It’s time to seriously consider LaunchBox on Linux.

[dov_EL]

Windows is starting to decline, and I truly hope LaunchBox has a long future ahead. Windows no longer makes sense as a platform, and the only thing keeping people like me tied to it is LaunchBox. As days and months go by, more users will move away from Windows, and that could seriously harm LaunchBox in the long run.

If I were part of the team, I would start thinking very seriously about bringing LaunchBox and BigBox to Linux.

[Talorthain]

I'm in the same boat.. I have started looking at Linux, but launchbox is the Achilles heel.

I'm not a big modern gamer, so steam deck isn't for me, and I want to move launchbox with me.

[Fursphere]

On 11/21/2025 at 9:27 AM, dov_EL said:

Windows is starting to decline, and I truly hope LaunchBox has a long future ahead. Windows no longer makes sense as a platform, and the only thing keeping people like me tied to it is LaunchBox. As days and months go by, more users will move away from Windows, and that could seriously harm LaunchBox in the long run.

If I were part of the team, I would start thinking very seriously about bringing LaunchBox and BigBox to Linux.

People have been hailing the death of Windows and the beginning of Linux's rise to the top since the early 1990s.   (Remember slackware and their "f**k you, figure it out yourself" welcome message?)

Yet..  here we are.   Value is pouring R&D money in Linux... for Steam.  With Steam being the front end and operating system (more or less).  The Steam Box may die and early death due to the RAM prices skyrocketing due to the AI data-center slop rush currently happening right now.  We'll see.   But the Steam Box (Steam Console?) is going to be more akin to Apple Mac than Linux.    Its going to be a fit-for-purpose OS on fit-for-purpose hardware.   Most people aren't going to buy a Steam Box to NOT use Steam big picture.    That's the whole point.    They'd just buy a regular computer instead...   and SteamOS is only putting in drivers for the hardware they're selling. 

Anyway, long story short.   Yes, it would be great to have a mainstream alternative to Windows.   But Linux ain't there yet, and probably never will be since the solution to every major problem is "these guys are doing it wrong, I'll make my own fork and do it right!" (insert Bender quote here) - and now we've got thousands of forks.  

Edited January 7 by Fursphere

[dov_EL]

On 1/7/2026 at 4:22 PM, Fursphere said:

People have been hailing the death of Windows and the beginning of Linux's rise to the top since the early 1990s.   (Remember slackware and their "f**k you, figure it out yourself" welcome message?)

Yet..  here we are.   Value is pouring R&D money in Linux... for Steam.  With Steam being the front end and operating system (more or less).  The Steam Box may die and early death due to the RAM prices skyrocketing due to the AI data-center slop rush currently happening right now.  We'll see.   But the Steam Box (Steam Console?) is going to be more akin to Apple Mac than Linux.    Its going to be a fit-for-purpose OS on fit-for-purpose hardware.   Most people aren't going to buy a Steam Box to NOT use Steam big picture.    That's the whole point.    They'd just buy a regular computer instead...   and SteamOS is only putting in drivers for the hardware they're selling. 

Anyway, long story short.   Yes, it would be great to have a mainstream alternative to Windows.   But Linux ain't there yet, and probably never will be since the solution to every major problem is "these guys are doing it wrong, I'll make my own fork and do it right!" (insert Bender quote here) - and now we've got thousands of forks.  

I am a former Windows beta tester, and I know very well the whole “this is the year of Linux” era — back then, it really was impossible.
Today, Linux works extremely well, it has become accessible to everyone, and on top of that, games run wonderfully, while Microsoft has worked hard to lose everything good it had built.
As far as I’m concerned, Windows is destined to die, and the same goes for Office and all other Microsoft products.

[Fursphere]

To that, I respond with this:  (posted 12 days ago, by someone who is in the business of being a techie)

Ya..  it sorta works.   Sorta.   Sometimes.  If you're got copious amounts of time to mess around with it, and the technical expertise to back it up.  (The majority of PC users DO NOT have the time or the skills)

[Whatscheiser]

I don't know man. As someone who has been using it daily for the last six months and has given my Windows machine to my wife I have to say, switching has been pretty awesome. I didn't watch the video you posted because every techtuber always gives the same middle of the road "it's up to you" conclusion to everything they cover, so why bother?

