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It's very interesting to me that Arch Linux is reportedly the most popular distro among Steam users. I wonder if that's actually accurate, or if people who use

It's very interesting to me that Arch Linux is reportedly the most popular distro among Steam users. I wonder if that's actually accurate, or if people who use other distros are more likely to decline the survey for privacy reasons, and people who use Arch like sharing because of the "I use Arch BTW" meme Edit: SteamOS != Arch Linux[0] [0] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam?platform=linux https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Softw...

sudosysgen 3y ago
It's the most convenient to use for gaming, ime. The AUR and being always up to do date really helps.
- bhdlr 3y ago
  Same - I use Arch on my desktop and SteamOS (arch) on steam deck, I have had 0 issues with game compatibility in ~ 2 years
kukkamario 3y ago
Isn't SteamDeck's OS based on Arch? So that probably is large factor.
alargemoose 3y ago
IIRC Steam OS is Arch based. So most steam decks will be running arch, and I bet those make up a hefty chunk of Linux “desktops” in the survey!
- the8472 3y ago
  That's tracked separately. Arch is the biggest desktop linux there. "SteamOS Holo" 64 bit 40.53% -2.46% "Arch Linux" 64 bit 7.85% +0.04%
- ekianjo 3y ago
  No it's not. It's counted differently.
xendo 3y ago
SteamOS on Steam Deck is based on Arch Linux.
- ekianjo 3y ago
  it's not called Arch Linux in the survey. So not counted together.
boudin 3y ago
Is this because SteamOS is based on Arch? (maybe I did something wrong but it doesn't seem to appear as SteamOS in their stats)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
goosedragons 3y ago
It's not really. The most popular distro is actually SteamOS Holo with 40% of the pie. For whatever reason Steam doesn't report SteamOS in the overall Linux stats until you drill down. It's also hard to tell if Arch is really the top non-SteamOS Linux distro because 5% of users are using the Steam Flatpak which could be on virtually on any distro.
- Zambyte 3y ago
  I missed the Flatpak line. That definitely throws a wrench in the stats.
  - ekianjo 3y ago
    Flatpak does not change much the deal, you can see another data source here showing its real size at least for gaming: https://boilingsteam.com/goodbye-manjaro-update-on-the-evolution-of-distros-used-for-gaming-nov-2023/index.html https://boilingsteam.com/goodbye-manjaro-update-on-the-evolu...
- orbital-decay 3y ago
  Arch being popular among desktop distros is believable. It also aligns well with the existence of ArchWiki and EndeavourOS (easy to install Arch derivative).
jwcooper 3y ago
It's because they break the other distributions by version. Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS 64 bit VS "Arch Linux" 64 bit Other Ubuntu versions appear to be in the "Other" category.
pclmulqdq 3y ago
If you're going to be a Linux gamer, you have to be a fan of the game of Linux. Most games are going to need some tweaking or a weird package in order to work. Arch makes a lot of sense for that crowd.
- fooker 3y ago
  This was the situation 5+ years ago. Most games work without extra steps nowadays (as long as steam is involved).
  - foobarbaz33 3y ago
    I remember wasteland 2 (from steam/wine) crashing on Linux when you finally entered the rangers headquarters. Luckily a linux kernel developer played the game and figured out what was going on. He told everyone how to fix the game with some arcane commands, increasing max counts, etc. Was pretty wild.
    - freedomben 3y ago
      This is honestly one of the things that IMHO gives so much value to SteamOS. The Valve engineers find out about these things and apply them at the base. I've had a pretty good overall experience with gaming on my Fedora machine, but I've had to learn a couple of those things the hard way (mmap settings in the kernel, missing 32-bit libc (even though it's there), etc)
  - pclmulqdq 3y ago
    It is still very much true today in my experience. I have tried to be a linux gamer occasionally, and there are almost always things that need to be done for compatibility. Few games live up to Steam's promise, even when Steam is involved, unless you are playing on one of Steam's 2-3 anointed distros.
    - fooker 3y ago
