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Inasmuch as .deb files are archives, and can be extracted with the contained directories intact, and considering that some non-Debian distros include dpkg, it is possible to install Steam on just about any distro, as proven by happy Slackware customers

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Quoting: FutureSuture

Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: liamdaweWow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.

Debian also doesn't install lsb by default. At least I didn't have it in my Debian testing. It has lsb-release and lsb-base though.

I do not follow. All I have in my package manager regarding LSB is lsb-release and Steam is able to tell me what operating system version I am running.

It's enough then. Debian has lsb-release as well. lsb is a meta package that pulls in more related stuff (like rpm and etc.). I just answered to a previous post which mentioned lsb package specifically.

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My favorites this year? Lovely to have Linux support (even though there were complaints) for The Witcher 2, and I jumped up and down over CIV V and X-COM's native releases.

Besides that, Don't Starve, Planetary Annihilation. Space Hulk, Adventurenator: When Pigs Fly,

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I got the survey yesterday after months of not seeing it.... and I was using WINE D:

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1.1% of Steam users is still a very large number of people, which is why devs have been eager to tap this (small, but enthusiastic) market. It's few devs who regret having released games for Linux, and Gabe Newell is still pushing hard for SteamOS games (which, from all comments, run on just about every distribution: Debian and all its derivatives, Fedora and its, Arch and its, and even Slackware.

So much for the FUD known as "too many different distros."

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I've started a new experiment. More details to come soon. :D

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Quoting: sevenits summer, pretty normal it dips

Win and Mac users don't take vacations ? :)

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i must wonder tho.. with almost every steamforum post beeing related to random gamebreaking bugs and reports that the game is next to not playable because at some point something crucial will just stop working, why would they release the 1.0 version now.
with my first pc game ever beeing sid meyers pirates! i would love to buy this game, but the lot of bad reviews and negative forum threads keep me from doing so

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It's that time of month again...

Quoting: GamewizardThere are many Linux users that are likely not to do the survey, plus in addition to the fact man distributions do not ship with lsb by default makes it even more skewed this way and that.

This is not true at all. The fact that this post exists show the average Linux user cares about this percentage a whole lot, and wouldn't miss a chance to improve it. Nobody running Windows looks at the Windows percentage dropping one 0.1 percent and says "I didn't get a survey this month, it's biased."

Have you ever met a Linux user who has refused the Steam survey? No, you haven't.

Quoting: SmashleyI never get the survey while I am running Linux, I always get it when I "happen" to log into windows.

It's a survey, but there is a lot of thought that goes into them beyond what you can see. Valve would be able to identify the platform that is connecting to its server without you having to perform the survey.

They would have quotas for each of the three systems (ie, PC, Mac or Linux). The quotas would be based on the known demographics from a) previous surveys, b) actual steam connections. They would keep throwing up survey requests to users connecting from those systems until the respective quotas are filled.

The reason you see more surveys on PC is that more people refuse the survey on that system, and therefore the quotas take longer to fill.

To generate meaningful statistical data you need to correlate it with other sources. Valve is absolutely able to do this. This is done by targeted data collection to ensure it matches the known demographics. The exact same techniques are done when it comes to phone surveys, they use quotas to ensure that the demographics of their sampled data (eg "Are you satisfied with your congressman?") matches the demographics of that area as closely as possible. (In the case of telephone interviews, it is generally older people who respond, younger people typically either don't answer their phone, don't have one or refuse. So they keep dialing until they find some they need.[Citation Required])

In the case of Steam there is a strong bias present that makes Linux and Mac users more likely to respond to the survey than a PC user would. Steam needs to correct for that, and they do. It's not biased, it's proactively unbiased. The numbers are what the numbers are, +/- error.

*Citations: The Literary Digest Assessing The Representativeness Of Public Opinion SurveysAge Demographics & Evening Survey Calls

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Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: liamdaweWow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.

Debian also doesn't install lsb by default. At least I didn't have it in my Debian testing. It has lsb-release and lsb-base though.

I do not follow. All I have in my package manager regarding LSB is lsb-release and Steam is able to tell me what operating system version I am running.

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Civ5, Don't Starve, Assassin's creed 2, The Longest Journey(if anyone knows any feasible solution to making it run under wine, pls share), Hotline Miami, Bastion, all on small doses unfortunately.

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not really "this year" but i really like the nonAAA co-op titles that let me play campaigns together with a friend. forced, hammerwatch, starbound, thrine2 were all neither expensive nor too time consuming and a great bit of fun.

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Being an XCOM fan I can't miss it. I also look forward to Chroma Squad.

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Quoting: liamdaweWow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.

