It finally happened. Linux gamers on Steam as of the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for October 2025 have crossed over the elusive 3% mark.
Free Windows 10 support ended for most people this past month, and the trend line of Linux usage has been quite clear leading up to this, as people prepared for the inevitable. An increase in Linux usage is also correlated to a drop in Chinese players, which did happen this month a little bit, but Linux usage is also trending up when filtering for English only. It’s worth noting that for all the official support Macs ever saw in gaming, they never represented anything better than about 5% of the market.
I’m kinda in the same boat. I have an old gaming laptop that just barley didn’t make the win11 arbitrary cut. Not because it was below spec, it was way above. Just because it was too “old”. I installed Bazzite. But I do have a top tier premium gaming PC I built recently that’s still on Win11 with Dualboot with Bazzite.
Bazzite is great, but it still has the failure(maybe it’s not failure to you and me, but the average gamer) is that most stuff isn’t just, download .exe, run that .exe there are loops and frameworks that need to be installed through command lines. The average user will give up there really quickly.
Bazzite is great, but it still has the failure(maybe it’s not failure to you and me, but the average gamer) is that most stuff isn’t just, download .exe, run that .exe there are loops and frameworks that need to be installed through command line
Strong disagree on “most”
For the vast majority of users? Everything they need is in Steam and MAYBE Heroic, which is the same as on Windows.
In terms of non-gaming? I… have very strong Thoughts on atomic distros and the hoops Bazzite et al make you jump through with regard to layering and the like, but they are in Discover and the like. So “app store” experience.
I personally don’t think Bazzite is a good desktop OS (but I love it for my HTPC). But any of the user friendly distros (e.g. Fedora, Mint, and Ubuntu) should be almost zero command line usage unless you have a reason to use it.
the hoops… [they]… make you jump through with regard to layering
I played around with a few atomic distros and it seems like rather than layering, running things in containers is the preferred solution.
It won’t be the solution for everything that layering could “fix”, depending on your situation, but it is something that I wasn’t initially aware of when I started playing with Bazzite, Fedora Atomic, and now Aurora.
Basically, if you could just run whatever you need to run in a container, that might be another solution.
Haven’t used bazzite, but there is an App Store you can get all of the apps anyone would need.
No longer do we live in the days of visiting a vendors website to download their executables. They are conveniently packaged for us in the App Store (package manager).
Haven’t used bazzite, but there is an App Store you can get all of the apps anyone would need.
Its one of the quirks of a lot of the atomic distros. Because they are specifically built around the idea of having a specific set of packages at a specific range of versions for every rev of the distro itself… adding more packages is kind of a clusterfuck.
For flatpaks (and I think appimages too?), it is seamless. For anything else you are googling the commands to add packages as “layers” and so forth
And, to be fair to Bazzite (which I use for my HTPC and love it on there), I have had zero issues with actual gaming. Steam out of the box and Heroic is one flatpak away. But holy shit was adding iperf3 to test some network infrastructure tweaks a Thing.
Its why I personally recommend to friends to just raw dog Fedora rather than use one of the atomic distros. Atomic distros make a lot of sense for deployed machines but for anything someone is going to use as “their” computer? Just learn to not type sudo before every command you run… and maybe get a jetkvm so your tech savvy friend can fix your computer after an nvidia driver update.
I have a Windows laptop specifically for gaming, but I end up using my Linux coding laptop for games in the end.
It’s less hassle figuring out how to enable nvidia drivers on xorg in GNU linux so that I csn use Proton emulation than to deal with this weeks clusterfuck of windows update trying to make me turn on ads and spying and trick me into using a microsoft.com account to log in.
I am not joking.
The windows still has some dust on it from when I did some house renovations months ago, because I haven’t been bothered to use it.
How long does your Window box function without updates? How long does it remain safe? Historically, a few months at best until they bundle telemetry in a new way. Then you need to find another rando dude’s github for workarounds.
Anyway what you are describing is literally a hassle that for me is just not worth it. I can do all that and set up and update group policies for updates over and over oooooor I can literally spend less mental energy figuring out how to configure my drivers on Linux.
What you do works for you and you feel it is convenient. That is fine.
Oh that’s handy, I set group policies on my wife’s Win10 computer, but I guess InControl automates that process. Nice.
I switched to Linux last year, but the wife has no interest in any of that. So I set the group policy and haven’t seen a single thing about Windows 11 popup on her computer… yet. But I have Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC flashed to a usb stick taped to her computer in case they find a workaround for that.
Having been gaming on Linux for the past 10 years and facing basically 0 issues, I can also affirmatively I don’t understand the attachment to windows. I get it if you need specifically word or excel. and I guess if you’ve got kids who want to play fortnite.
Yup, that’s what we do. I just installed a How to Train Your Dragon mod, and they love it. I have a server hosted on my computer, so my kids can play together.
You do realise that Im talking about YOU doing that, right? This me giving it BACK to you. And oh look, none of you like it. Funny how that works, aint it? Now, why dont you “fuck all the way off”.
lol, says the fart sniffer looking down his nose at people for using windows. Dont worry, little incel. Some day you’ll wake up, realise using linux doesnt make you better than anyone else and then, and only then, you’ll be able to get a woman to touch you. Until then, you just keep on dodging those showers like a frog does cars.
I’ve definitely run into some snobbish “Accept my incorrect solutions and be grateful, or go back to Windows, newb” types of people. I don’t have much love for them. I recognize it takes patience to acclimate new users, but it’s part of the job.
