--- /dev/null
+ [SMALL UPDATE] LINUX USER NUMBERS ON STEAM INCREASED TO 0.78% \r
+ (FROM 0.71%) AFTER FIXING A ROUNDING ERROR \r
+\r
+ [linux_gaming] 2018-10-09_08-00\r
+\r
+ o Reference: 2018-10-09_08-00__Small_Update__Linux_us\r
+ o News link: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/9l7jlz/small_update_linux_user_numbers_on_steam/\r
+ o Source link: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/\r
+\r
+\r
+ Lets get to 1.00% before the end of the year. :)\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** ryao\r
+ Lets get to 1.00% before the end of the year. :)\r
+\r
+ ** Dirkan\r
+ The top 1%.\r
+\r
+ ** PM_mePicturesYouLike\r
+ soon they'll be mad about the our privileges\r
+\r
+ ** salsadoom\r
+ Fucking uppity peasants!\r
+\r
+ ** grandmastermoth\r
+ we can always burninate them.\r
+\r
+ ** Swiftpaw22\r
+ By setting their Windows computers on fire? Nah,\r
+ besides that happens already. Instead we show\r
+ them Linux can save their computers, and their\r
+ privacy, and their sanity, and give them better\r
+ performance, all at once!\r
+\r
+ ** grandmastermoth\r
+ No we set the peasants on fire. Like so:\r
+ [1]https://homestarrunner.com/trogdor-canvas/i-\r
+ ndex.html\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1]\r
+ https://homestarrunner.com/trogdor-canvas/inde-\r
+ x.html\r
+\r
+ ** Swiftpaw22\r
+ I'm familiar already, yep, was moving\r
+ beyond that old reference. Homestar is\r
+ still great, though. :3\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Swiftpaw22\r
+ Except instead of being thieves who have corrupted and\r
+ rigged the system, we're Robin Hoods working on teaching\r
+ the poor 99% about a better way to game until the\r
+ establishment is overthrown. :3\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** electricprism\r
+ The higher, the fewer. We are the top of the tech industry.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** alexandre9099\r
+ Of the top 1%\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** ReadAParadox\r
+ Am I the only one who feels sad that the number of users for our\r
+ platform can be changed with a reasonable difference only from a\r
+ rounding error ...\r
+\r
+ ** FurbyOnSteroid\r
+ I don't think it's sad. There are a lot of different distros\r
+ for any kind of people. Which is a good thing in my opinion\r
+ (as long as they are maintained obviously).\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Zach_Attakk\r
+ Welcome to statistical insignificance. Give it time.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** FurbyOnSteroid\r
+ [1]Link to the tweet regarding that change\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1] https://twitter.com/Plagman2/status/1047655420020453378\r
+\r
+ ** Finniss\r
+ I work hard to allow my kids to have a great gaming experience\r
+ on Linux, so we can raise the next generation right. :) Let's\r
+ keep up the work; those are rookie numbers.\r
+\r
+ ** moonwork\r
+ I did that for my niece and nephew. It worked great until\r
+ Fortnite. Goddamn Epic and their goddamn assumptions.\r
+\r
+ ** pdp10\r
+ Epic has deals with Microsoft, and is partially owned by\r
+ PRC interests.\r
+ Now, I'm not saying that causes them not to be on Linux;\r
+ they're currently on non-Microsoft platforms from Apple,\r
+ Sony, and Nintendo. I am saying that their deals with\r
+ Microsoft could be correlated in some way with their\r
+ platform decisions, however. Valve has no deals with\r
+ Microsoft as far as I know, which could be correlated with\r
+ their support of Linux/SteamOS.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** FartCompany\r
+ Social pressure right? Normie sees linux for the first\r
+ time Wat iaasa that You : linux\r
+ Normie : WHY YOU NO WINDOWS YOU ARE SUCH AN NERD (and then\r
+ social pressures you to switch to windows)\r
+ Normie strenght = ignorance\r
+\r
+ ** moonwork\r
+ I mean, I wouldn't call Tim Sweeney a "normie", but\r
+ sure.\r
+ \r
+ Installing Linux is sort of the equivalent of moving to\r
+ Canada when one doesn’t like US political trends.\r
+ Nope, we’ve got to fight for the freedoms we have\r
+ today, where we have them today.\r
+ Source:\r
+ [1]https://twitter.com/timsweeneyepic/status/9642844027-\r
+ 41149698\r
+ I'm just frustrated that Epic made their game engine\r
+ (Unreal 4) support Linux, and then decided their\r
+ flagship game shouldn't demonstrate that capability,\r
+ because that's somehow a bad investment.\r
+ One would hope that Publishers would at some point stop\r
+ seeing Linux users as the market potential, when, in\r
+ fact, it's the Windows Users that are the untapped part\r
+ of the market. Any old indie company can't do that, but\r
