Steam Linux Usage Was At 0.74% For July

[crystall]

Is the Steam Linux usage inferred from the hardware survey? Because in that case it's likely to underestimate the number of Linux users: in my case the survey never showed up while I was playing on Linux though I spent at least half of my playing time on it.

[AnassAhmed]

its the new beta that segfaults on Arch for me also. I just run steam-native for now, which uses system libraries. Works fine that way

Yes, it segafulted with me too on Fedora 26 and I had to nuke the Steam directory and start fresh from the stable version.

[oleid]

Let's be real. Linux has problems scrolling down webpages.

Has it? I didn't notice that, so far. Even watching HD video in a web page (Amazon Prime) works flicker-free and fine here. Maybe you have bad/old drivers?

FYI: I'm on ArchLinux and use Firefox in Gnome-Shell/X11 with a Radeon R470.

[AnassAhmed]

Has it? I didn't notice that, so far. Even watching HD video in a web page (Amazon Prime) works flicker-free and fine here. Maybe you have bad/old drivers?

FYI: I'm on ArchLinux and use Firefox in Gnome-Shell/X11 with a Radeon R470.

He's talking about Steam Client, if you used a touchpad (like my case) to scroll in the store, you will not get smooth scrolling like you get in other apps (Firefox and Google Chrome for example).

[Termy]

I'm curious, does Valve tell the game producers what operating system the games are being sold on?

from what we can tell, this is a good overview:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/how-steam-computes-linux-sales.4675

[Chewi]

I'm curious, does Valve tell the game producers what operating system the games are being sold on?

Installed on would be a better figure. Amount of time played on would be better still. They do track how long you play each game. Remember that games can be bought from the browser or redeemed through codes bought elsewhere like Humble Bundle. You can even redeem non-Linux games in the Linux client.

Even then, the figures may not be that helpful. Telling producers of Linux games is somewhat preaching to the converted. It's the other producers who need to know that we have a sizeable user base. Also if a Linux port is so bad that users opt to play it under Windows/Wine instead then that would send out the wrong message.

Speaking of which, I saw the survey for the second time yesterday. Unfortunately I was using Steam under Wine and I doubted that would help the Linux figures so I declined.

[eydee]

Honestly the only question I have is what is the only other relevant metric -- how many gamers are on steam.

Without the indie bullshit? A dozen maybe. Unfortunately few come these days.

[mitch074]

I've been playing Steam games on Linux pretty much since the Linux client came out and I don't remember filling it once on Linux. Interestingly, for the once every 3 months I log in, I do get the survey prompt on Windows pretty much every time. If this is general, I wouldn't be surprised if the Linux market share was actually bigger than the OS X one.

[Almindor]

Linux is not good for closed source software like games.

Almost every time I want to play a native game (steam or otherwise) there's always a catch. I'm very good with Linux and a programmer so I can usually find a workaround to get things going but my expectation for "native" linux closed-source games is "probably won't start on first try".

The reasons for this are:

1. Non standard library management accross distroes (old packaged libs might not work with new base layer on OS for example)
2. Out-of-library dependency hell (e.g. dbus being incompatible to itself over certain versions, some games/engines use to communicate with window manager etc.)
3. Glibc crap (mostly older stuff tbh. didn't see this pop up lately)
4. Driver issues (ongoing, both nvidia and amd)

Everything except #4 is not present for open-source games as those just get recompiled.

[pete910]

Has it? I didn't notice that, so far. Even watching HD video in a web page (Amazon Prime) works flicker-free and fine here. Maybe you have bad/old drivers?

FYI: I'm on ArchLinux and use Firefox in Gnome-Shell/X11 with a Radeon R470.

I've found Nvidia's desktop experience on my 1080 shocking compared to the 290 I had, I have terrible problems regards the DE. Open VLC while playing a vid try to move the window, it's **** horrendous. Which is more than likely what he/she is experiencing

The quicker I can jump back to AMD and use the oss driver the better.