By and large I’m preferential to just stay with something that works; part of what pushed me off it has just been Microsoft themselves enshittifying the experience. I feel like I remember a day when Windows start search actually took you to what you wanted, and now “notepad” immediately queries the shopping network before your own program list, and when you get Notepad open it has a Copilot button.
You’re doing the right thing as long as you stay on an OS that keeps you going day in and day out. I tried Linux earlier in the year on two distros that did NOT work as well as the internet said they would, and went back to Windows. More recently, tried another one and there were stupid difficulties - but I got past them, at a time when Windows issues were just giving me “This is the way it is now, just put up with it”.
If you like Windows, that’s 100% fine, keep using it.
But I’m genuinely curious, what didn’t you like? Which distro(s) did you try? What problems did you run into?
I ask because you obviously cared enough to try it out but had a bad experience, so that’s something we could maybe look into as Linux enthusiasts.
I’m never going to berate anyone for their choice of OS, use whatever works for you. For me, that’s Linux, mostly because I found a workflow that works really well for me and it’s a pain to replicate on Windows. My SO still uses Windows because that’s what they like, and it’s totally fine, I’ll even help them fix stuff when it breaks. I honestly don’t care what people end up using, but I will mention my preference if I think others might be interested.
I’ve definitely seen angry people respond to windows bug reports on various apps. Is the Linux community worse? Anectodally, I would agree with you. Its also fine to have a preference, and I understand needing to besmirch your own because some people on Lemmy are toxic particularly around open source projects, but like, I try to not stoop to that level. I am happy youve generally had a good time bug fixing in Windows, unfortunately I switched away because my graphics drivers regularly crashed on Windows and I’ve never had said issue on Bazzite. Could it be my fault somewhere? Sure. I’ve had a better time since I left, though. Guess I’m a fart sniffer. Just wanted to voice that not everyone has had this experience, is all. Have a good one, hope you cheer up.
Whenever I have a problem with Linux, there’s often a solution available after some Googling. Often it’s just changing something in a configuration file. Not great, but at least doable.
Whenever I have a problem with Windows, there’s often that one thread where someone details the exact same problem, and there’s some ”official Microsoft tech support” whose only contribution is to ask if they have tried to reboot the computer and then radio silence.
I cant lie, those Microsoft tech support “have you tried rebooting” gits are the worst. But outside of that, even on Reddit, you get actual help. With linux, I see an ocean of “what a fucking newb” type shit. Even in here, everyone sucking their own cock because they dont use windows anymore. And if you do, well, you must be a pleb. Like people cant just use what works for them, and leave it at that.
And whats funny, is that everyone using linux is still having issues. They say its amazing, then harp on about not being able to play games and the solution is more often than not “have you tried installing this other distro???” Which is about as helpful as “have you tried turning it off and on again?”.
Everyone uses whatever works for them. Windows, MacOS, linux, whatever. And that should be fine. Instead, its become some kind of dog shit console war. PC users looking down their noses at console users, console users looking down their nose at mobile users, ISO users looking down their nose at Android users, Android users looking down their nose at IOS users, linux users looking down their nose anyone that isnt using linux. And even then, “Why you still using Mint, mate? Dont you know its better to use OSpop for gaming???” Its this never ending hole of cunts all shitting all over everyone else. If only we could just enjoy what we are doing and shut the fuck up.
You’re on Lemmy, a site people use when they don’t like reddit. You don’t see any reason why there might also be a ton of people here who use Linux, an operating system you use when you don’t like Windows?
I dont give a fuck where I am, you start looking down your nose at people, Im gonna fucking say something. Snobby twats deserve every slap they get. As for using linux, use whatever works for you. Just dont start treating other people like shit just because they dont do the same thing you do. “I dont understand people who still use windows…” Cool, no one gives a fuck what you do or dont understand. I dont understand why you piss about with different linux distros, but here we are, and you dont give a fuck that I think that, right? And nor should you. You should just go about your day. Which is why I dont spend my time in windows forums moaning about linux users being snobs. I just get on with my day. And you lot should too. I know the console wars are over now, but fucks sake, lets not start PC vs linux wars now.
Why not installed something like cachyos which has all of that figured out for you out of the box? Nvidia drivers, steam install, Proton, etc. I was up and gaming in no time post install.
Well, it’s primarily my coding laptop, so I prioritize the OS that has the best tooling for my needs there. Gaming is just a happy secondary option on the machine. :)
I’m dual booting with Windows because of a project I’m finishing that would be difficult to move OS, but Cachy is now my gaming OS. It’s nice to move away from the “forced” behavior from Windows.
Tangentially, a few UI decisions felt locked-in on Ubuntu and Mint too; or at least I couldn’t find an easy way to change them. I’m still a little annoyed my scroll wheel changes form options but it’s a minor thing.
I joined that group today, but it wasn’t necessarily this support thing. I hated Windows update most of the time anyway. Mostly I just needed to buy a new SSD so I could dual boot, which will allow me to transition at my own pace while getting comfortable. I bought a cheap 500gb Saturday.
The other issue is my version of decision paralysis on choosing a distro, which generally is paralysis up until I suddenly just bite the bullet. I went with Nobara since it looked easiest to support my hardware and get into my games quickly.
So far I’ve gotten FFXIV, Warframe, and Enshouded running the way I want, and am slowly downloading my other current games. I have to keep a 200mpbs download limit because I’m working too. I also wiped one of my 2tb drives that mostly had games I was planning to play soon or just started playing to make it exFAT. I’ll probably eventually convert the others but may need to buy another 2tb drive for transfers if needed.
Update: exFAT gave me issues with another game so I ended up just making it a btrfs drive.
