No, I couldn’t manage to switch fully (or rather ‘migrate’, according to Joe Collin’s terminology) to GNU/Linux myself. But before to elaborate on that extensively, allow me to describe my own experience and use case so you may or may not feel close to it: I’ve been a long-term full-time Microsoft Windows user since the early nineties (MS-DOS 6.22-Windows 3.11) up until the year 2017, when I half-commited myself to macOS. From that very moment I’ve been switching between the three OSs so I want to share with you my experience, just in case someone would find interesting my odd journey. In Gnostic terms, my rebirth from the hells of the proprietary sphere to the heavens of the FOSS ninth cloud was relatively painful and clunky, thus you can imagine my continuous falls from Stallman’s Ennead have been anything but violent.
Why did I try to commit myself to the *NIX alternatives in the first place? Easy-peasy: I was taken aback by Windows 10 privacy policies, like many others of my generation, so I compelled myself to look for alternatives in order to fulfill my progressively complex digital activities. Don’t get me wrong: I do like Windows: it’s a flexible, familiar, extremely compatible, productivity-driven OS, although in comparison with macOS I’ve felt it was lacking in some areas, such as software-hardware optimization, UX consistency and modern-looking UI. But again, why did I ever consider this third option called GNU/Linux? In a word, freedom: libertad for customizing whatever-whenever I want. To feel more confident and conscious of both my hardware and software, to ease my mind by eliminating all of the proprietary flaws of my tech life: give us all your data in exchange of convenience, social media madness, notifications everywhere, not-knowing what’s out there about me or what’s happening in my own system. I really wanted (I still do) to get rid of all that jazz.
Therefore, back in 2019 I decided to step up and installed Linux (Mint); it wasn’t an easy process by no means: my current laptop at the time, an Asus X571GD-BQ353, sported an NVIDIA GPU which led me to tweak an awful lot to keep my OS up and running. Oh boy I did my research: noob and not-so-noob threads on specialized forums, manuals (the manliest way of learning Linux), YouTube channels (more on that later)… mistakes were made. Since that year I’ve borked my systems more times than I’m willing to admit but in this awakening process I’ve learned to love the widely-frightening terminal. To be completely honest, I’ve never felt particularly afraid of the bash (zsh, in my case) terminal: remember, I’ve started my tech life back in the early nineties, when the way of dealing with your computer was to handle a blinking cursor in the context of DOS. To me, dealing the the terminal was more like going back to the roots, if you know what I mean. Nah, my gripe with Linux wasn’t about that; on the contrary, it’s been more about how the world’s spinning around me, about the computing in general. Yeah I want my freedom back but then again I need to use an awful lot of apps for both my office job and my private life (and no, a proper Windows VM is simply not enough). Besides, I wanted to play my games the way I used to. None of these chores could be accomplished in the same manner on GNU/Linux (…and I’m already hearing the rant compilations emanated from the FOSS fanboys: get used to learn new FOS apps, learn to use your computer differently, freedom leds to a not-so-convenient way of using your computer, don’t be a noob, etc.).
So these last few years I’ve tried extensively the following distros (different flavors of Linux): Ubuntu (and Kubuntu), Linux Mint, Elementary OS and Pop_OS! (some Manjaro and Debian on VMs). If I were to choose, I’d pick Mint and Pop_OS up as my top two. Regarding the Desktop Environment (DE) I don’t feel particularly prompted to KDE (rather clunky and bloated to my taste) or Gnome (too simplistic and not-so-much customizable, in my humble opinion). I rather prefer Pantheon (EO’s native DE) and Cinammon (LM’s one). Linux Mint was (is) among my favorites in spite of my first horrid experience installing it on real hardware back in 2019 (prior to that I tried it on a VM and did dual-booting). Upon that experience, I’m going to to summarize my thoughts on GNU/Linux by stating the following recommendations (mainly destined to the attention of the noobs or the slightly initiated):
Linux doesn’t work on everything: do your research first. Are you fed up with Windows 11’s Draconian privacy policies and wanted to switch right away? Windows 7 lack of support bothers you? Hold on: try to find out your current configuration online: Arch Wiki to the rescue!: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Category:Hardware.
Make yourself familiar with the basics of your new OS first: https://itsfoss.com/what-is-foss/. GNU/Linux is more than an operating system, it’s a whole underworld dwelled by weird inhabitants. Besides, your new OS is not maintained by any big tech corp eager to please you but a community: be polite and patient when asking for help.
Don’t permit Linux elite trolls to get on your nerves: in the end of the day, distros don’t matter that much; above all the branches and families, there’re three main ways of dealing with GNU/Linux: Debian, Arch and Fedora. As a noob, you might want to go for the ease of use and the stability provided by the Debian-family (pst, stick to Linux Mint).
Try out your distro of choice for the first time on a Virtual Machine. It’s not exactly the same but it does help a lot to experience the OS first. Besides, you will be able to perform this try-out off of a USB stick.
