The Arch-ening

Now don’t get me wrong I’m no stranger to Linux. I dabble with many distro back in my teen years thanks to Linux magazines (I can’t recall if it was Linux Format, User or straight Magazine, but hey). I tried openSUSE, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora and I’m sure some others thanks to the freeware (is that the right term) discs that came attached to the front of the mags. Man that was a fun time.

I eventually settled on Ubuntu as my go to whenever I was setting up a second machine or a server. (Or Raspbian if I was using a Raspberry Pi.) I have consistently used Ubunutu on my laptops and home servers for years and loved it, but sadly I’ve never had it is my main daily driver.

My main PC has always been a Windows machine, mostly because gaming was king on Windows. I tried over the years to game on Linux using things like Wine with little success.

But the landscape of OSes and Linux distros has changed. Microsoft has been making stranger and sloppier move and features, Linux has become more prevelant in the gaming world with SteamOS, SteamDeck and SteamMachine.

Although the biggest change for me has come from my new job. For the best part of the last 6 months I have been working daily on macOS (which I realise isn’t actually Linux). I’ll be honest there have been a few things I have enjoyed about macOS, but a significant amount more I have not (I’m not going to go into them now). What this time has shown me is how much I love the command line/terminal and the linux tools, filesystem and general workflow. I have spent most days of the last few months working predominantly in the terminal and its been amazing.

Now that I’m coming back to my home computer (which is Windows) I find myself restricted and uninspired. This is what has lead me to finally take the leap and jump of the sinking Microsoft ship and into the seemingly more bouyant and exciting world of Linux daily driving.

I have to say this has come in part thanks to a few people. Weirdly one of these was Pewdiepie, who I’ve never watched until he started renovating his office and then moving to Arch Linux. Linu Torvalds especially after his appearance on Linus Tech Tips. Primeagen and TJ DaVries after watching their videos and podcast. Chris from Typecraft with his amazing tutorial videos on Linux, Tmux, Neovim and Rails. And finally, and potentially mostly influentially, Bread on Penguins (If you haven’t seen their videos you must check them out, honest, raw and inspirational).

Thanks to these kind folks, my new job role and general shifts in the tech industry its time.

So long MS Windows hello Linux!

Oh and one more thing…I use Arch btw!