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Quoting: PlayingOnLinuxphone

Quoting: SakuretsuWe're probably not going to see such big jumps frequently.

That jump is already done. We are on a 3% per year rate right now. 2 years multiplied with 3% = 6% plus 3.5% of last year December = 9.5%. No further jump or acceleration, just continuing growth of last 6 months, which is very likely considering 25% of Win10 users and that Win11 growths slower than Linux does. I did not even include Steam Machine and VR or EOL#2 in this math.

And also consider this: until now Linux never had a slow down in growth. That will happen at some point, but there is no sign it will happen in 2026/2027.

most of people arent techy savy enough to install another OS, we are probably looking at the tech savy people installing linux on their machines right now, but soon we will enter the average joe territory.

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Quoting: PlayingOnLinuxphoneThere is no real exponential trend. I did the math some hours ago and there was a linear trend before Steam Deck release, than an accelerated trend between Steam Deck Release and Win10 EOL and a 5.5 times increase after Win10 EOL. Steam Deck OLED did not change the linear trend. November and December 2025 had exactly the same 5.5 times increase as the whole 2026 until April. January and February were Chinese New Year, March somehow bad data, so these should be ignored.

If it would be a real exponential curve, March data would be real and April even above that. So it would be better to use 3 linear lines, clamped between those relevant dates.

PS: If it is linear we will see on Windows 10 extended support end of life. It should be around 6%. It should be far above 6% if it is exponential.

if we want an accurate trend line, it should be able to predict the future with an good precision.

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Quoting: eggroleMore "normies" using it might lead to more "dumbed down" developments. Normies don't care about the unix philosophy or FOSS, they want it to "just work".

Meh. Engineers don't care about FOSS either. I remember when the Free Software Foundation was a big deal. I remember when people seriously avoided more permissive licenses in favour of the GPL for the sake of keeping software Free. I remember when people worried about "Tivoization" and cloud stuff making the openness of the source irrelevant and invented the AGPL in an attempt to deal with it, and this was taken seriously. It wasn't normies that changed that, it was corporate programmers.

And in any case, I personally am a "normie" in terms of whether I can or care to program, mess with the guts of the system etc., and I care more about FOSS than most programmers here.

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Since April 7th I have been playing a fair amount of Skull Horde by 8BitSkull. It is an excellent game and I have found it a fantastic match for my LCD Steam Deck. Highly recommended if you like horde survival games. Skull Horde is rated as "Playable" on the Steam Deck. The Steam Compatibility dialog states: "Some in-game text is small and may be difficult to read." I have not encountered any problems reading the text that I am being exposed to while playing the game. Perhaps I am just not in the correct areas of the game; but after over twenty hours of playtime, I am very curious to discover where this unreadable text is located.

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That's one of my concerns with the recent push for immutable distros. They're an interesting idea but this notion that they "fix" linux for new users I think is just leading down a poorly defined path. They're only easier when they work. When they don't they're actually harder to fix because they deliberately obfuscate all the stuff you learn with regular builds. "Oh you can just roll back to when it worked", but then users never learn why it didn't work.
We're already seeing that smartphones have led gen z/alpha to be less tech literate than even gen x.

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Gave it a go and it is indeed quite fun, and pretty cheap too!

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Beware the monkey's paw. When you wish for increased Linux use it could lead to all kinds of places you'd rather not go.

More "normies" using it might lead to more "dumbed down" developments. Normies don't care about the unix philosophy or FOSS, they want it to "just work". If normies ever become the majority, devs will focus on them and not the current "power" users.

More mainstream attention also leads to more corpo and government attention. I won't even mention how bad that could go, we all know corpos and governmnets don't have great track records at... anything!

If you twisted my arm, I'd wager that the golden age (probably 2015-2025) of linux is sadly coming to an end. We've seen it over and over again. Some niche thing gets mainstream attention and then it gets enshitified.

And I know people say things like "you control what you install", but I think that is short sighted. When said masses show up and expect (for example, I have no stake in them) snaps, that will become the norm. Developers will slowly move to only supporting the now mainstream snaps and package managers may become second class citizens.

Of course I don't have a crystal ball, but as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for (doubly so in the age of enshitification).

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Sadly no longer the praised 5% but nonetheless a great success!
So, lets welcome every new fellow gamer :3

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Quoting: CloversheenDark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, orginial Outlaws, Moto Racer, and is that Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine?! 😃

yeah some of them tested with d7vk however indiana jones is emperors tomb* from gog (candidate for test)

*now can work in my case with this registry key:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Wine\AppDefaults\indy.exe]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Wine\AppDefaults\indy.exe\DirectSound]
"EAXEnabled"="Y"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Wine\AppDefaults\indy.exe\DllOverrides]
"msvcr71"="native"
"msvcrt"="native"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Wine\AppDefaults\indy.exe\FileOpenAssociations]
"Enable"="Y"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Wine\AppDefaults\indy.exe\X11 Driver]
"GrabFullscreen"="Y"

save before text as for example indy.reg and after this can import using wine registry editor

😀

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Quoting: armageddon51I really want to give it try in virtualbox but the live iso (kde) will not boot so I gave up on it. I prefer Manjaro anyway which is as powerful but much easier of use.

