Linux

I’ve some weeks ago moved my main computer from Windows 10 to Linux, specifically OpenSUSE Leap with the Plasma user environment, mainly because it doesn’t have the magic Windows 11 chip. I had never used Linux and have been a Windows user since I was six years old or somewhere around then (I’m in my late twenties now). I’d just like to share my likes and dislikes.

Things I like about Linux (my specific install, anyway):

• Not being a corporate environment. There aren’t any cheeky attempts at making money or advertisement anywhere, like the annoying fake widgets in Windows 11 and the half-filled start menu. I’ve gotten used to that on my laptop (which is running 11), but you do always have the feeling of ‘what are they trying now?’ That not being a thing is quite refreshing.
• In that veign, having actual widgets. I loved them in Windows 7; I’ve got a webpage widget on my second screen showing a Zoho sheet I made with an RSS feed. Just being able to be a bit creative like that is cool.
• The system seems quite a bit quicker than it was in Windows - though in all honesty this will also be because I’m still on a fairly fresh install.
• I’m positively surprised by how little I miss from Windows when it comes to programs. Steam having compatibility tools is great, for example. Otherwise there are often replacements for what I’m missing (eg. I’ve found one to allow general settings for my Logitech mouse).
• The general ability to change the way everything looks and feels. I feel technical people sometimes look down a bit on aesthetics, but I really care about the user interface I use day in day out looking and feeling nice. While I’m a fan of the Windows 11 look myself, I really like how much I’ve been able to get my UI to look how I want it to in Plasma. Though I’m a bit surprised that it’s so hard to change the appearance of the start menu and bottom panel. I’ve had to install a specific program to change their colouring.
• The little icon jumping next to your cursor when opening a program (I know, I’m easily amused).

Things I’ve found annoying:

• Not knowing where to find anything. Of course, coming from Windows I’m used to there being a program files folder with my programs’ folders, and a documents folder with (often) user settings for those programs. In Linux, everything just seems to be everywhere. What seems to be the ‘documents’ equivalent for the game Factorio is in my user folder in a hidden .factorio, but I’ve to no avail been trying to find out where my ‘documents’ for Workers and Resources are. I’ll find them eventually, I’m sure. In general, I’m looking around a lot, though.
• The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation...
• The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest. In Linux, this often doesn’t work as it somehow takes a while for the capslock press to go into effect, so you often end up with ‘LInux’, for example. After lots of looking around, I have found some script that seems to fix this (‘Linux CapsLock Delay Fixer Master’), but it also randomly stops working and there are other ‘oddities’ I can’t really explain.
• Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged. This seems to be a known issue, but it’s really annoying.
• It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open. I’ve tried several things, but I can’t get Firefox to just give me a fresh session on startup.
• The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling.
• Not knowing how to install programs. This is more of a learning-curve thing, obviously. The software centre didn’t contain everything I could find online - for some programs, you could use ‘one click’ in OpenSUSE, but that seems to work more like a self-destruct button: I’ve tried those several times and have always had bad results >.>. I’ve found it’s easiest to install programs just using flatpaks.

All in all, I am quite happy. Though I am still afraid I’ll mess up my installation, and I’m now at a point where that’d hurt. I have installed Timeshift, but also with mixed results...