A curated list of awesome GNU/Linux tips & tricks, games, tools, and resources. Inspired by awesome-vulkan and other awesome-related projects.
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This is a hobby project to improve the quality of gaming in Linux because it is possible to improve performance by tweaking your Linux machine. Most Linux distributions have a lot of issues when it comes to gaming performance, as they do not utilise the modern and superior counterparts.
- Distributions
- Utilities
- Websites
- Processors
- Graphics cards
- Platforms
- Kernels
- WINE
- Emulators
- Development
- YouTube channels
- Q&As
- Future plans
- Contributing
- Special thanks
Based on Ubuntu. Attempt from System76 to "de-Canonical-ise" Ubuntu, as well as some minor tweaks for gaming.
- Full ootb support for Nvidia and AMD GPUs.
- Better power management built-in.
- All common gaming related applications are in Pop Shop, making it trivial to install everything needed to start gaming.
- 64 bit Vulkan drivers are pre-installed, but Steam installation is modified to include them too just in case.
- No snaps pre-installed and Pop!_Shop gives an option between .deb and flatpak for many applications.
Community maintained distribution to provide the upstream kernel in correlation with stable packages. Comes with performance tools pre-installed such as gamemode.
- Built on bleeding edge/stable model, provides a very stable experience while staying fairly up-to-date on software.
- In other words, when installing drivers and libraries, you get more recent versions compared to some other distros.
- When installing Steam, GameMode will be installed as well, to improve performance.
The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.
- It works out of the box, with full multimedia support and is extremely easy to use.
- It's community-driven. Users are encouraged to send feedback to the project so that their ideas can be used to improve Linux Mint.
- Based on Debian and Ubuntu, it provides about 30,000 packages to install via apt.
Ubuntu is the modern, open source operating system built on Linux for the enterprise server, desktop, cloud, and IoT.
A distribution made from scratch, Solus is a rolling distribution that is snappy, stable and easy to use.
- Updates every Friday.
- All common gaming applications are in the software center.
- Nvidia drivers can be installed with a few clicks.
- Completely independent from Arch and Debian.
Lightweight and independent distribution to provide as much performance with as less time spent.
- Higher maintainance than Beginner distros, but comes with less pre-installed.
- This provides a cleaner base, letting the user focus on installing only what they need.
- This can aid lower-end systems.
- Rolling distro with openQA.
- Less likely to break than Arch due to testing.
- Great Nvidia support.
Minimal and secure source based distribution to maximise performance.
- High potential for increased stability and reduced latency of the system thanks to building everything from source and in turn adapting to user's hardware and needs per program basis.
- Users with lower-end hardware may experience higher FPS in games as a result of said optimisations of the system, however this is not guaranteed and will depend highly on the hardware used.
A systemd daemon/lib to optimise Linux system performance on demand. — WARNING: this utility will not work in the distributions listed in the following website: Wikipedia: Linux distributions without systemd. — Video
Overclocking software with the aesthetics based on AMD's Radeon Software Adrenalin from 2018.
Keyboard firmware to customize key switches. Based on the tmk_keyboard firmware. — Video - WARNING: Flashing firmware is not a risk-free process and can result in a brick if anything goes wrong. Recovery ranges from time consuming to impossible and may even require buying extra tools.
Cross-platform client for PlayStation 4 Remote Play. — Video
Programmable Ethernet switch that allows all networked devices, VMs, containers, and applications to communicate as if they all reside in the same physical data center or cloud region, similar to LogMeIn Hamachi.
A list of patches maintained by the community.
Steam Play compatibility tool to run games using native Linux engines.
DBus daemon to configure input devices for gaming mice. — WARNING: this utility will not work in the distributions listed in the following website: Wikipedia: Linux distributions without systemd.
- GTK+ front-end for libratbag. — WARNING: this utility will not work in the distributions listed in the following website: Wikipedia: Linux distributions without systemd.
Unofficial drivers for Logitech mice and keyboard.
SteamTinkerLaunch (short STL) is a Linux wrapper tool for use with the Steam client which allows you to easily customize start tools and options for games quickly.
A Vulkan and OpenGL overlay for monitoring FPS, temperatures, CPU/GPU load and more. — Video
A Vulkan post processing layer to enhance the visual graphics of games while barely impacting performance. — Video
A Graphical UI to manage Linux overlays, such as MangoHud and vkBasalt. — Video
Discord Overlay for Linux.
Website maintained by WINE HQ to track reports and ratings of video games.
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Website maintained by a community to track reports and ratings of video games written by other users for Steam and Proton.
- A small Python script to pull ratings from ProtonDB and import them into your Steam library as tags.
The home of Linux and SteamOS gaming. Covering Linux Gaming News, Linux Games, SteamOS, Indie Game Reviews and more.
- GamingOnLinux' official wiki focusing on various topics of gaming on Linux, such as games, engines, guides and more.
- GamingOnLinux' official sub-reddit.
Covering the Linux Gaming Scene since 2014. Featuring Game Reviews, Hardware Reviews, Industry News, Trends Analysis and more.
A list of open source game alternatives to their proprietary counterparts.
A list of games that work natively in Linux.
A list of information about running games and related system configuration tips.
Repository containing the status of Steam games working in Virtual Reality.
A wiki of free games and related topics started by Han Dao.
CLI tool to adjust core clock and voltage of Ryzen processors.
- Graphical UI for RyzenAdj.
A GUI tool to adjust the core clock and voltage of Intel iGPUs.
An overview of the graphical Linux drivers.
An overview of the shaders used in games in Linux.
