A fresh month, which means a new Steam Hardware & Software Survey is out. Looking over the October 2022 data, it appears we've hit a fresh high point.
At the end of October, Linux hit 1.28% on Steam against 2.23% on macOS and 96.50% on Windows. Going by our Steam Tracker, where we've been tracking the Linux user share for a few years, it is the highest it's been in over 4 years now! Still tiny compared with Windows of course but it's some clear steady progress.
This growth at the moment is largely thanks to the Steam Deck, which you probably already guessed. That much is clear when looking over the Linux-specific data page on the Steam Survey which shows these as the top Linux distributions:
- SteamOS Holo 64 bit 24.98% +7.94%
- Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS 64 bit 12.27% -0.21%
- Arch Linux 64 bit 9.12% -1.45%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit 6.92% -0.88%
- Freedesktop.org SDK 22.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.71% +0.90%
- Other 40.99% -2.00%
SteamOS (at least going by that list on face value) is the most popular Linux distribution for gamers on Steam, by a wide margin there too with the caveat being we don't know exactly what's in the "Other" category, which could be full of various forms of Ubuntu that could push it to the top when added together.
When checking further, in the GPU list for Linux, the growth is clear with it noting that "AMD Custom GPU 0405" (the Steam Deck) has hit 25.01% (+7.94%). I should note as well, that this GPU still doesn't even show up when filtering to just Windows and so it's clear that the vast majority of gamers on Steam Deck are sticking to SteamOS which goes to show just how good it is as an experience overall.
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Mohandevir Nov 2, 2022
Quoting: LuxZgBtw, frame limiting is easy in Windows
On a per game basis and on the fly, like on SteamOS?
Quoting: LuxZg... Same with FSR.
You mean, it's possible to have AMD FSR on any title or on a per game basis, even when not supported by the said game, on Windows? At driver level? At a button's distance, at will? Haven't heard about that.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 2 November 2022 at 5:37 pm UTC
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Kuduzkehpan Nov 2, 2022
Quoting: Purple Library GuySo, with the new trend line, world domination in 50 years rather than 200?Linux took over server hardwares less than 10 years. And now SteamOS taking over Linux Gamers Hardwares.
After unification of distributions i mean if we(linux gamers) could be installable SteamOS Holo and so on on our PCs
Linux user population will go higher than ever. Then probably we start see AAA native Linux builds of games and so on. And im glad i saw how Linux is easy to play games nowadays thanks to Steam and transgaming devs.
Still im hopefull about Google's Fuscia OS to be released and become standart OS for all hardwares except servers.
well Time will show.
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BlackBloodRum Nov 2, 2022
Quoting: LuxZgWhat actually keeps Windows from Deck (and Deck from Windows) is abysmal Windows support from Valve. They obviously have limited resources, and they're putting all the effort into SteamOS. And rightly so! But that also means Windows is bot just 2nd class citizen on Deck, it's outright unsupported.
Ha! How the tables have turned, for years this is exactly how Linux was/is treated with hardware. Vendors didn't care and if it didn't work on Linux, it wasn't there problem
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It's a shame that the overall usage is brought down by the huge number of Windows-only Chinese users.
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CyborgZeta Nov 2, 2022
I haven't used Windows on any of my devices in over two years. Hopefully, Valve continues boosting and improving Linux gaming; and I can continue staying away from Windows.
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In less than a year Steam Deck gamers is now 25% of all Linux gamers out there. Pretty impressive.
If growth continues to speed up due to faster production we can probably see Linux overtaking macOS by the end of next year.
If growth continues to speed up due to faster production we can probably see Linux overtaking macOS by the end of next year.
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Quoting: MohandevirQuoting: LuxZgBtw, frame limiting is easy in Windows
On a per game basis and on the fly, like on SteamOS?
Quoting: LuxZg... Same with FSR.
You mean, it's possible to have AMD FSR on any title or on a per game basis, even when not supported by the said game, on Windows? At driver level? At a button's distance, at will? Haven't heard about that.
Frame limiter on a per game basis? Yes. You have global setting, and then can override it per application. Well, I can vouch for Nvidia. Let.me Google that for you about AMD. Well, sure, called FRTC, works same way, global plus per game.
On the fly? I didn't check. When I use it on PC, I just set it and forget it, I don't tweak it every 5 minutes. But when I started setting last time, I would just Alt-Tab to Control panel and change value, then back to game and see if new value is satisfactory.
That had been working for what, well, at least 5 years.
As for FSR, yes, FSR upscaler can be enabled in driver for all games, even unsupported, issue is that (same as Proton/SteamOS) that option will also upscale UI. Meaning that you'll get UI that's enlarged. I doubt Proton can magically override that, as it upscales image, not individual elements. While when FSR (or DLSS) is supported in-game, then developer makes tweaks to target different visuals in different ways, keeping UI looking normal sized. If you used Deck, the same exact thing is an issue with UI in games that haven't been tweaked for Deck resolution & DPI.
Again, can that be done on a per game base? Yes, as much as I know. On the fly, Alt-Tab I guess, again, not something you'd change all the time.
FYI, there have been tools to do that beyond drivers as well, for years, eg RTSS (RivaTuner). You can set a hotkey to enable/disable, eg if you want to run without limiter on power, and with limiter on battery.
