.
Manjaro strips that requirement and makes Arch accessible to newcomers, and at the same time provides all the advanced and powerful features of Arch for the experienced users as well. In short, Manjaro is a user-friendly Linux distro that works straight out of the box.
The reasons why Manjaro makes a great and extremely suitable distro for gaming are:
- Manjaro automatically detects computer’s hardware (e.g. Graphics cards)
- Automatically installs the necessary drivers and software (e.g. Graphics drivers)
- Various codecs for media files playback comes pre-installed with it
- Has dedicated repositories that deliver fully tested and stable packages
Manjaro Gaming is packed with all of Manjaro’s awesomeness with the addition of various tweaks and software packages dedicated to make gaming on Linux smooth and enjoyable.
Tweaks
Some of the tweaks made on Manjaro Gaming are:
- Manjaro Gaming uses highly customizable XFCE desktop environment with an overall dark theme.
- Sleep mode is disabled for preventing computers from sleeping while playing games with GamePad or watching long cutscenes.
Softwares
Maintaining Manjaro’s tradition of working straight out of the box, Manjaro Gaming comes bundled with various Open Source software to provide often needed functionalities for gamers. Some of the software included are:
- KdenLIVE: Videos editing software for editing gaming videos
- Mumble: Voice chatting software for gamers
- OBS Studio: Software for video recording and live streaming games videos on Twitch
- OpenShot: Powerful video editor for Linux
- PlayOnLinux: For running Windows games on Linux with Wine backend
- Shutter: Feature-rich screenshot tool
- Lutris gaming: For playing games from GOG.com, Origin, Uplay, and Steam
Emulators
Manjaro Gaming comes with a long list of gaming emulators:
- DeSmuME: Nintendo DS emulator
- Dolphin Emulator: GameCube and Wii emulator
- DOSBox: DOS Games emulator
- FCEUX: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Famicom, and Famicom Disk System (FDS) emulator
- Gens/GS: Sega Mega Drive emulator
- PCSXR: PlayStation Emulator
- PCSX2: Playstation 2 emulator
- PPSSPP: PSP emulator
- Stella: Atari 2600 VCS emulator
- VBA-M: Gameboy and GameboyAdvance emulator
- Yabause: Sega Saturn Emulator
- ZSNES: Super Nintendo emulator
Others
There are some terminal add-ons — Color, ILoveCandy and Screenfetch. Conky Manager with Retro Conky theme is also included.
Downloads
Manjaro Gaming 18.03 is the latest version of Manjaro Gaming. If you’re interested to try it now, Manjaro Gaming 18.03 is available to download on the Sourceforge project page. Go there and grab the ISO.
How do you feel about this Manjaro spin as a Gaming Linux distro? Are you thinking of giving it a try? Let us know!
