Steam's hardware survey now shows many distro's

When Valve will port all their games the number will increase significantly. Also the support from AMD and NVIDIA must be more Linux oriented.

0.71% Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit 
0.38% Ubuntu 12.10         
0.31% Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS 64 bit 
0.20% Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS
0.17% Linux Mint 14 Nadia 64 bit
0.14% Linux 64 bit
0.11% Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 64 bit
0.06% Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
0.05% Linux Mint 14 Nadia
0.05% Arch Linux 64 bit
0.04% Linux Mint 13 Maya 64 bit
0.03% Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy) 64 bit
0.03% Fedora release 18 (Spherical Cow) 64 bit
0.03% openSUSE 12.2 (x86_64) 64 bit
0.02% Ubuntu Raring Ringtail (development branch) 64 bit
0.02% Linux
0.02% Linux Mint 13 Maya
0.01% Gentoo Base System release 2.1 64 bit
0.01% Fedora release 17 (Beefy Miracle) 64 bit
0.01% elementary OS Luna 64 bit
0.01% Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
0.01% Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy)
0.01% Ubuntu Raring Ringtail (development branch)
0.01% Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64 bit
0.01% Gentoo Base System release 2.2 64 bit
0.01% Arch Linux
0.01% openSUSE 12.2 (i586)
0.00% Linux 3.2 64 bit
0.00% Manjaro Linux 64 bit
0.00% Linux 3.2
0.00% elementary OS Luna
0.00% Gentoo 64 bit
0.00% Ubuntu-Secure-Remix 12.10 30nov2012 64 bit
0.00% Chakra Linux 64 bit
0.00% Fedora release 18 (Spherical Cow)
0.00% Chakra" 64 bit
0.00% Fedora release 17 (Beefy Miracle)
0.00% Zorin OS 6 64 bit
0.00% Debian GNU/Linux testing (wheezy) 64 bit
0.00% Sabayon Linux amd64 11 64 bit
0.00% Manjaro Linux
0.00% Linux Mint 12 Lisa 64 bit

that is a lot of distro's to 2,45%

anyways when do they take these ?  as soon as you start it or you need to have it running at a certain time ?  since they still not fixed the tray icon on kde4 (not on my desktop anyways) I only run it when I need it

It's just at a random time when you are logged in.

It's just at a random time when you are logged in.

It happens at the start of the month (though it's possible that users selected to participate who don't log in until later in the month may not see the prompt until then). Users are selected at random to participate. The sample size is unknown, and there have previously been bugs with the sampling process.

I've attempted to keep track of details in the Steam forums.

0.00% Linux 3.2 64 bit

What distro is called Linux? Or is this referring to older Linux distributions in general based on Kernel version? I am curious why they'd include stats for distributions that are practically at 0.00%...

I wonder if there's a future where we'll see 20-40% of the desktop market owned by Linux distributions, in a time where desktops are still important that is.

Quote0.00% Linux 3.2 64 bit
What distro is called Linux? Or is this referring to older Linux distributions in general based on Kernel version? I am curious why they'd include stats for distributions that are practically at 0.00%...

I wonder if there's a future where we'll see 20-40% of the desktop market owned by Linux distributions, in a time where desktops are still important that is.

If you look at Steam.sh, you can see the methods with which Steam grabs this information. When results were published at the beginning of the month, some of us within the SteamLUG community were able to identify that Arch users without lsb-release installed were showing up as "Linux 64 bit" (other distros may show up differently).

It's also pretty easy to put your own text in places where Steam will pick it up. It'll be interested to see if/how Valve go about preventing people from submitting silly distro names.

If my math is correct, all of the Ubuntus together (not counting Mints or any other derivs) come to 1.82%, which is 72.8% of the Linux users.  While I DEFINITELY agree that Valve should be trying to be as cross-distro as possible, these numbers are the reason why they focus on Ubuntu so much (unless you believe people are using Ubuntu with Steam b/c it has the best support).

How can they count OpenSUSE user ? OpenSUSE is not in the UserAgent !

cat /etc/lsb-release 

those distros that doesnt have that are counted as Linux 64bit or Linux

How can they count OpenSUSE user ? OpenSUSE is not in the UserAgent !

no idea what you mean with that, but steam system info shows opensuse just fine

Wow, looking pretty good so far. I'd imaging that these numbers will keep increasing slowly month by month, and it'll be really interesting to see where they go. If I'm hopeful, I'd imagine they will grow very slowly each month, with a slight bump whenever a high profile game is released on Linux.

