So, Zorin OS reportedly achieved 1 million downloads in 5 weeks. And now we hear Bazzite served almost 150,000 Linux ISOs in a single calendar month. That’s great, but these OSes are quite small players in the Linux world.
There aren’t definitive comparison figures, but searching around indicates that the most popular distros are Ubuntu , Linux Mint, Fedora, Debian, and Arch Linux. The top two mentioned might dish out multiple times the volume of ISOs served by small/new challengers like Zorin or Bazzite. However, with both those highlighted distros having special appeal to ex-Windows productivity and gaming users, perhaps the sands have shifted in their favor, to some degree.
Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
erazog I wouldn't say SteamOS is available for general desktops, the Steam Machine doesn't count as the distro is tailored only for Valve approved devices, for example it does not ship with Nvidia closed source drivers which are the only useable drivers for RTX cards under Linux. There are open source Nova drivers for RTX cards in development but performance is far away from the Nvidia driver. It would be nice if there was an official SteamOS desktop edition that you could throw on any PC but I have a feeling Valve doesn't want to be on the hook support wise for that. Bazzite is a little too bleeding edge and community based, some want a proper company/support behind a distro. Reply
heffeque Welp… maybe 2026 will be the year Linux starts picking up in desktops/laptops? Thanks Micro$soft! Reply
eichwana I’ve been using Bazzite for a while, and unlike SteamOS you can install other applications and have them remain through OS updates. SteamOS is amazing on the Deck, but for multipurpose computing on my PC I may stick with Bazzite. Reply
CajunMoses erazog said: SteamOS desktop edition Effectively: "SteamOS desktop edition" = Bazzite Reply
CajunMoses There are two predominant streams of Windows users installing Linux distros. (1) Gamers who want to combine a SteamOS experience but also want a rock-solid desktop experience. Bazzite is frequently their easiest choice. (2) People who are comfortable using msWin (because it's all they've ever known) but who can no longer tolerate being subjected to its increasingly invasive, intrusive, controlling behavior. Zorin OS is frequently their easiest choice. Both of these distros demonstrate an understanding of the importance of making on-boarding as seamless as possible for newbies. Reply
ezst036 The evidence is everywhere now. 2026 is going to be a fun year in the OS wars scene. Reply
Zombiedude101 eichwana said: I’ve been using Bazzite for a while, and unlike SteamOS you can install other applications and have them remain through OS updates. SteamOS is amazing on the Deck, but for multipurpose computing on my PC I may stick with Bazzite. Agreed, Bazzite is probably the closest analogue to a "safe" experience similar to Windows while not being something that requires a lot of work to manage. Everything (at least from an AMD perspective) works out of the box. I built a new system earlier this year to compliment my 3yo Deck and run Bazzite on it. When the last week I installed Win10 LTSC on a separate disk so I could run a small handful of games that don't support linux due to anti cheat the experience is just night and day, even Win10 feels less performant compared to the crisp snappiness I get with Bazzite and that's on an R7 7700 / 9060 XT Reply
russell_john If you have an AMD GPU then Steam OS is great but if you have an Nvidia GPU I'd suggest using Bazzite instead since Steam has little experience at supporting Nvidia GPUs at this time while Bazzite uses a separate install ISO for Nvidia and has more experience supporting Nvidia Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/gaming-first-linux-distro-delivers-a-petabyte-of-isos-in-one-month-as-users-avoid-forced-updates-to-windows-11-bazzite-distro-is-another-safe-haven-for-win-10-refugees#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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- The Largest Digital Zoo: Biology Model Trained on NVIDIA GPUs Identifies Over a Million Species
- Chinese vendor showcases first mass-produced Imagination DXD GPU with ray tracing — sports modern features like super resolution, too
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.