+ major AAA game publishers could, if they wanted to.\r
+ Brb counting to 10 before I blow a casket.\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1]\r
+ https://twitter.com/timsweeneyepic/status/9642844027411-\r
+ 49698\r
+\r
+ ** colonel_p4n1c\r
+ blow a casket\r
+ A bit early for necrophilia, no?\r
+\r
+ ** moonwork\r
+ Hey, am I coming to YOUR reddits and tell YOU how\r
+ to MORTAL? No. So kindly back off and let me lich\r
+ the way I like to lich.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** gentlegiant1972\r
+ I brought up Linux on a thread in [1]/r/pcgaming where\r
+ people were bitching about how shitty windows 10 is and\r
+ I was instantly downvoted.\r
+ It's like these people are standing in a pool of shit\r
+ and complaining about how much it stinks but if you\r
+ tell them they don't have to stand in a pool of shit\r
+ they tell you to fuck off.\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming\r
+\r
+ ** pdp10\r
+ It's been that way for a long time. People seem\r
+ willing to give deep, nuanced opinions why the users\r
+ of the world can't possibly use an office suite\r
+ other than the one from Microsoft, but when you ask\r
+ them to articulate a reproducible (therefore\r
+ fixable) bug with any competitor, such as\r
+ LibreOffice, it's nothing but crickets. Most of them\r
+ never chose to switch from other apps to\r
+ Microsoft's, so they don't really have reasons to\r
+ give, you see. They're just uninterested in making\r
+ problems for themselves for what they see as other\r
+ people's crusade.\r
+ I suppose that psychologically speaking, it's the\r
+ urge to defend one's behavior in the face of\r
+ criticism. That's why criticizing Windows in\r
+ general, and Windows users in particular , is not a\r
+ very good method of persuasion.\r
+ The best persuasion isn't persuasion at all, and\r
+ it's not a debate or provocation. It's gentle\r
+ statement of fact: we use Linux to accomplish a, b,\r
+ c, 1, 2, 3, successfully. No tool is best for all\r
+ uses, but Linux is particularly good for x, y, z, 7,\r
+ 8, 9.\r
+\r
+ ** epaaj\r
+ We're migrating back to Windows where I work.\r
+ Users were complaining about missing features and\r
+ compatibility issues in Libre Office\r
+ sheets/excel. Unfortunately Microsoft Office is\r
+ very good and it's hard to find any replacement\r
+ that matches the overall experience.\r
+ I rarely use any office suite applications at all\r
+ so can't really point at specific things myself.\r
+\r
+ ** pdp10\r
+ I don't really use office apps any more\r
+ either, but I'm relatively aware of issues\r
+ involving app migration by users because I do\r
+ a lot of scale migrations, since before\r
+ Windows was even used in enterprise.\r
+ What's key is to identify how users are using\r
+ the apps, and then which functionality. There\r
+ are certain things that will never probably\r
+ work perfectly in a competitor, but then for\r
+ example [1]Excel macros don't necessarily even\r
+ work in Microsoft's Mac version of Excel .\r
+ So on one hand, users in some industries and\r
+ situations might have a lot of legacy\r
+ macro-laden spreadsheets. But on the other\r
+ hand, in a great many cases, workflows done in\r
+ spreadsheets need to move to a more-structured\r
+ system for risk reasons anyway (search on:\r
+ "spreadsheet risk"). So we need to replace\r
+ these [2]so-called "spreadmarts" with managed,\r
+ audited, far less risky systems where it's\r
+ hard for error to creep in due to human error\r
+ and hard for unintentional forks of data and\r
+ "code" to be made every time a spreadsheet is\r
+ copied and e-mailed around.\r
+ Of course, replacing or implementing\r
+ enterprise systems is complicated and takes\r
+ time. More than a few firms are in the process\r
+ of de-coupling themselves from proprietary\r
+ apps from dBASE to Excel to Photoshop, with a\r
+ goal of being dramatically more flexible in\r
+ how their staff can work. Offsite from a cafe\r
+ with a Chromebook? No problem. Update and\r
+ approve data from iOS? No problem. Power users\r
+ working miracles with Emacs on Linux? No\r
+ problem.\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1]\r
+ http://blog.parallels.com/2016/01/21/differenc-\r
+ es-microsoft-office-mac/\r
+ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreadmart\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** TheConquistaa\r
+ The bad thing is that open source software is\r
+ pretty much inoperable more or less with\r
+ proprietary formats. And open formats don't work\r
+ that well inside proprietary suites.\r
+ You may have ODF but people use OOXML.\r
+ You may have .xcf but people use .psd\r
+ I only yesterday had to edit a poster that had\r
