• buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I’m actually gearing up to convert all of my Windows machines to Linux once the updates for 10 stop coming. This will be especially easy once the new WINE gets integrated and the few windows game apps that I use can run well on Linux.

  • Mio@feddit.nu
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    1 month ago

    I have been dual booting for some time now. Come back to windows 10 for gaming. But then I suddenly realize that the blizzard games that I play can run on Linux, and even from the same folder with the NTFS partition. I was stunned. No notable performance difference either.

    I recently shows my mum that have an old Core 2 Duo that it can run Linux Mint. She said it works, and the computer shutdowns directly when I tell it to do. No more updating windows to wait for before unplugging the power cable. Still have to dual boot Windows 10 for Microsoft Office Word document compatibility and Google Picasa.

    She also just have bought a new computer with Windows 11, could barely make it through the installation. So many questions and configuration needed to get rid of ads and popups in Edge. Need to evaluation Mint more before I try to dual boot it on this machine as well.

    • NutWrench@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      You might want to check out Libre Office. It’s document compatible with MS-Office and I think it comes pre-installed on Linux Mint.

    • Treachery4524@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      If you want you can try OnlyOffice, it works really well as a replacement for Office. That is if you only use Word, Excel and Powerpoint. I even convinced some Windows people to use it as its free, open source, cross platform and perhaps even easier to use at this point.

      For Picasa maybe digikam? It maybe isn’t a perfect replacement though. You could always try to run Picasa in a VM (or maybe even wine?)

      • Mio@feddit.nu
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        1 month ago

        Microsoft does not follow its own standard for doc and docx. Any other software tries to follow the standard, thus you can get different view of the document depending on what editor you use.

        Picasa I think is easier to replace. Just need to relearn. Leaning towards Gwenview. VM is not an option, too complicated and slow for her. Picasa has been depricated for a long time now so it is time to move on.

    • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
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      1 month ago

      Picasa? That’s been google-bandoned for a while now. What does she use it for? Plenty of photo management tools in Linux. Darktable, Digikam…

      If the office alternatives in linux don’t cut it, and she uses Office 365, you can run it in Linux as a PWA

      • Mio@feddit.nu
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        1 month ago

        There is a learning curve for old people. It takes time. So dual boot is a must until then.

        • NutWrench@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          This. It feels to me like driving a stick shift when you’ve been using an automatic transmission for years. You have to do a little more fiddling but I honestly don’t mind learning a new OS that isn’t actively working against me.

          With Windows . . . on the other hand . . . every time I’ve had to go “under the hood” (tweak Registry settings, Config files, etc) it’s been to prevent Microsoft from doing something crappy to me.

          • Mio@feddit.nu
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            1 month ago

            He is just afraid of learning new things. Best way here is to show him how it works. Learning.

            • LordPassionFruit@lemm.ee
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              1 month ago

              Oh I’ve been trying. He’s tech adverse in general, so the concept of open source software scares him because it means trusting others with regards to tech.

  • xavier666@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Sorry but Linux is becoming too mainstream for me now. Time to hop on to BSD

    • Aermis@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Call me naive, I know I am. But how can Linux be a moderated product to sell for desktop? I know phones run Linux, and many other products like streaming pucks run Linux (or is called unix?), but what would it take for an operating linux system to be centralized into a package to toss into a lenova laptop you’re staring at in best buy?

      • Celnert@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 month ago

        Some laptop manufacturers (and at least one of the larger ones) already offer Linux (Ubuntu) as a pre-installed OS. I suspect this will become more common if/when Linux becomes more popular as a mainstream desktop OS. Most likely it will still be 1 or 2 pre-selected distros though even then.

        • Aermis@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          That’s really cool I didn’t know that was an option already. How does Ubuntu and windows compare for operating system support if I have a problem with the laptop? Is the manufacturer liable for the smooth running of the operating system? Or is the owner of the operating system liable?

