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Quoting: BrokattGreat! Looking forward to february.

Anyone knows if they removed the annoying window that popus up every time you start a controller, requiring you to give permission to the controller to actually control things?

The what now?? Is that a Plasma window, or a Steam one? Got a screenshot?

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Quoting: PhlebiacmacOS usage declined for years

I wish to assume this is because macOS users use Heroic Games Launcher or Crossover to play Windows games with Windows version of Steam but too few people bother with that. macOS is a minority platform like us so I'd rather see them strong instead of cheering when Linux takes over Macs.
sent from my MacBook running Linux😁

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Quoting: sarmadThe GabeCube's target audience is mostly Steam Deck owners who want to continue their gaming session on TVs with better resolution and frame rate, and those won't bother with anti-cheat because they'll mostly be running the same games that run on the Deck.

Is that the only possible audience? Such people would be satisfied no doubt however I expect buyers to play different games on the cube, F2P FPS or retail AAA games more often while on Deck the most popular game was Vampire Survivors for months with many other indies in the mix.
Perhaps DOA was a strong word, the better way to put it would be "many people would refund it". Which I believe can create a negative impression and push away potential new buyers but yeah I was pessimistic.
I'm partly this pessimistic because where I live the go-to game most people play together is EA FC (formerly FIFA), there are even "PlayStation cafes" where people meet up and play EA FC. The cafes have PS4/5 with a selection of games but typically everyone plays EA FC, which doesn't work on Linux. But the Deck is not even sold in my country sooo...

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Quoting: Phlebiac2) macOS usage declined for years, but in recent times it has scaled at nearly the same rate as desktop Linux. I wonder what factors are involved with that; I don't think Valve has done anything major on that front, and to my knowledge Apple hasn't done anything to improve things for gaming (they are actively hostile to it in some ways).

MacOS profiting from Windows 11 as well? If you're not keeping your box and install Linux on it, maybe buy a new one with a new OS?

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Quoting: CatKillerIn case you'd like a graph

Thanks for making that, it illustrates two perhaps surprising points:

1) Steam Deck usage has stayed relatively flat - or more accurately, has scaled at the same rate as total Steam usage.

2) macOS usage declined for years, but in recent times it has scaled at nearly the same rate as desktop Linux. I wonder what factors are involved with that; I don't think Valve has done anything major on that front, and to my knowledge Apple hasn't done anything to improve things for gaming (they are actively hostile to it in some ways).

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I never tried Bazzite on the Legion Go, I went with SteamOS directly and it's great! You still have to install Legion Go Remapper for controlling the lights and the back buttons can't be disabled so I accidentally press them all the time. Guess HHD fixed this on Bazzite?

The controllers are so weird that I have to put grips on it. Even when resting the device on my stomach with a pillow its weird to hold it :D I mostly played GeforceNow (Ultimate) at 1600p max settings and it sucks you in.

I got a 512GB Open Box model for a super cheap price after 3 years Steam Deck only. Looks like we got the same intention. I got mine after the expensive announcement of the Legion Go 2 :D I installed a 2TB SSD 2 months ago and will soon try Dual booting. I recently installed Windows again to see Full Screen Experience and all that stuff and play the few games that are not working on Linux. Man… it's such a mess. It's really an "Experience" but not a good one lol

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Quoting: mattaraxia

Quoting: mr-victoryI feel that the GabeCube *ahem* Steam Machine will be DOA due to anti cheat, I hope to be proven wrong but Windows on ARM laptops being frequently returned item on Amazon doesn't give me confidence, those laptops' game compatibility issues are not that different from ours... the advantage Deck had was being a handheld so who cares if an fps doesn't work.

If the Deck wasn't DOA because of anti-cheat, why would the cube be?

That just makes no sense. Will it be a bit limited? Sure. Will there still be tons of people who don't care about games like Battlefield? Clearly the answer is yes.

It's not expected to sell 50 million units, even 5 is a . . . huge success.

I'm not sure they're right, but I do see their point: People expect different things and play different games on a handheld.

When I buy a handheld, I expect the handheld games to work (like on Switch). And I wouldn't want to play FPS on it. On a box on the other hand, on a "real PC", I'd expect "every game" to work.

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: Marlockthe percentage of linux machines with Deck-exclusive GPUs is now smaller (iirc it reached ~50% for a while) so linux growth is now driven by actual linux distros installed on PCs, laptops, etc, not a niche console that happens to have linux in it but you might never realize it, if seen as just a console

In case you'd like a graph:

External Media: You need to be logged in to view this.

I'm going to hazard a guess that in Feb 2025, the Steam Survey showed a great big surge in Simplified Chinese. 😁

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Great! Looking forward to february.

Anyone knows if they removed the annoying window that popus up every time you start a controller, requiring you to give permission to the controller to actually control things?

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For once I actually played most of the games on the list. It's very positive that almost all games are indie and not AAA.