It can be a slow transition, but I did the same. I had equal space for Windows and Linux in 2017, predating the Proton years. When I built a machine in 2021, I saw how much I was using each OS, and it ended up being 1.5TB Linux and 500GB Windows. Whenever I build my next PC, I’m quite confident I won’t have any reason to use Windows at all, seeing as I haven’t even booted that partition in about a year. If there is some odd use case, like a firmware update utility for a peripheral that requires Windows or something, I’ll just install Windows briefly on a cheap mini PC I’ve got and then set it back to Bazzite when I’m done.
Yeah, filesystem is a slow battle of forfeiture. Everyone wants to say “I’ll just use FAT, or NTFS, because both Windows and Linux support them!” And then it inevitably gives them performance issues among other problems.
I still use either for the drives where both of my dual boot OS’s need to access them, but I recognize it’s not a good place for games (I have some old, light ones that I’m not worried about accessing on NTFS, but big ones like Helldivers are out). It may even be a good excuse to learn more detailed partitioning so you can slowly shrink/eliminate what’s still using the two compatibility formats.
Distro choice is a tricky problem. I say that as someone that kinda settled on one; my own experience has not always matched others. But I will admit, it’s nice to stay on an interface not too far from Windows’ taskbar.
I do have an edge there as I’m actually pretty technically inclined (I do tech support for living, and at the risk of sounding like touting my own horn, I’m high up the escalation path for my company). So partitions and stuff are common things I work with, and this isn’t nearly my first brush with Linux. It’s just more getting games and a bunch of small unique software working is somewhat different from working with business servers where you have either stricter policies on what gets installed or vendor backup if necessary.
Still, much of my actual work involves solving issues by looking up errors and symptoms, so figuring out the issues here aren’t that hard for me either. While I do appreciate the GUI making it an easy switch from Windows, I’m no stranger to CLI either and feel quite comfortable using it, and documentation for a lot of what I’ve messed with so far has been pretty easy to find and follow.
As for my plans, I’ll probably eventually limit NTFS to one 1tb drive, or maybe do what you said and repetition it down to maybe 500gb, and hopefully most of what I do will be in Linux. I am the type to force myself to learn by force, so I haven’t actually booted back into Windows except for an issue where I couldn’t delete the NTFS partition from Linux. And I’ll probably hardly boot into Windows going forward either.
I assume, it is often more easy to get games running without (or removed) drm, as drm may be the one tricky thing that is hard to get working with wine 🤔
I was always under the assumption that I cannot run Windows games on Linux, and that in order for games to work on Linux they need to be compiled for Linux and not windows.
All the pirated games are windows games. I haven’t seen pirated games for Linux specifically.
So do I understand correctly that I can download pirated games for windows and run them on Linux?
And I assume running wine adds overhead and makes games run slower?
So I can only run pirated games by going through extra hoops and even then the level of success is varying?
See that’s what’s been preventing me from switching to linux for years and years and it seems this hasn’t changed really :(
I support indie devs and buy their games, but most often I can’t afford AAA games or simply don’t want to support greedy devs ruining the gaming industry, so I pirate them.
I mean really it’s like one more step and it’s pretty much just as easy as running a game on Windows I mean I don’t know what to tell you other than dual boot install or grab a laptop install or something else so you can just throw an instance on and give it a try you might be surprised
I spent the last two days building a machine from old parts and installing Linux Mint. It’s my first time using Linux and I am really surprised at how lovely it is. I am still learning, but I can easily see it replacing my home gaming PC. I have yet to find something I can’t get to work.
It’s sad in a way but I kinda feel like proton is going to near wipe out the very few Linux native ports we get. It’s so much easier and more stable than trying to build and package for Linux.
Yeah, even more casual games like Balatro are proof of that, despite how easily you can port a game of that nature otherwise, people will choose to use proton because it’s still able to sync with their progress and symlinking is too inconvenient to consider unless you’re running like 2gb ram or something.
And, I totally get that! It’s like yeah, I know how to setup a symlink to probably make that work, but you know what’s a lot easier than that… Just not doing that and just having it work.
I think it will continue to rise. People are updating their rigs all the time. Whenever they update their rig they’ll have to ask themselves whether they want to continue with Windows on their new rig, or try with something new.
Most will stay on Windows of course, but some don’t. And those who switch to Linux are likely not returning to Windows (for gaming at least).
I think it will continue to rise. People are updating their rigs all the time. Whenever they update their rig they’ll have to ask themselves whether they want to continue with Windows on their new rig, or try with something new.
The vast majority of this increase is from people playing on Steam Decks, which run on Linux, not from people switching to Linux on their PCs.
If it continues to rise, this is the reason. The general public is less and less into using a desktop at all as time goes on, much less running, and much less changing to, an extremely niche operating system on one.
EDIT: The previous sentence is actually more of the reason, upon further reflection. The total number of people playing on desktops period is falling, and the vast majority of desktops are Windows, so non-Windows OSes will comparatively gain ‘market share’ as that happens, even if their numbers don’t change at all.
That’s not true. You can see on Steam Hardware Survey what OS people are running, and SteamOS only makes up 27% of Linux users on Steam, so the vast majority are on regular PCs.
Certainly interesting to look at the fastest-growing distros: Ubuntu (the well-known, popular option), Bazzite (the gaming-marketed one), Freedesktop (someone else can answer this for me), and CachyOS (the side-gaming one? Not quite a gaming OS but very good at it)
The vast majority of the increase, is what I said. In other words, I’m saying it wouldn’t be nearly at the 3% mark without those users, and with over a quarter of all Linux users coming from the Steam Deck userbase, that is, in fact, true.
