Every article tag can be clicked to get a list of all articles in that category. Every article tag also has an RSS feed! You can customize an RSS feed too!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Announcing the beta of our User Stats page

By - | Views: 21,376
I am pleased to show off a work-in-progress user statistics page that will form part of our new survey system. The old survey was based on google docs which became a bit of a nuisance to manage properly, and it seems it gave people fatigue filling it out. This way, a bunch of information that doesn't change often is easily set by you. It also means you don't need google for something, so that's nice.

To get this out of the way: Why are we not using some script to gather info from your machines? It would take me far longer to learn how to do that and to be honest, the time and effort involved in getting that would probably not be worth it. I also have doubts about how many people would even do it.

I allowed my Patreon supporters to get an early look at it, but I am now pleased to offer all of you a look at this in-progress system.

It uses the data gathered by peoples profiles (so go update them).

The chart/graph system uses the SVGGraph library (same one we use for the GOTY award), which is under the LGPL v3 license. I have been tinkering away at it for a few days, and I personally think it's starting to look pretty cool.

It will probably get wiped a few times along the road, so if you see it blank or come up with errors it will be worth waiting a few minutes to try again.

What is good about it, is that it will automatically run via a cronjob and then store the output in a database. Currently I run it manually, as it's being worked on often to include new graphs and adjust existing graphs. When more complete, it will hopefully run once a month.

No user information (not even your username) is gathered for it, so the results are completely anonymous (honestly they are!).

It will also be possible to include them easily in an article, since I already have that coded in from the GOTY award.

On top of that, it will store each generation separately, so it will be easy to compare and include previous ones :). When I come up with a nice way to do it, I will allow you to select a date to view the statistics of.

Finally, the distribution dropdown list has been moved to the bottom of the User Control Panel to sit with the rest of the PC info section. Makes more sense that it is there. I have also updated the code behind that to make it easier to add more distributions. We also recently added a few like SteamOS and Solus.

Update: You can now set your PC Info to private from your User Control Panel, so it will hide it from profiles and not display a link to grab it in comments.

Check out the user statistics page here.

Let me know what you think for this early WIP preview.

This is only the start of the new system, there will eventually be a monthly page for anonymous users (without needing to be registered/logged in) to fill a survey. This is much easier to do for now to show actual results right away as a proof of concept.

If you like seeing stuff like this, support me on Patreon to allow me to have more time to do it! If you can't, that's cool, if you don't want too, that's cool too! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
0 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
48 comments
Page: 1/5»
  Go to:

raverrebel May 30, 2016
What about additional info like screen resolution? :)
Dea1993 May 30, 2016
into the gpu driver graphs you also must add Hybrid driver (AMDGPU-PRO, is open and closed)
soulsource May 30, 2016
The page looks great! The only thing one might criticize is, that it will only show data of registered GoL visitors, while the survey could in principle be filled in by anyone who got the link. We'll see if this has significant influence on the sample size.
WorMzy May 30, 2016
I like that you're not scripting it. That way people have the freedom to withhold information if they desire (for whatever reason).

Also wow, when you split the distros up, Arch is only just behind Ubuntu! (at least, at the moment!)

The graphs look cool. Good work, Liam!
Liam Dawe May 30, 2016
Quoting: Dea1993into the gpu driver graphs you also must add Hybrid driver (AMDGPU-PRO, is open and closed)
Done. You can now select it on your profile, won't show up of course until new graphs are generated.

Quoting: raverrebelWhat about additional info like screen resolution? :)
Coming "soon".


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 30 May 2016 at 8:27 pm UTC
Liam Dawe May 30, 2016
Quoting: soulsourceThe page looks great! The only thing one might criticize is, that it will only show data of registered GoL visitors, while the survey could in principle be filled in by anyone who got the link. We'll see if this has significant influence on the sample size.
This is only the start of the new system, there will eventually be a monthly page for anonymous users to fill a survey. This is much easier to do for now to shoe actual results right away as a proof of concept.
fagnerln May 30, 2016
Impressive the number of Arch users.
Nel May 30, 2016
I wonder how you'll deal with temporarily inactive or abandonned accounts, I think of all those users who registered, filled whole computer info and then never returned back here. Some kind of zombie statistics.

Will there still be a manual validation each month? What about special question as we had on almost each survey?
Liam Dawe May 30, 2016
Re-generated with latest results. Added in a gaming machine type graph for what people are using. Thought Laptop use would be higher, but we will see when more fill it out.

Quoting: NelI wonder how you'll deal with temporarily inactive or abandonned accounts, I think of all those users who registered, filled whole computer info and then never returned back here. Some kind of zombie statistics.

Will there still be a manual validation each month? What about special question as we had on almost each survey?
We store a date and time for last logins, it won't capture results for people who haven't come back in a while. Have yet to code that in, as the entire system is so new it won't matter for now. I agree it's needed though.
Stupendous Man May 30, 2016
It would be nice if the amount of RAM on the graph was ordered numerically by amount, instead of number of users with X amount. Makes for easier comparison :-)
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.