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 hard 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 inactive don’t regret that choice. I adjacent 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 due to the fact that of) its challenges.

My archetypal nighttime connected Linux was rough. Getting each my apps installed and acceptable up was exhausting, particularly due to the fact that 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 absorption happens — installing apps, moving updates, and the like. It’s an unavoidable portion of the Linux experience, adjacent with much App Store-like platforms popping up, similar the Snap Store and Flathub.

After truthful agelong connected Windows, it was besides a daze to my strategy trying to larn however to navigate Ubuntu (although I luckily didn’t person immoderate rodent issues similar my workfellow and chap Linux idiosyncratic Nathan Edwards). I couldn’t fig retired however to get a 2nd SSD connected decently that archetypal 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 with my SSD. I hadn’t created an introduction for the thrust successful my record systems table, oregon “fstab,” which is wherever you configure however disks and retention devices are mounted to your PC’s record system. After fixing it, I started to deliberation possibly this full Linux happening isn’t truthful atrocious aft all.

It’s mostly been creaseless 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 with immoderate probe and proceedings and error, similar a Flatpak app not moving due to the fact that I request to alteration its permissions, oregon an AppImage refusing to tally due to the fact that I’m missing a library.

If anything, that archetypal 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 similar Mistral’s Le Chat and Anthropic’s Claude for assistance deciphering mistake messages. Luckily, the Linux assemblage is besides precise supportive. If you’re consenting to inquire for help, oregon astatine slightest bash a small troubleshooting, you’ll beryllium capable to enactment retired immoderate problems that travel your way.

Linux has besides helped maine go much assured successful my ain troubleshooting skills. The contented that crushed maine that archetypal nighttime connected Ubuntu would beryllium a speedy and casual hole for maine now. Learning however to marque changes to my “fstab” record adjacent erstwhile helped maine get my PC retired of exigency mode aft a uncommon crash. On Windows, I mightiness person conscionable been stuck with a BSOD.

I stayed connected Ubuntu for the archetypal fewer months aft leaving Windows, but yet switched to Fedora, and it’s been my regular operator 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 antithetic 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 acceptable up successful KDE, cobbled unneurotic from a premix of themes and icon packs. It’s 1 of my favourite desktop setups truthful far, but if I ever privation to wholly alteration however my homescreen looks, I can. I’ve spent full afternoons conscionable playing astir with UI themes, pivoting from a retro Windows XP taxable to a macOS-inspired look to neon-infused themes similar thing from Tron. Linux doesn’t attraction if my desktop taxable is ugly, glassy, oregon outdated.

Customizing each ocular constituent of my desktop has go 1 of my favourite parts of utilizing Linux. It doesn’t connection immoderate show boost oregon applicable benefit; it’s conscionable fun. I’ve besides customized my terminal to marque 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 implicit power implicit what is and isn’t connected my PC. Until recently, Windows wouldn’t adjacent fto you uninstall Copilot. In contrast, Linux won’t halt 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, similar Adobe apps, but I’ve been capable to wholly regenerate those with free, open-source alternatives, similar LibreOffice alternatively of Microsoft Office and RawTherapee alternatively of Adobe Lightroom. In a pinch, immoderate Windows apps volition besides enactment done tools similar 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 large with Valve’s Proton compatibility layer, and I person yet to brushwood issues with immoderate of my galore mice, keyboards, controllers, headsets, and mics. Occasionally, I person to tweak my Proton oregon motorboat settings for definite games, but that’s astir it. I adjacent got World of Warcraft moving by adding the launcher to my room arsenic a non-Steam game, allowing it to tally done Proton (which is great, but present I don’t person an casual excuse to cancel my WoW subscription).

I’ll admit, I didn’t truly cognize what I was getting into erstwhile I switched to Linux. The learning curve was worthy it, though. Linux has been large for my needs and a heavy enactment of caller aerial compared to Windows. I tin customize virtually everything, power what’s installed connected my PC, and tally each the games I similar with creaseless 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 bulk of competitory multiplayer games requiring anti-cheat can’t tally connected Linux. I don’t play these types of games, truthful that didn’t substance to me, but I tin spot wherefore it would substance to fans of Fortnite oregon 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 privation a small much state and a small little Copilot, if you privation to trial your troubleshooting skills, if you’re not acrophobic to effort thing new, oregon 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 enactment and precocious retired my 9-year-old idiosyncratic laptop I revived with Linux (in favour of different MacBook), but I inactive usage my Linux-powered gaming PC for everything else. MacOS is nice, but Linux is inactive drastically amended for gaming. Up until recently, I was operating wholly connected Linux. While that isn’t the lawsuit anymore, I don’t program connected leaving Linux oregon returning to Windows anytime soon.