Without the Steam Deck there’d be 27% fewer Linux users. So while that would indeed mean Linux wouldn’t yet be 3% of the total Steam userbase, I think you will find that 27% is not the majority.
GamingOnLinux aggregates this data in a nicer way and as you can see there, the total Linux market share has gone from <1% five years ago to the 3% it is now. If that increase was mainly thanks to the Steam Deck, it would have to make up more like 75% of the Linux userbase rather than only 27%.
Instead, as others have pointed out, SteamOS’s share has actually gone down rather than up, which is a natural consequence of the Steam Deck being relatively old now so fewer are being sold.
The vast majority of this increase is from people playing on Steam Decks
I believe this is incorrect. The Steam survey break down GPUs by description and the Deck’s GPU appears in the results as “AMD Vangogh”, which only accounts for 0.39% of respondents. That implies that the vast majority of survey respondents using Linux are actually on PC, not the Deck.
Actually, the raw number percentage shows that the increase is due to Mint, Ubuntu, and Bazzite. Maybe people are installing Bazzite on their Deck but likely not the other two.
I want to say that I’ve been helping people get onto Mint and Bazzite. Going to pat myself on the back for contributing what little I can to grow this awesome community
I switched from Windows to Bazzite on my main rig 2 weeks ago. Likely won’t go back to Windows for gaming as I’ve had pretty much no issues with Bazzite.
I did also get a Steam deck recently, so anecdotally, both above answers are right.
Yeah, for me personally, I’ve got one or two devices that see irregular use that are linux now, but my main rig is still windows and will continue to be so, since I have a number of friends on xbox that I can get more cross play for via gamepass
But since I’m currently boycotting microsoft, and don’t know how much longer friends will stick with xbox given their general market decline, and given all the stability issues with win11 lately due to an increase of AI code usage, and all the everything… It might be a matter of time
Actually I wish that was true but the reality is still that unfortunately a lot of online multiplayer games do in fact not work without issues on Linux
I have 4 computers, only gaming one is still running Windows, other 3 were moved to Linux few years ago when Microsoft started with forced online accounts bs because I couldn’t be bothered dealing with stupid bypasses. Two are running Ubuntu, one is running Fedora. Those are never going back to Windows.
It’s frustrating because kernel level doesn’t actually help. The cheats and cheaters can also do that and do! I soured on competitive multiplayer because it’s become impossible to ignore that every popular PvP game is infested eith cheaters and that anti cheat is the equivalent of the TSA at Airports but even less effective. It’s security theater.
The only real prevention is consoles in games without cross play and that haven’t been cracked/exploited yet. Even then there’s man…AI In The Middle external cheats now that record the display output and can aim bot with controller input splicing hardware. But that’s not as easy to set up so way less cheaters.
Except then you’re gaming on a console which usually aim bots for you anyways because joysticks are inaccurate crap. Labeled “aim assist.” Halo Infinite for example was so egregious you couldn’t compete with controller players because of aim assist vs mouse and keyboard. That’s built into the fucking game!
Also fuck giving saudi arabia money. Sometimes its unavoidable, but this is a video game. There are other video games, but there is no regime worse than the saudi regime.
“bUt ThEy DoNt OwN tHeM yEt”
The price has been settled on, so any success from here on out absolutely does directly benefit the saudis.
I’m guessing that once we get to 5% excluding console-like systems like Steam Deck, we’ll see it start to explode. That didn’t happen for macOS, probably because of the cost of the hardware, whereas Linux can be installed on whatever you have.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you’re submitting before posting to see if it’s already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don’t share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don’t want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
The year of Linux!
I’m kinda in the same boat. I have an old gaming laptop that just barley didn’t make the win11 arbitrary cut. Not because it was below spec, it was way above. Just because it was too “old”. I installed Bazzite. But I do have a top tier premium gaming PC I built recently that’s still on Win11 with Dualboot with Bazzite.
Bazzite is great, but it still has the failure(maybe it’s not failure to you and me, but the average gamer) is that most stuff isn’t just, download .exe, run that .exe there are loops and frameworks that need to be installed through command lines. The average user will give up there really quickly.
Bazzite is a vehicle for Steam. If your basis for using it isn’t ‘gaming through Steam’, you’re already intentionally venturing into un-average lands.
Strong disagree on “most”
For the vast majority of users? Everything they need is in Steam and MAYBE Heroic, which is the same as on Windows.
In terms of non-gaming? I… have very strong Thoughts on atomic distros and the hoops Bazzite et al make you jump through with regard to layering and the like, but they are in Discover and the like. So “app store” experience.
I personally don’t think Bazzite is a good desktop OS (but I love it for my HTPC). But any of the user friendly distros (e.g. Fedora, Mint, and Ubuntu) should be almost zero command line usage unless you have a reason to use it.
I played around with a few atomic distros and it seems like rather than layering, running things in containers is the preferred solution.
It won’t be the solution for everything that layering could “fix”, depending on your situation, but it is something that I wasn’t initially aware of when I started playing with Bazzite, Fedora Atomic, and now Aurora.
Basically, if you could just run whatever you need to run in a container, that might be another solution.
Haven’t used bazzite, but there is an App Store you can get all of the apps anyone would need.
No longer do we live in the days of visiting a vendors website to download their executables. They are conveniently packaged for us in the App Store (package manager).
Its one of the quirks of a lot of the atomic distros. Because they are specifically built around the idea of having a specific set of packages at a specific range of versions for every rev of the distro itself… adding more packages is kind of a clusterfuck.
