Breaking three decades of Windows usage in the space of a week was not easy. All those years had given me years of muscle memory and expectations, and throwing all that away to start anew took a lot of work. However, I honestly believe that the first week I experienced moving from Windows to Linux made up 90% of the reason why I didn’t rebound to Windows. The other 10% came from polishing the 90% I had developed during that week.
If you plan to make the jump from Windows to Linux yourself, I’ve written out the rules I learned in that formative first week. Hopefully you can make good use of them and don’t make the same mistakes I did.
Finding the distro of your dreams takes time
And it likely won’t even be your forever distro
Moving from Windows to Linux is a bit of a culture shock, so you have to make sure your old expectations of Windows are put aside when you try a Linux distro. When I first used Linux, I still had the mentality that the majority of them were the same. It was like, say, Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11; visually quite different, but when you tapped into the core, they’re pretty similar.
Linux distros are not like that. Sure, they all share the same Linux kernel, but they build upon it in different ways. Some distros update at a slow rate, while others are bleeding-edge. Some distros do both with different branches. And each distro has its own ethics and stances on tech.
On top of that, there’s another layer called the desktop environment. Imagine if Windows 11 allowed you to radically change how it looked. Not just changing the color of your UI, but tweaking how the taskbar looks (if you want it at all), how your cursor looks and feels, and even the login screen. That’s a desktop environment in Linux, and you can swap them out as you’d like without changing your distro.
So, to clarify, you have the kernel as the ‘core’, the distro as the ‘engine’, and the desktop environment as the ‘controls’. The latter two you can mix and match, and finding the combo you like the most takes some time. Don’t just settle for the first Linux distro you install and assume all Linux distros are like that; instead, try different distros out (an action called “distro hopping”) until you find one you gel with. Then try out different desktop environments on top of that distro for the perfect recipe.
And the truth is, even once you find the combo that’s right for you, your needs may shift in a few years, and you may go back to distro hopping. And that’s fine! There’s nothing wrong with that. Just something to remember if the distro you picked ever feels like it’s going stale.
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Easy Windows installers are (mostly) a thing of the past
You can take the simple route if you’re lucky
When moving from Windows to Linux, you’ll realise that installing apps isn’t as easy as downloading an EXE and double-clicking it. In fact, there are a few ways to download an app, and while you’ll sometimes have a choice on which path you take, sometimes you’ll be forced to take a specific one, so it’s a good idea to learn them all.
If you’re lucky, the app you want is on your distro’s included app store, if it has one. I use KDE, so I get access to Discover, which isn’t too unlike the Microsoft Store. Not all distros or desktop environments will have one, in which case, you’ll need to get comfortable downloading software from your OS’s repo of choice via the console.
Failing that, you may need to grab the AppImage from the project’s download page and run it through Gear Lever, or even run the Windows executablethrough a Wine compatibility layer using an app like Bottles. Yes, it’s called Bottles because it handles Wine. They’re Wine Bottles. You can’t say the open-source community doesn’t have a sense of humor.
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You’re going to use the terminal
It’s scary, but it’s essential
You’ve heard the horror stories, right? Like how there’s a Linux terminal command that, once entered, will systematically delete everything on your system. That’s no exaggeration; the terminal has the power to do some serious damage to your system if you run random commands on it.
The solution? Well, don’t run random commands in your terminal. Learn the basics (such as downloading an app from a repo, updating your OS, and uninstalling things) and stick with them. The terminal is very useful, and shouldn’t be avoided simply because it’s powerful; at the same time, you should definitely show it respect and not just whack in any command you see on the internet.
Breaking Linux is a key part of learning how not to break Linux
You can’t fix what isn’t broken
The kernel panic when installing NomadBSD
There’s a good chance you’ll break Linux somehow. Either you were unsure as to how something worked and tweaked it, or you ran a bad command, or something just went wrong. While it is annoying, it is also a perfect way to learn how Linux works, and therefore, how not to break it again in the future.
I have made a pig’s ear out of my install while trying to manually get Arch Linux up and running. However, my breaking everything taught me what I broke, why it broke, and what I can do in the future to prevent it from breaking again. And that knowledge I accrued during my Arch days has carried over to other distros, too. So don’t sweat breaking Linux; much like riding a bike, you need the spills before you can get your balance.
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People won’t think using Linux is as cool as you think it is
But what do they know?
Nicholson’s sticker-adorned ThinkPad X270 on top of her ThinkPad collection.Credit: Image provided to XDA by Jessica Nicholson.
In popular media, there’s something called the “canon event.” It comes from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, where every Spider-Person needs to go through the same tragedies without interruption. In modern-day lingo, it refers to a negative event that someone ‘has’ to go through for their own development.
In the Linux world, there’s the moment where you realise that, actually, Linux is really cool. So, naturally, you tell all your friends about it. You tell them about how all these distros are free, and you can install them whenever you like, and they let you customize everything to your liking, and the community is great. And, unless your friends are also Linux fans, you’re going to be met with uncaring looks.
Using Linux feels cool, but telling other people about how you use Linux does not generate the enthusiastic response you may imagine. And that’s okay, because you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him dual-boot Linux Mint. Fortunately, you can always express your love by purchasing Linux stickers and sticking them to your laptop instead. Ensure every coffee shop patron leaves knowing that you don’t have Windows installed.
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Don’t make the same mistakes I made
Linux is a lot of fun, but getting used to it can be a lot of work. If you approach it with an open mind and a desire to experiment and break things, you may find a new home yet.