I’ll take whatever positive press Linux can get at this point. More people switching over is a good thing.
our university put linux mint on all the desktop computers this year.
Some of y’all are showing your bubble side; outside of our communities here, Linux very much is obscure. That said, there really does seem to be a leak in the mainstream and it’s nice to see it mentioned in a publication. Even if just a little gain, thanks in large part to Steam raising awareness for gamers, US decline in Europe and Canada, and Windows 11 blunders with security.
I’ve gone from people being completely oblivious when I mention Linux, to going “oh, like steam deck?” but there’s still plenty of others who still are oblivious. Then again, mentioning file extensions goes over the heads of 95% of who I talk to, so I wouldn’t have too high hopes.
Idk one of my siblings who I never chalked up as a non-windows user and not particularly tech savvy sent me a screenshot of their linux install. If like the tech barriers to linux are falling then the only thing left to fall is software developers for commercial software.
I built a high end Steam machine in October. I haven’t played many Windows games since. There are games I can’t play, like Space Marine 2, but I have so much that I can play I’m kind of fine with it. Being able to PC game in the living room with an OS that is well formatted for TV play is wonderful.
Linux very much is obscure
To paraphrase Bill Hicks about drugs…
See, I think
drugsLinuxes have done some good things for us! I really do. And if you don’t believedrugsLinuxes have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight, take all youralbumsbookmarks, all yourtapeslinks and all yourCDswebsites and burn 'em. 'Cause you know what? Themusiciansservers whomadehost all that greatmusicweb content that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years?Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreal fuckin’
highhosted ondrugsLinux.:3 Well, that nearly worked. n_n
(I had intended to add a “they[servers]'re all running linux” meme… but failed to find… instead, this’ll do nicely too…)
https://images3.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED455/6859360c6abcc.jpeg
“Like an Android, but without Google’s control.”
Since Android was built off Linux, just way locked down. Might appeal to a wider range of folk since it isn’t strictly to do with gaming and more people are likely to be familiar with Android than a Steam Deck.
The steam hardware survey showed Linux has 3.8% while Mac has 2.2% and windows the remaining 94%
Desktop Linux is niche, it will always be niche if they continue to ignore the user experience. Linux is for nerds, Linux nerds love that.
Seriously, all the lutris & co mess is obsolete now.
Open Steam > add non-steam game > properties > compatibility > force proton 10 > profit
Worked for all the cough responsibly ripped .exe’s I’ve thrown at it so far
If I have an .exe from the high seas that still needs to be unpacked/installed how do I deal with it?
Just started using Linux for playing, currently playing Dispatch (highly recommend it), used Lutris to first install the compacted .exe and then run the launcher .exe. Is there a better way to go about it?
I still use bottles to have a persistent virtual drive for things like modding tools.
Most things work perfectly in Steam though.
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Lutris has allowed me to use battle.net though which I don’t think steam can do, afaik. I’m happy to be proven wrong, though
I run battle.net through Steam. Works just fine.
Thanks, I need to give that a try. Most of my non-Steam games (“Deus Ex”, “Giants: Citizen Kabuto”) run just fine under Wine, using the default settings. The only one that doesn’t work is NOLF 1. (Everything works except music).
I don’t know guys, I miss AI.
Stockholm syndrome?
Never been there. Is it nice?
I’m brave enough to say it
Still anxious that there’s no clear roadmap for linux gaming after gaben passes (Hopefully decades until then).
That’s the beauty of it - Valve has done generous and miraculous things for Linux, using their money to fund work towards a common goal of both the users and their corporation.
But it doesn’t go away if they do. Valve cannot close Pandora’s box. The compatibility layers are open and accessible to the community and cannot be taken away.
IFF it becomes the standard before he dies, it might become as sticky as Windows was — but without enshittification.
I’ve always considered Windows to be a toy OS, because the only use case that could legitimately justify its need is gaming. Removing that requirement leaves only the clownishly unserious and terminally incurious users, which is a large population in computing today, but I’m fine with leaving them to kick in their wading sewer.
What a hot take.
Literally trillions of dollars in business have taken place on applications that only work on Windows. They were developed for 95 or XP or whatever and are still in use today.
For me, music production is my reason for being on Windows. Gaming I could do on Linux, but there’s nothing to drum up the interest in in fixing music prod on Linux that there was for gaming.
THIS is the year.
Posts 30 year old photo of Linus
Posts 30 year old photo of Linus sourced from Getty Images. They paid for the image to discuss FOSS.
While talking about the PC desktop in a gaming magazine.
I am waiting for SteamOS Desktop to be a thing. It is my preference for my PC to be boring in all ways unrelated to entertainment. Yes, I already know about Cachy and Bazzite, but I would like an 800lb gaming company to be supporting my power-casual OS. Stuff like documentation, working Nvidia drivers, minimizing the need for the terminal, and so forth is important for me.
I tried. I really tried. I think i sent through 3 different distros. But my gpu doesn’t like any of them also playnite isn’t on linux yet
Which GPU
Nvidia obviously
Nvidia
I switched my gaming pc to Linux and all the games I tried so far worked good.
Switching the household’s PCs to avoid the Windows 11 BS here. All my stuff is good so far, but the kids have a few games that don’t work - Minecraft Bedrock, Fortnite, and Roblox.
time to switch them to java edition, bedrock sucks anyway
Probably for the best, lol. At the very least, Roblox isn’t particularly good for kids.
Also, modded Minecraft through Prism beats bedrock any day of the week. I’m hoping when my kids are of age, they’ll be down for an expert pack. My daughter sure as hell will be, she’s as weird as I am. I’m sure more normal kids have packs they’d enjoy, though.
Use PrismLauncher for Minecraft! :)
Isn’t that just for Java Edition though? Bedrock has a different launcher, with more modes and mtx to “enjoy”
honestly it’s a good excuse to switch them to java edition, bedrock kinda sucks
Mine are playing Minecraft and Roblox under Linux without problems. I don’t remember what I did for Minecraft, but for Roblox you need something called ‘Sober’.
Have you seen the Schlep controversy? Personally, I would be glad if my family PC suddenly couldn’t run Roblox and “sorry kiddo it just doesn’t work anymore”
brave enough
It was good enough for me at least as early as 2003.
It took no bravery to say.
I wonder why it takes Joshua Wolens any bravery to say “linux is good now, and if you want to feel like you actually own your PC, make 2026 the year of Linux on (your) desktop”. I’ll skip writing a list of possibilities (~ most which would not be kind to the content of his character).
I’m all-in, baby. I’m committed.
This is the way. :)
PS, it’s the “Free Software” (Free As In Freedom ~ Free to use, study, share, change, as you wish), not the “Linux” that really matters, in the long run.
I’d like to give Battlefield 6 a try, but it’s not important enough for me to dual boot Windows or anything silly like that.
I do dual boot windows and play bf6. Windows has its own 500GB hard drive for things like that and Linux has 4TB for everything else. I do wish I could just run Linux only though. Some day…
I have an empty 1TB ssd in my gaming rig, still not installing Windows.