For flatpaks (and I think appimages too?), it is seamless. For anything else you are googling the commands to add packages as “layers” and so forth
And, to be fair to Bazzite (which I use for my HTPC and love it on there), I have had zero issues with actual gaming. Steam out of the box and Heroic is one flatpak away. But holy shit was adding
iperf3to test some network infrastructure tweaks a Thing.Its why I personally recommend to friends to just raw dog Fedora rather than use one of the atomic distros. Atomic distros make a lot of sense for deployed machines but for anything someone is going to use as “their” computer? Just learn to not type
sudobefore every command you run… and maybe get a jetkvm so your tech savvy friend can fix your computer after an nvidia driver update.Probably sound advice if they are in (presumably) the 0.01% of users (like you) that need other utilities that are hard to get.
If they aren’t, then Bazzite, etc would be perfect for them (as you said, zero issues with gaming/more common uses).
I have a Windows laptop specifically for gaming, but I end up using my Linux coding laptop for games in the end.
It’s less hassle figuring out how to enable nvidia drivers on xorg in GNU linux so that I csn use Proton emulation than to deal with this weeks clusterfuck of windows update trying to make me turn on ads and spying and trick me into using a microsoft.com account to log in.
I am not joking.
The windows still has some dust on it from when I did some house renovations months ago, because I haven’t been bothered to use it.
Never had any of these problems on windows. I kinda wonder what it is that you are all doing that you having such problems?
https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm <<<<< stops updates, unless you decide you want them.
https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat <<<<< blocks telemetry and gets ride of all the useless dogshit.
I run Windows normally.
How long does your Window box function without updates? How long does it remain safe? Historically, a few months at best until they bundle telemetry in a new way. Then you need to find another rando dude’s github for workarounds.
Anyway what you are describing is literally a hassle that for me is just not worth it. I can do all that and set up and update group policies for updates over and over oooooor I can literally spend less mental energy figuring out how to configure my drivers on Linux.
What you do works for you and you feel it is convenient. That is fine.
Perfectly. I have no issues. And its not really a hassle to click a button…
Oh that’s handy, I set group policies on my wife’s Win10 computer, but I guess InControl automates that process. Nice.
I switched to Linux last year, but the wife has no interest in any of that. So I set the group policy and haven’t seen a single thing about Windows 11 popup on her computer… yet. But I have Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC flashed to a usb stick taped to her computer in case they find a workaround for that.
Having been gaming on Linux for the past 10 years and facing basically 0 issues, I can also affirmatively I don’t understand the attachment to windows. I get it if you need specifically word or excel. and I guess if you’ve got kids who want to play fortnite.
I just banned Fortnite in my house because I don’t like the MTX nonsense. My kids either play on Linux or our Switch.
Minecraft Java edition with mods is so good. Get them accounts and use an open-source launcher like PrismLauncher, you’ll be having a good time :)
Yup, that’s what we do. I just installed a How to Train Your Dragon mod, and they love it. I have a server hosted on my computer, so my kids can play together.
Hell yeah, good on ya. Also nice Weezer username reference.
Weezer? It’s a Three Dog Night reference. :)
removed by mod
There’s always one engorged asshole that had to show up and be a complete prick about people liking something. Fuck all the way off
You do realise that Im talking about YOU doing that, right? This me giving it BACK to you. And oh look, none of you like it. Funny how that works, aint it? Now, why dont you “fuck all the way off”.
Nah you’re just a cunt troll
lol, says the fart sniffer looking down his nose at people for using windows. Dont worry, little incel. Some day you’ll wake up, realise using linux doesnt make you better than anyone else and then, and only then, you’ll be able to get a woman to touch you. Until then, you just keep on dodging those showers like a frog does cars.
I’ve definitely run into some snobbish “Accept my incorrect solutions and be grateful, or go back to Windows, newb” types of people. I don’t have much love for them. I recognize it takes patience to acclimate new users, but it’s part of the job.
By and large I’m preferential to just stay with something that works; part of what pushed me off it has just been Microsoft themselves enshittifying the experience. I feel like I remember a day when Windows start search actually took you to what you wanted, and now “notepad” immediately queries the shopping network before your own program list, and when you get Notepad open it has a Copilot button.
You’re doing the right thing as long as you stay on an OS that keeps you going day in and day out. I tried Linux earlier in the year on two distros that did NOT work as well as the internet said they would, and went back to Windows. More recently, tried another one and there were stupid difficulties - but I got past them, at a time when Windows issues were just giving me “This is the way it is now, just put up with it”.
Take your aggressively rude snobbish attitude elsewhere.
Yes, please do. No one cares that you use linux. Its not a personality trait, and it doenst make you “cool”.
If you like Windows, that’s 100% fine, keep using it.
But I’m genuinely curious, what didn’t you like? Which distro(s) did you try? What problems did you run into?
I ask because you obviously cared enough to try it out but had a bad experience, so that’s something we could maybe look into as Linux enthusiasts.
I’m never going to berate anyone for their choice of OS, use whatever works for you. For me, that’s Linux, mostly because I found a workflow that works really well for me and it’s a pain to replicate on Windows. My SO still uses Windows because that’s what they like, and it’s totally fine, I’ll even help them fix stuff when it breaks. I honestly don’t care what people end up using, but I will mention my preference if I think others might be interested.
I’ve definitely seen angry people respond to windows bug reports on various apps. Is the Linux community worse? Anectodally, I would agree with you. Its also fine to have a preference, and I understand needing to besmirch your own because some people on Lemmy are toxic particularly around open source projects, but like, I try to not stoop to that level. I am happy youve generally had a good time bug fixing in Windows, unfortunately I switched away because my graphics drivers regularly crashed on Windows and I’ve never had said issue on Bazzite. Could it be my fault somewhere? Sure. I’ve had a better time since I left, though. Guess I’m a fart sniffer. Just wanted to voice that not everyone has had this experience, is all. Have a good one, hope you cheer up.