If Valve appointed 3 people they could so wonders with Windows as well, but they picked Linux years ago, and that's fine. I'm not complaining. I'm just pointing that reason for Windows being unpopular option on Deck is down to Valve, not because this or that OS is better. If you simply ran Debian or Arch on Deck it would require quite some work from user to get it working, same with Windows, same with any OS except SteamOS.
IMHO, if they made a Steam as app package that pulled all those bits, and made it easily available on all distros, and allowed user to pick their distro, it would be larger plus for general Linux community. Luckily they upstream most of it so eventually it will get there. I do look forward to new SteamOS builds for general PCs, hopefully they get the bootloader sorted by then. I've become lazy over the years, too lazy to tinker and look for workarounds.
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Mohandevir Nov 2, 2022
Quoting: LuxZgQuoting: MohandevirQuoting: LuxZgBtw, frame limiting is easy in Windows
On a per game basis and on the fly, like on SteamOS?
Quoting: LuxZg... Same with FSR.
You mean, it's possible to have AMD FSR on any title or on a per game basis, even when not supported by the said game, on Windows? At driver level? At a button's distance, at will? Haven't heard about that.
Frame limiter on a per game basis? Yes. You have global setting, and then can override it per application. Well, I can vouch for Nvidia. Let.me Google that for you about AMD. Well, sure, called FRTC, works same way, global plus per game.
On the fly? I didn't check. When I use it on PC, I just set it and forget it, I don't tweak it every 5 minutes. But when I started setting last time, I would just Alt-Tab to Control panel and change value, then back to game and see if new value is satisfactory.
That had been working for what, well, at least 5 years.
As for FSR, yes, FSR upscaler can be enabled in driver for all games, even unsupported, issue is that (same as Proton/SteamOS) that option will also upscale UI. Meaning that you'll get UI that's enlarged. I doubt Proton can magically override that, as it upscales image, not individual elements. While when FSR (or DLSS) is supported in-game, then developer makes tweaks to target different visuals in different ways, keeping UI looking normal sized. If you used Deck, the same exact thing is an issue with UI in games that haven't been tweaked for Deck resolution & DPI.
Again, can that be done on a per game base? Yes, as much as I know. On the fly, Alt-Tab I guess, again, not something you'd change all the time.
FYI, there have been tools to do that beyond drivers as well, for years, eg RTSS (RivaTuner). You can set a hotkey to enable/disable, eg if you want to run without limiter on power, and with limiter on battery.
If Valve appointed 3 people they could so wonders with Windows as well, but they picked Linux years ago, and that's fine. I'm not complaining. I'm just pointing that reason for Windows being unpopular option on Deck is down to Valve, not because this or that OS is better. If you simply ran Debian or Arch on Deck it would require quite some work from user to get it working, same with Windows, same with any OS except SteamOS.
IMHO, if they made a Steam as app package that pulled all those bits, and made it easily available on all distros, and allowed user to pick their distro, it would be larger plus for general Linux community. Luckily they upstream most of it so eventually it will get there. I do look forward to new SteamOS builds for general PCs, hopefully they get the bootloader sorted by then. I've become lazy over the years, too lazy to tinker and look for workarounds.
My questions were guenuine. Heard a little about Magpie. Personally I dislike tweaking apps in the driver menus and alt-tabing, back & forth, but to each our own. Per app driver profiles are not what I call easy to use, if that is what you are refering to. You need to be a power user to take advantage of that. What is really new is being able to tweak all these settings in realtime with an overlay while the game is still running and with such easiness. I use the per game settings a lot and try many combinations before deciding on which setup I prefer and it's not always (rarely) the in-game FSR that I prefer. Too much weird results, imo. And minimizing to desktop to tweak the driver on an 8" screen while I'm gaming in handheld... Yuk!
But yeah, as long as Valve won't support Windows, SteamOS will be the place to be. Did Valve say they will support Windows eventually or will they just offer occasional driver updates?
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Kinda sad that a handheld game console boosts up our numbers so much. Soon, Deck will be higher than desktop Linux users. Good for the dozens of us out there, but still sad our numbers are so low.
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I think they'll eventually offer dual boot, but their main effort will stay on SteamOS. They haven't given any info or anything like promises, except that dual boot is in the plans (but not the timeline). I don't expect much ;D Which may be great for Linux. But we'll see if it will be equally good (or not so good) for their customers.
As for overlay, sure, that's handy. But again, if they put any effort into it, they could do it on Windows as well. I mean, RTSS isn't made by a multi-billion dollar software company, and if they made it work, putting its controls in an overlay is just a matter of design (and they did that part on Deck already). Same with FSR, if Magpie and THS's Lossless scaling are a thing, there's nothing really stopping Valve to replicate it as part of Steam Deck overlay. But as you've said, all those scalers still need time to "grow up", too many artifacts and weird unexpected behavior, I prefer my games as devs imagined them.
As for overlay, sure, that's handy. But again, if they put any effort into it, they could do it on Windows as well. I mean, RTSS isn't made by a multi-billion dollar software company, and if they made it work, putting its controls in an overlay is just a matter of design (and they did that part on Deck already). Same with FSR, if Magpie and THS's Lossless scaling are a thing, there's nothing really stopping Valve to replicate it as part of Steam Deck overlay. But as you've said, all those scalers still need time to "grow up", too many artifacts and weird unexpected behavior, I prefer my games as devs imagined them.
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