therapeutic linux adventures
every now and then i like to install linux and play around with it. it makes me feel like a funky scientist playing with a bunch of gadgets and gizmos, its rly comfy. previously, i install linux alongside my windows install for the sake of convenience, cuz sometimes theres stuff windows can do that linux cant. however, this time, i accidentally overwrote my windows install with linux! i keep all of my important files on an external drive, so i didnt rly lose anything important (except my dark souls ii save ;__;) so instead of reinstalling windows, i shrugged, and decided to just live with linux.
whenever i embark on these adventures, i usually end up distro hopping a whole bunch. this time, i started on endeavour os with the kde plasma desktop, decided that i still wasn't a huge fan of plasma even tho i do love the vibes of kde, the plasma desktop just never rly did it for me for some reason. from there, i figured i'd go back to debian, which is usually my most comfortable distro. sure, the packages it has are a little out of date, but something about the way that the distro is ran has always put a smile on my face at the end of the day.
initially, i installed debian with the xfce desktop. i love xfce, its straightforward, light on resources, has funny names for its applications (the text editor is called mousepad). its a joy. however, this time i found myself yearning for something a little different. i never considered myself a fan of the gnome desktop, however i also never really gave it a fair chance; this time, i would. i installed debian, with the gnome desktop this time (the default desktop, it so happens) and i was pleasantly surprised. it turns out, debian comes with a much more friendly suite of packages and default settings when you go with the default gnome desktop. there's even a little welcome application ! i've been playing with debian for years and i never knew this existed. the more recent audio backend, pipewire was already set up along with wireplumber. it felt like home!
from here, i took a moment to reassess the physicality of my desktop setup. for years, i've been using a two monitor setup, it makes things a bit easier when ur chronically online and always on discord like i am. however, my mental health has kinda been in the shitter recently and i figured maybe its time for a change. the gnome desktop has some really wonderful support for workspaces, so i ditched the secondary monitor and went down to just a single one. if i need to look at discord, i can just use super+alt+right to quickly look at it, then super+alt+left to go back to what i'm primarily focusing on. the gnome desktop does a fantastic job at getting out of the way so you can focus on what you're doing. right now, i'm using the apostrophe app to write this blog post. its a simple markdown text editor that gives you a preview of how your text will look once you publish it. its very minimal, and its exactly what i needed. its wonderful !
ultimately, i might end up going back to dual-booting windows if i find a game that i cant run in linux. the good news is, the amount of games that dont run on linux is becoming smaller every day. most of my games work flawlessly on my debian install and what that really means is that i can use my computer in a way that makes me happy and leaves me free from unnecessary distractions that operating systems like windows are so famous for shoving in your face.