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Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

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Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#571

Post by wltr »

lukeschlather wrote: post #460
JadoJodo wrote: post #239

I am in this category, but I'm growing increasingly frustrated with the state of the market for OS's: I've used macOS for work for many years and Arch-based derivatives for personal desktop. The challenge with that has always been gaming: Gaming on Linux _mostly_ works, but third-party launchers (e.g., Battle.net, Origin, etc.) HATE it. I also don't love the Proton shuffle (i.e., "Which version of Proton do I need to…

I am still using Windows 10. I use Flow Launcher ( https://www.flowlauncher.com/ ) and have it bound to ctrl-alt-shift-g, but then use an AutoHotkey binding to rebind it to Caps lock. Point being I almost never use the Start Menu, I just use Flow Launcher. And Flow Launcher has half the latency to display with no ads. When I'm forced to update to Windows 11 I may be forced to investigate alternate taskbars. Fundament…

I have a script that puts my laptop from suspend to hibernate automatically within some sane amount of time (hours), and so either I pickup my laptop within hours, or it’s hibernated and reliably not wasting my battery away while sleeping.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#572

Post by wltr »

osigurdson wrote: post #359
PhilippGille wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are still issues. Just going with your example, see the threads in the Framework forum around lid close issues (almost all from Linux users): https://community.frame.work/search?q=lid%20close Reports about high battery drain, suspend issues and similar exist as well. I'm running Fedora on a Framework laptop, but with the awareness that it can require some tinkering.

Current battery life is better than it was on Windows. I know Windows is very good from this standpoint but things always degrade over time. That is my expectation with arch as well - good now but let's see how it is 6 months from now. That is always the real test. Regardless, my laptop is too small to run Windows + WSL so will probably stick with just running Linux.

Arch Linux is an eternal OS, it can migrate through different hardware and there are people who never reinstall it (you don’t need to) for, say, a decade. Mine is half a decade at least, and went through three laptops. The last one was (Intel) MacBook Pro dying on me (the keys), and I just rsynced my system onto another MacBook (booted with Arch install) via ssh. Took me an hour or two in the background. I left my home and returned to a working laptop that needed a few tiny changes in configs here and there.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#573

Post by nomel »

AuthAuth wrote: post #565
nomel wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wish macOS gaming wasn't so expensive. The ever increasing number of GPUs of the world are making the cloud PC gaming services ridiculously cheap. I only pay $12 USD/month (boosteroid, gaming only). If I bought a gaming PC with similar specs, it would take over 7 years to pay it off (no use for a PC besides gaming). That would be 7 years of fixed hardware, where the cloud hardware specs keep improving with time,…

You can easily buy a gaming PC for less than $1000 that provides a better experience than cloud gaming. You also need to remember that these companies are trying to create a market for their product and right now they're happy to sell their services really cheap. Once its adopted it will be raised.

> You can easily buy a gaming PC for less than $1000

I've priced it in the recent past, and was not able to, but I'll believe you. Maybe I'm off by a year or two.

Note that boosteroid supports 4k@120Hz, up to 80Mbps streams. It's not the 1080p of the old cloud services.

> Once it's adopted it will be raised.

Since it's monthly, and switching services takes just a few minutes more than the time it takes to authenticate with steam and download the game, this is only an issue if competition ceases to exist, which would require that these datacenters become saturated. If it does happen, I always have the option of buying a gaming PC.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#574

Post by sschueller »

qwerpy wrote: post #456
sschueller wrote: post #208

I hope we get to a point where enough "professionals" are using it to force companies like Acrobat to offer Linux versions of their software (cough Fusion 360). It is the only thing keeping me from completely ditching my windows VM. Using CAD in a virtulabox VM is torture. FreeCAD is sadly not a viable replacement (maybe in the future but a lot of work is needed). I was able to switch to other tools for other things…

Oh hey another "I'd fully be on Linux if it wasn't for Fusion 360" person. Although in my case I'm too lazy to maintain VMs, so I just use windows as my base OS. Microsoft may force the issue next year when my perfectly good desktop stops getting Windows 10 updates and can't install Windows 11. What's torturous about using Fusion 360 in a VM?

I have no GFX performance with virtualbox. Sometimes I run Fusion via another system and remote connected using NoMachine which works better even with the USB spacemouse connected via NoMachine...

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#575

Post by jraph »

philistine wrote: post #520
jraph wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are talking about the OS while the person you are discussing with is speaking about the kernel. The Linux kernel has its own merits outside standard Linux userspace. I agree, saying that the fact standard Linux distros and Android share the same kernel has no single meaningful implication really undervalues the Linux kernel. I also agree that it's important to keep in mind the two OSes are mostly incompatible. Th…

You’re keeping a discussion on technical reasoning for why Android and Desktop Linux are separated in a list like that, but the reason is not technical. It’s wholly for convenience. We want to know the performance of Desktop Linux separate from Android. Whether or not they are a different OS or not is irrelevant.

