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According to your link, 0.81% of Steam users are running Linux. And they're spread out over a number of distributions, with the largest share at 0.20% for Ubunt

According to your link, 0.81% of Steam users are running Linux. And they're spread out over a number of distributions, with the largest share at 0.20% for Ubuntu 18.04. Seems to support the claim that it's a very small and fragmented user base.

Dylan16807 8y ago
The post you replied to is about hardware specs, not the size of the user base.
- pjmlp 8y ago
  Which is filled with broken driver experiences, and a pleothora of distributions.
  - squarefoot 8y ago
    It wouldn't be that hard to put a couple developers of each major distro around a table then have them decide that when the user installs say the gaming_mode package, a well defined and standardized set of kernel+libraries+devices gets installed/created along with a new Grub boot option should that conflict with current versions.
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      It would work as easy as having a desktop_mode, audio_mode package, .... /s In case you missed it, that was the point of Steam Machines, and the respective distribution. A mere 1% of Valve customers.
  - Sir_Substance 8y ago
    I gather from your comment that it's been a while since you refreshed your knowledge of the current state of linux. Graphics card driver issues largely stopped being a problem about 4 years ago, with both major graphics card manufacturers committing to open source drivers. Packaging for multiple distributions is a problem that I would call "solved" for the past ~2 years, see my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19844241 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19844241
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      Maybe that is why AMD open source drivers still doesn't properly support my travel notebook APU. So where is the great hardware video decoding and the GL features fxgl was capable of?
      - jnurmine 8y ago
        Accelerated video support is in the amdgpu driver which supports va-api (and vdpau).
        pjmlp 8y ago
        It doesn't support my AMD card, which was doing perfectly fine with fxgl, and DX11 on the Windows side.
        jnurmine 8y ago
        I take it your card is pretty old. There's always an option of staying at an older OS (like Ubuntu pre 16.04) to keep fglrx. What is your AMD card, by the way?
        pjmlp 8y ago
        Brazos APU. So the solution is to stay on a legacy kernel, with the security risks it entails, while my Windows 10 can perfectly make use of the DX 11 drivers.
        robdachshund 8y ago
        That APU is from 2011. Can't imagine whatever rig this is has much life left. Maybe drivers don't play nice with it because it's nearly a decade old.
        likeclockwork 8y ago
        So. Your old (2011), low tier, graphics hardware doesn't work on Linux because AMD scrapped their old terrible driver and abandoned it in their new driver? The company you bought your APU from dropped support for you, what has that to do with Linux? How is that not just another case of another company dropping support for Linux on a product after they already have your money? (Pennies on the dollar, I think you called it.) AMD's low-middle tier hardware is known to be mediocre, their drivers are known to be poor, and they're also known to drop support for hardware much faster than their competitors. Yeah, you can run Linux on nearly anything.. but that doesn't mean you should try to sit in front of an old machine running old low quality components from manufacturers that don't support their low margin products.

Dylan16807 8y ago

The post you replied to is about hardware specs, not the size of the user base.

pjmlp 8y ago
Which is filled with broken driver experiences, and a pleothora of distributions.
- squarefoot 8y ago
  It wouldn't be that hard to put a couple developers of each major distro around a table then have them decide that when the user installs say the gaming_mode package, a well defined and standardized set of kernel+libraries+devices gets installed/created along with a new Grub boot option should that conflict with current versions.
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    It would work as easy as having a desktop_mode, audio_mode package, .... /s In case you missed it, that was the point of Steam Machines, and the respective distribution. A mere 1% of Valve customers.
- Sir_Substance 8y ago
  I gather from your comment that it's been a while since you refreshed your knowledge of the current state of linux. Graphics card driver issues largely stopped being a problem about 4 years ago, with both major graphics card manufacturers committing to open source drivers. Packaging for multiple distributions is a problem that I would call "solved" for the past ~2 years, see my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19844241 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19844241
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    Maybe that is why AMD open source drivers still doesn't properly support my travel notebook APU. So where is the great hardware video decoding and the GL features fxgl was capable of?
    - jnurmine 8y ago
      Accelerated video support is in the amdgpu driver which supports va-api (and vdpau).
      - pjmlp 8y ago
        It doesn't support my AMD card, which was doing perfectly fine with fxgl, and DX11 on the Windows side.
        jnurmine 8y ago
        I take it your card is pretty old. There's always an option of staying at an older OS (like Ubuntu pre 16.04) to keep fglrx. What is your AMD card, by the way?
        pjmlp 8y ago
        Brazos APU. So the solution is to stay on a legacy kernel, with the security risks it entails, while my Windows 10 can perfectly make use of the DX 11 drivers.
        robdachshund 8y ago
        That APU is from 2011. Can't imagine whatever rig this is has much life left. Maybe drivers don't play nice with it because it's nearly a decade old.
        likeclockwork 8y ago
        So. Your old (2011), low tier, graphics hardware doesn't work on Linux because AMD scrapped their old terrible driver and abandoned it in their new driver? The company you bought your APU from dropped support for you, what has that to do with Linux? How is that not just another case of another company dropping support for Linux on a product after they already have your money? (Pennies on the dollar, I think you called it.) AMD's low-middle tier hardware is known to be mediocre, their drivers are known to be poor, and they're also known to drop support for hardware much faster than their competitors. Yeah, you can run Linux on nearly anything.. but that doesn't mean you should try to sit in front of an old machine running old low quality components from manufacturers that don't support their low margin products.