My experience with linux
☄ 15 minute read | 12/07/2025
Why did i switch?
Well, unlike many other people i know, the main reason that i actually swapped to linux was because i was bored of windows. Windows was okay for me, nothing special i didn't love it or hate it. I just used it. I had heard of linux before but i always thought it was far beyond my skill level and not something i could possibly learn. And so the curiosity started, i spent a few nights watching youtube videos about linux and in the end i decided i was going to go with what i thought was best for me, Linux Mint.
I'm not really sure how but it was only at this time that i actually learnt you could dual boot operating systems, i never knew this before which was actually the turning point for me trying out linux since i didn't have to remove windows if i hated linux. I installed the linux mint iso and balena etcher and flashed the Linux Mint iso onto a 32gb flashdrive, then i booted into linux mint and had no issues setting it all up thanks to the easy to use GUI setup.
Linux Mint
Linux Mint was good to me, i used it only for 1 week but my experience in that time was great, i was learning some linux and i don't actually remember booting into windows a single time whilst i was using mint. It felt so fresh and new, it was exciting to me because i could customize and i had a terminal which was awesome to me even tho i didn't understand it. I spent a good while just looking through settings and learning all the different things i could customize, i loved the freedom and didn't realise just how much windows restricted you.
Arch Linux
To no suprise i got bored of linux mint, it's stable and it does its job perfect, but i wanted something more and i really wanted to dive into something deeper, then i was This video from bog on my reccomened and that was my turning point, so i decided to install Arch linux.
My plan was to remove linux mints partition and give that storage to arch linux so i would be dual booting arch linux and windows 11. Let's just say it didn't go that well, i didn't want to touch a virtual machine, it seemed too complicated and too much for me so i thought, ah fuck it ill just install it bare metal, what's the worst that can happen? Yup, there goes windows, i nuked my entire ssd, and so the journey started of quite literally being forced to use linux, i didn't have any other way to install a windows iso or anything to recover easily at the time so i decided to use arch-install.
Now don't get me wrong, i didn't want to use arch=install, i was cocky and thought i could do it without arch-install first try but after i messed up the partitioning i decided to just use arch-install to atleast get a working pc without all the suffering, and what was that i had installed arch linux through arch install, i went with kde plasma because i didn't have a clue what a desktop environment was and i just picked a random one and that's what i ended up with. I didn't even know how to install a package, thankfully the video from bog about arch linux helped me understand some of the basics of pacman and what not.
Fast forward about 2 weeks and i had the basic terminal commands down, i knew how to install packages and that was that, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as i thought since i really wasn't using the terminal for much more than installing a package and what not, i was feeling more comfortable by now and it was around this point i was really starting to enjoy linux a lot more, it was nothing like i thought and i was having a great time.
Hyprland
Bog uploaded a video about hyprland and i watched it and i was amazed! A tiling window manager? I'd never heard of such a thing but it looked awesome, i tried it out immediatly and struggled to be honest for the first week i would say, i was getting better but i wasn't used to the keybinds, it was nothing like what i was used to barely even touching the mouse, but i loved it, it was at this point i really knew to myself that i never wanted to go back to windows ever again, i was glad i nuked windows because it opened up such an awesome opporunity to me.
Around a week into using hyprland i was getting pretty comfortable with the keybinds and i had edited the config to me perfect to me, i had also started to learn about "ricing" the art of customizing your desktop, ohhhhh... The rabbit hole that i fell down here, i have spent SO MUCH TIME customizing and "ricing" my pc. You can find more information about that Here.
Because of hyprland i started learning about wayland and its limitations, for example i had to run certain applications under xwayland instead, my discord streaming experience on hyprland was honestly shit, because from what i learnt discord dosen't have any encoding on wayland which means if your stream loses quality because of bad interent or something it can't recover again so it only gets worse and worse. This meant any stream with my friends was dreadful, an unwatchable pixel fest. Things like vesktop and what not didn't help at all, discord did try and fix this early this year but it was still horrible (just slightly less).
Deepening my knowledge
I started to learn a lot more about linux after about 2 months of using it, i installed arch linux properly, i started to dabble my toes into neovim, i wanted to try NixOS, i started learning bash commands and more. This is where it all really started to click for me, i wasn't scared at all of the terminal anymore and i was having great fun, less and less gui used daily. I wont put the details of these things here but you can check out these if you want to know more about my experience with them! Neovim NixOS
Gaming on linux
Honestly, i had no problems really at all, there's something steam developed called proton which is an amazing compatability layer they made that lets you run windows games on linux, literally every game i have play works fine on linux. Just to list some games i have played with no issues:
- BTD6
- Minecraft
- Roblox
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Dead Cells
- Elden Ring
- Ghost of tsushima
- GTA V
- Helldivers 2
- RDR2
- Sekiro
- Stardew valley
- Terraria
- Ultrakill
All of which ran flawlessly, if you want to check how well a game runs on linux you can use this website (if it's on steam)
Is Linux a good alternative to windows?
I have had am amazing time on linux and i truly don't plan to leave, is it good for you? Personally, i think it depends. There's amazing distros out there for people, you don't have to use the terminal at all, if you want to use linux but don't want anyting too crazy then i would suggest linux mint, the same thing i started with, it's great and it's stable. Would i reccomend linux? Yes! yes i would, i think it's worth it for everyone to try, i would say try it in a virtual machine or dual boot it for a week or so and see how you get on, if it's not for you then that's okay! If you tried then that's all we can really ask for, you might like it tho! only 1 way to find out.
Conclusion
Linux was amazing for me and i truly enjoy it every day, it's beatuiful, fun and freeing, it has a special place in my heart now
Here's an image of my current setup!
