Try installing this AUR package: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lib32-libva1-compat

How does one block a post from a friend with an ad-blocker? Do some of your friends type like shills? Is Facebook making numbers up for fun?

I would recommend against Alpine and OpenBSD if you’re new to this. As others have said, almost every distro is private and secure, and barring extreme security concerns you’ll be served well by any of them. IMO pick something that is easier to get started with and has a larger userbase, like Linux Mint, Debian, or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. After you’ve been using Linux for a while you’ll be more comfortable to start investigating Alpine and OpenBSD to see if you like the specific way they do things.

Is your Steam installed via Flatpak? If your Steam is Flatpak’d then it might be pulling in some extra Flatpak dependencies (e.g. Nvidia drivers) that Bottles could be using. If it’s not installed by Flatpak then I’m puzzled, because Bottles shouldn’t be using the base system for anything.

At the very least I would try uninstalling and reinstalling Steam to confirm that it is indeed what is causing it to stop/start working, and also to check if any other dependencies are coming and going alongside Steam.

Are you using uBlock Origin? I don’t get that popup after clicking to a few articles.

Do you have any numbers or examples of games? I know that it’s generally the case that DX9 games often have greater performance through DXVK, but DX11 and DX12 should usually be a little bit slower. Also, CPU-bound games are often faster on Linux in my experience, but it’s rare for games to be CPU-bound (MMOs etc).

Additionally, OpenGL and Vulkan should be faster on Linux (Native or WINE+OpenGL/Vulkan), but I don’t have as much experience with them.

Edit: I found this video which has a few standout games where Linux pulls ahead even on DX11/DX12. Hopefully that’s a sign of future trends.

This is a rare and extreme case, which is probably caused by some sort of fluke in the testing method or due to a bug in the game that Linux is handling better. Usually gaming on Linux is like ~5-10% slower for GPU-bound games.

Generally these sketchy plans can be used for redundant offsite backup. If your offsite backup goes down, you can just get a new provider. I’ve never done it personally, but I know a lot of people use this mentality with e.g. unlimited Google Drive plans, or any other abusive use of hosting services.

WTF is “AI-enhanced storage”. Assuming you treat any data uploaded like it could disappear at any time and encrypt your files before upload using e.g. BorgBackup, Kopia, Cryptomator, GoCryptFS etc, it’s fine to use it if the price makes sense.

I inherently don’t trust a service like this though. If you’re not paying a fair price for something, there’s probably an ulterior motive. Maybe they’re trying to get a proprietary client onto your computer?