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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

#491

Post by int_19h »

gchamonlive wrote: post #361
krferriter wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux also doesn't have as good hardware support. While Linux will probably run on most hardware. It doesn't run well. Like you may just immediately give up half or more of your laptop battery life if you switch from Windows to Linux on a particular machine, even if you use a lightweight and up-to-date environment and use TLP and whatever else to tweak kernel settings. I used Linux on my personal laptops for many yea…

> Linux also doesn't have as good hardware support. I once had to patch uvc to support a webcam that wouldn't work natively on Linux. It would advertise one version of the API but implement another. That didn't affect windows which probably already knew and had proper patched drivers for it. We can all but wonder why, but my guess isn't that there is some sloppy dev there and windows is just making up for it. It all…

If you start thinking about a conspiracy, the first thing you should do is ask yourself how much effort it would take to keep it under the lid without anyone leaking.

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

#492

Post by int_19h »

MiddleEndian wrote: post #479
vee-kay wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use Thunderbird Portable as email client. Since M$ is doing away with simple free apps (such as Mail) and forcing users to move to cloud-based expensive apps, you can use FOSS (Free and Open Source) alternatives -- especially the Portable ones (e.g., apps from PortableApps.com) that don't need an install, they can run off a USB drive, and app+userdata can be easily backed up without fuss. https://alternativeto.n…

I tried Thunderbird first, but unfortunately it was kinda heavy and was fairly unreliable, which kinda tracks with my experience before (at least on Windows). Mailspring works fine and is also open source. Couldn't find a decent minimalist calendar program that integrated well with Windows. People say they like OneCalendar but I refuse to use the Windows Store, I even got WSL set up without it lol

Try Vivaldi. It's a "kitchen sink" browser in the same vein as Opera used to be back in its days of glory, so it comes with an email and calendar client that can be optionally turned off:

https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-mail-calendar-feed-reader-a...

But you can also just use it as an email client and ignore the browser part.

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

#493

Post by int_19h »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #448
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only thing windows has focused on has been dark patterns to force users towards cloud and figuring out more and more ways to collect data to sell ads. And backwards compatibility. They're really good at it. And I'd say that's the reason Windows is still dominant. There's this unfathomably long tail of niche software that people need or want to run.

I recall lots of reports of printers and scanners becoming unsupported during one of the Windows version upgrades (possibly the Windows 7 upgrade?).

Likely Vista, that's the last time they did a lot of breaking changes around drivers.

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

#494

Post by int_19h »

ThrowawayB7 wrote: post #238
SteveNuts wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My tech friends always joke that pretty soon we’re going to see “the year of the Linux Windows”, where windows will just be an OS on top of the Linux kernel. I think we’re only half joking though, I could see it happening.

> " My tech friends always joke that pretty soon we’re going to see “the year of the Linux Windows”, where windows will just be an OS on top of the Linux kernel. " There's no need because the Year Of Linux On The Desktop™ already happened and it's called WSL2. Meanwhile, the opposite has also already actually happened: SteamOS + Proton is a distro whose main purpose is to be a launcher for Windows apps on a Linux ker…

There was also the whole "web apps are coming and they run everywhere" thing. Which actually did work out exactly as people expected it to, although it took longer than most predicted - but your average casual PC user spends most of their time in the browser these days.

However, while those web apps might run on Linux (or not, if it uses DRM like all those streaming providers), they increasingly only run in Chrome.

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

#495

Post by gchamonlive »

Yoric wrote: post #462
gchamonlive wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux also doesn't have as good hardware support. I once had to patch uvc to support a webcam that wouldn't work natively on Linux. It would advertise one version of the API but implement another. That didn't affect windows which probably already knew and had proper patched drivers for it. We can all but wonder why, but my guess isn't that there is some sloppy dev there and windows is just making up for it. It all…

I believe that Linux is just a low-priority target. There are so few users on Linux that it's not worth investing in Linux support unless you specifically target Linux crowds.

Makes sense

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

#496

Post by gchamonlive »

int_19h wrote: post #491
gchamonlive wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux also doesn't have as good hardware support. I once had to patch uvc to support a webcam that wouldn't work natively on Linux. It would advertise one version of the API but implement another. That didn't affect windows which probably already knew and had proper patched drivers for it. We can all but wonder why, but my guess isn't that there is some sloppy dev there and windows is just making up for it. It all…

If you start thinking about a conspiracy, the first thing you should do is ask yourself how much effort it would take to keep it under the lid without anyone leaking.

As the other commenter said, way more likely that Linux is just a low priority for hardware manufacturers.

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

#497

Post by codingrightnow »

SteveNuts wrote: post #43
TACIXAT wrote: 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…

The only thing windows has focused on has been dark patterns to force users towards cloud and figuring out more and more ways to collect data to sell ads. I’m not naive, I know a ton of huge enterprises still run huge fleets of windows “servers” but I still find it hilarious that a supposedly serious server OS would default to showing you the weather and ads in the start menu.

I just installed windows on a new laptop and somehow my user directory was setup in a OneDrive subfolder and backed up to their cloud. Between that, Microsoft basically demanding I use their online account to log in, Windows harassing me to finish setting up my computer every time I turn it on because they want me to change my default browser and buy subscriptions, and the random forced update restarts I can't seem to fully disable, I've had it. So I finally made the full time switch to kubuntu. Also, it's a brand new $1k laptop with 16gb of RAM and Windows uses half of it. I'm closing apps to save the RAM. Kubuntu uses 2gb.

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

#498

Post by codingrightnow »

int_19h wrote: post #492
MiddleEndian wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried Thunderbird first, but unfortunately it was kinda heavy and was fairly unreliable, which kinda tracks with my experience before (at least on Windows). Mailspring works fine and is also open source. Couldn't find a decent minimalist calendar program that integrated well with Windows. People say they like OneCalendar but I refuse to use the Windows Store, I even got WSL set up without it lol

Try Vivaldi. It's a "kitchen sink" browser in the same vein as Opera used to be back in its days of glory, so it comes with an email and calendar client that can be optionally turned off: https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-mail-calendar-feed-reader-a... But you can also just use it as an email client and ignore the browser part.

The Vivaldi web browser tab groups are a killer feature. It's my main browser because of this.

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

#499

Post by int_19h »

throwaway106382 wrote: post #210
xrd wrote: 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.

What if you want to play with keyboard & mouse?

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

#500

Post by Saris »

DanielHB wrote: post #489
TACIXAT wrote: 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…

Can I transfer my Overwatch battlenet account to steam? I really want to jump ship too. How is Proton with nVidia drivers? I have a 3080. Those are the last 2 issues keeping my home desktop on windows-land

You can also add external games to launch via steam too, so you might be able to do it without transferring.
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