How And Why I Use Linux On A Daily Basis
Some people look at me confused when I say I use Linux. In this post, I'll explain why I prefer Linux over Windows and how I configure it to my needs.
Practicality
For people who don't use computers daily, practicality is not important, but for me it's essential. Since starting high school I have had less and less time to configure all my systems. And here's where Windows lacks - it takes a long ass time to configure properly, aka to get rid of all the bloatware, spyware and quasi-malware Micro$oft put on it. Whichever you pick, 10 or 11, both are filled to the brim.
As with Linux, once you configure it to your liking, you usually never have to touch that configuration. If you ever reinstall you can always just copy over your dotfiles (configuration files) and you're up and going in no time.
Linux is also very, and I say very minimal. It can have no desktop environment (aka graphical user interface), or it can. The choice is yours. For new users, it's always hard to do everything from scratch the first time, but you learn things over time by troubleshooting which becomes a crucial tool in making you faster and more productive on your system.
My Setup
Way back when I just started using Linux I distrohopped multiple times a week. I went from Arch to Debian to Ubuntu to SUSE to Artix to I don't even know what. The thing is that however stupid this sounds, it was needed. I learned a lot of my Linux skills by distro-hopping and/or troubleshooting the problems that came along the way.
I ended up landing on Arch Linux with GNOME. It's been stable even though Arch is a rolling-release distro (which means it gets updates pretty much regularly). GNOME has been the face of Linux for some time now - it's practical, productive, and all a user needs.
But the nice thing with Linux is that you can always change up your setup and change even the slightest detail - which makes it way more powerful.
The Terminal
A nightmare for new users, but a powerful tool for others.
Everyone I know who ever tried Linux was practically scared to touch the terminal afraid they were going to mess something up or that they just don't know what to type. Even though the terminal can be a scary place, since you can do damage to your system if you don't know what you're doing, you should still be learning it.
The one big thing I noticed using Linux for these past 4 or so years is that everything became faster when I started using the terminal - from just unmounting disks to launching apps, to searching and deleting files, and automating stuff. The possibilities are endless and it's very easy once you get the hang of it.
Everything Has It's Cons
Of course, Linux isn't perfect. One big con is that there is very little support for games and proprietary apps without compatibility layers such as Proton.
There are so few native Linux games that you can probably count them on your fingers. Though the solution may be to just use the compatibility layers, the naked truth is that Linux gaming is not at all close to Windows.
When developers start acknowledging that Linux exists and begin officially supporting it - that will be the real beginning of Linux gaming.
This was Day 27 of #100DaysToOffload!