The «Tools» tab of the new Gamebuntu app.
Late last year, young developer Rudra Saraswat gifted Ubuntu gamers with a great GUI tool. The cleverly-named «Gamebuntu» utility was effectively a bash script that automatically installed a veritable kitchen sink of gaming tools and then used a convenient overlay for finding and launching things like Steam, VLC, OBS, Twitch, Lutris, Discord, and others. Now, he has announced a completely new version that takes Gamebuntu in a different, and more elegant, direction.
“I’ve completely rewritten Gamebuntu so that people have the freedom to choose what they want to install,» Rudra says. «You can choose from 4 launchers, 2 kernels, 7 tools and 1 streaming app.»
The new approach for Gamebuntu is refreshingly reminiscent of what Ubuntu Budgie is adding to its welcome app for version 22.04. Instead of a large install routine that sets up a predetermined gaming environment, Gamebuntu 1.0 lets the user choose exactdly which software to install.
Here’s what Gamebuntu 1.0 offers up via its current AppImage on GitLab, broken down by category:
Launchers:
Kernels:
Social:
Tools:
It’s a solid selection of important gaming tools and clients. I suggested adding the excellent Protonup-QT, a GUI tool letting you update and manage custom Steam Proton variants like Proton-GE. Rudra included it within a few hours!
He encourages you to add your own suggestions to this Ubuntu Discourse thread.
Rudra has a very promising future. Before he even turned 12, he had already created two unique Linux distributions: Ubuntu Unity Remix and Ubuntu Education Edition.