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        It’s a tough sell because there is no monetary incentive to get Linux on laptops and desktops. Dell has a few computers that ship with Ubuntu, and Lenovo with Fedora, and there’s System76. The problem is that the big manufacturers (namely Dell) get push-back from Microsoft if they start to sell other OSes with their products, so they no longer have 100% domination. Microsoft will say “Oh you’re selling a few products that come with Linux? Well, we won’t offer you the ability to sell Windows anymore…” which would obviously be a huge impact to their business. They have gotten around this, but their offerings are still really slim. The market just isn’t there compared to Windows based computers. Shelf space is expensive so they go with what sells: Windows based products.

        • Aermis@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Is it because Microsoft is the big dog with money and Linux is no dog because there is no company backing Linux? Windows sells solely because Windows can push the product?

          Would it be benificial (albeit this will be extremely frowned upon by this community I believe) for a Linux distro to be backed and monetized via a corporation with a legal team to help push a Linux product on the shelves? In the short run it’s a bad idea, but in the long run it’ll familiarize the public, and push software developers for compatability. The incentive being that there’s money now involved and it won’t be a project for people.

          Because right now to use Linux for the majority of user case operations you’d need at least computer science 101 to start installing a distro, partitions, manual software installation, to get running. Or am I wrong on this part?

          • Avatar_of_Self@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            There are a couple of OEMs like System76 and Starlabs that sell laptops with Linux on them, provide tech support for customers and so on.

            And no, installing most distros aren’t hard. You just click the buttons to proceed and fill out the username and password box, select your time zone and select your wi-fi network if you’re using wifi.

            You can do manual partitioning but why would you if you don’t know what you’re doing?

            Installing software in the GUI is as easy as installing software from the Microsoft Store. Just search or look around and when you see something you want, just click the Install button.

      • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio
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        1 month ago

        how can Linux be a moderated product to sell for desktop

        It kinda depends on each individuals’ use case; there’s lots of different Linux distributions that are better (or worse) for specific workloads.

        Any given laptop I’m staring at in a store will probably work perfectly fine as a general-use machine with Linux Mint installed. This is my go-to distro when repurposing a machine because it works great out of the box. If I were running a computer store and wanted to sell consumer laptops with Linux on them, I’d default to Mint.

        If someone is looking to turn their PC into something more specialized for gaming, they can look at something like Bazzite or Batocera. These will generally require some tinkering.

        If an individual or company is looking to build an office with many workstations and user accounts, they might consider Red Hat Enterprise Linux so they can benefit from official support channels if something needs troubleshooting. Many computer labs at NCSU used RHEL when I attended many years ago.

        Want a stable server environment? Debian is a standard pick.

        Want a barebones system with no bells and whistles (but great battery life)? Alpine oughta work.

        So Linux has many options for end users to pick from, which can be seen as a good thing (more options is generally good), but also a bad thing (many end users might consider the plethora of options to be overwhelming if they’ve never used Linux before).

        Linux (or is called unix?)

        Linux (Or GNU/Linux) operating systems are a modern implementation of an old research OS that was called “Unix”. Spiritual successors to Unix like Linux and BSD try to bring a lot of the design philosophies of Unix into modern OSes (I believe this is generally called the “POSIX” standard. e.g.: macOS is a POSIX compliant OS, iirc).

        If I’ve gotten any of this information incorrect, please don’t tell Richard Stallman.

        • Chris L@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          This is the greatness of Linux. Instead of having to change your workflow to be compatible with your OS, you can change your OS to be compatible with your workflow.

        • Aermis@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          So if you did open a computer shop and are selling this plethora of Linux options, doesn’t that leave you liable if there are issues with the operating system?

          If I buy a laptop and my windows is running poorly don’t I have windows support taking care of my windows problems?

          If I buy a laptop from you with mint installed and am having problems I can’t contact Linux for support, I’ll have to contact you the shop owner.

          Won’t this liability discourage shop owners from selling laptops/desktops with Linux?

          • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio
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            1 month ago

            I’m no legal expert; I assume support can be either offered or completely avoided depending on the shop owner’s preference. Most Linux distributions come with a “this software is free (as in freedom) and comes with no warranty or guaranteed functionality” disclaimer.