I use arch btw.
My experience is the opposite.
Whenever I have a problem with Linux, there’s often a solution available after some Googling. Often it’s just changing something in a configuration file. Not great, but at least doable.
Whenever I have a problem with Windows, there’s often that one thread where someone details the exact same problem, and there’s some ”official Microsoft tech support” whose only contribution is to ask if they have tried to reboot the computer and then radio silence.
I cant lie, those Microsoft tech support “have you tried rebooting” gits are the worst. But outside of that, even on Reddit, you get actual help. With linux, I see an ocean of “what a fucking newb” type shit. Even in here, everyone sucking their own cock because they dont use windows anymore. And if you do, well, you must be a pleb. Like people cant just use what works for them, and leave it at that.
And whats funny, is that everyone using linux is still having issues. They say its amazing, then harp on about not being able to play games and the solution is more often than not “have you tried installing this other distro???” Which is about as helpful as “have you tried turning it off and on again?”.
Everyone uses whatever works for them. Windows, MacOS, linux, whatever. And that should be fine. Instead, its become some kind of dog shit console war. PC users looking down their noses at console users, console users looking down their nose at mobile users, ISO users looking down their nose at Android users, Android users looking down their nose at IOS users, linux users looking down their nose anyone that isnt using linux. And even then, “Why you still using Mint, mate? Dont you know its better to use OSpop for gaming???” Its this never ending hole of cunts all shitting all over everyone else. If only we could just enjoy what we are doing and shut the fuck up.
You’re on Lemmy, a site people use when they don’t like reddit. You don’t see any reason why there might also be a ton of people here who use Linux, an operating system you use when you don’t like Windows?
I dont give a fuck where I am, you start looking down your nose at people, Im gonna fucking say something. Snobby twats deserve every slap they get. As for using linux, use whatever works for you. Just dont start treating other people like shit just because they dont do the same thing you do. “I dont understand people who still use windows…” Cool, no one gives a fuck what you do or dont understand. I dont understand why you piss about with different linux distros, but here we are, and you dont give a fuck that I think that, right? And nor should you. You should just go about your day. Which is why I dont spend my time in windows forums moaning about linux users being snobs. I just get on with my day. And you lot should too. I know the console wars are over now, but fucks sake, lets not start PC vs linux wars now.
There’s something deeply ironic about how angry you are towards people because they disagree with your OS choice.
Perhaps some introspection might be in order, hmm?
The anger isnt at OS choice, its at snobs, trying to make other people feel small for their OS choice. Cant you read?
It’s mostly convenience. They know it works, so they keep using it.
Luckily Microsoft is making it inconvenient to continue using Windows.
Because sometimes Proton doesn’t work? Like, it’s good enough for most games, but there are always edge cases and games that randomly break one day.
As of now, you have to make an effort to find a game that won’t work through Proton, aside from games with malware (anti-cheat).
A lot of games have anti-cheat…
My daily drivers: Outlast Trials, Dead by Daylight, Wild Assault, Helldivers 2, Warhammer Space Marine 2.
All of those work fine on Linux. It just seems to be the most toxic, gamerfuel-heavy games that go full kernel anticheat.
And not all anti-cheat is malware. I was referring to the kernel level anti-cheats.
Why not installed something like cachyos which has all of that figured out for you out of the box? Nvidia drivers, steam install, Proton, etc. I was up and gaming in no time post install.
Well, it’s primarily my coding laptop, so I prioritize the OS that has the best tooling for my needs there. Gaming is just a happy secondary option on the machine. :)
I’m dual booting with Windows because of a project I’m finishing that would be difficult to move OS, but Cachy is now my gaming OS. It’s nice to move away from the “forced” behavior from Windows.
Tangentially, a few UI decisions felt locked-in on Ubuntu and Mint too; or at least I couldn’t find an easy way to change them. I’m still a little annoyed my scroll wheel changes form options but it’s a minor thing.
I ws hoping r6 could be accessible but no. Still that friggin battleeye bullshit
BattlEye supports Linux, Ubisoft doesn’t.
So it’s not the anti cheat? Everyone always says anticheat whenever it’s brought up.
Not necessarily.
Ubisoft might argue that it will open up another attack vector, with isn’t entirely unreasonable. But they could support it.
Maybe one day :(
I joined that group today, but it wasn’t necessarily this support thing. I hated Windows update most of the time anyway. Mostly I just needed to buy a new SSD so I could dual boot, which will allow me to transition at my own pace while getting comfortable. I bought a cheap 500gb Saturday.
The other issue is my version of decision paralysis on choosing a distro, which generally is paralysis up until I suddenly just bite the bullet. I went with Nobara since it looked easiest to support my hardware and get into my games quickly.
So far I’ve gotten FFXIV, Warframe, and Enshouded running the way I want, and am slowly downloading my other current games. I have to keep a 200mpbs download limit because I’m working too. I also wiped one of my 2tb drives that mostly had games I was planning to play soon or just started playing to make it exFAT. I’ll probably eventually convert the others but may need to buy another 2tb drive for transfers if needed.
Update: exFAT gave me issues with another game so I ended up just making it a btrfs drive.
It can be a slow transition, but I did the same. I had equal space for Windows and Linux in 2017, predating the Proton years. When I built a machine in 2021, I saw how much I was using each OS, and it ended up being 1.5TB Linux and 500GB Windows. Whenever I build my next PC, I’m quite confident I won’t have any reason to use Windows at all, seeing as I haven’t even booted that partition in about a year. If there is some odd use case, like a firmware update utility for a peripheral that requires Windows or something, I’ll just install Windows briefly on a cheap mini PC I’ve got and then set it back to Bazzite when I’m done.
