Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March • Hacker News Board

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

#331

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:02 AM UTC

traderj0e wrote: post #325

mikkupikku wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest I haven't owned a dGPU in almost 20 years, but I've been lead to understand that most users with them use them all the time and ignore their iGPU, unless they're laptop users, in which case they might have to use Nvidia's proprietary drivers from what I understand; the installation of which is something Mint makes straight forward for novices, or so I've been lead to understand. Maybe I'm wrong about som…

So Debian is a no because it ships with KDE? Imo Ubuntu deserved to lose its users when they switched to Unity, not because Unity sucks (it does) but because it's unacceptable for a newbie-focused OS to rug-pull its entire GUI like that for any reason. But it's still #1, so realistically the leader is going be either Ubuntu or something corp-supported like SteamOS.

> So Debian is a no because it ships with KDE?

I don't think this is a problem at all. I tend to install Debian from the command line (Arch-style), but from what I remember GNOME is the default DE. DEs are largely a matter of opinion, but I find GNOME to be more polished overall. I do use a few extensions however to recreate a desktop-centric UX (Dock, boot to desktop and a few other tweaks).

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

#332

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:08 AM UTC

fsflover wrote: post #307

traderj0e wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but this comment is part of the reason anyone should rightfully be scared to switch to Linux. Not only do you have to pick one of 999 distros, but every choice is wrong according to someone. Which one do you recommend, and is it the kind that will throw random issues or be called evil?

Debian, if you need a rock-stable system; Fedora for cutting edge.

These are good choices, also consider Arch if you want the most agency over what goes into your system. That being said, you can also build a very minimal system with Debian from the command line with the arch-install-scripts. It's just that Debian stable will freeze relatively old packages for the sake of avoiding breaking updates, such as changes in configuration files that require manual intervention. On a gaming rig however, you will typically want to avoid Debian as you want the latest drivers, latest Proton/Wine, etc. as the performance uplift can be substantial and compatibility keeps improving.

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

#333

Post by ahhhhnoooo » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:10 AM UTC

I moved to Bazzite in October. Absolutely zero regrets.

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

#334

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:15 AM UTC

pavon wrote: post #299

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%…

I wonder who the "other" are? Gentoo users hiding in plain sight?

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

#335

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:26 AM UTC

dannersy wrote: post #62

kleiba wrote: post #39

That's possibly the first time that "skyrocketed" and "5%" have been used together in one sentence.

Of total users 5% is a substantial number of consumers and some would argue a non-trivial amount of market share to ignore when making a product. This also goes without saying that the more adoption we see, the better these alternatives will get as we see consumers and businesses view Linux as worth the investment.

Exactly, 5% isn't much, but it's enough to compel developers to make sure their game runs well through Proton, which is all is necessary these days. Ports aren't really worth it, especially if they aren't going to be as well maintained in the long (cough, Valve, cough).

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

#336

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:29 AM UTC

octagons wrote: post #277

I’ve had a good experience running Arch Linux on my “gaming” PC in the living room. It helps that I’m very comfortable with Linux internals, but I’d say I have no issues or issues that can be fixed with 2-3 clicks about 95% of the time. My setup is basically Arch Linux, ProtonUp-Qt (to easily install specific versions of Proton, the compatibility layer), Steam, and the proprietary Nvidia drivers/Vulkan. I generally h…

> I generally have no issues with Easy Anti-Cheat games like Arc Raiders, but obviously anything that requires secure boot attestation like Arena Breakout Infinite won’t play. I’ve not bothered to try setting up full secure boot as the games that require it aren’t typically in my wheelhouse.

I don't think secure boot will help. I use Arch, and have secure boot set up, but don't see how it would help with kernel-level anticheat. The issue is that anyone can sign their own kernels, so while secure boot is valuable from a security point of view, it does not really certify anything from the point of view of a third party.

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

#337

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:31 AM UTC

zelphirkalt wrote: post #121

I wish things were working so seamlessly for me, as people describe in the comments. There seems to be something wrong with Steam and how it works, so that in my machine (and CPU and GPU from 2019, with official Linux drivers from standard repos, running Debian KDE) it almost never manages to start a Windows game. I will click the green "Play" button, it will change to a blue "Stop" button, as if the application was…

Are your games installed on a standard Linux partition, e.g. ext4? Proton struggles to launch games from NTFS volumes and can silently fail.

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

#338

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:36 AM UTC

foresto wrote: post #316

BatteryMountain wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, don't use debian for gaming, as it is too far behind. Gaming stuff needs a bit more bleeding edge packages. I use Fedora + KDE and everything just works. Fedora's packages are at most a month behind but usually get updates within a week of upstream changes. Debian can be months behind (which makes it rock solid for server workloads). So give Fedora+KDE a try, it works great. It's the one combo that solves a…

Debian Stable gamer here. > Honestly, don't use debian for gaming, as it is too far behind. Gaming stuff needs a bit more bleeding edge packages. Please stop spreading this misconception. There are only a tiny handful of packages that a Debian gamer might need to update, and those are generally available in Debian Backports. It's not what I would call a beginner distro for any purpose, but gaming on it is perfectly v…

This is true, but you may be missing out on performance and compatibility improvements from recent ("bleeding edge") drivers. You need recent hardware for this to be relevant.

Generally speaking, you don't need rock-solid stability on a gaming rig or even a "workstation," since uptime isn't really a consideration. I run Debian on my home server, but my other machines, including a backup laptop, all run Arch. A good Arch setup is incredibly solid.

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

#339

Post by DiabloD3 » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 2:49 AM UTC

sonzohan wrote: post #32

DiabloD3 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will warn you, Ubuntu is basically dead now. Canonical announced that they are no longer using Debian as a base, but the unvetted packages compiled and uploaded by random people on Snap. Please switch to Linux, but find a distro that actually wants you as a user.

Is your name a reference to the Blizzard game? If so, I worked on that :) You're not wrong, but tbh I'd move upstream to Debian. I use Termux on my phone (Z Fold) with Debian and XFCE, and have been extremely pleased with the performance. Combined with a folding keyboard and some AirNeo's, it's become a fantastic micro-development system that fits in a hand bag. Not that I don't like Arch, it has a very few (subtle!)…

Nope, my nick predates Blizzard Entertainment, Co. I chose it as my nick on IRC in early 1991, and have used it everywhere ever since.

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

#340

Post by forrestthewoods » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 3:23 AM UTC

akimbostrawman wrote: post #81

forrestthewoods wrote: post #14

SteamDeck should be excluded from “Linux use” imho. Especially when it comes to click bait headlines. Like yes it is Linux. But SteamDeck is a completely different beast from desktop Linux. They might as well be entirely different OS’s. Especially if the SteamDeck is being used to play Win32 binaries!

>completely different beast from desktop Linux Absolutely not. If you ever actually used it you would know that the only difference is a custom big picture mode like interface. Anything else is literally the same code.

Have a SteamDeck. Have shipped games for Linux.