      >unless you are playing on one of Steam's 2-3 anointed distros. For sure. That is a pretty good state to be in---most games work in a few well known distros. If you use something else, you have to DIY some compatibility steps once in a while.
arghwhat 3y ago
I'm not too surprised about gamers aligning with a somewhat minimal rolling distro that is quick to update packages, especially considering how comparatively slow the other big distros are. Arch is in general a quite popular and quite decent distro, and the complexity of using it has decreased quite a lot in my opinion. I still wouldn't recommend it if there's a risk I end up having to handhold the person afterwards though.
- freedomben 3y ago
  Same. I would also add that a lot of gamers also seem to be power users and/or tinkerers, and Arch is (IMHO) the best distro for that as well.
- qwytw 3y ago
  > aligning with a somewhat minimal rolling distro that is quick to update packages, especially considering how comparatively slow the other big distros are Is that an issue besides GPU drivers? I assumed (though I haven't really tried it) that Steam is pretty relatively self-contained on Linux and doesn't really rely on system packages that much (most games are running on Proton/Wine anyway).
  - arghwhat 3y ago
    The "GPU-driver" also includes all the the Vulkan and GL runtimes and user-space machinery for shader compilation and what-not. Being on latest and greatest can make a significant difference there that I'd expect gamers to chase. Steam also still relies on e.g. your display server.
    - Wytwwww 3y ago
      Does Arch handle Nvidia's drivers properly? I'm using Open SUSE and it's a horrible experience, they provide multiple ways to install them and none work, so ended up just having to use Nvidia's installer directly.
ekianjo 3y ago
It's accurate. See more data here: https://boilingsteam.com/goodbye-manjaro-update-on-the-evolution-of-distros-used-for-gaming-nov-2023/index.html https://boilingsteam.com/goodbye-manjaro-update-on-the-evolu...
marcosdumay 3y ago
Or maybe the "I use Arch BTW" meme is there because a lot of people using it makes it so that a lot of the loud people uses it. Is there any reliable way to compare distros usage?
q0uaur 3y ago
it was a couple years ago, but when i tried to game on Debian i was shocked by some 4+ year old packages that i wanted to try gaming with, nothing worked. it's probably better today, but i definitely recommend a very up to date distro for gaming, and arch is literally the most up to date there is. happy with arch myself, except the nvidia issues, if you run an nvidia gpu i don't recommend it just yet (getting better really quickly though)
- comment38853877 3y ago
  IMO the best approach is to use PCI passthrough to give the Nvidia GPU to a Windows guest, especially if what you're trying to do is game. Arch wiki has a great write-up on it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF TL;DR you boot your Linux host kernel with special VFIO params to ensure the entire IOMMU domain of your Nvidia GPU is ignored, and pass that to Windows guest (which sees it as an entirely normal nv GPU). (My hope is that in the next couple of years the open source Nvidia driver landscape dramatically improves, and modern distros ship with rock solid Vulkan/OGL impl for all Nvidia cards made in the last decade or three)
- Zardoz84 3y ago
  I have using Debian testing, since half year, as my daily driver and to play games without any issues.
  - stjohnswarts 3y ago
    been doing the same with pop_os (regular releases not the LTS)
ParetoOptimal 3y ago
Maybe the factors in someone selecting arch linux are the same for someone likely to game on Linux?
bitcharmer 3y ago
Arch is weird. I consider myself a Linux power user, including kernel hacking but no way I'm going to manually set up partitions and type gazillions of commands to set my system up. This is off putting, I have no idea what's wrong with an installer. WTF Arch?
- dualogy 3y ago
  Well, there's some curses wizard called "archinstall", but yeah, I too opted for just the Garuda flavour of Arch when I chose to go non-VoidLinux (ie. when failing to get a new machine with nvidia drivered up swiftly and just-works-ly) rather than any console-driven setup.
- gitaarik 3y ago
  That is the Arch way, Arch is not built for convenience but for customizability. If you want a graphical installer, you can install it yourself ;). Also there are several Arch-based distributions that include (opinionated) graphical installers to get you going faster. ArcoLinux is a good one.

