PSA: Linux hits 3% on Steam (Actual usage over 5% of all computers)

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coldmeat

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2007
9,234
142
106
I'm curious.. black screen when exactly?

Do you go afk 5 mins and come back to a black screen?

Fedora started black screening after the grub menu. It was after it updated the kernel I suppose because there was another entry, but even restoring the old one led to a black screen. Personally I didn't do anything but install a couple programs, then restart. I'm all AMD, nomodeset didn't help and I get no errors. I just couldn't get back into the desktop.

Mint black screened after I let it go to screensaver and my tv timed out. It's been working fine since then, just minor issues mostly with the panel.

I haven't given up though, I'm going to keep it this time.
 

Indus

Lifer
May 11, 2002
15,965
11,110
136
Fedora started black screening after the grub menu. It was after it updated the kernel I suppose because there was another entry, but even restoring the old one led to a black screen. Personally I didn't do anything but install a couple programs, then restart. I'm all AMD, nomodeset didn't help and I get no errors. I just couldn't get back into the desktop.

Mint black screened after I let it go to screensaver and my tv timed out. It's been working fine since then, just minor issues mostly with the panel.

I haven't given up though, I'm going to keep it this time.

Ok you're not doing anything wrong.. just mess with the power management settings.. like don't turn off monitor after 5 minutes or go to sleep mode.. some of them default to that.

Each distro is different.

If you ever end up trying another distro.. I really suggest trying LMDE a try especially if you don't have the latest video card or cpu (it's linux mint, works like linux mint but it's based on debian and it'll save you a bunch of headaches that ubuntu causes like black screens, glitches, programs not working.. DEBIAN JUST WORKS!)

The only downside to debian is they work so hard on stability and programs not crashing.. sometimes updates for the newest hardware will take a few months to roll.. but unless you have the newest CPU/ GPU it's a non issue. Mostly just an issue for early adopters.

Like the wife's LMDE kernel is 6.1 and it's getting updated to 6.12 soon but on Ultramarine I'm already on 6.15.9.. arch is on 6.16 but Debian will extensively test it for stability first. Updating kernels might sound nice but it can also break systems as the new kernels need new drivers which may or may not be working properly.
 
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Zepp

Senior member
May 18, 2019
260
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Fedora started black screening after the grub menu. It was after it updated the kernel I suppose because there was another entry, but even restoring the old one led to a black screen. Personally I didn't do anything but install a couple programs, then restart. I'm all AMD, nomodeset didn't help and I get no errors. I just couldn't get back into the desktop.

Mint black screened after I let it go to screensaver and my tv timed out. It's been working fine since then, just minor issues mostly with the panel.

I haven't given up though, I'm going to keep it this time.

early this year I was on Fedora GNOME and booted into black screen after an update. The fedora forums were saying it was a GNOME bug not fedora. at the time I got spooked and wiped it and tried a few others like Zorin and Openmandriva, but eventually came back to Fedora(Ultramarine) and have been trouble free for about 6 months now and loving it.
 
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biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
19,914
7,018
136
Just tried switching over the last 2 days, but have been having issues with black screens on both Fedora and Mint, which is exactly the same problem I had with Linux 10 years ago.

Would love to finally ditch Windows.
What monitor do you have. Mine doesn't natively support 240Hz in Linux, so at some point I will try a *fix* to make it work. My screen is completely garbled if I run 240Hz.
 

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
19,914
7,018
136
OneDrive has ballsed up my file system too many times!
Also I find that if I'm using multiple computers it's constantly trying to sync files that I don't want synced (like game saves).
If it just worked like a network drive I'd be ok with it but it tries to take over way too much.
I have a M365 account (wife has to run MS office stuff for her work) but I don't use any of it as it's a PITA!
It has worked fine for me, but yeah it has backed up a lot of folders I don't need backup of. So no it is very simple just to setup a folder for photos and documents.
 

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
16,694
4,657
75
Mint black screened after I let it go to screensaver and my tv timed out. It's been working fine since then, just minor issues mostly with the panel.
I technically have a problem like that. When on an extension HDMI cable my monitor won't wake up unless I push a button on it. I thought it was just the cable - it works with a shorter cable - but maybe it's Mint too? Anyway, you could turn off blanking in settings -> Power Manager -> Display tab.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
33,072
11,250
136
It has worked fine for me, but yeah it has backed up a lot of folders I don't need backup of. So no it is very simple just to setup a folder for photos and documents.
I don't want to have to tell my OS not to do stuff that it shouldn't be doing in the first place!
 

Indus

Lifer
May 11, 2002
15,965
11,110
136
Guess what.. someone managed to do it.. Microsoft Office on KDE (ultramarine)

1754696575366.png
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
33,072
11,250
136
Last time I used it it took all my home folders hostage and made it a PITA to use them without onedrive, and onedrive was an absolute nightmare to disable after using it. Plus it synced everything from every home folder on multiple different PCs signed in with the same microsoft account.
I have no idea if its any better now but I'm definitely not risking it!
 
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[DHT]Osiris

Lifer
Dec 15, 2015
17,367
16,635
146
Last time I used it it took all my home folders hostage and made it a PITA to use them without onedrive, and onedrive was an absolute nightmare to disable after using it. Plus it synced everything from every home folder on multiple different PCs signed in with the same microsoft account.
I have no idea if its any better now but I'm definitely not risking it!
Yeah that's kind of what it does, especially the latter. It's a cloud-based home folder/folder redirection.