I've been using Nobara and between Valve's Proton and using GE-WINE and Proton builds through Lutris I haven't ran into anything I absolutely couldn't run (in terms of gaming). I run some pretty old games to. The type of games that running in full fat native Windows would also require mods and tweaking. Running them in Linux under WINE requires pretty much the exact same skill set.

For productivity I dumped MS Office for Open Office. Honestly if I was bit younger I'd probably just be using the Google Suite in my web browser and not have missed a beat. I'm even still running my old Paint Shop Pro 7 and GTA Modding Tools, WACUP, all sorts of odds and ends through wine. I wouldn't describe it as remotely difficult. If you're not someone who isn't scared off by the shallowest of learning curves, you'll be fine.

[Fursphere]

I would love to convert my two stand up arcades to linux, but I've got some Windows native stuff that I'm not sure would work well.   (Daytona Twin racer use's Fanatec steering wheels - and there is no solid linux support there)

LEDBlinky is a big one.   RGBCommander is gone.   There is LEDSpicer now that might replace it?   Zero experience.

TeknoParrot doesn't seem to have a Linux version.  

There appears to be a Ultimarc IPAC board configuration tool for Linux, but it hasn't been updated since 2022 - so that's a little sus.  

Stablebit Drive pool have some Linux alternatives, but reformatting 40+ TB of drives into Linux filesystems (while juggling all the data) doesn't sound fun.   This is my biggest hold up honestly.   

 

[Whatscheiser]

Yeah hardware support for uncommon peripherals could definitely be an Achilles heel that I'm not considering. I'm coming from the viewpoint of just having the standard desktop PC that I want to game on. The Nobara distro that I mentioned is Fedora based, I will call out that my Printer doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with it. I mention that because on any distro I used that was based on Debian, (like Linux Mint or Ubuntu) my printer would tend to "just work". So the flavor of the code base that you choose to build off of might be more of a consideration if odds and ends hardware support is a concern. I think Debian tends to build more towards legacy support where Fedora is more forward focused. I don't have much insight outside of that experience though.

Edited January 30 by Whatscheiser

[dreamtheater76]

Many of us have moved to or are using Steam OS or alternatives. Emulation is a massive deal for handhelds. In my case I ditched Windows 11 for Bazzite on my Lenovo Legion desktop. There are so many doing the same thing with their disgust for Windows 11 I was thinking Launchbox BigBox for Linux would become inevitable. We can all hope!
 

I wanted the couch console experience badly with my 8BitDo controllers as well as my 1981 Donkey Kong Arcade Bartop custom MAME setup I built as well being on Linux. I’ve had better luck with emulation using Linux before I ever used Launchbox BigBox.

Because I’m a premium lifetime member I decided to put Windows 10 on my extra hd and make it a Launchbox BigBox drive. I also have Forza Horizon games on my Xbox app so those are 2 things keeping me entirely free from Windows right now. 

That way I can boot up into Steam big picture mode or Launchbox BigBox which can be done. 

I’m not abandoning Launchbox BigBox so this is my solution for now. I tried Emudeck and Retrodeck. They are in no way replacements. So let’s hope for Linux support in the near future. Too many people are jumping ship from the Windows 11 disaster right now and even the new game mode isn’t saving them as we are loving Steam OS and Bazzite and happy to moved on from the Microsoft dumpster fire.

 

 

 

[JustSomeRetroGamer]

I hate necroposting but I too am a lifetime user and wanted to throw my opinion in.  Unfortunately, with my older HP Pavillion no longer being supported on Windows 10, I too had to move over to a new Linux OS (CachyOS has been a godsend for this aging system, lol).  I simply can't afford to purchase a new system, and I honestly am not a fan of Windows 11 either.  Setting Launchbox up through Wine / Lutris just isn't as convenient as having a Linux build of it.  I have been been using ES-DE, but it's not nearly as convenient as LaunchBox for me (especially when it comes to fringe systems and setting up new emulators).

I too would love to see a true Linux build of LaunchBox, and would love to use it on my main system again!