Yeah, filesystem is a slow battle of forfeiture. Everyone wants to say “I’ll just use FAT, or NTFS, because both Windows and Linux support them!” And then it inevitably gives them performance issues among other problems.
I still use either for the drives where both of my dual boot OS’s need to access them, but I recognize it’s not a good place for games (I have some old, light ones that I’m not worried about accessing on NTFS, but big ones like Helldivers are out). It may even be a good excuse to learn more detailed partitioning so you can slowly shrink/eliminate what’s still using the two compatibility formats.
Distro choice is a tricky problem. I say that as someone that kinda settled on one; my own experience has not always matched others. But I will admit, it’s nice to stay on an interface not too far from Windows’ taskbar.
I do have an edge there as I’m actually pretty technically inclined (I do tech support for living, and at the risk of sounding like touting my own horn, I’m high up the escalation path for my company). So partitions and stuff are common things I work with, and this isn’t nearly my first brush with Linux. It’s just more getting games and a bunch of small unique software working is somewhat different from working with business servers where you have either stricter policies on what gets installed or vendor backup if necessary.
Still, much of my actual work involves solving issues by looking up errors and symptoms, so figuring out the issues here aren’t that hard for me either. While I do appreciate the GUI making it an easy switch from Windows, I’m no stranger to CLI either and feel quite comfortable using it, and documentation for a lot of what I’ve messed with so far has been pretty easy to find and follow.
As for my plans, I’ll probably eventually limit NTFS to one 1tb drive, or maybe do what you said and repetition it down to maybe 500gb, and hopefully most of what I do will be in Linux. I am the type to force myself to learn by force, so I haven’t actually booted back into Windows except for an issue where I couldn’t delete the NTFS partition from Linux. And I’ll probably hardly boot into Windows going forward either.
Can I play pirated games on Linux?
I assume, it is often more easy to get games running without (or removed) drm, as drm may be the one tricky thing that is hard to get working with wine 🤔
deleted by creator
Outside of delisted games, I always encourage people not to, but yes.
Why wouldn’t you?
Malware is a decent reason. You may get the game, but you’ll likely get more along with it.
Now movies on the other hand…
I was always under the assumption that I cannot run Windows games on Linux, and that in order for games to work on Linux they need to be compiled for Linux and not windows.
All the pirated games are windows games. I haven’t seen pirated games for Linux specifically.
So do I understand correctly that I can download pirated games for windows and run them on Linux?
Using a program like wine, yes. Though it’ll depend to what level is successful.
And I assume running wine adds overhead and makes games run slower?
So I can only run pirated games by going through extra hoops and even then the level of success is varying?
See that’s what’s been preventing me from switching to linux for years and years and it seems this hasn’t changed really :(
I support indie devs and buy their games, but most often I can’t afford AAA games or simply don’t want to support greedy devs ruining the gaming industry, so I pirate them.
I mean really it’s like one more step and it’s pretty much just as easy as running a game on Windows I mean I don’t know what to tell you other than dual boot install or grab a laptop install or something else so you can just throw an instance on and give it a try you might be surprised
I spent the last two days building a machine from old parts and installing Linux Mint. It’s my first time using Linux and I am really surprised at how lovely it is. I am still learning, but I can easily see it replacing my home gaming PC. I have yet to find something I can’t get to work.
Fortnite.
Anything with anticheat unfortunately.
But I’m happily on Linux for daily and gaming. Welcome to the club
EasyAntiCheat and BattlEye both support Linux/Proton, though not all devs have enabled/updated it.
Plenty of anti-cheats work on Linux, and the ones that don’t are probably borderline malware anyways, so it’s really a win-win
I play Fortnite with my kids, but the only way is using that Xbox streaming service in the browser.
All anticheats are not made equal, and some are functional under Linux.
shoutout to WUBI for making factorio and space age native on linux.
Silksong is also native on Linux
ngl the hk and silksong native ports were pretty crap on my machine (but proton + Windows version worked perfectly)
It’s sad in a way but I kinda feel like proton is going to near wipe out the very few Linux native ports we get. It’s so much easier and more stable than trying to build and package for Linux.
Yeah, even more casual games like Balatro are proof of that, despite how easily you can port a game of that nature otherwise, people will choose to use proton because it’s still able to sync with their progress and symlinking is too inconvenient to consider unless you’re running like 2gb ram or something.
And, I totally get that! It’s like yeah, I know how to setup a symlink to probably make that work, but you know what’s a lot easier than that… Just not doing that and just having it work.
Do I need to do the yearly survey or do they know I’ve swapped already?
It’s a random statistical sample. They know that approximately 3 people for every 100 are on Linux, but it doesn’t matter which 3.
I think it will continue to rise. People are updating their rigs all the time. Whenever they update their rig they’ll have to ask themselves whether they want to continue with Windows on their new rig, or try with something new.
Most will stay on Windows of course, but some don’t. And those who switch to Linux are likely not returning to Windows (for gaming at least).
The vast majority of this increase is from people playing on Steam Decks, which run on Linux, not from people switching to Linux on their PCs.
If it continues to rise, this is the reason. The general public is less and less into using a desktop at all as time goes on, much less running, and much less changing to, an extremely niche operating system on one.
EDIT: The previous sentence is actually more of the reason, upon further reflection. The total number of people playing on desktops period is falling, and the vast majority of desktops are Windows, so non-Windows OSes will comparatively gain ‘market share’ as that happens, even if their numbers don’t change at all.
