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ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

tomshardware.com

31–40 of 206 posts

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#31
I know this is extreme, but people buying these Xbox handhelds over a Steam Deck are directly harming the future of gaming on PC. It's time that the PC gaming ecosystem breaks free from its dependency on Windows. Proton and SteamOS, combined with the unpopular mess that is Windows 11 is the perfect opportunity to do so.

The long-term end goal for Microsoft is to lock down Windows and force signed code. Once users are locked in, expect service fees to sharply rise just to use Windows. People should not fall for it. Leave Windows for crusty corporations that love their office 365 employee spy platform.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Xbox runs on a custom OS derived from Windows Core. Not the same as a consumer version of Windows. [Edit] The answer you’re probably looking for is I/O. The PS5 is much faster than the Series X in terms of getting stuff off disk and actually using it. That more than compensates for the small speed advantage the Series X has.

> derived from Windows Core if you polish a turd, it's still a turd.

The kernel is fine, it's all that crap they keep shoving into userspace that's the issue.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#33
post #27

I have the Xbox Ally, Steam Deck, and original Ally. The original Ally software launch was a disaster. Unbelievable amount of bugs and overall terrible user experience. After 6+ months of updates it was decent. I figured, hey, maybe they figured it out in advance this time? So I pre-ordered an Xbox Ally. It is a complete disaster in terms of software. It took 90 minutes to setup and download initial updates on a Goog…

I don't mean to be rude, but why would you give them even more money after screwing it up so bad the first time? You're just rewarding bad behavior at this point.

OP explained that. The original was stable after 6 months of patches. The Xbox Ally should in theory have that stability baked in. Everyone deserves a second chance. Not so much a third.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#35
post #8

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ambCqcFuexk Also, why didn't they install SteamOS directly? https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/65B4-2AA3-5F37-42...

AIUI (I don't have any of this hardware) SteamOS is really meant for the Steam Deck; while there's "basic support" for the ROG Ally, it's not their focus. Bazzite seems to be quite happy to support everything, and AIUI it's frighteningly close to SteamOS (the same customizations, etc.) It's not "we have SteamOS at home" - it's more like RedHat vs CentOS

This is changing. Valve is actively working with hardware manufacturers to get SteamOS on a number of systems other than the Steam Deck. You can buy a Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS today[1], and Valve will be supporting SteamOS on the Asus ROG Ally in the future[2], whether Asus partners with them or not.

[1]https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/handheld/legion-go-s/len106g0...

[2]https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/13/24219469/valve-steamos-as...

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#36
post #17

Nice! Linux gaming came a long way.

It really has. I had always tried to use Linux in the past, but gaming was always a fight, and the OS just never felt like it behaved reliable for daily usage for me, was always some little annoyance or bug or issue I'd run into and inevitably switch back to Windows for the sake of things just working without having to spend hours and days and weeks trying to fix issues. That was 10+ years ago. I finally decided to give it a go again, using an Arch based OS. I figured it's been a while, try something other than debian or SLES that I've been used to. Honestly, I kinda don't notice much difference in overall day to day use between gaming and day to day use on Linux versus previously being on Windows just a month ago. Everything kinda just works. The one thing I do notice is I use significantly less RAM, I seldom exceed 32gb as where I was regularly 40gb+ on Windows, and everything runs much better while I do the same day to day stuff as I always have. It's not a huge performance difference, but if I'm paying attention, yeah, I do notice my games tend to run better, and everything within the OS is far more responsive. As for all the linux a-holes out there, please STFU, I don't wanna hear "winblows sux" or "this distro is better", it's why I didn't specify what specific distro I use. That toxic fanboyism is what keeps people away from seeing it as a viable usable OS.

My rambling is really just to say: Yeah, linux has come a long way, especially for gaming and day to day use. The work Valve and others have done to make stuff just run and work is astonishing.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#37
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Arch pretty much exclusively these days on my desktop, but this isn't quite true. Most of the time, Proton has a small performance impact (around 5% lower FPS), but some games tend to suffer more. For example Helldivers 2 runs around 10fps lower, which is pretty significant since I only got around 60-70 FPS on Windows at 4K (using a 3090). Still, Proton is an amazing tool and these days it just works so well. T…

You’re comparing a game running on a compatibility layer, running on Linux to a game running directly on Windows. Not quite what the parent comment was stating.

There are few native Linux games, so performance on Proton is the essential benchmark. Besides, even when Linux native versions are available, the Windows version on Proton often offers a better experience (fewer obvious bugs).

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Xbox runs on a custom OS derived from Windows Core. Not the same as a consumer version of Windows. [Edit] The answer you’re probably looking for is I/O. The PS5 is much faster than the Series X in terms of getting stuff off disk and actually using it. That more than compensates for the small speed advantage the Series X has.

> derived from Windows Core if you polish a turd, it's still a turd.

I consider that the core of Windows (the NT kernel and win32 api) is actually a very polished gem but it is encased in layers of upon layers of barely polished turds ( winui, the win11 shell, the over agressive telemetry, forced ms635 integration, etc..)

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#39
post #23
post #10

pretty much everything runs faster on Linux than on Windows.

I use Arch pretty much exclusively these days on my desktop, but this isn't quite true. Most of the time, Proton has a small performance impact (around 5% lower FPS), but some games tend to suffer more. For example Helldivers 2 runs around 10fps lower, which is pretty significant since I only got around 60-70 FPS on Windows at 4K (using a 3090). Still, Proton is an amazing tool and these days it just works so well. T…

The general performance loss with the DX12 -> Vulkan translation on Linux especially with Nvidia hardware recently had the cause identified and will hopefully get solved in the near future. It has to do with descriptors and how Nvidia handles it is the general gist of it. A new Vulkan extension will be developed that more closely resembles how DX12 does things as I understand it, and then Nvidia and others can use that to hopefully solve this once and for all.

Here[1] is the full presentation and the slides[2] from it.

[1] https://video.tuwien.ac.at/events/xdc/v/OlwauRVEIGa

[2] https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/10/contributions/402/at...

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#40
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> derived from Windows Core if you polish a turd, it's still a turd.

I consider that the core of Windows (the NT kernel and win32 api) is actually a very polished gem but it is encased in layers of upon layers of barely polished turds ( winui, the win11 shell, the over agressive telemetry, forced ms635 integration, etc..)

Makes sense, given that allegedly Windows NT is very much next gen OpenVMS... https://www.itprotoday.com/server-virtualization/windows-nt-...
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