A girl and her Linux
Have been using Linux for the past, I wanna say, 10 months now? Yeah, something like that. A little under a year for sure. And it's been pretty sweet.
I must preface this by saying that I'm just a regular girlie. I'm not a dev or an artist or anything like that, I just use my computer to work (WFH), blog/write, watch stuff, surf the web (yeah I said it like that, lock me up) and play single player video games. Some super basic video editing when I'm inspired once in a blue moon. So nothing much out of the ordinary, really, just your average computer user, maybe not even that.
I was familiar with Linux before, though. Many, many moons ago (I wanna say, 10-15 years ago?) I did use Linux Mint and Ubuntu at some point, due to busted computers not running Windows or just because I thought Linux Mint looked pretty cute. During college, I had a portable linux on a usb stick when I didn't have internet access at home and had to use other ppl's computers (I eventually moved on to using PortableApps tho). So I was familiar with it but I had never used it consistently, let's put it that way. And honestly, I don't remember a lot from that time. I do have ADHD and dysthymia, so I'm memory-challenged. (ᵕ—ᴗ—)
Getting back into it & moving away from Windows was a relatively painless experience tho, especially bc I knew how to create a bootable USB stick and stuff, and I did opt for a dual-boot bc of work (I do need to use Word Office and no, stuff like LibreOffice, WPS, OnlyOffice do not work for my specific situation), but in the end I hardly ever boot Windows. I end up using Word Office online for work (which is subpar but apparently I prefer that over having to boot Windows lol).
So, I chose Kubuntu as my distro, simply because it looked ₊✩‧₊˚pretty˚₊✩‧₊ and all I want is to customize stuff and make it look cute. After some research, Kubuntu felt like the right option, and honestly, I'm super happy with it.
The trouble that I had was with bluetooth and wireless connectivity but nothing that updating drivers didn't solve. The other thing was setting up my 75% keyboard to have the Alt Gr key with my ABNT2 layout, but that was also a process I went through on Windows and solving it on Kubuntu was surprisingly simpler. I didn't even have to install anything, just went into settings and remapped the keys. (Did use Claude for that, there ain't no way I'd have known how to do that by myself!)
Having said that tho, I have been using Claude a lot to troubleshoot stuff on Linux, and I honestly don't think I'd be feeling so smooth about it if it weren't for the AI assistance. It's mostly basic stuff, sure, but it's a lot more direct than looking up generic answers online that sometimes are not exactly what I'm asking... And sometimes yeah, the AI does give me suggestions that I'm like "wtf this is way more complicated than necessary".
Case in point: my last issue was Steam not loading. I did follow the AI instructions at first but it didn't work and it kept insisting on giving me this long-winded way of trying to make it work... I ended up just asking it how I could have Steam start when I boot my computer (since I couldn't access Steam itself I had to do it via terminal which I absolutely did not know how to), restarted it, and it worked fine. So yeah, AI help isn't perfect and sometimes will make you take these looooong ass routes to fix something--I guess--"the right way", but you just gotta be sensible about what's worth following or not.
I managed to find software that was useful to me pretty quickly. I created a list on Listography so I won't forget them if/when I have to do a fresh Linux install. Of course, I only listed stuff that doesn't come already preinstalled or that aren't too 'obvious' like a browser or email client.
I think the most amazing and surprising thing about the shift from Windows to Linux is that I actually wanna use the computer rather than just opening the browser and doing everything there. I had forgotten that this was how I did stuff way back when... You know, with programs installed.
So yeah, I've been pretty happy and with Word Online, I haven't really missed Windows one bit...
Except
There's one stupid, silly thing that I do miss a lot from Windows. And it's truly ridiculous, I don't think anyone in their right mind would guess this but... it's desktop companions/idler overlay games/productivity games on Steam. I kid you not.
Pls don't laugh. ಥヮಥ
Most of them don't work on Linux. My beloved Ropuka's Idle Island and Bongo Cat do not run on Linux and Brazil, I'm devastated. Almost a year in and I still miss them. It's these two and Mini Cozy Room I used to have on allll the time back in my Windows days. They were cute and fun and didn't make my aging computer lag. I didn't have them on at the same time, I only pulled up Mini Cozy Room when I was working/studying, but Bongo Cat was always with meeeee. And the multiplayer function was SO CUTE. When my friend was in China and we were both exhausted in a 12h-difference timezone, Bongo Cat was the one thing uniting us in its silent no-effort multiplayer.
In my Steam Library I also have a pretty substantial amount of desktop companion games that I simply cannot play. :(
So I've been using the ones that aren't overlays. Luckily one of my faves runs pretty well--Spirit City--so not all is lost. And recently I've finally bought Virtual Cottage 2 and this one's 'overlay' is a simple small window of the game so I can keep that above the other ones alright.
But there you go. I won't be going back to Windows any time soon, that's for sure. It's been a cute ride.