A new version of Bazzite Linux, a Linux gaming distribution based on Fedora Atomic Desktops, has been released.

Bazzite 3.7.0 Update Released

This is the last Bazzite update to be released with a version number (in this case: 3.7.0), and every announcement from this point forward will focus strictly on new features that are added and categorized by the build date 4 and Github commit ID number.

Bazzite and other Universal Blue images 1 follow the “continuous delivery / rolling release” methodology for system updates, so update version numbers like “3.7.0” are useless since most users already have this in the latest builds before this announcement landed.

Keyboard-Less Installation

The new ISOs come with a default username and user password if the user never clicks “User Creation” in the installer which is useful for installing on handheld PCs. It is recommended to change the default password after installation. Be careful if you tap on “User Creation” and do not have a physical wired keyboard nearby since that activates a new user and will no longer work without one until you restart the installer.

The new installer refinements also fixed the issues exclusive to the Steam Deck OLED hardware including requiring Ventoy exclusively for flashing for proper scaling and using Basic Graphics Mode in the installer. This also fixes issues installing on other handhelds like Ayaneo Next as well. The installer has a new cosmetic change with a Bazzite themed look to move away from the default Fedora branding that comes with the installer.

Smaller Update Sizes = Faster Updates w/ Rechunk

Rechunk  is now part of Bazzite which means updates can be between 2-5 times faster than previously. Gone are the days where the entire image had to be re-downloaded for every update.

The test results for Rechunk conclude:

Experimentally, we have seen that on Bazzite, due to extensive changes to Kinoite, rechunk lowers the total image size by 1GB. Then, if a user updates weekly, they get around a 40% reduction in download size (from 5GB to 3GB). If they update every 1-2 days, they get a 60-80% reduction in download size (from 5GB to 1-1.5GB). For images built back to back, the download size lowers by over 90% to 100MB-300MB, which is the size of the RPM database (~110MB) and change.

-  Antheas Kapenekakis , Rechunk developer

AMD Polaris Series Hardware Functional Again!

An older version of Gamescope is shipped and utilized when AMD Polaris hardware is detected. This makes HTPCs using Polaris AMD GPU hardware usable again, but since its an older Gamescope version then there may be missing features shipped in the newer Gamescope builds not present here.

Caveat: Physical keyboards cannot use the SHIFT key on this hardware.

Nvidia Drivers Updated to 560

The major highlights include bug fixes for KDE Plasma Wayland. A friendly reminder that Firefox may crash upon launching until that is fixed in the stable release. Use Firefox Nightly in a  Distrobox container or  another browser temporarily to avoid this issue until Mozilla releases the fix in their stable builds which should be relatively soon.

New Steam Gaming Mode Scheduler

Sched_ext is now part of bazzite now with the full set of LAVD, bfpland, and rusty. The scheduler should improve the speediness of navigating the user interface in Steam Gaming Mode and improve performance in minor ways in-game.

Gated Kernel Version & Lenovo Legion Go Issues Fixed

A gated Linux kernel workflow was added to avoid future regressions with the Linux kernel and our users. This decision was already in the works, but a recent event pushed this workflow to exist earlier than expected due to a kernel regression that affected Lenovo Legion Go users running Bazzite. If you experienced issues with the recent Bazzite builds on your Lenovo Legion Go, then it was due to the 6.10 Linux kernel causing issues with UMA Buffer with the “Auto” option used.

“Auto” is the correct and default option, but since an issue with the 6.10 kernel broke this option, the Bazzite team advised users who reported it to follow a workaround that was changing it to 4GB until we downgraded the kernel, which we did by now. If you have done this workaround, then update and change it back to “Auto” unless you have a specific reason to use 4GB. As a result of this incident the team rushed to have a kernel workflow to have a specific kernel pinned for a while to avoid major regressions with each Linux kernel release.

Other Highlights

• Touch gestures for Steam Gaming Mode has made a return and can be disabled temporarily with HHD now.

• TDP for GPD and Ayaneo Devices Fixed to restore properly after waking up from sleep.

• HHD Bug Fixes & Improvements

Bazzite 3.7.0 Update Released