this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] stardustpathsofglory 74 points 3 weeks ago
[–] chronicledmonocle 51 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Not really news. It's been floating around 2% for a while.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 weeks ago

Finally, the year of the Linux desktop

[–] horse_battery_staple 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I wonder if that includes steamdecks running steamos

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] horse_battery_staple 8 points 3 weeks ago

Ah ok thanks for that.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I can't remember who does a more comprehensive survey, but the overall Linux gaming share is ≈4%. So, Steam users are about half of that, if I'm understanding correctly.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Overall gaming share is 4%? I think you mean linux useragents account for about 4% of website traffic at measured points- which is not indicative of anything because my crawler also pretends to be things it isn't.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

No, I mean 4% of the overall Linux desktop share does some amount of gaming. This is based on a survey, and I can't for the life of me remember who does it. It will show up again, with updated totals, on one of these communities eventually.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

so a disproportionately large amount (2x) of Linux gamers don't use steam? that doesn't sound right to me with how good steam is on Linux

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Some people prefer GOG, some people do itch.io or FOSS games, some people only do emulation. It's possible that I'm misinterpreting the data, too, but Steam having 50% of the gaming share with the other 50% spread amongst other platforms and activities doesn't seem that outlandish to me.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's Battle for Wesnoth for me!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Didn't know that one, looks rad

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

The statistic isn't saying that 50% of Linux gamers use steam, it's saying that Linux gamers are ~1/2 as likely to use steam for games when compared to gamers on other platforms. these are very different things.

~50% of Linux gamers using steam is only true if you assumed every gamer on the other platforms used steam

btw i hate the term 'gamer' but it's just convenient to use here :(

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks. Stats are hard.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Must be because Factorio released 2.0 and the Space Age DLC recently.