Hey Cheese, what do you think about a Steam user share visualization for Linux? It might be interesting to watch from here on out.

Actually, when they first included Linux stats, I started manually pulling the data in the hopes that I'd be able to do something with it later. I haven't been very diligent with that, though it's still on my todo list :)

How can they count OpenSUSE user ? OpenSUSE is not in the UserAgent !

If you find your Steam install, and then open steam.sh, you can find the methods that Steam uses to detect distros starting at around line 124.

Quote from CheesenessActually, when they first included Linux stats, I started manually pulling the data in the hopes that I'd be able to do something with it later. I haven't been very diligent with that, though it's still on my todo list
Well to be fair, there wasn't a lot of data to go by until now. With the latest survey, we finally have a good idea of what's going on. It would be cool to see things such as 32 vs 64 bit adoption over time, distribution usage over time, etc. Now that we can actually see a bit more data.

For sure. The first few months' worth of data is definitely interesting in its own right though.

Good news indeed. If we can get by OSX (and it looks like we will), I suspect we will see a lot more developers considering Linux.

It's well known fact that especially during the last two years Ubuntu, mostly because Unity, has lost quite a lot of friends to Linux Mint and some other distributions too (like Mageia). It's very questionable is Ubuntu even the most popular Linux among users today. And surely majority of those Linux users are not using Ubuntu daily, many of us not at all.

It's well known fact that especially during the last two years Ubuntu, mostly because Unity, has lost quite a lot of friends to Linux Mint and some other distributions too (like Mageia). It's very questionable is Ubuntu even the most popular Linux among users today. And surely majority of those Linux users are not using Ubuntu daily, many of us not at all.

I know quite a few Linux users and the Majority probably ~70% are running some flavour of Ubuntu. Granted there has been a vocal minority that have moved on (and really that's the great thing about Linux, the fact we can do that). 

Looking just at the Steam Numbers seem to indicate that is the case. Even if Ubuntu is the Primary target, it does work on Mint, Arch, Suse and Fedora and they are no where near the Ubuntu number.

Quote from Frank ArneIt's well known fact that especially during the last two years Ubuntu, mostly because Unity, has lost quite a lot of friends to Linux Mint and some other distributions too (like Mageia). It's very questionable is Ubuntu even the most popular Linux among users today. And surely majority of those Linux users are not using Ubuntu daily, many of us not at all.

I know quite a few Linux users and the Majority probably ~70% are running some flavour of Ubuntu. Granted there has been a vocal minority that have moved on (and really that's the great thing about Linux, the fact we can do that). 

Looking just at the Steam Numbers seem to indicate that is the case. Even if Ubuntu is the Primary target, it does work on Mint, Arch, Suse and Fedora and they are no where near the Ubuntu number.

Quote from Frank ArneIt's well known fact that especially during the last two years Ubuntu, mostly because Unity, has lost quite a lot of friends to Linux Mint and some other distributions too (like Mageia). It's very questionable is Ubuntu even the most popular Linux among users today. And surely majority of those Linux users are not using Ubuntu daily, many of us not at all.

I know quite a few Linux users and the Majority probably ~70% are running some flavour of Ubuntu. Granted there has been a vocal minority that have moved on (and really that's the great thing about Linux, the fact we can do that). 

Looking just at the Steam Numbers seem to indicate that is the case. Even if Ubuntu is the Primary target, it does work on Mint, Arch, Suse and Fedora and they are no where near the Ubuntu number.

In fact, Steam was built for Ubuntu and is available in the official repository.
For OpenSUSE for instance, you have to install the repository manually or by using 1-Click.

Sure There are more ubunteros than OpenSUSE of Fedora users. But the steam comparison is not fair. I would be glad to see stats from Desura for instance.

The best stats are from wikimedia : Ubuntu sers are roughly 40% of the total Linux users, which seems more accurate.

Sure There are more ubunteros than OpenSUSE of Fedora users. But the steam comparison is not fair. I would be glad to see stats from Desura for instance.

The best stats are from wikimedia : Ubuntu sers are roughly 40% of the total Linux users, which seems more accurate.

Agreed and I am not trying to say Ubuntu is 70% (that was just people I know) of the market really. Just that this mass exodus people keep talking about doesn't appear to exist. If it did, I suspect at least one of the other Distros would be close as installing Steam on Other Distro's isn't hard.