            If I wanted to engage more with my clients and build more trust, I might offer some degree of troubleshooting/support for the Linux machines I sold. But I don’t think I’d be under any legal obligation to offer that service just for selling the laptops.

            Whether or not the computer shop offers support might affect whether or not a customer wants to shop at my store. Maybe I can sell my laptops cheaper if I don’t offer support, or maybe my laptops cost a bit more because I do offer aftermarket support.

      • Zer0_F0x@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        One way to do it is for each company to develop their own flavor to ship with their laptop, in much the same way phone manufacturers just modify Android and ship it.

        As an example, check out System76 and their laptops featuring their Pop!_OS distro, which is very user friendly and stable in my experience.

  • [email protected]@lemmy.federate.cc
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    2 months ago

    Windows 11 is a strong motivator. I suspect like many other people, the only reason I was keeping Windows around was gaming. But thanks to Proton and the Steam Deck, the number of games in my library that won’t run on Linux is vanishingly small. I deleted my Windows partition a few months ago and haven’t looked back.

    Install Linux or buy a Mac, fuck Windows.

    • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
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      1 month ago

      I’m Linux user since 2008 and as much as I want to agree with you, I can’t. Even if Mac is much closer to Linux with its BSD roots, I probably would choose Windows over Mac. Why? Because Windows is much more open and less restrictive than OS X. And there is the support and compatibility of Steam games (and games in general) in Windows. The hardware repair ability is terrible on Apple too.

      Yes, Microsoft is bad, Windows is bad; so is Apple and OS X. I personally can’t live with the restrictions Apple has.

    • pipsqueak1984@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      Gaming works pretty damn well as far as I’m concerned, the few that I can’t get to work are irrelevant.

      I’m keeping Windows around for work… fuck Autodesk and fuck Dassault. So I am trying to get a VM with GPU pass through to work (had it working once but then I screwed it up and now I can’t seem to get it working again).

      • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Having done the transition some months ago, there is still some stupid shit one has to deal with (especially, but not only, for games NOT from Steam) at times, more than in Windows, but it’s all so much better than it was before and by now quite close to the Gaming experience in Windows.

        Then on top of that there are all the the longer term peace of mind things versus Windows: upgrading your Linux costs zero, changing your hardware won’t invalidate your Linux “OEM License” (plus it will probably just boot up as normal with if you just move your SSD to a whole new machine rather than throw you into driver nightmare), games that work in today’s Linux will keep on working in tomorrow’s and so on - this is actually massive advantage of Linux versus Windows which is seldom talked about: more often than not, hardware migration with Linux is to just move your SSD to a whole new machine, with all the stuff just the way you like it and all you files, and it just boots with and keeps on working.

        Linux not only saves you from enshittification, keeps control in your hands and preserves your privacy, it’s also a reliable and functional long term OS layer for your hardware that doesn’t force hardware upgrades on you.

      • OR3X@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        I dicked around with the VM route for a while and could never really get it working 100% to my liking. There was always a trade-off. I ended up just getting a second PC and tucking it in a cabinet out of sight. When I need Windows I just use remote desktop to connect to it.

    • fxdave@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Don’t buy a Mac. That’s more limiting than a Windows. But yeah install linux.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        More limited, but also less enshittified than Windows.

        If you want a good, well-polished experience for certain creative workloads, or even programming, MacOS is great and their Apple Silicon CPUs are excellent.

        If you want to do ANY gaming besides WoW (which surprisingly enough has always had great MacOS support) or you can’t stand the lack of configurability, Linux is immediately the superior choice by far.

        • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Even though I do hate Apple as a company, they do make great products, they just charge out the ass for them

          • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
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            1 month ago

            Nah, even their hardware consists out of laptops with screen protection falling off, phones bending themselves into breakage and cables with the sensitive connectors on the outside so they’ll break often.
            Their OS is surprisingly buggy, too.

            They’re actually just shit all around, in my experience.

        • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          The whole business model of Apple is to force a hardware upgrade cycle on you and force all your devices to be in that same ecosystem.