+ some text in it and found that GIMP cannot edit\r
+ text inside a .psd file (it renders it as raster\r
+ image). There was no plug-in for this and found\r
+ no converter from psd to xcf. So I had to rely on\r
+ a site that can see the font in pictures and go\r
+ to trial and error to make the text similar. Not\r
+ quite the best alternative to running Photoshop.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** ShugoWah\r
+ Funny, this is -exactly- the same experience of\r
+ watching your Twitter-using friends bitch 18 hours a\r
+ day about how bad Twitter is, and then laugh at the\r
+ thought of giving Mastodon a look.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** KatsAwfulReddit\r
+ Most PC users don't really want the usability of a\r
+ computer, they just want a console with better power\r
+ and mouse and keyboard support\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Finniss\r
+ Online is hard because it comes off as preachy. I\r
+ just use the stuff in normal life and when someone\r
+ wants to know how I do something, I show them. A\r
+ number of people have switched to Libre Office and\r
+ Linux because they see how I use it to do some very\r
+ technical things easily, and it changes they\r
+ preconceived notions about it. Sometimes I have had\r
+ to work very hard to make things work, but I feel it\r
+ is worth it in the long run. My biggest problem (and\r
+ still occasionally is) is connecting to our MS\r
+ Exchange mail/calendar server. The mail program\r
+ Evolution does OK but my slightly outdated version\r
+ still is missing some key calendar features. I need\r
+ to check for updates on that. If people complain\r
+ about Windows, I offer to set them up with a dual\r
+ boot system so they can try Linux or go back to\r
+ Windows if they need it for something special.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Finniss\r
+ My son is 7 and my wife does want him playing first person\r
+ shooters yet, so we are safe there for now. My daughter\r
+ has no interest in it. I figured someone would have\r
+ figured out how to run that in linux. They want to play\r
+ Roblox and use my phone for it for now. I tell them about\r
+ how I disapprove of Microsoft and how by using\r
+ alternatives, they make computing better for the world.\r
+ Then I get them a new Linux game and keep them happy for a\r
+ while.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** ReadAParadox\r
+ True father/mother.\r
+\r
+ ** JonaldLovesDong\r
+ parent\r
+\r
+ ** grandmastermoth\r
+ we need to breed more\r
+\r
+ ** pr0ghead\r
+ You can't straight-up breed parents. That's not how\r
+ that works.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** StardusterPrime\r
+ Jesus, how thirsty am I to celebrate a .07% jump?\r
+\r
+ ** Two-Tone-\r
+ Well, if you put it in perspective, since Proton was\r
+ announced, our total user base has increased by 59% .\r
+ And that is just in less than two months, not even a month\r
+ and a half. That is insane growth. [1]It's so insane that we\r
+ actually reversed over a year's worth of decline in less than\r
+ two months .\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1]\r
+ https://www.gamingonlinux.com/index.php?module=steam_linux_sh-\r
+ are\r
+\r
+ ** Zach_Attakk\r
+ I think not everyone boots up Steam every day, especially\r
+ if they're a Linux gamer that was only playing the SteamOS\r
+ compatible games until now, and maybe doesn't follow the\r
+ news as much. There's also a whole bunch of Linux players\r
+ running the Windows Steam client in wine, which means when\r
+ that survey (that popped up this week) reports back, it'll\r
+ report Windows.\r
+ \r
+ In short, I think there's a whole bunch of Linux gamers\r
+ that haven't come on board yet.\r
+\r
+ ** Two-Tone-\r
+ I think not everyone boots up Steam every day,\r
+ especially if they're a Linux gamer that was only\r
+ playing the SteamOS compatible games until now, and\r
+ maybe doesn't follow the news as much\r
+ How did nearly an extra 60% of users all decided to\r
+ just start running Steam again in the last month and a\r
+ half, completely unrelated to the announcement of\r
+ Proton?\r
+ And even then, what about the substantial loss of\r
+ percentage over the last couple of years? Surely we\r
+ wouldn't have seen our numbers steadily drop lower and\r
+ lower too we were nearly reduced by half if these\r
+ people were still there.\r
+ \r
+ There's also a whole bunch of Linux players running the\r
+ Windows Steam client in wine, which means when that\r
+ survey (that popped up this week) reports back, it'll\r
+ report Windows.\r
+ In the past the hardware survey explicitly detected\r
