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1.85% of Steam users run Linux

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Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#41

Post by YokoZar »

SwellJoe wrote: post #36
shrikant wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix runs swimmingly well on my Ubuntu setup using the Pipelight plugin in Firefox. I haven't touched my Windows VM in forever!

Cool. That's relatively new. Last time I did research on the subject, you had to run a browser under Wine, and it was just too much trouble for me to go to the trouble to do it. Still seems a little complicated, requiring Wine, and a Silverlight install, but I guess it's an improvement. And, there are a bunch of things I want to watch eventually that aren't on Amazon for free.

The magic is that pipelight is actually still powered by Wine, we've just automated some of the more annoying steps through the use of packages. Pipelight even embeds its own custom version of Wine so you don't have to mess with any of that either.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#42

Post by jebblue »

mcpherrinm wrote: post #35
jebblue wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key was with all the ones I've tried. Not all the Linux games on steam.

The grandparent poster's point is if you played "over a dozen", say, 16 games and one of them failed, then 93.75% of games worked for you. Getting to 99.9% requires a lot more games to succeed for even a single failure. Obviously in context you didn't literally mean 99.9%

Ah OK got it, you're right it was more "they/it/Steam work/works for me" not a scientific assessment, thanks. The percentage was supposed to be like witty or something. My system isn't even a serious gamer machine, cost like $1200 last year.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#44

Post by izolate »

gum_ina_package wrote: post #30

I think the big story here is that ~4% of Steam users run Vista. The year of the Linux desktop is very, very, very far away.

By the time the year of the Linux desktop arrives, desktop computing will be a relic of the past. The year of linux computing however, is already upon us.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#45

Post by jebblue »

recursive wrote: post #24
codygman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution isn't so simple on wheezy if you want to keep your install sane. AKA don't install debs from ubuntu/other repos. When I last checked, what was necessary is backporting a new verison of libgl1-mesa and possibly other things. Haven't had time to see if that fixes it yet though.

Oh well, maybe 2015 will be the year of linux on the desktop.

For me and my wife and me for work it was 2007.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#46

Post by jebblue »

codygman wrote: post #16

I use steam on linux without problems on xubuntu. The problem is my main OS is debian wheezy and mesa is too old. That means I would have to backport libgl1 (iirc) and not fail (like the past 3 times). I reboot into Xubuntu when I want to game though, and don't have any problems. Well except when I hook up to an external monitor... but I have a hacky xrandr script for that. I don't things are quite "there" yet for mo…

>> I don't things are quite "there" yet for most people to game on linux.

You mean Debian Linux which is what you're running. Ubuntu runs Steam just fine even with the Unity interface. I can Alt+Enter to go back to the Desktop and do stuff then get back into a game.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#47

Post by emiljbs »

1qaz2wsx3edc wrote: post #37
i80and wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most games work, but the problems fall into a few categories: 1) Missing libraries: Almost always 32-bit/64-bit problems. 2) Missing executable: this is usually fixed sooner or later. 3) Graphics problems: This shouldn't be a problem on NVIDIA systems, and the Intel Mesa drivers are pretty good these days, but it still can occur.

Ergo StreamOS. I wouldn't bother running Steam on a non-valve distro, it just doesn't seem practical given the options available (Win/OSX/SteamOS). Full disclosure: I use Steam on OSX & inside a Windows VM. My biggest peeve is that Valve restricts the Steam client to a single runtime (meaning: I can't run steam on OSX & Windows at the same time "This account is logged in elsewhere"). So I'm always switching between t…

Or you know, since it's a distro, just get a Valve/Steam PPA.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#48

Post by yeukhon »

Mac users are still very low. I am a Mac user and I play games on my laptop. I hope they can release more games for the Mac platform as well. Although BF4 is not on Steam platform, it'd be nice to have a Mac version.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#49

Post by droopyEyelids »

aspensmonster wrote: post #26

Out of the table, it seems 0.85 percent run some flavor of Ubuntu. That leaves the other 1.00 percent running some other flavor. I've got it running on Debian GNU/Linux (Testing) and play TF2 and CS:S from time to time. I even picked up CS:GO during one of their mega sales for five bucks or so in the hope that they eventually port it over to Linux.

Try Metro: Last Light. I haven't been this into a game since the first half-life. Also, it's 1/3 off for the next 15 hrs.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#50

Post by amscanne »

amscanne wrote: post #5

Anecdote. I actually installed steam yesterday (for the first time, I'm not a gamer) to see the available games for Linux. I was pleasantly surprised that there were a few that looked okay. So I bought a couple. None worked -- mysterious launch errors, etc. No luck after a couple hours of debugging. DISAPPOINTED! I seriously question how many people actually run on Linux vs. login and browse the store? That said, I'm…

I'm replying to myself to provide a bit more context for those asking questions about the games I was trying.

I'm very capable of debugging library and video driver problems. In this case, it seemed to be actual game-internal issues from a recent update. The specific game was built on the Unity platform, and they seemed to have resolved the issues for Mac and Windows but not yet Linux. I'm not annoyed at Steam or the developer (it's reasonable that Linux issues aren't their priority if it's only a tiny portion of users).

My intent was not to say that Steam on Linux is generally broken, just to share my own mildly-amusing experience. :)

On a positive note -- after the initial frustration, I eventually bought Counterstrike and it worked great. I think it's amazing that Steam supports Linux at all, so I wasn't really upset when things didn't work perfectly. I was happy to risk throwing good money after bad, I'm sure I'll be able to play those other games some day.

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