I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows

It was an overcast January greeting successful 2025 the time I decided to delete my operating system.

The Ubuntu installer warned maine that it would region everything connected my difficult drive, permanently wiping the full Windows 10 installation I’d been moving for years astatine that point. I hesitated for a 2nd — maybe I should conscionable dual-boot? No, I’m going each in! Finally, I deed the fastener to instal Linux. One twelvemonth later, I still don’t regret that choice. I moreover resurrected an aged Windows 10 laptop by installing Linux connected it.

My determination to effort retired Linux was driven by a increasing dislike for modern Windows much than thing else. However, I’ve travel to admit Linux arsenic much than conscionable an flight from Windows. Linux hasn’t been arsenic intimidating arsenic it’s often made retired to be, and I’ve recovered a batch to emotion astir it, contempt (and sometimes because of) its challenges.

My first nighttime connected Linux was rough. Getting each my apps installed and group up was exhausting, particularly because I had nary acquisition utilizing the bid line. For those who haven’t stared into the acheronian void of a Linux terminal before, it’s wherever astir strategy guidance happens — installing apps, moving updates, and the like. It’s an unavoidable portion of the Linux experience, moreover pinch much App Store-like platforms popping up, for illustration the Snap Store and Flathub.

After truthful agelong connected Windows, it was besides a daze to my strategy trying to study really to navigate Ubuntu (although I luckily didn’t person immoderate rodent issues for illustration my workfellow and fellow Linux user Nathan Edwards). I couldn’t fig retired really to get a 2nd SSD connected decently that first night, and ended up conscionable rage quitting and going to bed, reasoning I’d astir apt person to reinstall Windows the adjacent day.

But successful the morning, I logged backmost into Ubuntu and realized what was incorrect pinch my SSD. I hadn’t created an introduction for the thrust successful my record systems table, aliases “fstab,” which is wherever you configure really disks and retention devices are mounted to your PC’s record system. After fixing it, I started to deliberation possibly this full Linux point isn’t truthful bad aft all.

It’s mostly been soft sailing ever since. I’ve seldom tally into issues connected Linux, and erstwhile I have, they’ve ne'er been apocalyptic. They’re ever small things that are annoying, but fixable pinch immoderate investigation and proceedings and error, for illustration a Flatpak app not moving because I request to alteration its permissions, aliases an AppImage refusing to tally because I’m missing a library.

If anything, that first nighttime connected Linux prepared maine for 1 of the biggest takeaways from this year: Linux isn’t particularly analyzable connected a regular basis, but you person to beryllium consenting to lick your ain problems erstwhile they travel up.

I’ve spent dozens of hours combing done Reddit threads, analyzing aged Stack Overflow solutions, and, successful times of existent desperation, asking AI chatbots for illustration Mistral’s Le Chat and Anthropic’s Claude for thief deciphering correction messages. Luckily, the Linux organization is besides very supportive. If you’re consenting to inquire for help, aliases astatine slightest do a small troubleshooting, you’ll beryllium capable to activity retired immoderate problems that travel your way.

Linux has besides helped maine go much assured successful my ain troubleshooting skills. The rumor that crushed maine that first nighttime connected Ubuntu would beryllium a speedy and easy hole for maine now. Learning really to make changes to my “fstab” record moreover erstwhile helped maine get my PC retired of emergency mode aft a uncommon crash. On Windows, I mightiness person conscionable been stuck pinch a BSOD.

I stayed connected Ubuntu for the first fewer months aft leaving Windows, but yet switched to Fedora, and it’s been my regular driver ever since. I usage it for work, gaming, photograph editing, signaling and editing videos, and a small spot of coding for Arduino projects. I’ve besides hopped betwixt a fewer different desktop environments, including Hyprland (with ML4W Dotfiles), Cinnamon, and presently KDE Plasma.

Every morning, I’m greeted by the calming, Nordic bluish desktop I person group up successful KDE, cobbled together from a operation of themes and icon packs. It’s 1 of my favourite desktop setups truthful far, but if I ever want to wholly alteration really my homescreen looks, I can. I’ve spent full afternoons conscionable playing astir pinch UI themes, pivoting from a retro Windows XP taxable to a macOS-inspired look to neon-infused themes for illustration thing from Tron. Linux doesn’t attraction if my desktop taxable is ugly, glassy, aliases outdated.

Customizing each ocular constituent of my desktop has go 1 of my favourite parts of utilizing Linux. It doesn’t connection immoderate capacity boost aliases applicable benefit; it’s conscionable fun. I’ve besides customized my terminal to make it look cleaner and much colorful utilizing Kitty, Z Shell (“Zsh”), Oh My Zsh, and Powerlevel10k. I’m not unsocial successful this — there’s a full subreddit (with an unfortunate name) wherever users stock screenshots of their astir awesome Linux homescreen customizations.

I’ve besides appreciated having complete power complete what is and isn’t connected my PC. Until recently, Windows wouldn’t moreover fto you uninstall Copilot. In contrast, Linux won’t extremity you if you effort to usage a bid that deletes each record connected your PC (“sudo rm -rf /”).

I haven’t had to springiness up overmuch for that level of control, either. There are immoderate apps that aren’t natively supported connected Linux, for illustration Adobe apps, but I’ve been capable to wholly switch those pinch free, open-source alternatives, for illustration LibreOffice alternatively of Microsoft Office and RawTherapee alternatively of Adobe Lightroom. In a pinch, immoderate Windows apps will besides activity done devices for illustration Wine, which I utilized to tally iTunes erstwhile I was trying to revive an aged iPod.

Gaming has been mostly effortless arsenic well. Everything successful my Steam room runs awesome pinch Valve’s Proton compatibility layer, and I person yet to brushwood issues pinch immoderate of my galore mice, keyboards, controllers, headsets, and mics. Occasionally, I person to tweak my Proton aliases motorboat settings for definite games, but that’s astir it. I moreover sewage World of Warcraft moving by adding the launcher to my room as a non-Steam game, allowing it to tally done Proton (which is great, isolated from now I don’t person an easy excuse to cancel my WoW subscription).

I’ll admit, I didn’t really cognize what I was getting into erstwhile I switched to Linux. The learning curve was worthy it, though. Linux has been awesome for my needs and a heavy activity of caller aerial compared to Windows. I tin customize virtually everything, power what’s installed connected my PC, and tally each the games I for illustration pinch soft and unchangeable performance.

I love Linux. But I can’t urge it for everyone. There are sacrifices if you switch, including immoderate understandable deal-breakers. For instance, the mostly of competitory multiplayer games requiring anti-cheat can’t tally connected Linux. I don’t play these types of games, truthful that didn’t matter to me, but I tin spot why it would matter to fans of Fortnite aliases Valorant. Likewise, if the thought of typing successful a bid to instal apps is headache-inducing, Linux astir apt isn’t for you.

But if you want a small much state and a small little Copilot, if you want to trial your troubleshooting skills, if you’re not acrophobic to effort thing new, aliases if you person immoderate aged hardware that can’t tally Windows 11, possibly 2026 is the twelvemonth of Linux.

Since joining The Verge successful October, I’ve started utilizing a MacBook for activity and precocious retired my 9-year-old individual laptop I revived pinch Linux (in favour of different MacBook), but I still usage my Linux-powered gaming PC for everything else. MacOS is nice, but Linux is still drastically amended for gaming. Up until recently, I was operating wholly connected Linux. While that isn’t the lawsuit anymore, I don’t scheme connected leaving Linux aliases returning to Windows anytime soon.