+ that steam is running in wine and even what version,\r
+ all to be counted as Linux or Other (iirc). I see no\r
+ reason that'd change now or any time in the last year+.\r
+ E: rereading this I may come across as rather angry.\r
+ Not my intent, I'm just tired. Sorry\r
+\r
+ ** Zach_Attakk\r
+ unrelated to the announcement of Proton?\r
+ I'm not saying "nobody" did it, I'm saying there\r
+ might be a significant portion that didn't see the\r
+ article. Maybe not as significant as I initially\r
+ thought, but I'm sure more users will trickle in\r
+ over time. Or users that saw the news but didn't\r
+ think it's a priority for their gaming habits,\r
+ installing Steam Linux when their wine version was\r
+ working fine. Not everyone jumps on something the\r
+ moment they find out about it. Was just a thought...\r
+ I happened to install Linux on my old netbook\r
+ literally days before the news dropped, so I was\r
+ still in the "what can I do with my new favourite\r
+ OS" phase, but not everyone is like this. They're\r
+ just happy if it works.\r
+ \r
+ In the past the hardware survey explicitly detected\r
+ that steam is running in wine and even what version,\r
+ all to be counted as Linux or Other (iirc)\r
+ Oh I didn't know this.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** dlove67\r
+ Surely we wouldn't have seen our numbers steadily\r
+ drop lower and lower too we were nearly reduced by\r
+ half if these people were still there.\r
+ Percentage-wise, you could have. Assuming more new\r
+ windows/macOS users come, while most linux users\r
+ that were using steam are already on it.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** graemeLinux\r
+ The survey isn't what counts the OS. The OS is\r
+ auto-reported on sign on. The survey reports things\r
+ that the sign-on doesn't know or don't want to figure\r
+ out, like speed tests, etc. They know exactly how many\r
+ people are online with linux, mac, windows, etc at any\r
+ point in time.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** mishugashu\r
+ I don't think we actually declined, we just grew slower\r
+ than Windows. Looking at market share to see growth on a\r
+ single platform isn't really correct. What if a bunch of\r
+ Mac users suddenly stop gaming on Steam? Linux will go\r
+ up... but did we grow?\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** SteveHeist\r
+ Considering that pushes our number from about an additional\r
+ 1/3 over last month to close to 2/5, it's nice to see at\r
+ least.\r
+\r
+ ** HER0_01\r
+ Except that this error was present before this fix, which\r
+ means it likely effected every stat they released from the\r
+ start of Steam on Linux. If they updated past stats after\r
+ applying this and you recalculated it, the growth would\r
+ certainly be lower.\r
+\r
+ ** eggman_jr\r
+ They do this every month.\r
+\r
+ ** HER0_01\r
+ Yes, they publish stats every month, and all of\r
+ those likely are effected by that error except for\r
+ the updated September ones. The old data is not\r
+ correct.\r
+\r
+ ** eggman_jr\r
+ What I mean is they update their stats every\r
+ month, about a week after publication.\r
+\r
+ ** HER0_01\r
+ Yes, I know, which is why I said "they publish\r
+ stats every month."\r
+ The problem is all of those stats except for\r
+ September, which they corrected are likely\r
+ affected by this error. This throws off our\r
+ calculations of growth, because groups that\r
+ were not represented before are now\r
+ represented, creating an artificial boost in\r
+ apparent growth.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** pr0ghead\r
+ It's roughly a 10% increase actually.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Bobby_Bonsaimind\r
+ Which translates to ~50k people.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Offensive_joke_lord\r
+ I helped a teeny bit by getting 2 people to switch to Linux\r
+ recently. But mostly thanks to all the people working on all the\r
+ software that makes up the systems we use!\r
+ I'll just keep trying to convert more people! Hopefully once we\r
+ break 1% we can take over the world, mwahahaha >:)\r
+\r
+ ** LucasZanella\r
+ Wait. There was an error... and it went up ?\r
+\r
+ ** zmaile\r
+ Another way to look at it - there was an error... and windows\r
+ went down.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Breadland\r
+ If they add all the fixes that were found for a lot of the\r
+ non-whitelisted games, I think a lot more people would use it.\r
+ Fallout 4 didn't work for me at first. But after looking at\r
+ spcr.netlify.com and the github issues page for proton, I found\r
+ the 3 things I had to do to fix all my problems. Now it runs\r
