Source: https://linux-hardware.org/?view=os_display_server
Reporting is done by users who voluntarily upload their system specs via
# hw-probe -all -upload
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
People who voluntarily report usage are more likely to be new users, experimenting with Linux distributions etc. Greybeards like me will check out new stuff every few months or years, and won't shout about it one way or another. We'll probably not send statistics when prompted, either.
This isn't prompted. To send your data, you have to install a cli tool and run it with 2 specific options.
I don't think any new users are represented in the sample.
That indeed changes things, potentially introducing much more bias. What motivation would somebody have to install this tool and run it? Is it being marketed/advertised somehow? How, where, and to whom? :-P
It collects system info that helps you troubleshoot, or check a computer's compatibility with Linux.
It offers a switch to upload your anonymized data to the web site where it's visualized and ordered for better readability, and also entered into the statistical analysis.
If I were a new user, I'd consider using such a tool. I guess I'll see myself out. ;-)