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Dictionary and Terminology

General

  • [Desktop] Linux: A family of operating systems that share many of the same core software including the Linux kernel, systemd and the GNU core utilities.
  • Desktop Environment: The graphical user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) for the Desktop Mode / Desktop images for Bazzite. Also known as a DE.
  • Fedora Linux: A Linux operating system that has a new major release every 6 months.
  • Fedora Atomic Desktop: An experimental version of Fedora Linux created to be as reliable and reproducible. Also known as Fedora Silverblue and Fedora Kinoite for the specific desktop environments that they use (GNOME and KDE Plasma respectively).
  • "Immutable": A term to describe Linux operating systems that do not follow the traditional filesystem layout where every single file can be removed by the user with root privileges. It is more nuanced than this in the case of Bazzite, but is still considered "immutable" from the point of view of the extended Linux community.

Bazzite-Deck Images

  • Steam Deck: Valve's gaming handheld PC that utilizes their own operating system which runs their own Linux operating system based around the Steam client.
  • SteamOS: Valve's Linux operating system based on Arch Linux that the Steam Deck runs.
  • Gamescope: Micro-compositor developed for SteamOS. Usage includes scaling, filtering, framerate limiting, and HDR support.
  • Steam Gaming Mode: A session that runs Steam's Big Picture Mode user interface inside of Gamescope. Also known as Game Mode.

Software

  • Proton: Gaming-focused compatibility layer maintained by Valve to run Windows games using WINE, DXVK, VKD3D, and other components.
  • Vulkan: Cross-platform, open standard graphics API derived from AMD's Mantle as an alternative to DirectX, which is Windows exclusive.
  • OpenGL: Legacy graphics API when Vulkan is not available.
  • Flatpak: Universal applications for Linux. The default remote is from Flathub.
  • Containers - Isolated environments for software.

Underlying Technology

  • OSTree/libostree: Upgrade system that Bazzite utilizes that allows for rolling back previous system updates or rebasing to different images entirely.
  • Handheld Daemon (HHD): Handheld hardware-enablement software that provides controller functionality, power utilization, RGB, and more.
  • Universal Blue: A FOSS collective that specializes in custom Fedora images.
  • Bootable Container Image: Software and services are packaged inside of a container that run on top of an existing operating system (like Fedora) as as a means of delivering a specialized operating system. Also known as a custom image.
  • Cloud-Native: Building and deploying software in an automated fashion. Provides features such as over-the-air updates, multiple images that receive the same upgrades upstream, etc. For the case of Bazzite, every single upgrade is done in Github.