Steam Linux Marketshare Ticks Up Higher For September

[Raka555]

Well this installation thing was not that serious. But what I found about my pool of computer systems -> every time I put a new Windows machine into the network it did not take that long till Steam ask for a survey. But I have installed far more Linux systems with Steam and they never popped up a survey.

I have a similar experience.

[skeevy420]

Probably because these developers are working for server features first.

Quit following me around dammit

[JPFSanders]

Interesting that the RX 480 is the most popular GPU on linux.

It is also weird that the RX 480 is up by 0.7% in the last month, since these are not on sale new for a long time now.
To me it indicates that the trends of the survey is kind of lagging approx 2 years behind or linux users are buying up all the old RX 480s ...

It doesn't surprise me, the RX 480 works "Perfectly" on Linux with AMDGPU + Radeon, both Desktop and GL + Vulkan performance is excellent.

I've had previously a R9 290 and it was a living nightmare, since I got my 480 gaming on Linux is bliss.

When it came upgrading my secondary computer, I bought a second RX 480 on ebay because I prefer 10-20 less fps with a smooth sailing rather than "the greatest" RX 5XX which runs fine only 6 months to a year after release.

The RX480 currently provides one of the most solid gaming experiences in Linux.

[Raka555]

I have to assume that's partly because the RX 5*0 cards tend to be reported as RX 4*0.

RX 480s and 580s are damn good cards for a combination of value, Linux compatibility, guaranteed long-term Linux support, guaranteed major desktop environment performance and support, gaming performance, computing standards support, they both over and under clock very good, and they're mature enough that most major bugs have been squashed. IMHO, they're the best AMD cards for a 1080p Linux desktop that also plays games.

It would make much more sense if this is the case.

[skeevy420]

It would make much more sense if this is the case.

I know from personal experience that my RX 580 is reported as a 480 when I'm using RADV and it's a 580 with AMDVLK. Since I'm assuming that most people use RADV, it's a theory that makes sense.

[Naquatis]

Probably because these developers are working for server features first.

I am fully fine with that. It take me a long time to use systems for what they are good at. The fact you having a hammer in your hand did not automatically means everything is a nail.

[gamerk2]

This is very true. Open-source seems a little too volatile to really produce a polished desktop. The technology changes too fast and too sporadically without working together for perfect interoperability.

Just small subtle things like missing icons in the default install, default display brightness in login screen not being restored or remembering which audio output to use per user often work for a few revisions but are then broken during the next. And when they do work, something else is a little broken.

That said, compared to Windows 7, I find Windows 10 to have a few more breakages, especially around screen layout or using less consumer tools (gpedit.msc, services.msc, etc). Often there are resize issues causing the components to cut off around the edges. So perhaps it isn't just open-source that is dropping the ball here.

But here's the key difference: Pretty much every Win32 app will still run on Win10 x64. You may have to fiddle around a bit to get them to play nice, but they still run because Microsoft will *never* outright drop support for any part of the Windows API. I still occasionally play an old game that has a DX5 (!) render as an option that runs just as (badly) it did the day it came out.

Linux? It seems every time the Kernel gets bumped for one or two minor fixes *everything* needs to be re-compiled against it. And normal people do not want to deal with that. Sure, Microsoft breaks stuff all the time, but they (usually) fix it in short order.

[syrjala]

The 0.83% September marketshare for Linux gamers is a 0.03% over August

I think that should be 0.03 percentage points rather than 0.03%.

[Aeder]

Interesting that the RX 480 is the most popular GPU on linux.

It is also weird that the RX 480 is up by 0.7% in the last month, since these are not on sale new for a long time now.
To me it indicates that the trends of the survey is kind of lagging approx 2 years behind or linux users are buying up all the old RX 480s ...

But come to think of it. I bought a new PC about 2 months ago, but I am not expecting to see another steam survey for the next year or more. In this light it explains why the trends are more than 2 years old.

I think it has to do with the survey being kinda bad at its job. If you have an intel processor and a discrete GPU, it's very likely to report the intel graphics instead. And if later you switch to a Ryzen and keep the GPU, it will report correctly. That way the % goes up without anyone actually buying a new video card.

Also my RX580 reports as a RX580, so I don't think it's those cards posing as the wrong model.

[skeevy420]

I think it has to do with the survey being kinda bad at its job. If you have an intel processor and a discrete GPU, it's very likely to report the intel graphics instead. And if later you switch to a Ryzen and keep the GPU, it will report correctly. That way the % goes up without anyone actually buying a new video card.

Also my RX580 reports as a RX580, so I don't think it's those cards posing as the wrong model.

Sometime around Mesa 19.1/19.2 and Linux 5.1/5.2, mine quit reporting itself as a 480 via glxgears and native Linux programs. I don't know what you're using, but if most of your software is pretty up-to-date, it probably does report correctly outside of odd cases like mine now.

On 19.3 and Linux 5.3 I still see it occasionally reported as either the generic POLARIS10 or as an RX 480 under Wine and Proton with DXVK. I haven't played any games with D9VK or Wine's DX11 in a good while to know what they report my GPU as these days.

Looking at Steam's reported Linux OS numbers, the majority of people are on Ubuntu LTS followed by Ubuntu, Arch, & Manjaro which are using Mesa 16.04, 19.0, 19.1, & 19.1 paired with Linux 4.15, 5.0, 5.3, & 5.2 meaning that the majority of people are using versions of Mesa and the kernel that, for me with those combinations, reported my 580 as a 480.

What's interesting is if the trend in their OS numbers continue, it'll soon be Ubuntu LTS, Arch, Ubuntu, Manjaro. Interesting that "hard to use" Arch is the #3 most used distribution they're reporting. I was expecting to see one of the heavyweights like Suse, Debian, or Fedora after the Ubuntu family, not Arch & Noob Arch, I mean, Manjaro.