> We want to know the performance of Desktop Linux separate from Android

... Because they are a different OS.

> You’re keeping a discussion on technical reasoning for why Android and Desktop Linux are separated in a list like that

Mind you, my motivation to have them separated aren't that technical. Actually, I'd be more interested in the philosophical / social aspects of the question.

That doesn't mean the technical aspects aren't interesting and this subthread is technical, and I've been snipped by the technical inaccuracies present there.

In a way, the philosophical discussion also has less risk of being clouded by technical inaccuracies too, and more chance of succeeding in the technicalities are sorted out, especially in presence of people who know the technical details.

You are free to spark a nontechnical discussion in which you motivate why, technical details aside, we should be interested in having the two separated. Please do!

Actually, I did this a bit there: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44580682#44583693

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#576

Post by IshKebab »

fsflover wrote: post #529
IshKebab wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

9 years of updates it not at all out of line with Mac, iOS, Android etc: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/07/some-macs-are-gettin... Maybe a few more years would have been good but I can't really blame Microsoft for requiring modern hardware support eventually .

They don't allow to install their next OS on capable hardware. This is not fine.

Neither does Apple or Google. I'm not saying it's great but singling out Microsoft here when they're actually the best option out there (apart from Linux) seems silly.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#577

Post by palata »

mcv wrote: post #493
palata wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your points, except this: > thanks to the Steam Deck [...] but I would be reluctant to call that Linux Desktop anymore than I would call Android an uptick for Linux. The Steam Deck very much runs Linux Desktop. Android runs the Linux kernel, but everything else is different. SteamOS is a Linux distribution based on Arch. If you run your Steam Deck in "desktop mode", it is very much a Linux Desktop (with…

The Steam Deck is absolutely a full blown Linux. But it's not a desktop. It's a handheld. Well, unless you hook a screen and keyboard to it, I suppose. No idea how many people do that. But if you do that, phones and tablets also become desktops.

> unless you hook a screen and keyboard to it, I suppose.

You can run Steam Deck in "Desktop mode" without hooking a screen and keyboard to it, and it will be running a full Desktop Linux environment.

If I plug a screen and keyboard to my Android, it's still a mobile OS (e.g. made to run with a touch screen). Samsung has apparently "dex" and Google is working on convergence as well, but this is not yet a thing.

I'm looking forward to being able to hook a screen and keyboard to an Android phone and have it behave like a Desktop Android, though :-).

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#578

Post by fsflover »

IshKebab wrote: post #576
fsflover wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't allow to install their next OS on capable hardware. This is not fine.

Neither does Apple or Google. I'm not saying it's great but singling out Microsoft here when they're actually the best option out there (apart from Linux) seems silly.

I'm not "singling out Microsoft". I reply about Windows in a topic about GNU/Linux. So I compare them.

> when they're actually the best option out there (apart from Linux)

Most people on HN disagree with you, judging by comments here.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#579

Post by palata »

jorvi wrote: post #352
palata wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your points, except this: > thanks to the Steam Deck [...] but I would be reluctant to call that Linux Desktop anymore than I would call Android an uptick for Linux. The Steam Deck very much runs Linux Desktop. Android runs the Linux kernel, but everything else is different. SteamOS is a Linux distribution based on Arch. If you run your Steam Deck in "desktop mode", it is very much a Linux Desktop (with…

You are being obtuse. 99% of Steam Deck users won't ever use the desktop mode except for maybe setting up emulation or Discord. In general, that makes Steam Deck users no more Linux users than people that use Android.

Where does that 99% number come from?

The very reason why I bought a Steam Deck is because it is both a handheld and a Linux Desktop.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#580

Post by whatevaa »

mcv wrote: post #493
palata wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your points, except this: > thanks to the Steam Deck [...] but I would be reluctant to call that Linux Desktop anymore than I would call Android an uptick for Linux. The Steam Deck very much runs Linux Desktop. Android runs the Linux kernel, but everything else is different. SteamOS is a Linux distribution based on Arch. If you run your Steam Deck in "desktop mode", it is very much a Linux Desktop (with…

The Steam Deck is absolutely a full blown Linux. But it's not a desktop. It's a handheld. Well, unless you hook a screen and keyboard to it, I suppose. No idea how many people do that. But if you do that, phones and tablets also become desktops.

It is very visible that Desktop mode is not primary function of Steam Deck, though. Some weird behavior here and there, reboot always goes into gaming mode and so on. It's a gaming handheld first, desktop second.
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