Debian Desktop in 2026

Hardware

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 G2
GPU: ASUS GeForce PH RTX 3060 12G-V2
RAM: Kingston 32GB DDR5 6000MT/S CL30 DIMM
SSD: Samsung 990 Pro 2TB (x2)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B850 AORUS Elite WIFI7 ICE
PSU: be quiet! Power Zone 2 850W
Case: Fractal Meshify 3 Solid

Software

Downloaded the complete installation image, which at the time was for Debian Trixie.

Opted into LVM for partitioning, which I'd never used before. This answer was pretty useful in figuring out how to add my second M2 SSD as usable storage space:

$> sudo vgdisplay
  --- Volume group ---
  VG Name               bigmachine-vg
  System ID             
  Format                lvm2
  etc.
$> sudo apt install lvm2
$> sudo pvcreate /dev/nvme1n1
$> sudo vgextend bigmachine-vg /dev/nvme1n1
$> sudo lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/bigmachine-vg/root
$> sudo resize2fs /dev/bigmachine-vg/root

Package Management

Add a few things to /etc/apt/sources.list for non-free software:

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie main contrib non-free-firmware non-free
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie main contrib non-free-firmware non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security main non-free-firmware non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security main non-free-firmware non-free

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie-updates main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie-updates main non-free-firmware non-free contrib

Then run dpkg --add-architecture i386 and the usual apt update and upgrade.

Nvidia Graphics Drivers

Debian Wiki pages: https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers and https://wiki.debian.org/SecureBoot#dkms.

Make sure to install the dkms stuff for Secure Boot before installing the drivers, otherwise you might not be able to boot anymore (this is recoverable by booting in rescue mode to uninstall the drivers). Then installing the drivers looks something like:

$> sudo apt install nvidia-detect nvidia-kernel-dkms linux-headers-generic
$> nvidia-detect
$> sudo apt install nvidia-driver

Steam

There's a Debian Wiki page for Stream: https://wiki.debian.org/Steam.

Install the steam-installer package and run it. For some reason I'm able to start steam from the command line, but not from the desktop icon. To avoid crashing upon start, I also had to set the following values in .local/share/applications/steam.desktop(found in this Reddit thread):

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false
X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=false

There are lots of tips on how to run games well on Linux in https://www.protondb.com/, for example Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition needed some custom launch options: WINE_CPU_TOPOLOGY=6:0,1,2,3,4,5 %command%.

NFS

Activated the NFS feature on my Synology NAS:

How to access files on Synology NAS within the local network (NFS) - Synology Knowledge Center

Synology Knowledge Center offers comprehensive support, providing answers to frequently asked questions, troubleshooting steps, software tutorials, and all the technical documentation you may need.

Synology Knowledge CenterSynology Inc.

Mounted on the desktop (the volume name is available in the Synology NFS settings):

$> sudo apt install nfs-common
$> sudo mount -t nfs "192.168.1.80:/volume1/Data" nas

This lets me access everything from $HOME/nas/.

Conclusion

This all works pretty well!