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Thoughts on Linux after two years

Sun 22 Aug 2021 13:14:59 AEST

After using linux for 2 years I think now is more or less a better time to do a brain dump of my thoughts and reflect on what has transpired since then.

It's safe to say that delving into Linux has been one of the most transformative experiences of my life. I feel as though everything has changed for the better in terms of my interactions with technology. It has been fundamentally an educational experience and my knowledge of IT systems has vastly expanded thanks to everything that I have learnt. I have a vast community of people around the world writing FOSS software to thank for what I now know.

The freedom to do what I want with computers as well as to change it as I see fit is a very, well, freeing experience. I sit here writing with vim, in an environment I've crafted myself, using tools that bend to my whim all of which I was completely and blissfully unaware of several years ago. It's amazing how empowering it is to have the ability jerry-rig pieces of software together with shell-scripting and have it do virtually anything I want.

It all started when I installed Ubuntu 16.04 for a university project, after having spent several weeks trying to get a development environment setup on Windows and becoming incredibly frustrated. Who knows maybe I'm just not as competent as I thought I was with Windows. Immediately I was surprised at how easy the installation process was; just chuck it on a USB, boot it and follow the prompts, Done! Not only that but the most shocking thing was that no longer did I have to go to a website to download the software I wanted to install. Just pop open the terminal and use the package manager. A package manager, a concept that to my Windows centred mind at the time was completely baffling and amazing. To have a massive collection of software that was not only high quality but also completely free was world changing.

A kept my system dual-booted for ages as I clung to Windows as my safe space where I could venture safely into the scary but incredible new world. Little by little though everything that I was used to I eventually learned how to do in Linux, some things were made completely redundant. Anti-virus and cleaning programs, pfff what are those now? Permissions and a fundamentally clean filesystem are where it's at now.

What I run now is a Community image of Artix with a Cinnamon desktop, but that's a story for another time. I urge anyone who hasn't tried Linux yet to give it a shot, I honestly would recommend Linux Mint for Windows users. It's familiar to Windows users and removes some of the junk attached to Ubuntu systems. You might just find that you like it.