The Steam Hardware & Software Survey is out for October 2024, and the Linux user share has gone back up again to exactly 2%.
  • Stovetop@lemmy.worldEnglish
    713·
    2 months ago

    Surprised it’s not higher. I would have thought more than 2% of people on Steam were using Steam Deck.

    • CMahaff@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      I got the hardware survey on my Windows PC, but not on my Steamdeck. So I wonder if there is only 1 survey per user, and most people don’t use a steamdeck exclusively?

    • Solemarc@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      I could swear it was higher earlier this year/last year but looking at the survey results, Linux climbed to 2% this survey. I think maybe that half remembered headline was something like “Linux is higher than MacOS at 1.5% market share” or something like that instead?

      • Macros@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        9·
        2 months ago

        It does include it. The article list it in detail: 36.79% of the Linux users use the steam deck. And the number is falling, which means there are more users also using Linux on desktop PC (or other gaming handhelds)

        But that may also just be statistical noise.

    • visor841@lemmy.worldEnglish
      34·
      2 months ago

      Steam is a massive worldwide market, and the Steam Deck isn’t offered everywhere. Chinese users for example have to import it, so not many are used there.

    • schizo@forum.uncomfortable.businessEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      thought more than 2%

      What confuses me is a survey earlier this year was 2.32%, so why the actual regression?

      I’d have expected it to go up with more time to sell steam decks and whatnot, not regress by 15%.

    • Tux@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      252·
      2 months ago

      Well maybe Linux most likely to hit ~7% global OS market share and total 5%+ Steam Survey user share next 10 years (its just prediction)

      • KITA@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        55·
        2 months ago

        Keep dreaming. Not that I hope Linux doesn’t do well. But I can’t imagine it’ll continue to grow into the future.

      • Hanrahan@slrpnk.netEnglish
        59·
        2 months ago

        I hope it languishes around 3-4% at most, if it does get 7%-10% enshitification inevitably ensues and it will grow more and get worse

        • rbits@lemm.eeEnglish
          14·
          2 months ago

          If that happens, you can just switch to another distro. That’s the point of Linux

        • pixelscript@lemm.eeEnglish
          6·
          2 months ago

          I’d be more than happy to sacrifice a distro I don’t care about like Ubuntu to the mainstream if it means Microsoft’s market cap gets a sizeable chunk taken out of it.

  • Jeffool @lemmy.worldEnglish
    151·
    2 months ago

    I’d love to make the move, but there’s a one-two punch of: I play Warzone with family. I think anti-cheat there is only going to get worse. Second? I already get caught with the fiddly bits of errors on Windows sometimes and spend too long searching for answers. Any time I see that on Linux it looks like I’d need years more of active learning new problem solving to reach my current level of comfort.

    I’m at that “is it worth planting the apple tree now that I didn’t plant 20 years ago?” thinking.

    • ballskicker@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      17·
      2 months ago

      I’m not really a tech guy at all and I let these nerds talk me into trying Linux Mint, I haven’t bothered with Windows 10 for several months now. There was some frustrating troubleshooting at first but once the settings are tweaked how you like them, the updates don’t negate your tweaks like with Microsoft. I’m sure there’s a lot of functionality I’m not maximizing but I don’t feel the need to. I got my productivity stuff figured out, my game stuff figured out, the last thing I really need to get sorted is why my printer is being such a wiener but I use it so sparingly that there’s not much motivation to mess with that. I did dual boot for a while so I wouldn’t feel overwhelmingly stupid when it came to Linux, so I was able to familiarize myself with the new setup at my pace and that helped quite a bit I think. No harm in going that route, then you can see what happens with Warzone before fully taking the plunge

      • Jeffool @lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        2 months ago

        I actually used Mint for about a year a decade ago, and really liked it then. What made me switch back was the gaming. That said, I hear gaming on Linux has just gotten better and better; just like people in this thread are saying. Whenever I get around to putting together a new PC I’ll probably either dump something Linux on this one or dual boot myself. Sadly I don’t expect Activision to really support it. But hey, Lord knows I’ve been wrong before. (And yeah, printers are often kinda universally assholes though; that we all know.)

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          Admittedly, I don’t play any games with anti-cheat, but my linux gaming experience over the past two years or so has been outstanding. I don’t believe I have encountered a single game that I have wanted to play, but could not. And 99.9% of them work without any tweaking required.

      • Jeffool @lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        hah, respect, but I play Warzone with some cousins who are on console. (Actually I just searched, and I didn’t realize Warframe had crossplay now! I might have to at least get them to give it a shot, thanks for the mention!)

          • Jeffool @lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            Nah you’re good. I’m absolutely going to suggest we give Warframe a try. And if we get off of Warzone, maybe I’ll end up moving sooner rather than later.

    • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      14·
      2 months ago

      If it’s within your budget, grab a Steam Deck and use it in docked Desktop mode. It’s a pretty great introduction into Linux IMO, especially due to the fact that Valve themselves are maintaining the OS, and since it’s running on a fixed hardware platform - most online solutions should be applicable to any problems you may encounter.

      Worst case, you don’t like it you can always eBay it off to recoup most of your costs?

      • Jeffool @lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        That WOULD be a fraction of the cost of a new PC. But given my current one is a 2017 build with a 1080 in it, I’m really hoping to make next year the time to free up some money for it regardless. But I do appreciate the thought!

        • TunaLobster@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          If you can swing it, keep the old PC parts around and put Linux on the old stuff and build up confidence there. I used synergy to move my mouse between windows and Linux and slowly got to the point I felt good enough to jump all in.

  • VonReposti@feddit.dkEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago

    Coincidentally last month I got the survey for the first time since I switched to Linux a decade ago.

  • SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    13·
    2 months ago

    Converted one of my gaming PC SSDs to a Linux disk. and I’m so amazed how well it just works with proton.

    When a have some time I’m going to fully convert it to Linux, with a small Windows VM for the 1-2 tools I sometimes need

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      and I’m so amazed how well it just works with proton.

      Yeah dude!

      I’m relatively new to Linux, so I don’t really have any experience pre-proton. But I get the feeling that there are TONS of people who haven’t tried it in years, that truly do not understand how far it has come. I’m sure they’ve heard that before, etc., but I can say that it’s 100% true this time.

      If you haven’t tried gaming on Linux since before the Steam Deck came out, I implore you to give it another shot. Even better if you use a gaming-oriented distro (I’m on Bazzite now, and it has been wonderful).

      • SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        yeah, proton is amazing.

        I’m using linux for 17 years or so, and just kept my gaming rig as my only windows machine.

        Gaming on linux was super hit or miss. Sometimes wine (at its forks) worked nicely, sometime it was unusable.

        It got a LOT better when everyone started using unity and unreal, as they have native linux compatibility, but proton now closed the gap nicely

    • Yi K@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      2 months ago

      I think Steam automatically uploads your hardware and software spec

    • Dlolor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      23·
      2 months ago

      Random users are asked each month. If you get chosen you’ll get a popup in the Steam client asking if you’d like to participate.

      • dubyakay@lemmy.caEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        Weird that it’d be random when they could just ask every user. Would give a more accurate breakdown on certain categories.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          2 months ago

          That might bias the results towards gaming cafes and people building test machines. Cases where an account is used but a single snapshot doesn’t necessarily reflect what they normally use or that would capture the same machine multiple times.

  • Grass@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    151·
    2 months ago

    I just converted my other brother the other day. atomic distros are great when you are the family tech support guy. Made an ssh only user on all the family computers so I can remotely deal with most of their problems without having to actually touch it or remember their login details.

  • Dimi Fisher@lemmy.worldEnglish
    33·
    2 months ago

    Seriously i hope it stays like that, i don’t want to bother with viruses in the future

          • okamiueru@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            2 months ago

            I see. That’s not what “security by obscurity” means in my world, but the expression certainly sounds like it could. It’s not like I own the meaning of words, so it’s interesting to hear what it means to others. Could also have been meant figuratively, I suppose.

            • JustARegularNerd@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              1·
              2 months ago

              I meant it in the sense of using an obscure operating system to be less likely to be targeted by a threat actor.

              Or to be more general, using obscure software for increased security, over actually correctly configuring and using secure software.

              Viruses already exist for Linux and have for a long time. They are less prevalent than Windows but this obviously shouldn’t be the primary defense strategy for your device.

  • bluewing@lemm.eeEnglish
    11·
    2 months ago

    Whelp, I ain’t helping the cause. I might be running Fedora on both my computers, but I can’t be bothered to game.

    FreeDoom isn’t a game, it’s a lifestyle

  • limelight79@lemm.eeEnglish
    38·
    2 months ago

    Oh, that was me. I installed it on my desktop Linux computer the other day.

    You’re welcome.

  • Camzing@lemmy.worldEnglish
    211·
    2 months ago

    And just to let people know, you are not limited to Linux games only. You can play windows games on Linux. Took me a while to figure this out.

    • ta_leadran_orm@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Just wanted to add to this for those who don’t know, windows games work through a comparability later called Proton, it usually works great, but some games don’t work well with it. (Mostly anticheat and stuff like that causing issues IIRC) I would always recommend checking ProtonDB before purchasing any game without explicit Linux support

        • downhomechunk@midwest.socialEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          I have bazzite on my daughter’s machine. I still had to enable compatibility for other titles. It’s not a huge deal if you know it’s there, but it can be a stumbling block for someone testing the waters.