Debian also doesn't install lsb by default. At least I didn't have it in my Debian testing. It has lsb-release and lsb-base though.

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I never get the survey while I am running Linux, I always get it when I "happen" to log into windows.

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Linux 3.10... My memory could fool me, but it's the Debian Kernel, isn't it?
Could'nt it be SteamOS?

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Quoting: Xpander

Quoting: liamdaweWow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.

i dont think its only arch, its probably any distro that doesnt come default with lsb package installed. probably manjaro, fedora and similar as well

Manjaro comes with lsb-release installed.

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There are still very few games on linux I find worth playing though unfortunately. I grew up spoiled on AAA games and unless it's pokemon you probably won't find me playing a 2D game. My most anticipated linux game release is the new Warhammer 40,000 Eternal Eden. MMOFPS FTW.

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I enjoyed it for about 3 weeks.

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I switched to linux mint 17 this month. I finally got the money to replace my busted desktop graphics card (GTX 460) and found out quickly that whoever installed the cpu cooler at ibuypower stripped the threads on 2 out of the four mounts so the cooler was cracked and bent at an angle only partially touching the CPU. Probably it over a period of time slowly worked its way into that position from heating and cooling down until the 2 loose mounts got more and more loose until it busted shortly after warranty.
Also they stuck some sort of second filter in the inside by the power supply which I found full of lint/dust which most likely contributed to the graphics card and cpu cooler heating up too high and failing.
I replaced the cpu cooler and now I'm a very happy camper. Got a GTX 750 from amazon.
I used to use the Mex distro but I got tired of getting confused with all the different desktops and their updates and which ones may conflict, it was just getting complicated for me so I just switched to linux mint with kde and plan to stay there.

This desktop has been out of commission for 8 months.

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Didn't get the survey this month either... :S:

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As per last month, I still think it would be cool to do a monthly GOL survey, see how many people dual boot, switch distros, use services other than Steam, etc.

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its summer, pretty normal it dips

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There are many Linux users that are likely not to do the survey, plus in addition to the fact man distributions do not ship with lsb by default makes it even more skewed this way and that. In the end any kind of opt-in survey is going to be inaccurate, sadly.

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Quoting: geminiMy favourite this year so far is Civilization 5, a true AAA game which takes a lot of time before becoming boring, it´s also one of the best ports I´ve played, which is admirable by Aspyr.

I will probably change my mind though once Project cars is out, unless it´s a bad port or something else.

Civ V is awesome port but I'm still missing the Steam workshop support and the lack of anti-aliasing.

I wish at least the workshop support was added

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Quoting: liamdaweWow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.

i dont think its only arch, its probably any distro that doesnt come default with lsb package installed. probably manjaro, fedora and similar as well

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Wow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.

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Linux 3.10 is the distro that doesnt have LSB package installed.
at least thats how it reported for me when i uninstalled lsb-release package

without lsb package:

Operating System Version:
    Linux 3.10 (64 bit)
    Kernel Name:  Linux
    Kernel Version:  3.15.7-1-ARCH
    X Server Vendor:  The X.Org Foundation
    X Server Release:  11600000
    X Window Manager:  Xfwm4
    Steam Runtime Version:  steam-runtime-release_2014-07-22

With lsb-release installed:
Operating System Version:
    "Arch Linux" (64 bit)
    Kernel Name:  Linux
    Kernel Version:  3.15.7-1-ARCH
    X Server Vendor:  The X.Org Foundation
    X Server Release:  11600000
    X Window Manager:  Xfwm4
    Steam Runtime Version:  steam-runtime-release_2014-07-22

Arch by default doesnt come with this package..

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Quoting: DrMcCoyIn terms of games already released on Windows, I'm still waiting for Tex Murphy: Tesla Effect

I'm looking forward to that too, since I backed the Kickstarter. I think it read that it's an issue with the player used for the FMVs that's holding it back. I also backed Moebius, but I'm half dreading that one, since the reviews have been rather mixed, to put it mildly.

Quoting: Segata SanshiroSame could be said about Deponia, but a bit more excited for that because it meant that some of their other games I haven't played may get ported.

Me too and it feels like a big deal that the biggest developer making point and click games with Visionaire released their most popular franchise such a short time after the engine started supporting Linux, since it will hopefully lead to other games using Visionaire getting Linux versions.

Of upcoming Linux games, some of the games I'm most excited about right now are Broken Age, Act II, the remaining two parts of The Fall, Super Win The Game, A Hat in Time, The Journey Down, Chapter Two and the Grim Fandango remake (though I've played the original).

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XCOM, Shadowrun (was it this year?) and FORCED.

waiting for Project Cars mostly and any of the upcoming Aspyr or Feral ports!

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