+ flawlessly. Well it hangs on exit, but apart from that, I never\r
+ had any issues ingame.\r
+ If Valve would add a way to implement these community fixes, so\r
+ the average user doesn't have to do anything in the terminal or\r
+ in the fallout .ini files, then playing Windows only games on\r
+ Linux would be a lot more accessible.\r
+ So hopefully by the time Proton comes out of beta, we'll have\r
+ this feature implemented.\r
+\r
+ ** FurbyOnSteroid\r
+ I'm almost certain that this is where it's heading. As soon\r
+ as they know how a certain game can be played, all they need\r
+ to do is to put these instructions into the "first-time-run"\r
+ setup present on any game which sets these things\r
+ automatically.\r
+\r
+ ** PolygonKiwii\r
+ Ironically, the "first-time-run" setup on some games is\r
+ the only thing blocking them from working perfectly out of\r
+ the box. Having Proton-specific ones would be a great\r
+ step. They could start by removing runtimes that are built\r
+ into Wine already and won't install cleanly anyway.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** jaykstah\r
+ I'm very excited to see this momentum. I switched to Linux Mint\r
+ and quickly fell back into Win10 due to friends still regularly\r
+ playing PUBG and some other games that are broken on Linux. This\r
+ past month I've switched back to 100% Linux usage going from\r
+ Kubuntu to Ubuntu back to Mint on my main machine (have also\r
+ been only using Linux Mint or Ubuntu on my laptop for the past\r
+ year and a half or so).\r
+ I'm glad I hopped back in to contribute to this growth. Moving\r
+ into 2019 let's make some big moves and make sure everyone knows\r
+ that Linux is the place to be if you want to play games and\r
+ simply have fun with your computer! One of my favorite things\r
+ about Linux is still customization as it lets you have fun in\r
+ doing menial tasks.\r
+ Everyone in this community is awesome for the most part so as\r
+ long as we still act as a positive influence and encourage\r
+ others in the gaming community to make the switch in a welcoming\r
+ manner then we should be able to come back here month after\r
+ month and celebrate even more growth!\r
+\r
+ ** INITMalcanis\r
+ I'm very excited to see this momentum.\r
+ \r
+ It is exciting! And I'm delighted to find that Linux is\r
+ become so new-user friendly just when MS appears to be\r
+ dialing all the things that people dislike about Windows up\r
+ to 11.\r
+ It's long been an aphorism of mine that the future happens\r
+ either half as fast or 10 times quicker than anyone expects.\r
+ Linux has had a long run of "half as fast" - I find myself\r
+ hoping that there's going to be a phase change to "10 times\r
+ as quick".\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** MomoSinX\r
+ Wow, nice!\r
+\r
+ ** AskJeevesIsBest\r
+ I'm sure the number will keep growing\r
+\r
+ ** liamdawe\r
+ Updated [1]GOL's dedicated page that shows some history of it.\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1]\r
+ https://www.gamingonlinux.com/index.php?module=steam_linux_share\r
+\r
+ ** pr0ghead\r
+ So we've now regained the last 15 months lost to the Chinese\r
+ invasion. Neat.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Gundurr\r
+ i need a more powerful gaming rig\r
+\r
+ ** ws-ilazki\r
+ So do a lot of people, if those statistics are even remotely\r
+ accurate. 30% of users still only have 2 physical cores, and\r
+ 60% have 4. No hyperthreading stats in that section, but\r
+ elsewhere it says only about half of surveyed systems have\r
+ it. The number of users with 8-core chips is only slightly\r
+ higher than the total Linux user stats. It's no wonder devs\r
+ don't bother making their code use more threads, if only\r
+ about 5% of Steam users have 6+ cores. Even scarier when you\r
+ consider that, since it's restricted to Steam users, the\r
+ survey probably over-represents higher-end systems.\r
+ RAM is more in line with what I expected, with the majority\r
+ having 8 or 16GB. I did expect >16GB to be a bit higher than\r
+ it was, though.\r
+ Also unsurprisingly, two 1920x1080 displays is the most\r
+ common multi-monitor configuration. I'm disappointed that it\r
+ doesn't give any sort of idea how many multi-monitor users\r
+ there are in comparison to people still only using one.\r
+ Most of the stats are pretty consistent between Linux-only\r
+ and Windows-only, too. Exceptions being higher representation\r
+ of 16GB in Linux, and total disk space in Linux is much\r
+ lower. The latter is probably because of people dual booting\r
+ and allocating less space to Linux, since most of their\r
+ space-eating games are in Windows.\r
+\r
+ ** PolygonKiwii\r
