Steam Linux Usage Is Almost Back Up To 1.2%

[nanonyme]

I just wish Steam runtime would soon start targeting Ubuntu 14LTS rather than 12LTS. Latter is starting to be pretty ancient

[przemoli]

Within the margin of error there are no Linux steam users. Sorry.

What you're seeing in Steam HW Survey is some statistical noise.

Proof? :P

We do not know methodology, we do not know metrics, we do not know timeframe.

Yes. You can be right. But You can not be sure. So You can be wrong too.

Unless Valve change their reports and include some more data we can only be sure about trends.
(Like nice boost to Linux after Steam for Linux release, then slow but steady downward trend. Now? Lets see for few more surveys. Maybe that is slow upward trend!)

[dungeon]

I don't get what you mean. My point was if you don't have lsb-release available, your distro most likely doesn't comply with LSB at all ie is basically just some random crap from last century that doesn't understand it actually makes sense for distros to have given common interfaces instead of doing everything in random ways to only attract hobbyists

Well, if you don't have it then you don't have it. If you have it, you have it - but like Debian had it for 12 years, it never claim that is actually LSB 100% compliant - you can run LSB compliant apps, but there are limitations...

But yeah i don't know really... all that sound like crap to me, but linux fondation still wanna release specs - LSB 5.0 RC1 from few days ago

http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/lsb/lsb-50-rc1

[Bucic]

I wish Valve would reign in this "Valve Time" characteristic that they love to brag about. It was cute initially but you really can't accomplish anything significant as a business with a strategy like that.

Right now their business model is to roll in the cash by sitting back and letting their marketplace generate revenue for them. In other words, they do no work. And like a muscle that has atrophied from lack of use, they now seem incapable of actually effecting any kind of new products.

They've been talking about this Steam Box, Steam OS, etc. stuff for years now and nothing has really come of it. I mean WTF are they doing over there? What do their 500 employees do all day? Push wheelbarrows full of cash to the bank and back?

Sorry to brake it to you but this kind of not doing anything is responsible for most of cash flow and most of the biggest fortunes nowadays. So you can't exactly expect a company actually do something when the incentive is elsewhere

If the Valve's incapability to accomplish any concrete projects you've noticed gets to the public do you think a big movement will start at Valve to shake the structures and start actual projects? Nah, man. The big movement will start at Valve's PR department since it's cheaper to convince that they do something than to actually do something.

Beatiful times.

[mitcoes]

So... It was not gaming

Some people wrote Linux desktop share is small because lack of games. With Steam it is not true anymore, and it have not changed.

I've always wrote it is because not preinstalled devices, and Android, or Chorme OS, preinstalled linux devices sold well.

I am sure any distro / OEM model with Chromebooks alike hardware would sell a lot (better with ethernet 4Gb of RAM
and more disk space) also any tablet and any distro - perhaps with KDE and intel SoC - would also increase the Linux share, but the few Gnu/Linux OEMs at the market do not bet for cheap machines, and I do think it is a great mistake.

People, in a 98% more or less do not know how to install their OSs, and use what it is preinstalled at their computers, and as firsts Eee with Xandros or actual Chromebooks they care that it is cheap and it works people buy hardware "models" and do not care about the OS.

Steam machines will be consoles with a Gnu/Linux preinstalled, that will increase Gnu/Linux market share a lot Why not add to the mix other consumer electronic products?

[nanonyme]

More or less that is because of third-party software eg, not from official repo... they wanna collect some information

I don't get what you mean. My point was if you don't have lsb-release available, your distro most likely doesn't comply with LSB at all ie is basically just some random crap from last century that doesn't understand it actually makes sense for distros to have given common interfaces instead of doing everything in random ways to only attract hobbyists

[dungeon]

I honestly don't understand why lsb-release installed everywhere by default.

More or less that is because of third-party software eg, not from official repo... they wanna collect some information

[dungeon]

If I remember right, debian doesn't have a /etc/lsb-release too, at least on the default install.

Yup, but that depends from which iso and further how you install it. So if you install from mini.iso and select only base install you will not get it, but if you install from big isos it is porobably there by default, etc.

And as SteamOS is debian based ...

That does not mean their packages are the same, Debian ships lsb-release in lsb-release package and see what Debian have in base-files package:

http://sources.debian.net/src/base-files/7.10/etc/

Then recheck what SteamOS have in same named package, eg that actually ship /etc/lsb-release file in base-files , so it it is pretty much always installed for SteamOS.

http://160.140.95.92.rev.sfr.net/apt-cacher-ng/repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/b/base-files/

[edoantonioco]

A lot of dual-boot have died in the last month (due to CSGO and BL2). That's why this little increase.

[droste]

From steam.sh:

function distro_description()
{       
        echo "$(detect_distro) $(detect_release) $(detect_arch)"
}

function detect_distro()
{
        if [ -f /etc/lsb-release ]; then
                (. /etc/lsb-release; echo $DISTRIB_ID | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]')
        elif [ -f /etc/os-release ]; then
                (. /etc/os-release; echo $ID | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]')
        elif [ -f /etc/debian_version ]; then
                echo "debian"
        else
                # Generic fallback
                uname -s
        fi
}

function detect_release()
{
        if [ -f /etc/lsb-release ]; then
                (. /etc/lsb-release; echo $DISTRIB_RELEASE)
        elif [ -f /etc/os-release ]; then
                (. /etc/os-release; echo $VERSION_ID)
        elif [ -f /etc/debian_version ]; then
                cat /etc/debian_version
        else
                # Generic fallback
                uname -r
        fi
}

So it always first checks lsb-release than os-release, debian_version and as a last resort uname.