I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows

It was an overcast morning in January 2025 the day I decided to delete my operating system.

The Ubuntu installer warned me that it would delete everything on my hard drive, permanently erasing the entire Windows 10 installation that I had been running for years at that point. I hesitated for a second – maybe I should just dual boot? No, I’m going all out! Finally, I pressed the button to install Linux. A year later, I still don’t regret this choice. I even resurrected an old Windows 10 laptop by installing Linux on it.

My decision to try Linux was driven by a growing dislike of modern Windows more than anything else. However, I’ve come to view Linux as more than just an escape from Windows. Linux hasn’t been as intimidating as it’s often made out to be, and I’ve found a lot to like, despite (and sometimes because of) its challenges.

Hard-earned lessons from Linux

My first night on Linux was difficult. Installing and configuring all my apps was exhausting, especially because I had no experience using the command line. For those who have never looked into the dark void of a Linux terminal before, this is where most of the system management takes place: installing applications, running updates, etc. It’s an essential part of the Linux experience, even with the emergence of more and more App Store-like platforms, like Snap Store and Flathub.

After so long on Windows, it was also a shock to my system trying to learn how to navigate Ubuntu (although thankfully I didn’t have any mouse issues like my colleague and fellow Linux user Nathan Edwards). I couldn’t figure out how to properly connect a second SSD that first night, and I ended up calling it quits and going to bed, thinking I’d probably have to reinstall Windows the next day.

But in the morning I logged back into Ubuntu and realized what was wrong with my SSD. I hadn’t created an entry for the drive in my file systems table, or “fstab”, where you configure how disks and storage devices are mounted on your PC’s file system. After fixing it, I started to think that maybe this whole Linux thing wasn’t so bad after all.

Since then, navigation has generally been trouble-free. I’ve rarely encountered problems in Linux, and when I have, they have never been apocalyptic. They’re always annoying little things, but fixable with some research and trial and error, like a Flatpak app not working because I need to change its permissions, or an AppImage refusing to run because I’m missing a library.

If anything, that first night on Linux prepared me for one of the key lessons of this year: Linux isn’t particularly complicated in everyday life, but you have to be prepared to solve your own problems when they arise.

I’ve spent dozens of hours scrolling through Reddit threads, analyzing old Stack Overflow solutions, and, in moments of true desperation, asking AI chatbots like Le Chat de Mistral and Claude d’Anthropic for help in deciphering error messages. Fortunately, the Linux community is also very supportive. If you are willing to ask for help, or at least do a little troubleshooting, you will be able to resolve any issues that arise.

Linux also helped me become more confident in my own troubleshooting skills. The problem that crushed me that first night on Ubuntu would now be a quick and easy fix for me. Learning how to make changes to my “fstab” file even once helped me get my PC out of emergency mode after a rare crash. On Windows I may just be stuck with a BSOD.

Everything I want and nothing I don’t want

I stuck with Ubuntu for the first few months after switching from Windows, but eventually switched to Fedora, and it’s been my daily driver ever since. I use it for work, gaming, photo editing, video recording and editing, and some coding for Arduino projects. I’ve also jumped between a few different desktop environments, including Hyprland (with ML4W Dotfiles), Cinnamon, and currently KDE Plasma.

Every morning I’m greeted by the calming Nordic blue desktop I installed in KDE, cobbled together from a mix of themes and icon packs. This is one of my favorite desktop setups so far, but if I ever want to completely change the look of my home screen, I can. I spent entire afternoons playing with UI themes, going from a retro Windows XP theme to a macOS-inspired look to neon-infused themes like something Tron. Linux doesn’t care if my desktop theme is ugly, glassy, ​​or outdated.

Customizing every visual element on my desktop has become one of my favorite parts of using Linux. It offers no performance improvements or practical benefits; it’s just fun. I also customized my terminal to give it a cleaner, more colorful look using Kitty, Z Shell (“Zsh”), Oh My Zsh, and Powerlevel10k. I’m not alone in this: there’s a whole subreddit (with an unfortunate name) where users share screenshots of their most impressive Linux home screen customizations.

I also appreciated having complete control over what is and isn’t on my PC. Until recently, Windows didn’t even let you uninstall Copilot. On the other hand, Linux won’t stop you if you try to use a command that deletes all files on your PC (“sudo rm -rf /”).

I also didn’t have to give up much for this level of control. Some apps aren’t natively supported on Linux, like Adobe apps, but I was able to completely replace them with free, open source alternatives, like LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office and RawTherapee instead of Adobe Lightroom. In a pinch, some Windows apps will also work through tools like Wine, which I used to run iTunes when trying to revive an old iPod.

The game was also largely effortless. Everything in my Steam library works perfectly with Valve’s Proton compatibility layer, and I’ve yet to experience any issues with my many mice, keyboards, controllers, headsets, and mics. Sometimes I need to tweak my Proton or launch settings for some games, but that’s it. I even had World of Warcraft by adding the launcher to my library as a non-Steam game, allowing it to work through Proton (which is great, except now I don’t have an easy excuse to cancel my Wow subscription).

Is this the year of Linux for You?

I admit that I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I switched to Linux. But the learning curve was worth it. Linux has been great for my needs and a great breath of fresh air compared to Windows. I can literally customize everything, control what’s installed on my PC, and run all the games I love with smooth, stable performance.

I love Linux. But I can’t recommend it to everyone. There are sacrifices if you change, including understandable breakups. For example, the majority of competitive multiplayer games requiring anti-cheat cannot run on Linux. I don’t play these kinds of games, so it doesn’t matter to me, but I can see why it would be important to fans of Fortnite Or Valorant. Likewise, if the idea of ​​typing a command to install applications gives you a headache, Linux probably isn’t for you.

But if you want a little more freedom and a little less Copilot, if you want to test your troubleshooting skills, if you’re not afraid to try something new, or if you have old hardware that can’t run Windows 11, maybe 2026. East the year of Linux.

Since I joined The edge In October I started using a MacBook for work and recently retired my 9 year old personal laptop that I rebooted with Linux (in favor of another MacBook), but I still use my gaming PC running Linux for everything else. MacOS is good, but Linux is still much better for gaming. Until recently, I worked entirely on Linux. Although this is no longer the case, I have no plans to leave Linux or return to Windows anytime soon.