Note: this is only for the AMDGPU drivers. We might add AMDGPU-PRO or AMDVLK specific categories later.
Open source shader compiler by Valve Corporation to compete with the LLVM compiler, AMDVLK drivers drivers and Windows 10.
Guide to overclock an AMD GPU using the AMDGPU drivers.
CLI tool to adjust the core clock, memory and voltage of AMD graphics cards.
Fork of vibrantLinux; utility that automates NVIDIA's Digitial Vibrance Control and AMD's Saturation for games. — Only for AMD GPUs.
Powerful app for tuning AMD GPUs. Monitor and adjust fans, temperatures, usage, power, and core/memory clocks. Configure overclocking profiles and set custom fan curves. Watch for events (e.g. temp threshold reached, game launched) and change parameters automatically. Additional screenshots here.
Nice monitoring tool for your GPU utilization (works with both FOSS driver and Catalyst one).
Note: Xorg has had a lot of problems with the xf86-video-amdgpu drivers, one of them being screen tearing. It is advisable to create a custom xorg.conf file in order to remove some issues.
Enable tearing prevention using the hardware page flipping mechanism.
An open source Variable refresh rate technology developed by AMD to eliminate screen tearing and reduce stuttering.
If you want to explore into the Xorg configuration options, you can look into:
Note: It is not advised to install the driver through the package provided from the NVIDIA website. It is better to install it through the distribution's package manager.
- Debian — https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#Installation
- Arch Linux — https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA#Installation
- Gentoo — https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/NVIDIA/nvidia-drivers#Installation
- Fedora — https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/NVIDIA
- Clear Linux — https://docs.01.org/clearlinux/latest/tutorials/nvidia.html#installation
- OpenSUSE — https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers
GWE is a GTK system utility designed to provide information, control the fans and overclock your NVIDIA video card and graphics processor. — Only for Nvidia GPUs.
Inspired by vibranceGUI to port in Linux; utility that automates NVIDIA's Digitial Vibrance Control and AMD's Saturation for games. — Only for Nvidia GPUs.
Video game digital distribution developed by Valve Corporation to provide games from third-party publishers. It also offers Proton (a fork of WINE) to facilitate gaming on Linux.
Client with install scripts provided by the community to utilise applications and games without the hassle of manually setting them up.
Unified library for all your games. It supports all games from GOG, Steam, HumbleBundle and Humble Trove.
Video game digital distribution developed by CD Projekt to provide third-party DRM-free games.
- A simple GTK GOG client for Linux.
Website for users to host, sell and download indie video games.
Hosting service for free and commercial video games (in browser and a downloadable client) with social functions.
Online-based game software program which allows players to keep their games up to date with the latest fixes and enhancements.
CLI client to launch games from the Epic Games Store.
- This app is a Linux GUI for the tool Legendary.
A general-purpose Linux kernel aimed for performance and to provide more features.
A Linux kernel designed to give the optimal performance for desktop, multimedia, and gaming workloads. Only available in Debian/Ubuntu!
A custom Linux kernel with various patchsets to improve gaming performance. — Now available for non-Arch distributions!
Latest upstream Linux kernel in addition of the TKG patchsets. — Only available in Fedora!
Repository with various kernel patchsets.
Arch wiki page describing various Linux kernels.
A compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems such as Linux, macOS, & BSD.
- Development branch of WINE.
Winetricks 
Wine-tkg and Proton-tkg
A Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 12 which allows running 3D applications on Linux using Wine. Valve's fork, included with Proton and recommended over upstream vkd3d.
A Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 9/10/11 which allows running 3D applications on Linux using Wine.
- A Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 9 which allows running 3D applications on Linux using Wine. It has now been merged with DXVK.
A Vulkan-based translation layer for DirectX 9 & DirectX 11 to play in pure Wayland without the need of X11 or XWayland. — Only available in Arch-based distributions!
A WINE implementation from Valve Corporation to play Windows games directly from Steam Linux.
- Extension to Winetricks for Proton enabled games.
- Fork of Proton by RedHat developer GloriousEggroll to port the latest versions of WINE in Proton.
RetroArch is a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players.
A curated list of software emulators and simulators of PCs, home computers, mainframes, consoles, robots and much more...
Mesa drivers flag to enable multi-threading on the Mesa drivers.
GPU-accelerated computing drivers for AMD GPUs.
Performance analysis tool for AMD for applications running on Windows and Linux operating systems.
Cross-platform and cross-language open source engine written in C++.
2D and 3D cross-platform game engine written in C, C++.
3D computer graphics software toolset used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D printed models, motion graphics, interactive 3D applications, and computer games.
A curated list of awesome Vulkan libraries, debuggers and resources.
A curated list of awesome OpenGL libraries, debuggers and resources.
Benchmark comparisons between different operating systems, different hardware and different software, as well as graphics comparisons.
Focused on technical aspects of GNU/Linux, as well as gaming.
Reviews, benchmark comparisons of different GNU/Linux distributions and installation guides of games.
Linux gaming tutorials and gameplay.
Linux tutorials, benchmarks gaming performance on Linux and does gaming benchmarks between Windows vs Linux.
See Q&AS.md.
Everything we plan to add in the future in this page will be in TODO.md.
See CONTRIBUTING.md.
Special thanks go to:
- The lutris project
- the contributors that have contributed in this project;
- everyone that has suggested something to add, remove or fix;
- the developers and writers that have created and contributed to the awesome projects that we have mentioned;
- to everyone that has shared this project to others.
This project would never have happened and continued without you :)
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