Silksong was an experience to play. Looking forward to the DLC unless that one also develop into it's own game just because Team Cheery can't stop themselves ;) Both Peak and RV there yet have been a blast with friends. Baldurs Gate 3 have gotten classes, cut scenes and even a Linux port since release. I haven't finished Dispatch yet but the story is interesting. I will get around to Clair Obscur, Arc Raiders, Hades II and Silent Hill f at some point. If I can only stop playing Path of Exile 2...

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Quoting: mr-victoryI feel that the GabeCube *ahem* Steam Machine will be DOA due to anti cheat, I hope to be proven wrong but Windows on ARM laptops being frequently returned item on Amazon doesn't give me confidence, those laptops' game compatibility issues are not that different from ours... the advantage Deck had was being a handheld so who cares if an fps doesn't work.

Not really. The GabeCube's target audience is mostly Steam Deck owners who want to continue their gaming session on TVs with better resolution and frame rate, and those won't bother with anti-cheat because they'll mostly be running the same games that run on the Deck. According to Valve 20% of Steam Deck owners connect their Decks to TVs despite the Deck being underpowered for TV experience, so the demand is actually there.

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Quoting: ertuqueque

Quoting: EssojeI'd love to appreciate these small victories for Linux, but together with the RAM crisis and the news lately, all I can see here is the gruesome death of consumer PC hardware. It's like partying on top of a sinking ship.
This will likely force people who want to play games to be part of a closed garden like game consoles, or to pay for remote applications/machines. It really feels like we are going back to the remote terminal days, as ironic as that is.

I'm most likely wrong, but if I dare to speculate (and dream), maybe the RAM crisis will persuade people to stick with their current, aging PCs and what better for an aging PC than Linux?... Some people won't be able to afford a new PC to install Windows 11 so they'll try Linux.

Especially in combination with Win10 EOL. You can't hold to on it, but you can't replace it, maybe ditch it.

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So nothing about rumored Radeon 9080/9090, and not even Ryzen 9950x3d2? I'm in the middle of building a new PC now and I was really counting on them... For me it's the worst showcase in the last five years.

P.S. Before anyone asked: I got lucky to buy my RAM in advance around August 2025. So at least it is that, yea. Still sulking about the showcase.

:(.

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It's a very nice trend. But there are too many variables to predict what will happen. It helps that Linux seems to be getting more positive press lately. And lot's of disenfranchised desktops/laptop should have been freed up by the TPM 2.0 debacle; so, hopefully some of that will continue to come back online with Linux. But it won't last forever.

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Quoting: kernelkid

Quoting: elmapulso that means we have fortinite now?

I've been playing (on linux) via my GFN sub for about 2 or 3 years now, using the browser based app.

great! not that i care about this game, but for the people who do and can play it on linux...

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Quoting: elmapulso that means we have fortinite now?

I've been playing (on linux) via my GFN sub for about 2 or 3 years now, using the browser based app.

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Quoting: EssojeI'd love to appreciate these small victories for Linux, but together with the RAM crisis and the news lately, all I can see here is the gruesome death of consumer PC hardware. It's like partying on top of a sinking ship.
This will likely force people who want to play games to be part of a closed garden like game consoles, or to pay for remote applications/machines. It really feels like we are going back to the remote terminal days, as ironic as that is.

I'm most likely wrong, but if I dare to speculate (and dream), maybe the RAM crisis will persuade people to stick with their current, aging PCs and what better for an aging PC than Linux?... Some people won't be able to afford a new PC to install Windows 11 so they'll try Linux.

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YESSS
YESSSSSSSS

I was affected by this bug across multiple distros, finally no more clicking Manually Block Screen and Sleep locking.

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Quoting: mr-victoryI feel that the GabeCube *ahem* Steam Machine will be DOA due to anti cheat, I hope to be proven wrong but Windows on ARM laptops being frequently returned item on Amazon doesn't give me confidence, those laptops' game compatibility issues are not that different from ours... the advantage Deck had was being a handheld so who cares if an fps doesn't work.

If the Deck wasn't DOA because of anti-cheat, why would the cube be?

That just makes no sense. Will it be a bit limited? Sure. Will there still be tons of people who don't care about games like Battlefield? Clearly the answer is yes.

It's not expected to sell 50 million units, even 5 is a . . . huge success.

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Saw the thumbnail and get more excited each face I saw, this looks rad!

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so that means we have fortinite now?

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Quoting: JarmerMS doing the linux community the best favor ever!

they said they love linux , looks like they meant it

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ugly as hell '-'

but at least the design is original

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Quoting: Saracen26I've been using Linux on and off for 19 years. Primarily for curiosity and the last decade for the Emulation side of things. My 2020 Gaming PC still recently ran on Windows 10 for convenience. I then the purchased a Legion GO S (SteamOS) and it proved incredible. So I was looking for a brand new rig to install CachyOS on. Now the RAM crisis has hit, I can't afford a new build so I stripped Windows on my current rig and went to CachyOS anyway. I wish I'd done this sooner, especially since I don't do multiplayer gaming. I don't think I realised how good Linux Gaming has gotten.