There's a lot more/better 'attach cloud drive as z:' solutions out there.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
33,072
11,250
136
Yeah that's kind of what it does, especially the latter. It's a cloud-based home folder/folder redirection.
Thing is that windows, by default, puts a lot of application data in those home folders (game saves, game configs, etc) that really shouldn't be shared across multiple PCs. Microsoft needs to be a lot stricter about what goes into those folders if they want OneDrive to work the way they make it work as they are clearly pushing it out to home users as well as corporate ones ( where I can see the use in it).
There's a lot more/better 'attach cloud drive as z:' solutions out there.
Google drive seems to work like that.
 

[DHT]Osiris

Lifer
Dec 15, 2015
17,367
16,635
146
Thing is that windows, by default, puts a lot of application data in those home folders (game saves, game configs, etc) that really shouldn't be shared across multiple PCs. Microsoft needs to be a lot stricter about what goes into those folders if they want OneDrive to work the way they make it work as they are clearly pushing it out to home users as well as corporate ones ( where I can see the use in it).

Google drive seems to work like that.
I mean, it kind of is... if you're trying to create a consistent environment across workstations, replicating docs, save files, pictures, etc is exactly what you'd want shared under your profile.
 

Paratus

Lifer
Jun 4, 2004
17,631
15,820
146
Last time I used it it took all my home folders hostage and made it a PITA to use them without onedrive, and onedrive was an absolute nightmare to disable after using it. Plus it synced everything from every home folder on multiple different PCs signed in with the same microsoft account.
I have no idea if its any better now but I'm definitely not risking it!
That default to one drive is just maddening.

I bought an ASUS TUF 14 laptop at the beginning of the year:
  • AMD AI 9 HX 370w 890m iGPU
  • NV 4060
  • 32GB LPDDR
  • 2TB NVME
  • 14in 2560x1600 x 165mhz
  • 3.2 lbs
  • ~$1450
(Really nice machine for the size and price)

Tried moving some pics off my phone to the photo directory and it gave me a warning: “You are out of space. Would you like to buy more one drive space?”

No MF’r I want to use the 1.8TB I’ve got free on this machine.

Ran into this problem updating my desktop to win11 and my daughter’s new laptop.

Finally got it disabled.

Maddening
 

Indus

Lifer
May 11, 2002
15,965
11,110
136
Thing is that windows, by default, puts a lot of application data in those home folders (game saves, game configs, etc) that really shouldn't be shared across multiple PCs. Microsoft needs to be a lot stricter about what goes into those folders if they want OneDrive to work the way they make it work as they are clearly pushing it out to home users as well as corporate ones ( where I can see the use in it).

Google drive seems to work like that.

Can't believe I'm saying this but Google actually makes my life easier not harder!

Probably shouldn't say that as a linux user but it is what it is for me and my wife. We both love using Chrome as our main browser and it syncs all across. As good as firefox but I save firefox for the duck duck go searches and use chrome for the vanilla ones if that makes sense.
 

Drach

Golden Member
Apr 24, 2022
1,361
2,095
106
I'm still amazed after all these years there isn't a competitors to windows.
You still have to jump through hoops and learn code to use Linux. Sad for 95% of all computer users.
Shit my phucking phone uses a version of linux and I don't need to learn code to use it..
 

Zepp

Senior member
May 18, 2019
260
246
116
I'm still amazed after all these years there isn't a competitors to windows.
You still have to jump through hoops and learn code to use Linux. Sad for 95% of all computer users.
Shit my phucking phone uses a version of linux and I don't need to learn code to use it..
sorry but this is just ignorant hyperbole
check out Indus and Biostud's threads in the Operating System forum to see how feasable it is to switch off windows nowadays
 

Drach

Golden Member
Apr 24, 2022
1,361
2,095
106
sorry but this is just ignorant hyperbole
I have tried every couple of years tocheck out Indus and Biostud's threads in the Operating System forum to see how feasable it is to switch off windows nowadays
Hyperbole? Not even close. I try every couple of years and the same shit always rears it's ugly head. It's still not ready for prime time. I have been trying for 20 years.
 

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
19,914
7,018
136
Can't believe I'm saying this but Google actually makes my life easier not harder!

Probably shouldn't say that as a linux user but it is what it is for me and my wife. We both love using Chrome as our main browser and it syncs all across. As good as firefox but I save firefox for the duck duck go searches and use chrome for the vanilla ones if that makes sense.
I use FF and it also syncs on all my devices?

I have Edge installed for work stuff to keep that in its own browser. :p
 

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
19,914
7,018
136
Hyperbole? Not even close. I try every couple of years and the same shit always rears it's ugly head. It's still not ready for prime time. I have been trying for 20 years.
For me it can do 95% and I can dual boot or VM the rest (photo editing and work).
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
33,072
11,250
136
I'm still amazed after all these years there isn't a competitors to windows.
You still have to jump through hoops and learn code to use Linux. Sad for 95% of all computer users.
Shit my phucking phone uses a version of linux and I don't need to learn code to use it..
I very much can't code at all and I just set up my gaming PC on Linux and it works fine. It was mostly just plug and play thanks to Steam.
Literally the only thing that doesn't work is MS office stuff but that I can run in a VM.
 
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biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
19,914
7,018
136
I very much can't code at all and I just set up my gaming PC on Linux and it works fine. It was mostly just plug and play thanks to Steam.
Literally the only thing that doesn't work is MS office stuff but that I can run in a VM.
Same, but for me I have Topaz photo AI, Adobe photoshop elements which won't run under Linux. Both programs I've paid for and works really well for my work flow, so I keep my dual boot. My filen.io (encrypted online storage) folder is on my ntfs data drive, so I can access it both from Windows and Linux.

Also setting up two user accounts and sharing the steam library is not as straightforward as on Windows.

Obviously being a Windows user for many years, there is many new concepts to learn, but overall I don't think it is more complicated than Windows, just different.

Learn new commands, which files to edit to change something, how is the file structure, and where is everything stored...etc.