sudosysgen 3y ago

It's the most convenient to use for gaming, ime. The AUR and being always up to do date really helps.

bhdlr 3y ago
Same - I use Arch on my desktop and SteamOS (arch) on steam deck, I have had 0 issues with game compatibility in ~ 2 years

kukkamario 3y ago

Isn't SteamDeck's OS based on Arch? So that probably is large factor.

alargemoose 3y ago

IIRC Steam OS is Arch based. So most steam decks will be running arch, and I bet those make up a hefty chunk of Linux “desktops” in the survey!

the8472 3y ago
That's tracked separately. Arch is the biggest desktop linux there. "SteamOS Holo" 64 bit 40.53% -2.46% "Arch Linux" 64 bit 7.85% +0.04%
ekianjo 3y ago
No it's not. It's counted differently.

xendo 3y ago

SteamOS on Steam Deck is based on Arch Linux.

ekianjo 3y ago
it's not called Arch Linux in the survey. So not counted together.

boudin 3y ago

Is this because SteamOS is based on Arch? (maybe I did something wrong but it doesn't seem to appear as SteamOS in their stats)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

goosedragons 3y ago

It's not really. The most popular distro is actually SteamOS Holo with 40% of the pie. For whatever reason Steam doesn't report SteamOS in the overall Linux stats until you drill down. It's also hard to tell if Arch is really the top non-SteamOS Linux distro because 5% of users are using the Steam Flatpak which could be on virtually on any distro.

Zambyte 3y ago
I missed the Flatpak line. That definitely throws a wrench in the stats.
- ekianjo 3y ago
  Flatpak does not change much the deal, you can see another data source here showing its real size at least for gaming: https://boilingsteam.com/goodbye-manjaro-update-on-the-evolution-of-distros-used-for-gaming-nov-2023/index.html https://boilingsteam.com/goodbye-manjaro-update-on-the-evolu...
orbital-decay 3y ago
Arch being popular among desktop distros is believable. It also aligns well with the existence of ArchWiki and EndeavourOS (easy to install Arch derivative).

jwcooper 3y ago

It's because they break the other distributions by version. Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS 64 bit VS "Arch Linux" 64 bit Other Ubuntu versions appear to be in the "Other" category.

pclmulqdq 3y ago

If you're going to be a Linux gamer, you have to be a fan of the game of Linux. Most games are going to need some tweaking or a weird package in order to work. Arch makes a lot of sense for that crowd.

fooker 3y ago
This was the situation 5+ years ago. Most games work without extra steps nowadays (as long as steam is involved).
- foobarbaz33 3y ago
  I remember wasteland 2 (from steam/wine) crashing on Linux when you finally entered the rangers headquarters. Luckily a linux kernel developer played the game and figured out what was going on. He told everyone how to fix the game with some arcane commands, increasing max counts, etc. Was pretty wild.
  - freedomben 3y ago
    This is honestly one of the things that IMHO gives so much value to SteamOS. The Valve engineers find out about these things and apply them at the base. I've had a pretty good overall experience with gaming on my Fedora machine, but I've had to learn a couple of those things the hard way (mmap settings in the kernel, missing 32-bit libc (even though it's there), etc)
- pclmulqdq 3y ago
  It is still very much true today in my experience. I have tried to be a linux gamer occasionally, and there are almost always things that need to be done for compatibility. Few games live up to Steam's promise, even when Steam is involved, unless you are playing on one of Steam's 2-3 anointed distros.
  - fooker 3y ago
    >unless you are playing on one of Steam's 2-3 anointed distros. For sure. That is a pretty good state to be in---most games work in a few well known distros. If you use something else, you have to DIY some compatibility steps once in a while.