+ and total disk space in Linux is much lower. The latter is\r
+ probably because of people dual booting and allocating\r
+ less space to Linux, since most of their space-eating\r
+ games are in Windows.\r
+ It's also because it's not detecting it correctly. For me\r
+ it always lists the amount of free space on my root\r
+ filesystem as the "total" disk space, no matter how many\r
+ other drives are mounted.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** INITMalcanis\r
+ RAM is God damb expensive these days, that's maybe why\r
+\r
+ ** ws-ilazki\r
+ That's true. It was already stupidly expensive when I\r
+ built this PC last year, and it's only gotten worse\r
+ since then apparently. I wish I could have maxed the\r
+ board out then, but I was already pushing the budget\r
+ when I went for 32GB. I was upgrading from a\r
+ ridiculously outdated system that had 6GB, with an 8GB\r
+ maximum (but one of the sticks died), so even the idea\r
+ of using that much seemed insane at the time. I figured\r
+ it would take years before I'd actually use 32... but\r
+ then I got the PC built and immediately started using\r
+ 50-90% of it regularly. Doesn't matter how much I have\r
+ I'll find a way to use it, even if I have to install\r
+ Steam games onto a ramdisk to do it.\r
+\r
+ ** pdp10\r
+ I figured it would take years before I'd actually\r
+ use 32... but then I got the PC built and\r
+ immediately started using 50-90% of it regularly.\r
+ That's always how it works, especially in modern\r
+ systems with virtual memory.\r
+ Back when we had RISC workstations that had 8 to 32\r
+ times as much memory as a contemporary gaming PC,\r
+ those with the latter just couldn't see how the\r
+ memory would ever get used.\r
+\r
+ ** ws-ilazki\r
+ See, I knew when I made it that I could find ways\r
+ to utilise it if I tried . One of the first\r
+ things I did with the newly built system was\r
+ mount half of it as a ramdisk and compile\r
+ something using all cores and no disk bottleneck,\r
+ just to watch it fly, and after that I played a\r
+ couple games off ramdisk to compare load times.\r
+ I've been abusing Linux features in stupid ways\r
+ for a long time, so I was looking forward to\r
+ doing dumb stuff like that. Plus I knew I'd be\r
+ doing GPU passthrough and using a large chunk of\r
+ it for that VM.\r
+ The thing that surprised me is how quickly I went\r
+ past 16 and even 24GB without intentionally doing\r
+ things to use every scrap of memory available.\r
+ Casual usage tends to sit at 10-14GB, and it goes\r
+ up quickly from there when I start doing anything\r
+ other than browsing.\r
+ It also didn't take long to adopt a "screw it, I\r
+ don't need to close this program" mentality with\r
+ programs I'm not using, only closing things when\r
+ I get over ~80% usage or need more memory free to\r
+ start the VM. I have a couple xkill -esque global\r
+ shortcut that send SIGSTOP or SIGCONT to a window\r
+ I click, so when I get done using a program for a\r
+ while I tend to "pause" it instead of closing, so\r
+ that I can leave even cpu-heavy programs open and\r
+ avoid startup times.\r
+\r
+ ** pdp10\r
+ I have a couple xkill-esque global shortcut\r
+ that send SIGSTOP or SIGCONT to a window I\r
+ click, so when I get done using a program for\r
+ a while I tend to "pause" it instead of\r
+ closing, so that I can leave even cpu-heavy\r
+ programs open and avoid startup times.\r
+ That's interesting!\r
+\r
+ ** ws-ilazki\r
+ Actually, I forgot that I recently merged\r
+ them into a single shortcut/script, so that\r
+ was slightly incorrect. I originally\r
+ started with a couple shell functions, stop\r
+ and cont , that would do kill -STOP (or\r
+ -CONT) if given a PID or assume a process\r
+ name and use killall otherwise. Then I\r
+ reproduced that as-is with two shortcuts\r
+ and xdotool and did that for a bit.\r
+ Finally, the current setup, which checks if\r
+ the selected window is paused with ps and\r
+ sends the appropriate signal to toggle\r
+ state.\r
+ Here's the current script: #!/bin/sh\r
+ \r
+ # Get a pid via cursor, similar to xkill,\r
+ and STOP it.\r
+ # If pid is already stopped (state T), CONT\r
+ instead.\r
+ \r
+ pid="$(xdotool selectwindow getwindowpid)"\r
+ state="$(ps -q $pid -o state --no-headers)"\r
+ signal="-STOP"\r
+ \r
+ if [ "x$state" = "xT" ] ; then\r
+ signal="-CONT"\r
+ fi\r
+ \r
+ kill $signal $pid\r
+ Right now I have it bound to meta+s as a\r
+ mnemonic for "stop" but meta+p for\r
+ "play|pause" would probably make more\r
+ sense.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** pdp10\r
+ It's no wonder devs don't bother making their code use\r
+ more threads, if only about 5% of Steam users have 6+\r
