Vs stock secureblue · vs CachyOS
Play the match. Then the box locks itself again.
Stock will let you game. The problem is what happens after. Their Steam install turns on Xwayland or anti-cheat and leaves those holes open until you remember to close them. Unwoke asks once, then a play window borrows CachyOS’s session trick — GameMode while the title runs — and puts every overlay lock back when you quit. Crash or reboot: the leftover stamp is a fail, not a quiet weaker machine.
Restores No kernel swap Nothing silent
One sentence. Same signed secureblue kernel. Faster governors for the match. Full Unwoke the moment Steam exits. We do not become CachyOS. We do not stay as loose as stock.
Three rooms
01 · Stock
They loosen and forget
Need Xwayland? ujust set-xwayland on. Need Easy Anti-Cheat? ujust set-ptrace on. Tomorrow you are in the browser with ptrace still allowed. There is no “the game is over.”
02 · CachyOS
They rebuild the whole OS for FPS
Custom kernel, packages compiled for your CPU, Proton with extra patches. That is a different, faster computer. It is not a signed secureblue ostree. You cannot overlay it and still say “same foundation.”
03 · Unwoke
A window, not a second OS
Setup → Gaming, or ujust play steam. Fedora GameMode raises CPU/GPU governors for that process. Close Steam: a watcher restores. Optional asked sched-ext is the closest CachyOS switch without their kernel. SMT and Spectre mitigations stay.
Who wins what
| Stock secureblue | CachyOS | Unwoke | |
|---|---|---|---|
| After you quit | Xwayland / ptrace often still on | Still a gaming distro | Locks back. Stamp leftover with no game = FAIL |
| Steam install | Unfiltered Flathub, no overlay questions | Their stack, not Atomic | Asks Flathub, lockdown, temp, mic, BT first |
| Session speed | No GameMode story | GameMode + sched-ext + their kernel | GameMode baked. sched-ext asked, session-only |
| Kernel | Signed hardened Fedora | linux-cachyos (LTO, BORE) | Same signed stock. We will not swap it |
| SMT / mitigations | Off / on for Spectre — reboot to change | Tuned for frames | Left as stock. A play window cannot flip this |
| Prove it | audit-secureblue does not know overlay locks |
n/a | ujust play stop then ujust unwoke-test |
What turns on by itself when you click Steam
| CachyOS does | We do automatically | When you quit |
|---|---|---|
game-performance (power profile) |
Yes — powerprofilesctl set performance (Fedora already ships this via tuned-ppd) |
Previous profile |
| GameMode (if they install it) | Yes — CPU governor, GPU high, screensaver off, split-lock stutter fix | GameMode clients leave; kernel split-lock back on |
sched-ext scx_lavd gaming |
Yes if Fedora shipped scxctl. Opt out: ujust play scx off |
Default kernel scheduler |
| Proton NTsync / fsync | Yes — env on the Steam wrapper + ntsync module |
Process gone (module can stay; it is Fedora’s Proton path) |
| linux-cachyos + rebuilt mesa | No. That is a different signed kernel. We keep stock | — |
| SMT / Spectre off | No. Reboot-only, and we will not | — |
The leftover FPS gap is their kernel and rebuilt packages. Everything else that can be a session is automatic. Click Steam. Close Steam.
On the machine
ujust install-steam
# then just click Steam in the app grid
# play
# close Steam — restore is automaticNo extra command to “turn it off.” A login agent sees Steam start and quit. ujust play stop still exists if you want it. Healthy later: ujust unwoke-test says PASS no play window. How-to: Play window tutorial.
What this page does not claim
We will not beat CachyOS at raw FPS on a weak GPU. Their rebuilt mesa and kernel are real. We will not turn off Spectre mitigations “just for the game.” We will not silent-enable ptrace. The sell is simpler: you can play, and you do not stay open.