arghwhat 3y ago

I'm not too surprised about gamers aligning with a somewhat minimal rolling distro that is quick to update packages, especially considering how comparatively slow the other big distros are. Arch is in general a quite popular and quite decent distro, and the complexity of using it has decreased quite a lot in my opinion. I still wouldn't recommend it if there's a risk I end up having to handhold the person afterwards though.

freedomben 3y ago
Same. I would also add that a lot of gamers also seem to be power users and/or tinkerers, and Arch is (IMHO) the best distro for that as well.
qwytw 3y ago
> aligning with a somewhat minimal rolling distro that is quick to update packages, especially considering how comparatively slow the other big distros are Is that an issue besides GPU drivers? I assumed (though I haven't really tried it) that Steam is pretty relatively self-contained on Linux and doesn't really rely on system packages that much (most games are running on Proton/Wine anyway).
- arghwhat 3y ago
  The "GPU-driver" also includes all the the Vulkan and GL runtimes and user-space machinery for shader compilation and what-not. Being on latest and greatest can make a significant difference there that I'd expect gamers to chase. Steam also still relies on e.g. your display server.
  - Wytwwww 3y ago
    Does Arch handle Nvidia's drivers properly? I'm using Open SUSE and it's a horrible experience, they provide multiple ways to install them and none work, so ended up just having to use Nvidia's installer directly.

ekianjo 3y ago

It's accurate. See more data here: https://boilingsteam.com/goodbye-manjaro-update-on-the-evolution-of-distros-used-for-gaming-nov-2023/index.html https://boilingsteam.com/goodbye-manjaro-update-on-the-evolu...

marcosdumay 3y ago

Or maybe the "I use Arch BTW" meme is there because a lot of people using it makes it so that a lot of the loud people uses it. Is there any reliable way to compare distros usage?

q0uaur 3y ago

it was a couple years ago, but when i tried to game on Debian i was shocked by some 4+ year old packages that i wanted to try gaming with, nothing worked. it's probably better today, but i definitely recommend a very up to date distro for gaming, and arch is literally the most up to date there is. happy with arch myself, except the nvidia issues, if you run an nvidia gpu i don't recommend it just yet (getting better really quickly though)

comment38853877 3y ago
IMO the best approach is to use PCI passthrough to give the Nvidia GPU to a Windows guest, especially if what you're trying to do is game. Arch wiki has a great write-up on it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF TL;DR you boot your Linux host kernel with special VFIO params to ensure the entire IOMMU domain of your Nvidia GPU is ignored, and pass that to Windows guest (which sees it as an entirely normal nv GPU). (My hope is that in the next couple of years the open source Nvidia driver landscape dramatically improves, and modern distros ship with rock solid Vulkan/OGL impl for all Nvidia cards made in the last decade or three)
Zardoz84 3y ago
I have using Debian testing, since half year, as my daily driver and to play games without any issues.
- stjohnswarts 3y ago
  been doing the same with pop_os (regular releases not the LTS)

ParetoOptimal 3y ago

Maybe the factors in someone selecting arch linux are the same for someone likely to game on Linux?

bitcharmer 3y ago

Arch is weird. I consider myself a Linux power user, including kernel hacking but no way I'm going to manually set up partitions and type gazillions of commands to set my system up. This is off putting, I have no idea what's wrong with an installer. WTF Arch?

dualogy 3y ago
Well, there's some curses wizard called "archinstall", but yeah, I too opted for just the Garuda flavour of Arch when I chose to go non-VoidLinux (ie. when failing to get a new machine with nvidia drivered up swiftly and just-works-ly) rather than any console-driven setup.
gitaarik 3y ago
That is the Arch way, Arch is not built for convenience but for customizability. If you want a graphical installer, you can install it yourself ;). Also there are several Arch-based distributions that include (opinionated) graphical installers to get you going faster. ArcoLinux is a good one.