As you, so nicely display. It's easy to know Linux without knowing the quality of Linux gaming.
They're two very, very different worlds.
Linux is mostly driven by chip strength and price in the sense that every new use case for computers uses Linux by default and places new strains on vendors to support it and that computational potential is directly related to chip power.
Linux gaming is not driven by new potential, discoveries and/or research, but market politics. The fear of others drives one to free software, since if everybody is super(user) nobody is.

Valve sacrifices games for API and market access certainty.
Microsoft sacrifices customers to get stronger IP(Intellectual Property) guarantees in the wider sense.
Apple knows that anti-trust concerns only stop Microsoft from retracting killer app access as long Linux stays insignificant, so they backed the Wine project. Even fear for Linux can drive one to contribute to it, since open source lifts all boats.
Microsoft multiple times tried to sacrifice the game market to rid themselves of Intel's hold on their business.

Yet NVIDIA improves Linux not out of fear, but reward through the AI bubble.
Google throws considerable weight behind it, because of Android.
Printer vendors introduced wireless printing for mobile.
Most virus scanner support comes from the cloud.

The best example are though containerized packages(such as snap, Flatpak, etc.).
The Cloud drove demand for binary formats(packages) and saw the value of a standard(appimage), mobile drove containerization, but mostly after a direct compile and fear for sketchy games and production software drove Canonical to Snap, but nobody trusted it, which drove the community to Flatpak, which does the same, but federalized.
This's where we're now.
The next step would probably be government pressure on repos, which would drive it to decentralization(think torrenting, but with peerage based trust metrics).

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I'm doing my part!

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Quoting: pbWow, that's a huge difference. It seems that Linux is gaining momentum!

Just a few more decades and we'll finally eclipse Windows!

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Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: EssojeI'd love to appreciate these small victories for Linux, but together with the RAM crisis and the news lately, all I can see here is the gruesome death of consumer PC hardware.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. The AI bubble is getting rickety . . . and when it pops, it will probably take a whole lot else with it, including crypto. At that point all the computer stuff will get cheap again. With the massive recession nobody will have any money so we still won't be able to afford it, but it will be cheap.

Crypto already popped this's its stable state: infinite rug pulls.
Yes, individual coins sometimes go up and sometimes down. If it was stable it would be unsuited for rug pool scams and illegal trade.
Nobody is buying large amounts of mining hardware anymore, because scamming poor smugs out of their money is more profitable.
Crypto won't die. It fulfills some pretty important functions for those in power. Criminals and intelligence agencies profit at the cost of law enforcement. Members of volatile state managed economies have a relative "safe haven" for their assets(remember after the rug pull many crypto assets have an acceptably stable price development).

AI replaced it and instead of attracting wealth from the powerful who have to hide their faces in fear, it spoke to a higher class, which knows it's above the law and thus doesn't have to hide anymore. They buy the same things in the same order.
CPUS->GPUS->ASICS->RAM->Customers.
There is one difference this time the start wasn't open source, so they managed to get themselves trapped in a vendor lock in.
Tip if you have an ancient computer science problem you think you can make less hard with unending amounts of computational resources, just follow the playbook and get rich.

Edit:
Might I suggest software proving(by exhaustion).

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Quoting: Marlockthe percentage of linux machines with Deck-exclusive GPUs is now smaller (iirc it reached ~50% for a while) so linux growth is now driven by actual linux distros installed on PCs, laptops, etc, not a niche console that happens to have linux in it but you might never realize it, if seen as just a console

In case you'd like a graph:

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I've got Slay the Spire 2 and Witchbrook on my wishlist. Most of the other games on there that haven't already released have annoying release dates of "To be announced" or "Coming soon" (I thought that one wasn't allowed anymore?), but in theory the [Colonies](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4143120/Terraforming_Mars__Colonies/) expansion for Terraforming Mars is supposed to be releasing in Q1. Colonies might be my favorite TM expansion (vying for the spot with Prelude) so I'm excited it's finally happening, though the developer has a strong track record at this point of introducing a bunch of bugs of various degrees of game-breaking with each patch, so we'll see how that goes.

It doesn't have a date yet, but I'm also really hoping the digital version of [Twilight Imperium](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3669430/Twilight_Imperium_Digital/) releases this year. Now in addition to 12-hour sessions with friends twice or thrice a year I can practice on my own! 😆

And it's not software, but I'm looking forward to the Steam Controller release for using my Deck as a living-room multiplayer setup.

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I've been using Linux on and off for 19 years. Primarily for curiosity and the last decade for the Emulation side of things. My 2020 Gaming PC still recently ran on Windows 10 for convenience. I then the purchased a Legion GO S (SteamOS) and it proved incredible. So I was looking for a brand new rig to install CachyOS on. Now the RAM crisis has hit, I can't afford a new build so I stripped Windows on my current rig and went to CachyOS anyway. I wish I'd done this sooner, especially since I don't do multiplayer gaming. I don't think I realised how good Linux Gaming has gotten.

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