I highly recommend you give CachyOS a try. It's now the de facto Arch derivative.

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Quoting: PhlebiacSoon after the Steam Deck came out, Microsoft was actively promoting their published games that worked on it. I think that was when they were under scrutiny for wanting to buy Activision, so that may have been part of the motivation...

Good observation. Eventually they will be forced to support Linux, just like how they are, now, forced to clean up Windows 11 and reduce their forceful push of CoPilot onto the users. If Linux wasn't a feasible alternative for (more) people in 2026 they would not have deviated from their course. So they are at a crossroad:

1. Continue pushing AI down peoples throats and predatory practices. This would make Windows look like a shit OS, which it actually is right now, and in long run lead to more people using Linux. More Linux users, more voices, more promotion of Linux by more people. Also more software support from developers of all types, whether they be a nerdy genius 14 year old kid in a home or a minor dev working for Apple. This road leads to demise of Windows and Microsoft's software and services revenue stream.

2. Tone down AI and give users what they want; an operating system - not a botnet node for telemetry and advertisement (My Computer This PC). This is only choice that makes sense. Steam Machine, Mac Neo/M laptops. If you don't do this the users will go there.

There is even historical evidence with Microsoft seniors, who were working on D3D, using Valve's benchmark of Left 4 Dead 2 OpenGL vs D3D11 to persuade suits to give them more funding. Moreover, Asus handhelds were a response from Microsoft to slow down Steam Deck sales market share build. By that I mean Microsoft most likely went to ASUS and it wasn't ASUS own plans to release a handheld. So Microsoft knows very well if they don't do what people expect they will be replaced. And a big part of their profits comes from users being (locked down) to Windows. Google pays Apple and Mozilla upwards of a billion to make their search engine default in browsers. Microsoft is basically paying 0$ with Windows, every new software they develop they can ship to all Windows computers through an update. (Little to) no marketing (expenditure) necessary. As result users use their software and that brings in revenue, whether that be direct purchases or telemetry data.

Microsoft doesn't just lose potential customer when someone switches to Linux. The user could also be a genius developer, he/she then takes their great mind to Linux software ecosystem (growth!), and if said user is happy with Linux he/she will also share his positive experiences on social media. This will reach ears of users who are still on Windows.

These things aren't rocket science, so again when Microsoft makes a "big" support of Linux (e.g D3D or Word) I hope to god I won't have to seen lots thumbnails on Youtube videos of Linux users with mouth wide open in shock with the title "It's Over We Won!". Nah, it's business. It was like this 50 years ago, and it's still the same. Adapt or perish into irelevancy.

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Quoting: mrdeathjr​This wine version in my case install mono 11.1
​😀

Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, orginial Outlaws, Moto Racer, and is that Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine?! 😃

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Can't stop us now!

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Quoting: PlayingOnLinuxphoneSince people don't trust me, I also draw some lines:

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

Everyone can extrapolate the line themselves.

The last line might be Windows 11 and not happening like this again.

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Since people don't trust me, I also draw some lines:



Everyone can extrapolate the line themselves.

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Quoting: dpanterThe generative AI cancer taints everything it touches. Glad the Blender Foundation wised up... but did they really need quite a lot of backlash to realize the bulging diaper wasn't full of candy? 🤔

A brilliant expression! My wife wondered why I suddenly burst out laughing 😂

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Curious ... The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition is almost always on the list of top Steam Deck games and yet it is supposedly "deck unsupported". Go figure.

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Quoting: PlayingOnLinuxphone

Quoting: mattaraxiaIt's really wild. 10% by ~2030 seems just about inevitable now.

With the current speed, 9.5% is reached by end of 2027 and considering Steam hardware it should even be above 10% next year (if nothing slows down).

Maybe. I doubt it's quite that fast, but could be. I mean that is certainly by ~2030. There isn't another Windows 10 EOL coming, so it probably won't be quite as fast as the current rate non-stop, but I'm virtually sure it won't reverse. We also may just not need another Windows 10 EOL. Linux is hip now. It may just get even faster.

Steam Hardware is tricky. On the one hand the RAM shortage is hurting it. But that's probably balanced out by the RAM shortage driving Windows 10 EOL'ers to switch.

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Quoting: SakuretsuWe're probably not going to see such big jumps frequently.

That jump is already done. We are on a 3% per year rate right now. 2 years multiplied with 3% = 6% plus 3.5% of last year December = 9.5%. No further jump or acceleration, just continuing growth of last 6 months, which is very likely considering 25% of Win10 users and that Win11 growths slower than Linux does. I did not even include Steam Machine and VR or EOL#2 in this math.

And also consider this: until now Linux never had a slow down in growth. That will happen at some point, but there is no sign it will happen in 2026/2027.

