Its been around 10 months of me using Linux as my primary OS. I bought my laptop on Jan 1st, 2020 (yes :D) and today its Oct 5th (technically been 9 months, but okay). So let me share my experience regarding the same.

Starting / Booting Up

So immediately after getting my laptop, I downloaded an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS ISO image and flashed it on a pen drive. Then booted the laptop using that. The best thing was that I can just try out the new OS without having to install it on HDD. After an hour or so of playing, finally installed Ubuntu. The toughest part till now was installing GRUB and its configuration but everything else was quite easy, just had to follow an online guide. (I always tend to follow some documentation or guide while working with a new piece of code)

Familiarization

Then was the time to walk around. I tried out some applications, changed settings and gone through the file system. I tried out some beginner commands too on CLI, just to get a feel. At this time typing something on CLI felt like wastage of keystrokes, as the same task can be done using GUI. So I gave weightage to mouse over keyboard (but wasn’t long until the unleash of beast). Another thing I felt was, why would someone try and install some software using CLI, instead of downloading its setup? (realized later, its much easier than having to download 10 missing DLLs to run FIFA). So speaking boldly, This is the time when Linux feels like an extra effort for simple stuff. But believe me, this feeling will recede from view in a week (as it did).

The Learning Phase

Now that I was comfortable with simple task, It was the time to learn some stuff. Linux has a universe of tutorials and guides. So I just started reading stuff. In a month or two of reading ,learning, and experimenting, I was familiar with:

• File system structure
• Most of the basic commands
• Kernel, Bootloader, BIOS
• Desktop Environment
• Various flavors and distributions
• Package Managers

And some other stuff (which I can’t recall). By this time I abandoned the Ubuntu GNOME, and after trying a lot of things like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Kali Linux, Parrot, Mint etc, I decided to settle with Kubuntu 20.04 LTS for the time being (mostly because of its balance of features and UI). Image for post Image for post My Current Linux Desktop

Diving Deeper

Now was the time to dig deeper. I started playing with config files and core system related stuff (daredevil xD). Broke much stuff, reinstalled the OS quite a number of time, but learning. By now, I was able to understand most of the things I was seeing and doing. This is somewhat satisfying. And to be honest, I think there is no end to this phase, just high scores.

Giving Back What Is Taken

This sections’ heading seems misleading, but the gist is Now that you understand Linux, let Linux understand you. That is to start contributing. Most of the Linux is open sourced and is maintained by ‘code charity’. So started contributing to various Linux applications. This way i am being a part of the enormous open source community as well as paying for my free OS (didn’t I told you? almost everything here is free, sorry Windows).

Final Thoughts

So that I have used Linux for sometime, I think I can form an opinion now. Although Linux may seem very intimidating and have quite a learning curve, but believe me there is much more stuff one can do with Linux than with Windows / Mac. You can literally control each and every aspect of your system. And most of all you’re learning a computers’ core 101.