          I mean, I can see the advantages of it on the short term, but on the longer term having stuff that keeps on working even as always even in older hardware (or you just install new hardware under it and it just recognizes it and keeps on working) is a massive benefit versus a $1500+ bill every two years and having to migrate your stuff.

        • Zetta@mander.xyz
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          1 month ago

          I would like to add that if you want to do any real customization of your setup don’t get mac either.

    • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Literally the only reason I keep Windows around is because modding Skyrim (using MO2, not Vortex) is a nightmare. I use Wabbajack as well, so the idea of installing 500+ mods manually in Vortex doesn’t sound ideal, also since Vortex’s conflict management is an absolute nightmare compared to MO2’s.

    • NutWrench@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Same here. If I could get Vortex Mod Manager to work under Wine/Proton, I wouldn’t use Windows at all.

      • Luke@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        Give it a shot again, something changed recently in Proton (I assume) that made Vortex “just work” for me on my Steam Deck. I didn’t even need to do any fiddling, I just ran the installer exe from desktop mode using Lutris and whatever Proton was latest, and it installed perfectly. Vortex now runs entirely as expected, even from game mode.

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Vortex should be easy to get working, it probably just needs the Dot Net and Visual C libraries installed, which I think you can get via Wine Tricks.

      • solberg@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 month ago

        What games are you using it for? I’ve used Mod Organizer 2 for Skyrim SE and it’s worked great on the deck

        • NutWrench@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I checked out Mod Organizer 2 recently, but it didn’t support Subnautica the last time I tried it. I only use mods for a few games, line Stardew Valley and the Fallout games.

        • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Really? The last few times I’ve tried (granted it was a year or more ago) I got like 15 FPS on a heavy modlist running on my desktop, which had a GTX 2080 and was running Arch, btw. Trying to get MO2 to launch the Linux version of Skyrim running via Steam/Proton and not the Windows version of Steam running through WINE was a fun mess to deal with. Once all that was handled, then half of the modding programs (xEdit, Nemesis, BodySlide, etc…) didn’t work with MO2s virtual FS. It was just way too many layers of abstraction to deal with 🤯

          • solberg@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 month ago

            Yes, really haha. I don’t think I would consider the mod list I used heavy, at least not graphically. I didn’t use any of those programs you mentioned.

            Trying to get MO2 to launch the Linux version of Skyrim running via Steam/Proton and not the Windows version of Steam running through WINE was a fun mess to deal with

            I recall using some sort of script that installed MO2 and handled all of this (at least for the Steam Deck).

            Either way, I hope their new cross-platform launcher works out well.

            • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              Nice, thanks I’ll give it a try again because Windows 10 is really pissing me off regarding how practically anything that you used to be able to easily disable now requires one or multiple registry hacks that may or may not work anymore.

              I totally understand you not giving all that a try because while it is a handheld Linux PC, it’s probably more of a pain in the ass to use on that screen and with the standard input (obviously docking it would solve these issues) than it’s worth. I just keep Windows on my Desktop to play a few games, my home server is my workhorse and I have a Linux laptop that work gave me (literally, they laid me off and never asked for it back).

      • WilfordGrimley@linux.community
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        1 month ago

        Nexus Mods is working on an AppImage version of their mod manager that works perfectly in my testing.

        Currently it only supports Stardew Valley and Cyberpunk i think.

        I’m excited for it to have parity with Windows Vortex.

    • netvor@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      the number of games in my library that won’t run on Linux is vanishingly small

      at this point, it’s pretty much only about Roblox.

      …which I don’t want to play, I’m not happy about my nephews playing, but that seems like the only big one which really continues to struggle on Windows.

      edit: that’s from my limited POV, as someone who loves gaming but i don’t follow or try out big new titles, I’m pretty much happy with my 30 favs, trying out like 5 new games a year, usually older or indie titles.

