Hoping there will be both wired options...

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Quoting: Purple Library GuySo it looks to me like, contrary to many claims about the death of PC gaming, what those graphs show is massive growth in gaming on general purpose desktop/laptop computers, with Linux growth within that initially strong but slower than the whole PC gaming platform, and more recently holding its own.....
All in all, the stats lately are weird.

Great post. I didn't quote everything, but you make some important points.

I'm now old enough to have heard the death of desktop gaming pronounced for a few decades, and always wrong. I just heard last week a well known "tech analyst" (cough, cough) declare that, this time, desktop gaming's days were really numbered because... ready for this? Because of Apple now developing its own silicon and, with it, Apple is going to slay the mobile gaming market. Because those mobile games will run across the Apple mobile, tablet, and desktop ecosystem, that will translate into Apple gaming dominance wrestled away from MS because, this time, Apple is serious about gaming. Really!!! I almost rolled my eyes out of my head. Give me an f-ing break... Hahahahaha....

Again, as I say on all such posts, I think we're in a huge moment of transition in gaming and I still believe that, fast forward 20 or so years, a lot (not all) of mainstream gaming will be cloud based and there will be a dwindling list of AAA titles to d/l to metal that will cost ever more money to support their development to a dwindling on-metal market. Google wants Chromebooks to be able to game through Stadia or Steam. Nvidia wants cloud gaming. MS seems to realize that a cloud based X-Box service is their gaming future. Does DX12 have any role in such a service?

Linux will be fine as long as:
- All these cloud based options run on Linux
- As long as Linux becomes the defacto easy option to play the last 50+ years (by 2040) of computing's past gaming...

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I bet LTT is responsible for a lot of the Steam uptick. Why in general, though?

No idea, but I have one theory, and it's an expansion of what's been happening in my family. In the last two years, my sister and parents have separately called me and said, "hey, I need I new computer, what should I do?" I bought them each units and installed Linux and said, "Here, use this, call me with questions or problems." That replaced two iMacs. My wife and kids Chromebooks died (or they killed them) and I replaced both with laptops with Linux. None of these people care that they're using Linux. As long as they can load Firefox, Steam, and/or their apps as expected, no worries, no questions asked. And Linux is plug and play enough now that no one questions it.

So my theory is that Linux is now muggle friendly enough that we enthusiasts are spreading it amongst friends and family. So my family went from one person to 7 people using Linux daily. If enough people do that, it shows up in stats... We should all have a goal of turning 1-2 people per year to Linux.

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Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: iiari

Quoting: CatKiller16:10 means that my next laptop when it's time to upgrade will be a Dell. I hope other manufacturers can move away from 16:9 as well.

I agree that I'm done with 16:9 on laptops. I've had two 3:2 screen laptops, previously a 2015 Pixel Chromebook and currently a Huawei Matebook X Pro, and I seriously can never go back to 16:9 after these experiences. Using a 16:9 feels like squinting now. 3:2 is soooo much better for text productivity on the laptop form, especially for my workflow.

There were suggestions about 2 years ago that Lenovo was going to start doing 3:2 screens, and I don't know what happened to that. An X1 Carbon with a 3:2 screen and Linux would be perfection for me...

I actually wish I had a screen for my desktop that I could flip sideways (ie upright) and have the picture follow like on a phone.

There actually are monitors that do this, no?

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Quoting: CatKiller16:10 means that my next laptop when it's time to upgrade will be a Dell. I hope other manufacturers can move away from 16:9 as well.

I agree that I'm done with 16:9 on laptops. I've had two 3:2 screen laptops, previously a 2015 Pixel Chromebook and currently a Huawei Matebook X Pro, and I seriously can never go back to 16:9 after these experiences. Using a 16:9 feels like squinting now. 3:2 is soooo much better for text productivity on the laptop form, especially for my workflow.

There were suggestions about 2 years ago that Lenovo was going to start doing 3:2 screens, and I don't know what happened to that. An X1 Carbon with a 3:2 screen and Linux would be perfection for me...

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As an "essential" worker, Covid has really taken a bite into my gaming time, especially with kids and spouse now present around me 100% of the time. So my gaming is in "maintenance" mode. Where I can, I'm playing:

X-Plane 11: Testing the updated (and super buggy) Ultra Weather XP add-on in Linux (and in Windows, BTW).

Battlefront Bad Company 2: Via Proton, Still my favorite BF thus far. It's always bugged me that I never got good at sniping in that game, and now Im finally (and satisfyingly) passable...

FTL: I occasionally go back to this since I'm a space and sci-fi person, and because I think I should like it, but I can never escape the feeling like I'm playing a gigantic spreadsheet, and that if I lose, it's because I don't have the encyclopedic knowledge of the races, parts, and ships that's necessary to plug into the Sheets/Excel battle to win... Is "Bomber Crew" more fun? Where's my Battlecruiser 3000 remake for the 2020's, but fun?

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I wonder how accurate any of these statistics are.

Overall, though, I think the days of people "escaping" Windows are probably over, and many of those who do are quite happen on Chrome OS, which is maybe where they should be. Whatever one thinks of Windows, the current version is not the intravenous pain of Windows, say, circa 2013 or so. Windows might not be great, but the average muggle user is no longer tearing their hair out using Windows on a regular basis. So I believe the Linux desktop future is gunning for the makers, enthusiasts, gamers, and tinkerers who like to explore who have always been fueling Linux. I'm still surprised how many people who fit that description haven't tried Linux yet, and of those I've seen who switch to Linux and keep it long term tend to be from that group. So many people got into Linux once upon a time by trying those free Linux CD's, what's 2020's version of that going to be? BTW, I do think it helps to have preinstalled Linux devices out there in the wild, and the ever increasing trend there is good.

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Quoting: ThreeEightySixMaybe I'm in the minority here, but I'd rather see some seriously more realistic graphics. They're still a little too cartoony in textures, visual effects (like explosions and shadows) for me to enjoy. Just personal preference, I suppose.

No shortage of those games. Cartoony, campy, and over the top is what the SS franchise does... Very old-school.

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Quoting: DamonLinuxPLFor most of time I run "unstable" plasma release in OpenMandriva Cooker...

Huh, OpenMandriva was a new distro name for me. Had to look that up.

I run Manjaro KDE, and I have to say that KDE's progress in the last 2 years or so is nothing short of amazing, and mostly all though small, continuous improvements. It's an absolute smooth, refined, stable joy.

BTW: Which KDE wallpaper is that in the photo. That's pretty sharp!

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Quoting: heidi.wenger

Quoting: pete910

Quoting: PublicNuisanceI love Manjaro but not enough to use Gnome ;)

Gnome

Why do you attack against Gnome with such passion? So many new Linux users love it, and in my experience it is the best Linux desktop for tablet.

This Gnome-bashing does no service to Linux in all and should just stop :O

I've seen far worse Gnome bashing than that :). That said, while I hugely respect their design process, they've done quite a bit to deserve some of bile aimed at them. As I said above, I think 3.36 is much improved and I think the Gnome GUI switchers that Manjaro and some other devs are using as part of their "Hello" packages have the potential to save Gnome from itself :).

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