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Quoting: PlayingOnLinuxphoneThere is no real exponential trend. I did the math some hours ago and there was a linear trend before Steam Deck release, than an accelerated trend between Steam Deck Release and Win10 EOL and a 5.5 times increase after Win10 EOL. Steam Deck OLED did not change the linear trend. November and December 2025 had exactly the same 5.5 times increase as the whole 2026 until April. January and February were Chinese New Year, March somehow bad data, so these should be ignored.

If it would be a real exponential curve, March data would be real and April even above that. So it would be better to use 3 linear lines, clamped between those relevant dates.

PS: If it is linear we will see on Windows 10 extended support end of life. It should be around 6%. It should be far above 6% if it is exponential.

Here's a visual aid.

As you say, it's all pretty flat before the Deck, then we get added a pretty linear Deck signal, and then we get a pretty linear desktop signal as the Deck flattens out.

I've found the 5-month moving average to be quite good at separating out the signal from the noise.


There's no real justification for splatting the data onto an exponential curve, although we get someone demanding that it's done pretty much every month so I'm not surprised that Liam's given it to them to make them stop. One could splat it into a logarithmic, sinusoidal or tangent curve just as easily.

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Quoting: PlayingOnLinuxphone

Quoting: mattaraxiaIt's really wild. 10% by ~2030 seems just about inevitable now.

With the current speed, 9.5% is reached by end of 2027 and considering Steam hardware it should even be above 10% next year (if nothing slows down).

I'm as excited as every other Linux enthusiast but that's very unlikely.
We're probably not going to see such big jumps frequently.

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Quoting: mattaraxiaIt's really wild. 10% by ~2030 seems just about inevitable now.

With the current speed, 9.5% is reached by end of 2027 and considering Steam hardware it should even be above 10% next year (if nothing slows down).

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Quoting: KimyrielleIt only takes "AI" somewhere in the first line to make these people go reach for the pitchforks. Objectivity and reason has left this discussion a while ago.

...which is a good thing because we've learned very quickly that giving an inch has them take several hundred miles. There's nothing wrong with rejecting satan technology in all of its forms and not just the most cataclysmicly evil version of it, in fact I'd argue that's exactly what you SHOULD do.

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There is no real exponential trend. I did the math some hours ago and there was a linear trend before Steam Deck release, than an accelerated trend between Steam Deck Release and Win10 EOL and a 5.5 times increase after Win10 EOL. Steam Deck OLED did not change the linear trend. November and December 2025 had exactly the same 5.5 times increase as the whole 2026 until April. January and February were Chinese New Year, March somehow bad data, so these should be ignored.

If it would be a real exponential curve, March data would be real and April even above that. So it would be better to use 3 linear lines, clamped between those relevant dates.

PS: If it is linear we will see on Windows 10 extended support end of life. It should be around 6%. It should be far above 6% if it is exponential.

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It's really wild. 10% by ~2030 seems just about inevitable now.

Even as someone who's used Linux for literally decades now, I'd have never thought this would be such a thing.

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Hopefully the dip brought the numbers closer to reality.
That's still a 1.5% increase since the Windows 10 EoL. Roughly 2% over the last year. Despite the Steam Deck being out of stock for many months now. The future of Linux gaming is looking bright, folks.

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0 64 bit? 😆

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​This wine version in my case install mono 11.1



tested also with scarface, sadly this game dont run with dxvk (many combinations without success in my case) but with wined3d work

[IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"864","width":"1152","src":"https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/KzDwZV5M\/wn118b.png"}[/IMG2]

[IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"864","width":"1152","src":"https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/RhPYtHyB\/wn118d.png"}[/IMG2]

​😀

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FNA still delivering good stuff, thanks flibitijibibo et al.!

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Quoting: GerarderloperBet Sony spending a fair bit of money trying to patch all these holes out.
Bit of a scenario of them shooting themselves in the foot because having a way to install Linux on these consoles will make them MUCH more popular and people will naturally buy the games for them anyway.

BUT they won't see it that way; gotta waste money and ruin everyone's fun, the corporate motto!

I've read they are now putting more DRM into consoles; wonder how long until Age Verification comes and you are required to have Face and ID scans to even turn the things on.... what a world!

I do wish Steam Machines were going to be affordable alternatives, but it seems that won't be happening for quite some time! Onward and Downward into the fiery pits we go!!!! :)

we used to have a lot of companies making their own proprietary operating system for phones with their own proprietary app stores, but they failed and now all companies use android, except for apple with iOS.

we used to have a lot of proprietary formats for pcs, nowadays we have ibm open pc and apple , basically.

I think the same will happen for consoles, a lot of companies making windows or linux devices, and sony will be forced to chose between the 2 or be kicked out of the market.
I think Nintendo might survive as "the apple of gaming consoles", their exclusive brands are too strong to simply disappear, the same cant be said about sony games, at least in terms of sales they arent such a big deal as fanboys think.

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