      • Omgpwnies@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Roblox is about the only reason why I can’t switch my kid’s computer to Linux, they play almost exclusively that and Minecraft. Once win10 goes EOL, I’ll probably start budgeting to replace my laptop with a new PC and give them the laptop. The old PC will then get Linux and handle 3d printer stuffs

        • netvor@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I might be out of date but for a long time my 2 nephews (10 and 13, cousins to each other) have been playing Blox Fruits, which I understand is pretty much a standard “grind” MMORPG. (Which I don’t necessarily find that bad; having to put a lot of work in a character and seeing it grow slowly and steadily can be a lesson.) I like how they are having fun trying to coordinate and take out a boss together (sometimes dying all the time), but I suppose other games can give that, perhaps even better-looking ones and certainly ones made by less shady companies. (Oh, and actually working on Linux/steam deck)

          So I was wondering if there are other games that I could introduce them to, if only to remind them that world outside Roblox exists. I never played any MMORPG’s (or pretty much anything multi-player, except Minecraft/Terraria/etc. with the kids) so I’m out of the picture. I’ve only tried few in my life and never stuck for long.

          Albion Online seemed child-like enough, albeit a little boring for my taste. One I really enjoyed recently is Path of Exile (and I it looks more than good enough to be hard to resist for a kid), but who knows – is that safe for 10 to 13 year olds…?

    • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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      2 months ago

      Mac?! Darwin no, that’s doing the opposite of liberating yourself and it has less gaming than Linux I’d say.

      • Xuderis@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        It does. Gaming on mac is a pain. Gaming on linux is a much better experience, and has much better support at this point. Apple really alienates developers.

      • [email protected]@lemmy.federate.cc
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        1 month ago

        I didn’t mean for gaming specifically, probably should have used a transition statement. For creative and professional use cases, macOS is still far far better than Windows. For gaming yeah that’s not your platform, Linux is.

        • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
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          1 month ago
          • “I can’t choose when to update, anymore”
          • “I can’t uninstall all sorts of things, anymore”
          • “I can’t even use my perfectly fine laptop of 6 years old, anymore”

          It’s all about liberation, I’d say.

          • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 month ago

            “I can’t choose when to update, anymore”

            That changed with windows 8 12 years ago.

            “I can’t uninstall all sorts of things, anymore”

            Unless you installed the embedded versions of windows you’ve never been able to do that, best you could do was turn like 5 things off in the features screen.

            “I can’t even use my perfectly fine laptop of 6 years old, anymore”

            I wouldn’t call your computer not getting updates so you install a different OS “liberating” it.

            Also your computer not getting updates doesn’t magically turn it into a brick, you can still use it just fine. This is something I’ve never understood. As long as your web browser still gets updates that’s the biggest security vulnerability that I’d be afraid of. Chrome supported Windows 7 until 109 in 2023, and Firefox ESR is still going until September this year. 10th gen and older intel machines don’t get graphics updates anymore, are those machines ewaste? Shit some shitty laptops never get bios updates and there’s a whole host of vulnerabilities there.

    • The Menemen!@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      It is not a steam user percentage, but according to the site by user data from web pages, it explicitly mentions search engines and social media. I doubt that the steam deck is extremely significant here.

      • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I’ve been docking mine and using it as my primary pc. The only issue I’ve had is that I was able to play CSGO perfectly, and CS2 don’t do so good.

          • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Oh yeah, people who need more power definitely want something else. It’s all I need really. I’m about to inherit my daughter’s old gaming laptop though so I’m not sure what I’ll do then. Definitely Linux with a small partition for windows to play some VR games. I’d say I’ll still use the Steam deck for most things though because it’s so portable.

    • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Yeah, these results are skewed because it’s only desktop Linux, so mobile devices (which I believe the Steam Deck and other portable PCs/gaming devices fall under) aren’t counted, and those primarily run Linux. It seems that the foothold of Linux never was, and probably never will be, the desktop PC.

  • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    So like 6% if you class ChromeOS as Linux (which it essentially is, just with a proprietary DE)

    Then 7% unknown, you’d imagine a disproportionate amount of those would be Linux users, who are more likely to have unusual useragents or things that mess with telemetry. But who knows.