Steam on Linux use has hit an all-time high! With the Steam Survey results for October 2025 coming out this evening, Steam on Linux has finally cracked the 3% threshold! A few months back Steam on Linux was close to 3% before stumbling a bit but now it’s above that elusive threshold. The only time Steam on Linux use was close to the 3% mark was when Steam on Linux initially debuted a decade ago and at that time the overall Steam user-base was much smaller than it is today. Long story short, thanks to the ongoing success of Valve’s Steam Deck and other handhelds plus Steam Play (Proton) working out so well, these October numbers are the best yet.
I partially switched to Linux this week, I had an older Windows machine just laying around so I decided to install Linux (I went with Mint) sit it next to my regular Windows machine and set up a switch to easily switch between them. That way if I really need Windows, I still have it. I don’t think I will.
I’m still configuring the (now Linux) machine and getting everything like I like it, and all I keep wondering is why I didn’t try this sooner. There are so many cool things (like sftp right in the File Manager? right on). I have no complaints.
Steam has run every game I’ve tried with only minor tweaks (switching to recommended Proton versions for each game, basically). Gaming is not a problem on Linux anymore. I’ve run old games (Torchlight II, Portal 2, Skyrim) and new games (Oblivion Remastered, Baldur’s Gate) and the only problem has been my shit-ass video card just can’t run them basically (1050Ti, time to upgrade, lol).
A little while doing all this and I’ll convert the Windows machine to Linux and be rid of Windows altogether. Before the end of the year, hopefully. Everyone should give it a try.
I think your experience is the most common way people first try Linux: most people first try Linux when they have a computer that is no longer valuable to them.
That was what happened to me. I had a Windows laptop that was running too slow for use, and a friend suggested setting up a Linux partition before I bought a new one. I did, and got another two years out of the laptop.
Now I see a lot of libraries and hackerspaces offering folks help doing this.
I understand that things have changed a bit since I first moved over to Linux - moving from Red Hat Linux to Ubuntu ‘Warty Warthog’ was such a revelation in overall user-friendliness and usability, back in the day. But upgrading my graphics card from an NVidia one to an AMD was a similar change. I might have only just installed the base operating system and a desktop environment and haven’t got around to a web browser yet, but I’ve already got full hardware accelerated graphics - that’s crazy.
Most distros now make the NVidia drivers a complete non-issue, I think? My 6600XT is requiring just a few too many compromises on new games, so I’ll need something new too, sooner or later. I used to hold off on graphics cards updates until I could get something twice as good so that it was a noticeable upgrade, but I could buy a pretty decent second-hand car for all the ones which are ‘twice as good’ now.
An upgrade from a 1050 Ti shouldn’t be such a problem. Well done on keeping it alive so long - I had a GeForce GTX 970 that would have been a similar age, but it let out its magic smoke years ago.