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Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

phoronix.com

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Re: Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

#291

Post by hamdingers »

sandworm101 wrote: post #257
ranger207 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is from the Steam hardware survey. Steam doesn't run under Wine generally so this problem shouldn't come up

Proton is a modified version of Wine. If the underlying game is sending a bug/crash report, it may "see" itself as running under windows as that is what wine presents. https://github.com/valvesoftware/proton "Proton is a tool for use with the Steam client which allows games which are exclusive to Windows to run on the Linux operating system. It uses Wine to facilitate this."

True but irrelevant, these numbers are reported by Steam which is running natively on Linux.

It launches proton, it is not itself running on proton.

Re: Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

#293

Post by ranger207 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #257
ranger207 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is from the Steam hardware survey. Steam doesn't run under Wine generally so this problem shouldn't come up

Proton is a modified version of Wine. If the underlying game is sending a bug/crash report, it may "see" itself as running under windows as that is what wine presents. https://github.com/valvesoftware/proton "Proton is a tool for use with the Steam client which allows games which are exclusive to Windows to run on the Linux operating system. It uses Wine to facilitate this."

Correct. Steam, a native Linux app, will run Windows games via Proton. As Steam itself, which is collecting the data in TFA, is a Linux app, it shouldn't be affected by thinking it's running under Wine/Proton. As to your original question, I don't think many developers release information on what OSes their players are using, so I don't think we can tell

Re: Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

#294

Post by jms703 »

mancerayder wrote: post #240
sonzohan wrote: post #4

When Windows 11 was force-installed on my main game development desktop, I was skeptical, but kept using it. I was annoyed at having to turn off all the tracking and noise (like news articles) When it updated and started shoving AI down my throat, with no easy way to turn it off and suddenly lots of data I don't consent to sharing getting used, 11 became the last Windows OS I'll ever use. Whenever the next version co…

That matches my experience almost exactly. I was hanging onto Windows almost entirely due to cutting edge graphics and my Nvidia card on my desktop that I'd built. Windows 10 was already pretty bad, but it felt fast and stable. I think they started putting content in the start menu, and I think I did regedit stuff I can no longer remember to get rid of it. Windows 11 they made us upgrade with a gun to the back of our…

I had the same experience! Not looking back at all.

Re: Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

#295

Post by pavon »

legitster wrote: post #12

The top distro is Arch - implying that the Steam Deck userbase is moving the needle. Linus has said on a few occasions that the main thing holding back user adoption for desktop is a single distro with a clear focus. What Android did for mobile. It's clear that SteamOS could be "that guy" if Valve wants it to be.

No, the growth in Linux in the Steam Hardware survey over the last two years has little to do with the Steam Deck. When the deck was first released it had a big impact, topping out at 45% of all Linux installs in May 2024, but since then the growth has been due to other Linux distros, bringing Steam OS down to 25% of Linux installs today.

Re: Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

#296

Post by sgc »

aeyes wrote: post #264
pantalaimon wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anyone who goes through the trouble to spoof their user agent and I know plenty Linux users.

Unfortunately I have to use some government websites which refuse to work when my user agent contains "Linux x86_64". So I just always spoof it.

Every time I try to change my user agent with a FF extension I get hit with brutal cloudflare captcha loops. How are you changing your user agent in a way that this is not a problem?

Re: Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

#297

Post by Pwntastic »

nijave wrote: post #222
gchamonlive wrote: post #174

I am a long time windows pc gamer, but lately I was having to re-pair my DS4 controller every week or so. But the windows Bluetooth device manager will just refuse to remove that device. So I was periodically having to open the old school device manager, click show hidden and remove the controller there. By the fifth time I got fed up, replaced windows with Bazzite and am happy now. Good riddance.

YMMV, I've not had good luck with Bluetooth on any OS

i run endeavour (arch) and have a handful of things using bluetooth without any issues. i even have my airpods paired and use them constantly with no problems

Re: Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

#299

Post by pavon »

Man the distro breakdown is an even bigger mess than normal:

Feb 2026:

  31.58% Other
  23.83% SteamOS Holo 64 bit
   9.07% ArchLinux 64 bit
   8.59% CachyOS 64 bit
   6.62% Linux Mint 22.3 64 bit
   5.79% Bazzite 64 bit
   5.26% Freedesktop SDK 25.08
   3.82% Ubuntu Core 24 64 bit
   2.83% Ubuntu 24.04.03 LTS 64 bit
   2.59% Linux Mint 22.2 64 bit
March 2026:

  25.64% Other
  24.48% SteamOS Holo 64 bit
  17.60% 0 64 bit
   8.78% Arch Linux 64 bit
   8.01% 64 bit
   6.90% Linux Mint 22.3 64 bit
   3.58% Ubuntu Core 24 64 bit
   1.90% Linux Mint 22.2 64 bit
   1.67% Ubuntu 25.10 64 bit
   1.45% Manjoro Linux 64 bit
I'm guessing that "0 64 bit" and "64 bit" are CachyOS and Bazzite, as I would be surprised to see either of those fall off the list given their current popularity. It is also interesting to see the flatpack installs (Freedesktop SDK) fall off the list.

I really wish that Valve would increase the number of distros they report, or stop breaking out individual versions. The purpose of having multiple versions is to see how quickly people are upgrading and when to stop supporting older ones, but the current presentation doesn't actually let you do that since there is so much churn in which releases make the top 10 cut.

Re: Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March

#300

Post by Neikius »

mikkupikku wrote: post #168
ekianjo wrote: post #40

This means nothing. There is so much up and down based on the active Chinese user base. PHoronox making headlines out of thin air again

M$ shareholders ITT are sweating bullets! Gaming has always been Microsoft's redoubt; without it they will lose the retail market entirely and be left with only the B2B market coasting on the soon forgotten legacy of what Windows once was, and eventually that will dry up too as Windows fails to capture the attention of a new generation of engineers and administrators.

Microsoft pretty much abandoned desktop as is. They are just squeezing out what is left. Their main cash now is azure and office365. And they expect it to be AI next. Kinda obvious by the where the effort goes.
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