If you don’t want to use the terminal at all, you shouldn’t even consider switching to GNU/Linux in the first place. I’m aware that some grandmas have managed to deal with Linux Mint by sticking to a short variety of ‘native’ apps, but what’s the point in that? If you’re willing to learn GNU/Linux and computing, just learn!… It’s super fun to use and it will enrich your computing experience hugely. Take into account that the power of GNU/Linux derives from the fact of many Githubbers have put a lot of effort in pushing a lot of resources into our extremely flexible OS: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc7fktTRMBozYfi4zlDeH0IdLdGImeOnO.
GNU/Linux can be an mandatory resource for the IT at some degree but at the same time, it’s considered a powerful ideological concept for many outsiders. To be clear, Linus Torvalds, the genius behind the Linux kernel, is not a head of any ideological movement but rather, one of the smartest software engineers alive who feel only pride for the massive use of ‘his’ kernel in Android and Chrome OSs.
Are you hardcore gamer? Just don’t switch to Linux: Linux vs Windows – Which is Best For Gaming Laptops?: https://youtu.be/iJsUcVOmZAY. With Valve’s aid (ahem with proprietary aid) you’ll get most of your games to work after performing some tweaking, but still the vast majority of peripherals and hardware elements mainly linked to your GPU won’t work properly.
YouTube and Linux, a fruitful relationship
One of the best and most comprehensive sources for learning Linux is, paradoxically, YouTube (so it’s Odysee). I’m going to divide the channels specialized in the field that I know best in two main categories:
The tech enthusiasts who consider Linux a wonderful tool and a viable alternative to Windows and macOS
Chris Titus Tech
My favorite channel of all. Chris is a Windows sysadmin who undertook his Linux journey back in 2018, unveiling for the rest of us a marvelous paths full of wonders (and terrors).
Among the hundreds of videos made by Chris, you will find some of the best optimization Windows videos, and above all, those ones destined to air his Windows Tool: The Best Windows Tool for 2022:
According to Chris, distros are utterly unimportant, the most attractive feature linked to Linux is its endless posibillity of customization. What’s a distro but a particular configuration made by an individual?
GitHub: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech
CTT’s Windows Utility: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil
Learn Linux TV: Jay’s not only one of the cleverest experts in the field but also one of my favorite human beings. If you’re an IT professional who desires to make a career off of Linux, you might want to take a look at it.
- Full-Time Linux Users React to the Linus Daily Driver Challenge Video: https://youtu.be/zjcByU0VKOk
- The Year of the Linux Desktop won’t happen (and why that’s okay): https://youtu.be/8btw60KFnpw.
- The Linux Experiment: Nick really wants Linux to be an actual alternative to the mainstream OSs by highlighting its cutting-edge features.
InfinitelyGalactic: a teacher who try to provide alternatives in the same vein of Nick’s.
TechHut: educational and fanboyish content for the Linux enthusiast.
Techlore: one of the main reasons to learn Linux stems from the fact that is a super secure and private OS.
GNU/Linux believers who consider themselves superior to the rest of the human race
Mental Outlaw
A ripped, smart youngster who prides himself on being the most powerful and cleverest man on Earth… Just kidding: his content is excellent, particularly those videos regarding Cibersecurity.
Linux Is Free if You Don’t Value Your Time
Linux is Too Hard – A Solution!:
The MANliest way to learn Linux:
DistroTube
DT’s Linux rants are among the best on the Internet. For the guy, Linux is just the best thing happened to human political and civil rights since the French Revolution.
A Gentle Introduction To Linux (for Linus Tech Tips viewers):
The 12 Linux Apps Everyone Should Know About: https://youtu.be/6chA0L_AT6k.
BugsWriter: an Indian IT geek who wants us to follow the true Jedi path:
Windows vs Linux user – Pretending to be hacker: https://youtu.be/FWW7SUbjicg.
Tools vs Concepts (It’s not Linux): https://youtu.be/AjQKyOXRmfM.
…And Joe Collins, whom I consider an individual who share both aspects of the bunch. I really really enjoy his educational (and ranty) videos, some of which I’ve watched several times, particularly these ones:
The truth about Linux: https://youtu.be/8x_DdsJdkGw.
Why I don’t do Windows: https://youtu.be/CrvKyR9DGUY.
Top 5 Mistakes New Linux Users Make: https://youtu.be/MoqxphFukTQ.
#Unixporn: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/
Fancy the most beautiful OS ever? *NIX systems are made for you!:
The Phenomenon of r/unixporn: https://youtu.be/FhhyqkbtaR4.
Setting up a Windows manager is gonna take your desktop experience to the next level!
What about me? Well, I’m a macOS-Windows user 90% of my time; sadly, my year of the Linux desktop hasn’t come just yet. Instead, I had the chance of learning a whole new dimension of computing. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m an IT professional (presales consultant to be exact), I’d consider my Linux journey even closer to the one described by this gentleman: https://youtu.be/WMwslhX7uK8, a professional writer who make use of simple tools within a simple clean and private OS.
More on that on that topic on future posts!
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