The day I'm sure many have been waiting for, and just as many probably thought it wouldn't happen. Linux has finally hit 1% again on the Steam Hardware Survey.
Not the first time, in fact years ago when Steam for Linux was pretty fresh we actually saw it remain over 1% for a while. That didn't last long though, and it's been bouncing around at sub 1% for multiple years now as we've been showing on our dedicated Steam Tracker.
Want to see what systems our readers are running? Check out our statistics page.
If we take how many monthly active users Steam has which Valve reported at over 120 million at the start of this year, that would give us an estimated 1,204,000 monthly active Linux users on Steam.
The question in my mind is: why are we seeing a sudden surge? Starting in April 2021 it started to gradually slowly move upwards but now it's a much more pronounced jump. Perhaps this is as a result of the Steam Deck announcement? It certainly wouldn't be surprising to see more people try out Linux as a result of it so they know a bit more about what to expect.
What do you think has caused the recent up-tick in users? Let us know in the comments.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: furaxhornyxQuoting: scaineQuoting: furaxhornyxNo offense, but I have tried Ubuntu Studio, and it is nowhere near a good out-of-the-box experience... In fact that's probably one of the worst distro I tried, and if I didn't have tried others before (and thus know better about the Linux experience), I would probably have migrated to Windows 10 by now...
I have spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out how to tweak Jack and pulseaudio with Cadence, and even now, I am not fully satisfied with this "solution", which is more of a "workaround".
I wish there was a CoreAudio equivalent in Linux (to be fair, I wish it would have been the case in Windows, too). Maybe with Pipewire ?
When did you last try? I ask because Jason Evanghelo thought the same back in 2019, but I think was quite positive about later versions? They lost a lot of developers between 2016 and 2018, which led to some serious stagnation.
I don't remember precisely, but it was somewhere between last summer (2020) and beginning of the year. it was before I got my Ryzen, anyway.
Huh, sounds pretty recent! As I said, I'd heard good things too. That's a shame.
1 Likes, Who?
furaxhornyx Aug 4, 2021
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoQuoting: KohlyKohlGnome out of the box is ugly and to make it useful you have to add plugins to it. The default should be a useable desktop without the user having to do anything.
Imagine if a Windows user had to add a taskbar themselves...
Say what you want about KDE but out of the box it is useful and a user doesn't have to do anything to it.
Indeed it was necessary to add a start menu taskbar in Windows 8
I didn't know about this, but I know that Windows 8 was not particularly loved for its interface....
I believe Microsoft released Windows 8.1 partly to try to fix the UI for desktops
1 Likes, Who?
Philadelphus Aug 4, 2021
Quoting: furaxhornyxFun fact: my grandmother actually has been using OpenSuse for over a decade now I believe (and she's quite happy about it, except when the printer decides to stop working for no apparent reasonPrinters are the bane of computer users everywhere, no matter what OS you use.)
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: PhiladelphusPrinters are the bane of computer users everywhere, no matter what OS you use.
5 Likes, Who?
Quoting: PhiladelphusPrinters are the bane of computer users everywhere, no matter what OS you use.Nonsense, printers are so easy! Also, PC LOAD LETTER.
(Is there a way to actually embed a video in post?)
4 Likes, Who?
Quoting: scaineQuoting: furaxhornyxNo offense, but I have tried Ubuntu Studio, and it is nowhere near a good out-of-the-box experience... In fact that's probably one of the worst distro I tried, and if I didn't have tried others before (and thus know better about the Linux experience), I would probably have migrated to Windows 10 by now...
I have spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out how to tweak Jack and pulseaudio with Cadence, and even now, I am not fully satisfied with this "solution", which is more of a "workaround".
I wish there was a CoreAudio equivalent in Linux (to be fair, I wish it would have been the case in Windows, too). Maybe with Pipewire ?
When did you last try? I ask because Jason Evanghelo thought the same back in 2019, but I think was quite positive about later versions? They lost a lot of developers between 2016 and 2018, which led to some serious stagnation.
As for CoreAudio, I have a musician friend who won't try Linux because of that very lack. Again, Evanghelo has found alternatives, but I think some of these professional niches are where Linux does hurt for the official packages associated with - Adobe stuff, AutoCAD, CoreAudio, and so on. At least Blender is leading the pack. And yeah, hopefully Pipewire continues to mature and becomes the default audio solution.
It depends a lot on the profession, in some the software runs just as well or better since the best software is free, but you can still run the blobs as well.
1 Likes, Who?
gradyvuckovic Aug 5, 2021
Quoting: whizseQuoting: PhiladelphusPrinters are the bane of computer users everywhere, no matter what OS you use.Nonsense, printers are so easy! Also, PC LOAD LETTER.
(Is there a way to actually embed a video in post?)
*Dr Manhattan "I've walked across the surface of the sun" voice*
I've built my own PCs from scratch, created C++ libraries, assembled production web servers still in operation today for companies, written real time OpenGL renderers, mastered dozens of complex design applications when most would lucky to master even one..
... *looks at a threateningly jammed printer I've been asked to fix in front of coworkers* ..
I felt fear. For the last time.
6 Likes, Who?
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoQuoting: KohlyKohlGnome out of the box is ugly and to make it useful you have to add plugins to it. The default should be a useable desktop without the user having to do anything.
Imagine if a Windows user had to add a taskbar themselves...
Say what you want about KDE but out of the box it is useful and a user doesn't have to do anything to it.
Indeed it was necessary to add a start menu taskbar in Windows 8
Yeah and they added it back in soon after
0 Likes
Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: PJOK, look at it. So, first of all, every time I try to use OS X it drives me nuts. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to find a damn file, for instance. Lots of people like it, I'm sure it is excellent in its way, but the idea that it's just inherently intuitive and stuff is a triumph of marketing and socialization over real lived experience.Quoting: Purple Library GuyMint with Mate is IMO good, and very familiar to a classic Windows user, right out of the box.Look for example at OSX - it is completely different from Windows, but quite a bit of pros (for example musicians, graphic designers etc) use it as it offers them a better experience.
Second, there are two main reasons musicians, graphic designers etc. use OS X. The first is that it has an excellent software ecosystem for that kind of people. The second is the excellent and very expensive marketing that have successfully drummed it into the heads of artistically inclined people that they are not cool if they don't use Macs.
The actual user interface is a marginal factor.
The Mac has an edge if you use a laptop as a laptop. The way they have built the UI and navigation around gestures, and have a trackpad that is super comfy instead of stuck in 2008 like Lenovo etc, is lightyears ahead of Linux and Windows. But the moment you want to use it as a desktop (i.e. with a mouse and doing "productivity") it's a cumbersome shitshow that needs "extensions" and other hacks to get it to be even remotely effective to work with. After having used first Windows, then going OSX + Linux, then full Linux, and now ocasionally using OSX (laptop) while majority Linux (desktop + laptop), the gestures is the only thing OSX really does well IMO. The rest of the UI/UX isn't really that great.
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