Steam Linux Usage Still Roughly Around 1%

[johnc]

I play L4D2 as well, but it works great on my PC with nvidia driver.

Yeah but there are a lot of bugs on the github site for nvidia users. I know it's hard to track down every individual's issue, and the one in particular that I'm having is common, but this is the reality that people are dealing with on Linux.

If you can't play, you can't play. There's nothing more a user can do.

[bug1]

How is using a binary graphics driver akin to using an entire OS that not only isn't FLOSS, but also is increasingly controlling of what you are allowed to install on it (Windows Store) and requires you to activate every machine and phone home to MS? I hope some day that Nvidia opens up more of their code, but for right now they're absolutely the best option on Linux, absolute parity with their Windows drivers in terms of performance and no driver related issues in any Steam game I've played (and I have 84 Linux games).

If NVIDIA could get away with controlling what you install, require you you to activate the card on every machine and phone home do you think they would do it ?

NVIDIA and Microsoft see FOSS as the enemy, AMD at least make noises about being friendly.

[brosis]

the thing is:

disabling hyper-z helps for the first few minutes but the graphics looks pretty ugly - even in 1920x1080

then the screen turns black and the monitor turns itself off

when rebooting via magic sysrq the bios signals that there's an gpu error

The newer stack caused GPU hangs for me on 5850, till I manually forced radeon.dpm=1 via kernel cheat. It seems the card is unstable with old reclock method. Maybe worth a check?

[omer666]

The time being I own something like 40 Linux native games on Steam. I've got some issues with kernel 3.12 so I stick to LTS kernel (3.10). I'm running Arch with nVidia drivers and compatibility is not bad at all on LTS kernel. There are some crashes in Metro : Last Light, but nothing preventing me from completing the game twice. Also Shadowrun Returns has some problems on launch. I think using a binary blob or not is not the only concern for Linux gamers, they also want a good, stable OS to run their games. The problem is mainly that Linux ports are not tested enough (which anyway is the case for most PC games nowadays), and that even if developers do care, editors quite frequently don't (and they're those responsible for support - well, they are meant to). Also, we definitely need big franchise ports, not that I want to play CoD or shit like that, but that would bring some cash and attract attention from editors and players alike. So yeah, it's a small beginning, but at the moment, I don't have the messy experience some others have : I'm quite satisfied with Steam on Linux, in fact. They just need to keep things going, and it will attract people. Most certainly it will not make a hundred million people switch, but still.

[kernelOfTruth]

The newer stack caused GPU hangs for me on 5850, till I manually forced radeon.dpm=1 via kernel cheat. It seems the card is unstable with old reclock method. Maybe worth a check?

dpm is definitely more stable =)

but these issue's I'm experiencing are already on forced radeon.dpm=1

[deanjo]

The key to Steams success on Linux lies with Valves ability to convince 1st tier game makers to offer a linux port (and in a timely manner). That, and that alone, will determine Steam/SteamOS's ultimate success.

[Soul_keeper]

l4d2 player here
I also have oilrush, but bought that standalone before trying steam.
I have dota2, but havn't played it for more than 10min just to check out the graphics (was the free download).

Using fglrx, but mesa 9.2.x works too on another system. I havn't had any crashing/locking up issues ... at all.

I'm looking forward to any updates to the l4d franchise or any AAA titles.
Apparently i'm not a big gamer like many with 12+ games installed, I tend to play 2 or 3 games every now and then.
l4d2 is addicting ...

[deanjo]

l
l4d2 is addicting ...

Once bitten? ;D

[e8hffff]

The fact is the gaming scene on Linux is still to be embellished properly with both products and gamers.

Most Linux users are tech savvy and probably developers. They aren't 24 hour gamers as such. What is changing though is a flow on effect of parents using Linux and their siblings playing games on the home computer or tablet. Also the market is now underpinned by Linux technologies and that will come to the forefront of users as time progresses.

Another consideration is that over the whole gaming scene there isn't any killer networking title. The MMORPG's took over local lans and combat games. MMORPG's have declined though.

[Sonadow]

I'm not much of a PC gamer; my Steam library only has Recettear (Windows only), Condition Zero and Portal.

On my Windows machine i have a small collection of eroge, and some Korean / Japanese MMORPGs, but that's about it.

I do all my gaming almost exclusively on my PS3 and PS4; no other platform can match the sheer number of jRPGs exclusives available on Sony's consoles.

Yes, i'm an obsessed jRPG nut.