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Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

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Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#371
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I think the end of the “world revolves around Windows” era of Microsoft has been hugely beneficial to the OS. Microsoft is way less hostile to other platforms now that their main revenue source is Azure, not Windows, Visual Studio, and SQL Server licenses. It seems like the Windows team has been freed to add features that they want rather than adding features that fit into a narrative. WSL, pre-installing…

I disagree that Microsoft benefits the end user. Their IoT which took over the Embedded version of Windows is completely bloated in 10 and higher. Version 7 allowed for only installing necessities where their successors force XBox and other built in forced features . Windows 11 IoT is also forcing the creation of a Microsoft account instead of allowing an local account. IoT / Embedded does not mean it is connect and…

Isn’t Windows IoT a pretty niche distribution? Surely it’s less than 1% of Windows users.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#372
post #26

I just made the switch. I had been developing on Windows for the last couple of years, mostly to get used to the ecosystem. I wanted to be able to write C and C++ like I do on Linux, without an IDE and with the native toolchain (i.e. no cygwin). On top of that, I play Overwatch every night. Windows just seems to have zero focus on performance though. React based start menu with visible lag, file Explorer (buggily) pa…

I never understood why file search is SOOO bad on windows (mac too). Its so damn slow and even feature wise I never figured out why it was so difficult to just search for files in this directory

File search is also the fastest thing among all the 3 OS it's not even funny. Just use the Everything search app and a good file manager that can integrate Everything.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still don't understand how search just can't file files with the string I write in the search bar on the name. Or menu items either. Some file browsers on Linux have this problem too, and the KDE launcher had it for years (it's fixed now).

For a look into a parallel universe of what could be, check out Everything[0]. Super fast search that should be embarrassing for Microsoft. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_(software)

It's a must have for me on Windows. Now that I'm on Linux, Fsearch is a pretty good replacement.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#374
post #63
post #26

I just made the switch. I had been developing on Windows for the last couple of years, mostly to get used to the ecosystem. I wanted to be able to write C and C++ like I do on Linux, without an IDE and with the native toolchain (i.e. no cygwin). On top of that, I play Overwatch every night. Windows just seems to have zero focus on performance though. React based start menu with visible lag, file Explorer (buggily) pa…

I switched a couple months ago. This is my third time trying to switch to desktop Linux, and things are very different this time. I installed CachyOS and all of my hardware just worked, including NVIDIA/Wayland. No real bugs beyond incorrect monitor positioning, and some tinkering needed for Diablo 4/Battle.net. The Diablo 4 issue is present on Windows as well, and ironically, there isn't a fix on Windows for those a…

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Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Games on Mac are a multifaceted problem, but IMO the main issue stems from Apple treating games like they do apps. They expect developers to continue to support them, to update them as APIs get depreciated. Apple can spend all the resources they want, but they'll never be able to convince enough developers to foster a gaming ecosystem that could ever be taken seriously when there's other platforms that have 20+ years…

Two more points to that: First, due to substantial differences in graphics hardware, that is tiled-based deferred rendering for Apple Silicon and immediate mode rendering for NVIDIA and AMD the software simulation or translation layer will never be as good as DXVK/VKD3D, which essentially do rendering on exactly same GPUs. In case of using TBDR the pipeline must be rewritten to get the benefits. Simply put, for Apple…

> the software simulation or translation layer will never be as good as DXVK/VKD3D

> every Windows game wrapped in a translation layer will be significantly worse

That's not wholly accurate, though. Apple Silicon has reverse-engineered drivers that do perfectly well keeping up with immediate-mode multiple-pass graphics pipelines, MoltenVK is not SOTA anymore: https://youtu.be/BbJMPfXTbbE?t=447

You're correct that tile-based deferred rendering is more efficient. That's not the issue, though. Apple can (and already does) support traditional raster APIs on the desktop, because they have to for compatibility's sake. Thousands of Mac apps will never use TBDR or Metal and will never be updated to use it. And there's no good reason to stop supporting those applications, because OpenGL runs perfectly well on Apple Silicon. The same goes for DirectX, whether you're willing to acknowledge it or not.

There are hundreds of thousands of games that do not support TBDR and will never be ported to Mac in their lifetime; and Mac owners could be playing them regardless. The only one holding them back is Apple, because they'd rather Mac owners play Genshin Impact and earn Tim a few RSUs with a gachapon pull.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#376
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I discovered that you can actually encrypt the home directory on SteamOS as well, its a kind of ultra beta feature but it actually seems to work fairly reliably aside from requiring you to set it up via SSH from another computer https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/holo/dirlock/-/wikis/Enabling-d...

If I could install SteamOS on my PC I'd do it!

Bazzite basically is SteamOS for desktop. I’ve got a steam deck and PC with Bazzite and I probably couldn’t tell you which is which if you just showed me a TV with one of them running.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sweeney said Linux is cancer when they stopped Linux support for Rocket league, so probably unlikely.

He said that the market share wasn't worth it. Yet they support MacOS (which has had a lower market share compared to Linux in this segment for a while).

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Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#378
post #80

I was really proud that my kids (8,10,12) all have used linux for gaming for the last several years. Steam runs perfectly for most games. And, they know how to to use "flatpak update" to update the sober runtime for Roblox (I know this is not steam, but it is an example of how well other things run on linux). I'm so proud (and ashamed they play Roblox, but choose your battles). But, Fortnite. I tried to run a Windows…

We've been playing Fortnite by "streaming" from xbox cloud gaming (for free) over the last couple of months. For the most part it's worked great. Sessions are limited to one hour, resolution is relatively low, and depending on the day/time... there can be more than a little input lag.

But this truly was the one game my kids couldn't play from Linux that they wanted to.

Amazon prime gaming and GeForce Now also allow linking epic accounts to stream games. I've read GeForce now offers a free, somewhat limited tier as well... but we haven't tried it yet.

Is strange using a game streaming service from proper Linux-only gaming rigs... but I think that’s the only real option right now. :)

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#379
I'm one of them! I dipped my toe in the water with a Steam Deck and had such a great experience that I recently purchased a Framework Desktop and installed Bazzite on it. It's been great. Everything I play just works and the performance is good enough to just forget about as a concern.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#380
post #80

I was really proud that my kids (8,10,12) all have used linux for gaming for the last several years. Steam runs perfectly for most games. And, they know how to to use "flatpak update" to update the sober runtime for Roblox (I know this is not steam, but it is an example of how well other things run on linux). I'm so proud (and ashamed they play Roblox, but choose your battles). But, Fortnite. I tried to run a Windows…

Fortnite is a problem because of kernel level anti-cheat, trying to get it work on Proton....will probably be a long time. The solution is: buy a Playstation.

Yeah. Consoles should be consoles. It should be considered unacceptable for a general purpose computer to run kernel level DRM.
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