Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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define "most popular" please
for instance https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity, does that metric fit your definition?
Anyway whatever the answer it doesn't really matters, at the end of the day it is always Linux anyway, regardless of package manager, desktop environment or init.
I'd just warn you against Ubuntu, because its company Canonical is behaving a lot like a young Microsoft these days.
Ubuntu 100%, if you count how many distros are ubuntu based (and collaterally debian based), but I believe it is the most used one even if you only count official ubuntu releases
Maybe arch would be quite high, if you count the steamdeck as desktop (maybe), and the big increase on arch users in the past couple of years (wen't from being rare to 1 in 3 users saying "I use arch btw")
In professional work space, ubuntu will probably be highest. Second place I would guess Fedora
As personal workstation I would guess arch (even without steam deck) followed by mint or some flavour of Ubuntu
I don't think Arch is more used than Ubuntu, unless maybe if you count all the Ubuntu flavors separately
Chrome OS.
There is not a reliable way to determine that, by design.
PC deez nuts
The girl reading this comment
Hannah Montana Linux is probably the most popular Linux distro.
In all seriousness, popularity isn't necessarily the best metric for what you should run on your computer. Ubuntu might be fairly popular, but it also isn't particularly good.
If we are talking about desktop PCs, maybe Ubuntu, but based these reports it's Arch.
With Steam having a gaming audience I'd argue that this has at least a slight bias towards Arch, as the latest kernel versions and other software are often advantageous for gaming in particular.
But even with the Steam numbers note that Arch is just listed as one single variant, while Ubuntu has separate entries for different versions. Ubuntu LTS 22.04 alone is so close to Arch that it's probably ahead once you include all versions.
That's because SteamOS, the operating system preinstalled on the Steam Deck, is based on Arch.
I don't understand why they haven't offered a way to filter out the Deck from those results. It skews every category (CPU, GPU etc.)
Not really..That's not a linux user metric it's a steam user metric. Seems fine to include the steam hardware platform
Worth keeping in mind that the steam deck uses a distro based on arch, so it might be inflating the arch numbers in that steam survey.
I don't think it is. Mint is based on Ubuntu but still shows up as mint. Arch is very popular
PC-BSD