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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Two of my friends switched recently.
They had none to very little experience with anything Linux before, their previous win11 installs just over bloated and the copilot bullshit pushed them over. Both (indie/non-pop shooters) gamers btw.
This is the year of linux.
Do they choose distros made for gamers?
One is trying Bazzite the other one is just classic fedora
Do they make much difference? Genuine question
Sometimes.
They tend to make sure stuff that gamers care about are up to date and working.
You'll likely need the newest kernels and software packages if you're running the latest gen of GPU and/or CPU, to get the most out of them, or even get them to worl at all.
I wish I could get my friends to switch. I even had one tell me they would rather use it if supported the games that don’t work (which of course are games with anti-cheat issues). But they at least recognize that Windows is getting quite bloated
My first one to switch did so recently. Gave him an open offer to help get going if he ever got interested, then proceeded to just go about using my linux system for our multiplayer gaming and couch gaming hangouts.
It took a little less than three years from when I first switched for him to follow.
My sister is also on linux, has been since she took my gaming laptop as her own, and she never felt a need to switch it back to windows.
It just goes to show you. The only way to get the Linux desktop market share up is not building. Something better than Windows we have been there for a while. It's make hardware, put Linux on that hardware and sell it in a store. Avg people don't change operating systems. They change computers. Now if we could just get steam decks in retail stores. It would be a huge.
Exactly. Linux will never become the majority OS as long as it’s not the default OS on retail PCs.
Avg people don’t change operating systems
This is a huge argument, even Linus Torvalds said that many years ago. The average person just wants to buy a computer and use it normally for work, casual stuff or gaming. They won't make the effort to change the operating system.
Now if we could just get steam decks in retail stores
We can also get the Steam OS on different hardwares, just like the Lenovo Legion Go S
There is a non-insignificant amount of people who just throw away their computer when something gets messed up because they don't know how to reinstall windows. Not only do average people not know how to install an operating system, they don't even know how to learn. Many people have help, techie friends and family, but many don't, and they can sadly only be helped at scale.
It was tried a little bit in 2008 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23565020
Microsoft/Google would shit all over any retailer that dared to do that today.
That said, Bestbuy did have an OS2/Warp on the floor decades ago.
I think SteamOS will have a solid chance.
We need a distro that has a 0% chance to brick on a graphics driver update. That can flawlessly do a major release update without breaking things and can run GOG, Steam, Epic.
It's a shame more developers don't target Linux! Anyway I have been Steam gaming on Linux for about 10 years now and it's amazing how good games targeted at Windows run through Proton. I have many games that are targeted for Windows and run BETTER on Fedora.
As far as I can gather, Valve explicitly advises developers to avoid targeting Linux when building or optimizing for the Steam Deck, instead focusing on optimizing around Proton.
Elden Ring runs better on proton/wine/dxvk then it does on Windows.
Everything that is highly CPU bound (I am looking at you, Path of Exile 1) or requires a lot of Disk access (I have no such friends) have a good chance to run better on Linux than on Windows.
I'm quite impressed Arch comes out on top
I'm not honestly. As far as I know SteamOS is based on arch which should give it a massive boost in comparison to other linux distros just from the number of Steam Decks
SteamOS does not get reported as Arch.
I would expect Steam to report Steam OS as Steam OS.
They managed to differentiate Manjaro to it's own entry after all. It's Arch based too.
I'm more surprised that Manjaro is so low.
They got hit by a lot of negative reviews and bad publicity those last years. Myself gave it a try last years and while it isn't a bad distro from first impression... The fact that they add bookmarks into my firefox and Manjaro bootscreen at start gave me a strange feeling... Specially because this happend after the bios bootscreen hack. And I know this is not related but it still gave me strange gut feeling and always follow your guts !
Happy EndeavourOS user !
The numbers are 3 weeks old, but they are still good. 😋
Yeah i was gonna say, this is old news. The +0.42% is the last spike on this graph.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/06/linux-user-share-hits-a-multi-year-high-on-steam-for-may-2025/
To be fair the numbers are from June 1st, and are for the month of May. So a tad newer than you graph that state March as the latest.
2.69% +0.42%
Nice, the meaning of Life. This would be perfect, if it was 3.69 instead. But we can't have it all, otherwise there would be no improvement possible and it gets stale.
Some interesting distro choices to be found in there. I didn't realize CachyOS was so popular
I have used CachyOS and I can confirm that it is decent. I might give Bazzite a try next though.
Installed Fedora Linux 42 on my gaming PC with Intel Arc B580. Completed Steam Servey. Selling B580 due to miserable driver support and moving PC from a gaming to home server(TrueNAS). Still have my Steam Deck which I won't sell.
To the moon!
Google translates that as Intergalactic Bow Community =\
That's part of the fun
Those are rookie numbers Debian GNU/Linux!
I installed it on a partition along side windows 10.
I installed openrazer to control my keyboard and the next time I loaded it up only the number keys worked.
I'm not sure what my next steps will be but I'm enjoying it other than this issue, it reminds me of the good old DOS days back when I was a kid.