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Comment by mmusc | Hacker News Reader

One interesting point I've seen online is that the steam machine is more of a budget Mac than a pc. As valve controls the whole stack including the OS which creates a very streamlined experience that just works.

Maybe its what will make Linux more mainstream!

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Linux has gone mainstream a long time ago - from dvd players to android phones. It just hasn’t succceeded on old preexisting markets ( personal computers ) but has taken large parts of most of the newly created ones ( servers , mobile devices , embedded devices etc )

I feel like this is a little nitpicky. Clearly they are talking about mainstream for the average home computer user as a daily driver OS. Even with the steam deck it’s barely touching 5%. It’s still obscure and mysterious to the vast majority of the population in a way windows and macOS aren’t.

I've been a techie my whole life, and for me, the mysterious OS is macOS. I haven't used it since high school (late 90s), which is when I picked up linux at home.

I was never able to afford mac products as a young person, and now that I can, I wouldn't part with linux.

I really don’t feel like I need to explain how this is not what I’m talking about.

Okay, well this is: I've installed ubuntu for my elderly father, who is the opposite of a techie.

He didn't know the difference. He can still browse the web and play solitaire, just like on windows.

He ran it for a few years. Then he bought a new device and hasn't asked for my help.

This is still not what we are talking about. This has nothing to do with ease of use when set up or the practical considerations of swapping. Linux is not mainstream in the consumer world. People do not really know what it is. It is still mysterious and personal computer installation is far from turnkey.

The percentage of computers involved running Windows when you Google, Netflix, Amazon, Bank, Email on your Windows laptop is less then 50%.

As I said to the other person, I really don’t feel like I need to explain how this is not what we are talking about.

Go ask 100 random people to name 1 Linux distro.

Go ask 100 people what operating system they're using and if they do say windows, ask them what version.

While not exactly the same, I guarantee you more people will know the answer to that than the Linux distro question.

With the steam deck 5% is around 300% to 500% growth over the last 5 years

I know but I’m not sure it actually matters.

To many people the internet and internet explorer ( or edge ) are the same thing, and for almost everyone I know , the daily driver is the phone or tablet OS not the laptop/desktop OS. And I’m not even talking about the ones who live in a browser.

I started using Linux in 96 and for many years it was going to be the year of Linux on the desktop. It never happened , and I’m not sure it’s that important these days , given the gigantic presence Linux has, and the way people interact with computing devices in general these days .

Edit / clarification : there are a lots of computer professionals on HN, and as such see actual pcs / Macs etc a lot. Many people don’t and just see their phones.

Yes - but this will be the year of Linux on the desktop.

one of the more interesting things about the harnesses and agents is that they solve a lot of the ops issues in both linux and windows desktops.

A prompt with - "disable telemetry, disable useless services and memory hogging ones, disable auto restart" makes windows quite bearable.

And then on the next Windows update they will all be turned back on again.

The core difference there being, those settings will stick on Linux, and Microsoft will happily revert them next Windows feature update without telling you.

Not when you have disabled the updates and put the script in scheduled tasks.

Sysiphus be like

Linux kernel is an implementation detail on Android, not exposed to userspace.

Consumers don't care what kernel runs on their electronics.

I mean Playstation uses FreeBSD 11.

Valve's vertical control over SteamOS, the UI, and the hardware specs indeed gives the Steam Machine that taste of Mac. Not sure if Apple would have gone for something like that if they ever made a console: one key difference is that Valve keeps it open like a regular PC which is a major benefit to keep the device alive down the road for years to come.

Yes, sometimes it's difficult to find the correct driver for Linux and set it up. Having steam machine be start and play like steam deck really brings the console feel on PC. Moreover it's still Linux which you can use for other things, so people doesn't feel loss for this.

Nvidia has been historically tricky, but in the last two years or so (maybe longer), I have not needed to do any manual work for drivers. Sometimes, you may see some diminished performance on hardware that is brand new until drivers catch up, but that is usually just about waiting for an update on driver you already have.

I've been of the belief that 2026 has been year of the Linux desktop. As a user of MacOS for work and Linux at home, and being a former user of Windows for decades for video games, Linux has come so far that I think it has surpassed the mainstream OSes in terms of experience. The barrier to entry isn't really troubleshooting anymore, it is that we don't have any dominant desktop environment. Which is "bad" for adoption, but has been great for iteration by teams who are not bogged down by the need to support legacy users who don't want things to change.

> Yes, sometimes it's difficult to find the correct driver for Linux and set it up.

It's interesting that you say that, because it isn't how drivers normally work on Linux. Finding, downloading and installing drivers is very much a Windows thing.

The only reason why Linux hasn't gone mainstream (talking about desktop pcs) is because of schools and prebuilt-pcs. Majority of pc users don't even know what OS they are running.

It was always the disconnect between the people who made it work and the people who couldn’t that prevented wider adoption.

It doesn't control the games though, hence Proton.

If they controlled the whole stack Linux native games would be a requirement.

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