Steam On Linux Usage Climbs Higher Thanks To The Steam Deck

[Mahboi]

Gabe "I use Arch btw" Newell, pushing his archgenda.

[IActuallyKnowItAll]

These differences are basically in error margin and possibly due to sampling. Unless Valve does a one time survey for all users, we won't know the actual percentage of Linux users.

I understand why Michael does these articles, they are easy but not much to discuss here, unless Linux usage breaks 2% or something similar.

[timofonic]

Gabe "I use Arch btw" Newell, pushing his archgenda.

ArchLinux will conquer the world!

[Tuxee]

Not even close.
It has nothing to do with bragging. I'm talking about real enhancements to the Linux desktop experience.

Sarcasm is definitely wasted on you...

[TemplarGR]

Gabe "I use Arch btw" Newell, pushing his archgenda.

Are you sad that that useless garbage ubuntu is on the decline? I think Ubuntu's user dominance lasted too long, actually. Arch has been better for many, many years. If only a multi-millionaire took an interest in making a user-friendly distro based on Arch, instead of Debian.... Manjaro is good and all, but it is sad that all those resources are wasted on Ubuntu.

[marios]

Linux has to pursue a microkernel route in order to break into the desktop market. That's the only possible way to do it, IMO.

But, why am I saying that, and what possible relation could microkernels have to enhancing the Linux desktop experience?

I'll leave it to you people here to attempt to figure it out. I prefer a discussion where people first try to guess what I'm thinking of.

If noone can guess correctly, I then I'll provide a straightforward answer.

The only gain I see in microkernels, is being able to damage control shitty and/or malicious drivers. The only linux driver that comes to mind that would use this is nvidia's blob. In general taking the microkernel performance penalty, is an inferior solution if you can just make sure that your computer has decent Linux drivers...

[birdie]

The only gain I see in microkernels, is being able to damage control shitty and/or malicious drivers. The only linux driver that comes to mind that would use this is nvidia's blob. In general taking the microkernel performance penalty, is an inferior solution if you can just make sure that your computer has decent Linux drivers...

It can be a mixed kernel like e.g. ntoskrnl which is both monolithic and microkernel-ish simultaneously. It can reload crashed drivers which cause a kernel panic on Linux.

Actually the Linux kernel has some sort of microkernel features e.g. FUSE but those are far and between.

And don't think it's only Nvidia's blob which needs this. Intel and AMD drivers are so complicated nowadays they crash a lot on many systems. They could benefit from this immensely.

[ms178]

My system was counted twice this months, it might have had an impact on the numbers.

The only major annoyance lately were some breaking game/launcher updates, e.g. Sniper Elite 5 and Battlefield 1. These were quite a bummer as there are no timely fixes in sight. That needs to stop and be improved upon if Linux wants to get more traction. Appearently game publishers don't care as much for Linux or they would have tested or coordinated better with Valve before pushing these "improvements" to their customers.

[sinepgib]

The fact is that proprietary licencing is in direct contradiction with open-source licensing.

The fact is this is only partly true, if your aim is more philosophical than practical. If you care that your OS and drivers are open due to maintenance, etc, it doesn't really matter that non-critical stuff such as games are not. Besides, it's better to have a partially open ecosystem than choosing between a wholly closed one or a sorta-kinda-working-but-not-quite-satisfying one.

A viable solution easing this contradiction/dichotomy is for cryptocurrencies to enable monetization of open-source codes, thus preventing profit-oriented companies from exploiting open-source software.

None of this follows. Also, please don't. Cryptocurrencies are a solution looking for a problem, and one that brings more problems than benefits at that. The fairy tale is this.

Re microkernels: xfcemint, is it about easier backwards compatibility? One of the reasons Windows is king in the desktop is that you can keep using your software forever. Keeping your kernel interfaces simple makes it much easier to keep them stable, this in turn enables making zero-cost* servers for keeping the actual interfaces your programs will use compatible in a more or less trivial way.

*In the C++ way, as in you couldn't with reasonable effort write it in a cheaper way and you don't pay for it unless you use it. If you don't need the old interface because all your software is recent you just don't start the server. Further, thanks to socket activation (or equivalent tech for whatever IPC you use) this can be done transparently to the user.

[sinepgib]

Plus, you can also suspend all services your game is not using during game mode. You can't really suspend drivers with a monolithic kernel in a practical way. This means reduced latency and more resources for your game. A separate scheduler also means you can easily switch to a real time mode.