+ cores.\r
+ One generally-accepted theory is that both major consoles\r
+ being 8-core AMD APUs since 2013 has already been pushing\r
+ developers of performance-intensive titles to use ~7 cores\r
+ effectively in their cross-platform games.\r
+ \r
+ Also unsurprisingly, two 1920x1080 displays is the most\r
+ common multi-monitor configuration.\r
+ Multiple 1920x1080 has been the most cost-effective,\r
+ high-value configuration for a number of years, and I\r
+ assume that's why the popularity.\r
+ The Hardware Survey says that Linux users are\r
+ significantly more likely to be using both UHD/4K\r
+ 3840x2160 and also laptop-res 1366x768, interestingly\r
+ enough. Basically, there's more hardware diversity at the\r
+ low and high end with Linux, which suggests that Linux is\r
+ less likely to be used to game on dedicated gaming rigs,\r
+ and more likely to be used to game where it's already\r
+ installed on high-end workstations and on regular laptops.\r
+\r
+ ** ws-ilazki\r
+ One generally-accepted theory is that both major\r
+ consoles being 8-core AMD APUs since 2013 has already\r
+ been pushing developers of performance-intensive titles\r
+ to use ~7 cores effectively in their cross-platform\r
+ games.\r
+ I noticed that myself. And now that Ryzen finally\r
+ dragged Intel kicking and screaming into the >4 core\r
+ world, hopefully it will continue to improve.\r
+ \r
+ Multiple 1920x1080 has been the most cost-effective,\r
+ high-value configuration for a number of years, and I\r
+ assume that's why the popularity\r
+ Probably, it's what I favour for the same reason,\r
+ though I use more than two displays because there's\r
+ never enough screen real estate. I sort of hoped to see\r
+ a larger portion of users with resolutions indicating\r
+ more than two displays when I saw the gtx 1060 (which\r
+ has at least 4 outputs) was the most popular GPU.\r
+ I really wish the survey gave some indication of the\r
+ ratio of multi-display vs. single-display users, like I\r
+ already said. I've noticed it's a lot more common than\r
+ it was when I first started doing it, but I'm curious\r
+ to know how common it's gotten. People tend to scoff at\r
+ the idea until they try it and then they never go back.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Parareda8\r
+ Also money\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** silmeth\r
+ The num of cores thing is also kind of a chicken and egg\r
+ situation. I have a pretty decent PC with “only” 4 cores\r
+ i5-6600 because for games and most workloads it’s more\r
+ than enough while the saved money could be spent by me on\r
+ faster RAM and stronger GPU.\r
+ My gf’s PC has 6 cores not because having 6+ cores made\r
+ great sense at the time of buying it (nor atm IMO) but\r
+ only because the new Coffee Lake i5 CPUs increased the\r
+ cores number and her PC is about a year newer than mine.\r
+ It just makes sense, if games are the main intended\r
+ workload, to buy a better GPU even at a cost of a weaker\r
+ CPU, so I’d expect much lower number of high-end CPUs than\r
+ GPUs in the Steam survey.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** pdp10\r
+ Hardware pricing and availability has been a roller-coaster\r
+ for the last couple of years.\r
+ It's entirely possible that we've seen the turning point\r
+ where hardware stops getting cheaper and faster as time goes\r
+ on. If so, it will take the general public a long time to\r
+ accept it, just as it took them a long time to accept that\r
+ semiconductor manufacturing made everything cheaper, better,\r
+ faster, and use less powerful as time went on.\r
+ Nobody had any reason to think that the DRAM price increases\r
+ that started slowly in 2016 would be the beginning of the end\r
+ of hardware getting cheaper, but right now it's looking like\r
+ that will have been the case.\r
+ The big opportunity going forward is from used hardware, as\r
+ the prices are largely going to reflect the past when used\r
+ hardware retained very little value after a couple of years.\r
+ Linux users aren't chained to OEM operating system licenses\r
+ and [1]activations when changing hardware . That gives Linux\r
+ users a notable advantage because they can ignore activations\r
+ and license concerns when shopping for used hardware and when\r
+ incrementally upgrading their machine, unlike Windows users.\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3bezYerYxQ\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Oxxy_moron\r
+ I moved to Linux full time about a month or so ago, been trying\r
+ to launch new steam games to just see if they work and edge up\r
+ the stats (as I have no time to play them any more).\r