Nope, handhelds can be eval in separately from operating systems
That’s not true. You can see on Steam Hardware Survey what OS people are running, and SteamOS only makes up 27% of Linux users on Steam, so the vast majority are on regular PCs.
Certainly interesting to look at the fastest-growing distros: Ubuntu (the well-known, popular option), Bazzite (the gaming-marketed one), Freedesktop (someone else can answer this for me), and CachyOS (the side-gaming one? Not quite a gaming OS but very good at it)
“Freedesktop SDK” means the user is running Steam via Flatpak. They could be on any distro.
deleted by creator
They said Steam OS, not Steam Deck.
If you click on “Linux Version” it expands into a list. Steam OS Holo is the largest portion, but not the majority portion.
“SteamOS Holo” 64 bit is the Steam Deck.
The vast majority of the increase, is what I said. In other words, I’m saying it wouldn’t be nearly at the 3% mark without those users, and with over a quarter of all Linux users coming from the Steam Deck userbase, that is, in fact, true.
Without the Steam Deck there’d be 27% fewer Linux users. So while that would indeed mean Linux wouldn’t yet be 3% of the total Steam userbase, I think you will find that 27% is not the majority.
GamingOnLinux aggregates this data in a nicer way and as you can see there, the total Linux market share has gone from <1% five years ago to the 3% it is now. If that increase was mainly thanks to the Steam Deck, it would have to make up more like 75% of the Linux userbase rather than only 27%.
Instead, as others have pointed out, SteamOS’s share has actually gone down rather than up, which is a natural consequence of the Steam Deck being relatively old now so fewer are being sold.
The portion of people playing on SteamOS is steadily decreasing, which means new Linux users are on Steam Deck to a lesser extent.
I believe this is incorrect. The Steam survey break down GPUs by description and the Deck’s GPU appears in the results as “AMD Vangogh”, which only accounts for 0.39% of respondents. That implies that the vast majority of survey respondents using Linux are actually on PC, not the Deck.
I bet it’s EXCELLENT at rendering sunflowers!
Not so good at ears, though.
Actually, the raw number percentage shows that the increase is due to Mint, Ubuntu, and Bazzite. Maybe people are installing Bazzite on their Deck but likely not the other two.
I want to say that I’ve been helping people get onto Mint and Bazzite. Going to pat myself on the back for contributing what little I can to grow this awesome community
Hannah Montana Linux support for Steam Deck when?
Not too soon (if you wanna run it in bare metal):
https://www.xda-developers.com/i-tried-hannah-montana-linux-in-2025/
I switched from Windows to Bazzite on my main rig 2 weeks ago. Likely won’t go back to Windows for gaming as I’ve had pretty much no issues with Bazzite.
I did also get a Steam deck recently, so anecdotally, both above answers are right.
Insert “I’m doing my part” meme
Yeah, for me personally, I’ve got one or two devices that see irregular use that are linux now, but my main rig is still windows and will continue to be so, since I have a number of friends on xbox that I can get more cross play for via gamepass But since I’m currently boycotting microsoft, and don’t know how much longer friends will stick with xbox given their general market decline, and given all the stability issues with win11 lately due to an increase of AI code usage, and all the everything… It might be a matter of time
Actually I wish that was true but the reality is still that unfortunately a lot of online multiplayer games do in fact not work without issues on Linux
I have 4 computers, only gaming one is still running Windows, other 3 were moved to Linux few years ago when Microsoft started with forced online accounts bs because I couldn’t be bothered dealing with stupid bypasses. Two are running Ubuntu, one is running Fedora. Those are never going back to Windows.
Sweet. Hopefully one day your use case will be resolved so the last one can move as well.
I’m doing my part!
Is Battefield 6 supported? That is the only thing fully getting off Windows
Technically you can with Bazzite.
It’s not that it’s not supported by Linux, but that the developers of BF6 choose not to support Linux.
Personally speaking, fuck EA and fuck kernel level anti cheat anyway, good riddance.
Yeah kernel level anti cheat sucks. But I like Battlefield. But yeah i’m with ya F Ea
It’s frustrating because kernel level doesn’t actually help. The cheats and cheaters can also do that and do! I soured on competitive multiplayer because it’s become impossible to ignore that every popular PvP game is infested eith cheaters and that anti cheat is the equivalent of the TSA at Airports but even less effective. It’s security theater.
The only real prevention is consoles in games without cross play and that haven’t been cracked/exploited yet. Even then there’s man…AI In The Middle external cheats now that record the display output and can aim bot with controller input splicing hardware. But that’s not as easy to set up so way less cheaters.
Except then you’re gaming on a console which usually aim bots for you anyways because joysticks are inaccurate crap. Labeled “aim assist.” Halo Infinite for example was so egregious you couldn’t compete with controller players because of aim assist vs mouse and keyboard. That’s built into the fucking game!
Also fuck giving saudi arabia money. Sometimes its unavoidable, but this is a video game. There are other video games, but there is no regime worse than the saudi regime.
“bUt ThEy DoNt OwN tHeM yEt”
The price has been settled on, so any success from here on out absolutely does directly benefit the saudis.
I was not aware of this. I cannot take back what I’ve paid
Technically they only benefit from money after the price was set, which was recently
I’m guessing that once we get to 5% excluding console-like systems like Steam Deck, we’ll see it start to explode. That didn’t happen for macOS, probably because of the cost of the hardware, whereas Linux can be installed on whatever you have.
Also, Apple don’t seem to have an appetite for supporting gaming on macOS, beyond a few big name titles announced once a year to reig ite interest.