This week, we've seen Linux market share explode. We'll talk about it. Plus, people are still defiantly thumbing their nose at Valve. Are Deck owners okay? And new updates for games, the Steam clie...

This week, we’ve seen Linux market share explode. We’ll talk about it. Plus, people are still defiantly thumbing their nose at Valve. Are Deck owners okay? And new updates for games, the Steam client, and other gaming apps make for a jam-packed week of Linux Gaming news. Let’s get right into it.

Linux market share continues blowing up

Yesterday, online statistic reporting site Statcounter released their number for June 2024 and—surprise, surprise—Linux has his another all-time high market share.

Now, I’m not sure if the Crowdstrike incident gave Linux some excellent publicity or what. But given that Statcounter has started looking more like a hockey stick when plotted on a graph, I’d say that this is just another win in the Linux desktop’s favor.

But let’s dig into these numbers. See, in this time last year, Linux was at 3.1% of overall desktop usage. Within six months, that number had climbed to almost 4%. Then, another six months later and it has climbed more than half a percentage point. The overall adoption of the Linux desktop is inevitably a good thing for us Linux and Steam Deck gamers. The more Linux desktops there are in the world, the more game developers will take the platform seriously.

And given the sorry, suffering state of Windows 11 right now and the explosive growth we’re seeing on Statcounter and the Steam Hardware Survey, I’d say we’re approaching critical mass (assuming we’re not there, already).

I’d love to know what you think. Are we well-and-truly approaching the mythical year of the Linux desktop? Share your thoughts below!

Deck Sniffer News

The meme just won’t quit, guys. Valve has said, time and time again, that you should not sniff your Deck’s vent. But do we listen? No. Why? Because it smells like “nostalgia,” apparently.

Well, that’s at least according to, Kenneth Andersen who posted an article about the meme over on Metro.co.uk.

Yeah, I read it. And it’s funny because I remember the moment I first sniffed my Steam Deck’s vent. I think it was the day I received a prerelease Deck from Valve.

I noticed that the heat was comfortably warm on my hand and I wanted to see what the heat felt like on my lips—honestly, one of the most temperature-sensitive parts of my body—and then I got a whiff. It didn’t really smell like nostalgia, per se. I thought it smelled kinda like a new car. All those VOCs and plastics. Highly addictive, honestly. Now, I smell the Deck almost every time I turn it on.

ProtonUp-QT 2.10.2

Next up, let’s talk about ProtonUP-QT. They just rolled out version 2.10.2! If you’re not familiar with ProtonUp-QT, it’s a graphical tool for managing Steam Play compatibility tools across Steam, Lutris, Heroic, and other launchers. You might not be aware, but there’s more than just Proton. There’s GE Wine, there’s Luxtorpeda and many others. They all do something different and they all have their appeal.

So this update is a big deal for a few reasons. First, they’ve added WinZGUI support. This is cool because WineZGUI is a WINE frontend that allows you to quickly manage Wine Prefixes, and Desktop integration.

Then, they made it so you could add older compatibility buttons with a “load more” button.

And finally, they removed D8VK in favor of the latest DXVK which now incorporates the work of D8VK. This is a big deal for the lost era PC games that used DirectX 8. They get upgraded into Vulkan and this means greater compatibility for older PC games.

All things considered, this is a great update for ProtonUP-QT and I’m excited to see where the project goes from here!

My Game Got a Big Update and it’s now on Android

Next up, I wanted to let you know that my game Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball got an absolutely MASSIVE update a little while ago. It includes a new game mode, new arenas, new cosmetic items, Steam achievements, AND it features Bill from NerdNest and Rich from FanTheDeck as announcers! This update is a free expansion for the game and I’m really excited about it.

What’s even cooler, though, is that I’ve now got the game available on Android! The Android build is available on Itch.io or Google Play! We’ve been testing the game on various Google Pixel devices, Galaxy Note 9, and the Retroid Pocket 3. It also works with Bluetooth controllers and phone grips like the Backbone.

Anyway, I’m super proud of this update—available on Steam—as well as the game being on Android. You can pick it up using the links below!

Lego Worlds Collide Bundle

Speaking of sales, let’s talk about this crazy good deal over on Humble. It’s the Lego Worlds Collide Bundle, man… this might be the best bang for your buck I’ve ever seen. It’s pay what you want for 18 games. First, Marvel Super Heros 2 which is Verified, DC Super Villains which is Playable, Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (Playable), Jurassic World (Verified), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Verified), Lego Worlds which is ProtonDB Platinum, The Incredibles (ProtonDB Gold), The Lego Movie 2 Videogame (Verified), Marvel’s Avengers (Playable), Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (required GE-Proton), The Hobbit (Verified), Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (Verified), The LEGO NINJAGO Movie (Verified), Marvel Super Heroes (Verified), Batman: The Video Game (Playable), The Lord of the RIngs (Needs GE-Proton), Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Verified), and finally The LEGO Movie - Videogame (Verified).

Time is limited on this bundle. So if you want to pick it up, you can use my affiliate link below. You’ll be helping this channel as well as charity. And if you do use my link, thank you!

COSMIC Desktop Alpha

System76’s new Desktop Environment called COSMIC just had a public demo featuring Carl Ritchell, their president, as well as Jeremy Soller and other COSMIC team members.

COSMIC has been in development for about two years and it still has a little ways to go before there’s a stable release, but it looks like an excellent hybrid between a traditional desktop like GNOME or KDE and a tiling window manager like i3. In fact, they said that many of their most technically-minded customers were asking about using i3 on their PopOS machines and that’s what inspired them to start work on COSMIC.

There were many features about the demo that I found pretty exciting. However, it has some very cool customization features that remind me of the flexibility of something like Windows 98. That’s quite a nice thing that I know a lot of folks will appreciate.

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on their alpha build. If you wanna see my first impressions of the COSMIC alpha, drop an orange heart in the comments.

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Steam Demos

Let’s talk about Steam’s revamped Demos. Last week, Valve pushed a Deck Client fix for demo support… and this was in anticipation of the demo revamp.

The big changes here are that:

  1. You can add a demo to your library without having to install it immediately.
  2. Demos can be installed even if you already own the full game.
  3. Demos can be explicitly removed from your library
  4. But when a demo is uninstalled, it’s automatically removed from your library.

Furthermore, demos can now have a separate store page that is able to accurately describe the content of the demo as well as show off demo-specific screenshots and trailers.

This is all rather exciting and I’ve been thinking how I can make a demo for my game. I wonder if it would help or hurt sales, though thinking about it, I don’t think Valve would be pushing demos this hard if they hurt sales… we’ll see!

Steam Deck User Account Icons

Finally, let’s talk about the latest Steam Deck Beta Client tagged July 30th. This new update adds a Steam Deck icon next to any friend in your buddy list using a Steam Deck.

They also have been hard at work fixing up the Game Recording Beta. They have fixed instances of failing to capture video data after multiple game launches, and video cropping when an external display is added or removed. They’ve also added an option to share a video or screenshot to your phone.

These are neat little features and I’m excited to see the game recording beta getting more love.

– Chapters – 00:00 Introduction 00:22 Stop Sniffing your Deck 01:50 ProtonUp-QT’s new v2.10.2 update 03:14 Dudeling’s Free Update and New Android Port 04:03 DeckHD gets official support from Valve 04:45 Most played Steam Deck for July 2024 06:15 Humble’s Lego Worlds Collide Bundle 07:33 System76’s COSMIC Desktop Environment demo 08:46 Steam’s Demo Revamp 09:47 Steam Deck Beta Client Update 10:25 Linux hits all-time-high marketshare