+ Hope I was captured in that rise!\r
+\r
+ ** indiepenguins\r
+ so, with 10.5mil active players, that brings us to around 375k\r
+ lnx players? and the rounding error was good for about 35k?\r
+\r
+ ** Crespyl\r
+ Do we know if Steam Play sessions still count as Linux? At least\r
+ as far as whatever distribution stats the devs/publishers will\r
+ see?\r
+\r
+ ** Matty_R\r
+ Yes, Steam Play counts towards Linux.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** FurbyOnSteroid\r
+ AFAIK Steam doesn't count these stats if you play games on\r
+ certain operating systems. All they count is the survey you\r
+ get every now and then (APPARENTLY.. I never got one on\r
+ linux). So it shouldn't matter how you play your games.\r
+ I thought you meant the statistics of the stat page. My bad.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** aaronfranke\r
+ Steam Play counts as Linux but Steam in Wine counts as\r
+ Windows.\r
+\r
+ ** toidiboy\r
+ Not true Steam wine counts as Linux or "other" depending\r
+ on your setup. Has done for some years. It was also\r
+ mentioned earlier in this thread.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** kingpers\r
+ And that including me 😁\r
+\r
+ ** VisceralMonkey\r
+ Haha, oh man.\r
+\r
+ ** not_usually_serious\r
+ nah its because I installed kubuntu on my gaming machine\r
+\r
+ ** PolygonKiwii\r
+ Ah, I see you are also one of the 1428 and a half users of\r
+ Steam.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Leopard1907\r
+ That happens from time to time. A few months back , opposite of\r
+ that happened. After a fix , Linux numbers dropped.\r
+\r
+ ** mithron\r
+ Those percents are misleading: they hide a big userbase that is\r
+ greater than almost any game has. Yes, it's still a minority,\r
+ but as with minorities that also has some beneficial\r
+ implications. It's easier to get bigger traction. Also I wonder\r
+ if there is a general genre bias in Linux userbase, but that\r
+ probably cannot be researched as per-game Linux users stats are\r
+ not published.\r
+\r
+ ** PM_ME_PC_GAME_KEYS\r
+ Those percents are misleading: they hide a big userbase that\r
+ is greater than almost any game has.\r
+ How exactly do they "hide" the GNU/Linux userbase? Just\r
+ because there's a small number (percentage) describing\r
+ something that could also be described with a big number\r
+ (count of users)? Or am I missing something?\r
+\r
+ ** MNfrstrtD\r
+ How exactly do they "hide" the GNU/Linux userbase?\r
+ If they offer 15,000 titles, IDK how many they really do\r
+ offer, and have 20 million subscribers with .78% using\r
+ "GNU/Linux" you would think that GNU/Linux is a small\r
+ segment maybe not worth developing software for. Yet if\r
+ those .78% total userbase subscribers only play 10 titles,\r
+ and of those 10 titles, 1 or 2 titles have 30% GNU/Linux\r
+ userbase, than you have an obscured number. Especially if\r
+ those 1 or 2 titles are in the top 10 most popular games\r
+ on Steam.\r
+ Another way that .78% can be misleading is if the\r
+ GNU/Linux crowd as a whole counts for a higher ratio of\r
+ income than other players, and/or are as a whole spending\r
+ more time per week than other groups. Let's say that the\r
+ overwhelming majority of GNU/Linux users spend 22 hours a\r
+ week using Steam where as only 5% of Windows users spend\r
+ 20 hours or more playing Steam per week.\r
+ \r
+ There are other metrics that can be easily exploited. My\r
+ point is that maybe if it were reported in a more\r
+ meaningful way, such as by reporting on how GNU/Linux\r
+ gamers compare in metrics the Steam executives use to\r
+ decide whether to continue supporting or even expanding\r
+ services for the GNU/Linux market, we could all appreciate\r
+ whether .78% is really a good thing, or a sign that we\r
+ still on the fringe.\r
+\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** RedDeadRevengeance\r
+ THE WHEELS OF PROGRESS TURN\r
+\r
+ ** moonwork\r
+ Anybody else thinking the Ubuntu's probably include Linux Mint..?\r
+\r
+ ** D49A1D852468799CAC08\r
+ Possibly. Fedora is reported as "Linux 4.x". :)\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** Aka_Erus\r
+ Just thinking about how many "Windows users" are actually\r
+ running Windows Steam through wine or even using\r
+ virtualisation...\r
+ We won't get true numbers.\r
+\r
+ ** der_pelikan\r
+ I just calculated how long it would take to take windows 96% if\r
+ we continue to grow with 31% a month: 19 months. 2020 will be\r
+ the year of total linux gaming domination ;)\r
+\r
+ ** Truthfudge1\r
+ i blame steamplay for this :)\r
+\r
+ ** RougeFalconer\r
+ Time to join the 0.78\r
+\r
+\r
git://git.nikiroo.be / gofetch.git / blobdiff