So, why us?

In the middle of the hardware crisis, as well as the ensloppification of Windows, (some) people are moving to Linux for gaming and other purposes. And in that very opportunity, people are creating a shitload of 'gaming distros'. So, when there are a lot of good ones like Bazzite, Cachy or PikaOS, why us?

To answer this question, I'll do the opposite: why not us?

We're still developing, and it's yet to reach semi-stable status

LunarXG has been in development since 2024, originating as a derivative of KDE neon. We changed the base twice (KDE neon -> Debian + Cubic -> Debian via live-build). 

This is maintained by a solo developer, doing in his free time. And thus very little progress has been made.

Our goal is to release a stable version in 2026, but we're not even close to half of it. Most software and tools are missing. There are broken features.

So yeah, if you help us, we may be able to remove this.

You can install all the dependencies by yourself for less time

No, seriously, we do not have anything fancy. Pretty much what we have is already on the Unstable repo, albeit some e.g. LACT. So if you come here and expect anything fancy, you'll be disappointed.

LunarXG do not aim to be specialized for gaming, but rather an all-rounder with better gaming performance

You read that right. LunarXG is not necessary for gaming only. It is basically stock Debian sid with custom apps, sometimes performance patches to improve processing speed. We don't have anything like a game mode, a boost mode or such. We prioritize overall compatibility and speed to having improves for a single purpose, and leave the rest being default.

So for the main question, why us?

With LunarXG, you'll have more control over your system

Bazzite and SteamOS, two of the most popular gaming distros, are immutable (or 'atomic', their words). You can't directly install anything on your system. (You actually can, but it's rather complex)

With LunarXG, you can customize the hell out of your system. Want to install a system cleaner for more space for your game? "sudo apt install filelight". Want newer MESA drivers? On it. Just add the repo and update. (Although we do have the latest MESA driver through kisak-mesa)

However when the time is right we'll add a guardrail for user to warn them.

 

LunarXG is right at home for Ubuntu & Debian user

LunarXG is built on Debian Unstable (sid). And that spoke for itself.

If you have used Linux Mint, Ubuntu or anything based on it, or Debian, you don't have to learn anything else to move to LunarXG. Just use it your way.

 

LunarXG is unsurprisingly stable

Even now, LunarXG don't break. Well, sort of. Once per two months, some half-baked update will make updating near-impossible. But even that you just have for a day or two for the maintainers to upload the missing packages.

While called Unstable, Debian Unstable is much more stable than Arch, while still newer than Ubuntu and Debian Stable.

 

 That's the answer to the question. I hope this helps you on choosing your distro wisely.