Hearth OS is a controller-first system for playing games. Steam, Epic, GOG and Xbox sit together in one library you drive with a gamepad, and a full desktop called Mantel is one button away.
Free and open source. AMD, Intel and Nvidia graphics. Built on Bazzite and Fedora Atomic. Also on Windows 11 as Ember.
Two new ways to play together, both Beta Experimental: they're new and haven't been tested on real devices yet, so expect rough edges and send logs from Settings › System when something goes wrong.
Split-screen for 2 to 4 players, even in games that don't have it: every player gets their own part of the screen, their own controller and their own copy of the game, which find each other like on a local network. Each player just presses A to join. Games with anti-cheat aren't supported.
One PC, several consoles: each screen or TV gets its own Game Mode with its own controllers, Steam account, games and saves. Works with a graphics card per player, or one card driving several screens. One button puts everything back.
Quick Resume brings back the game you picked (not another game's frozen picture), the power limit works on the ROG Xbox Ally, a shorter Wi-Fi list that no longer gets the controller stuck, Xbox Cloud Gaming sign-in that doesn't click links while you type, and Ember's panels that stay open when opened with a controller.
The first 0.1 release: a big round of bug fixes, a browser built on Chromium, and a Task Manager and Files app for the desktop, on Hearth OS and on Windows.
The same Hearth look, now on the engine behind Chrome, Edge and Brave, so sites work as they should. Your bookmarks, history and settings come along, and ads and trackers stay blocked.
Close an app that stopped responding, see CPU, memory and GPU use with live graphs, check temperatures, fans and battery, and choose what starts with the desktop. Ctrl+Shift+Esc opens it.
Browse your folders, games, USB drives and SD cards, copy and move with progress, rename, and use the Trash, all with a controller: X brings up the actions.
On Windows, Mantel now looks and works like Hearth OS's desktop: the same icons, wallpapers, taskbar, launcher, Quick Access, Hearth menu, on-screen keyboard and settings, plus night light.
No more jumping selection or menus that skip buttons, a controller that keeps working after Desktop Mode, and Quick Access that always hands the game its controller back.
Update now shows real progress and tells you plainly when you're already up to date, and every release has to prove it can update itself before it's published.
Game Mode runs fullscreen in gamescope, the same compositor SteamOS uses. Everything works with the D-pad, sticks and face buttons, with an on-screen keyboard whenever you need to type.
Mantel is Hearth's desktop. Switch to it from Game Mode for browsing, mods, files and anything else, then hop back with one button. No logging out.
Hearth OS is an image-based system: the whole OS updates as one piece, and if something goes wrong you boot the previous version.
System updates land in the background and take effect on the next boot. A bad one is undone by picking the previous entry.
Built on Bazzite, with its drivers and fixes for the ROG Ally, Legion Go and Steam Deck, and for desktop PCs with AMD, Intel or Nvidia graphics.
Pick a power mode, set the power limit in watts and cap the frame rate, for the whole system or per game. Hearth remembers it across restarts.
Change what each button does and save layouts, right from Settings.
Each store's own sign-in page, with the on-screen keyboard and controller mouse built in.
The overlay is an ordinary window on top, so anti-cheat has nothing to object to.
Install next to Windows or on a whole drive, with a controller or a mouse. Then Hearth offers to bring your Steam, Epic, GOG and Lutris games over.
Sign in automatically like a console, or ask for a password at start and after sleep. Your call, and you can change it any time.
A web browser in Hearth's look, built on Chromium, that blocks ads and trackers. Your bookmarks, history and tabs stay on your device.
The live ISO boots straight into Hearth so you can try it, then installs it from the welcome screen. Handhelds and desktop PCs both work; pick the ISO that matches your graphics card.
For handhelds, desktops and laptops. About 7 GB. Installing erases the drive you pick.
AMD / Intel: Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Legion Go and most desktops and laptops with Radeon or Intel graphics. Nvidia: GeForce GTX 16 series, RTX 20 series and newer.
Switch your current system over. Your files stay, and you can switch back the same way.
AMD / Intel graphics
sudo bootc switch ghcr.io/dragongamer9/hearth:latestNvidia graphics
sudo bootc switch ghcr.io/dragongamer9/hearth-nvidia:latestThe same controller-first library as a Windows shell, with Mantel, Hearth's desktop, in place of the taskbar and desktop (or on top of them). Switch back to Explorer any time. Paste this into PowerShell to install it:
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dragongamer9/hearth-os/main/tools/install-nimbus.ps1 | iexHearth's Game Mode as an AppImage, to try on the Linux you already have.