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Linux Mint

·5 mins

A few weeks ago I decided “Windows is Windows and I am kind of happy with it but I want something different” so what was the best course of action for me? Move over to Linux Mint and I have to say it’s been fun.

I have an Asus ExpertBook that I found from a company that was getting rid of them. I love this thing, it is a nice portable laptop that has enough power for me to do my daily shenanigans (EOS, Vector Works (CAD program), Stardew Valley and Nerts Online). I struggled to get Windows installed on it because of some strange Intel storage manager that I don’t understand. It was chaos and hectic but it is nice to have a machine that can help me with my day to day tasks (it is helping write this post in Windows. I am planning on doing this on Linux soon).

One day my friend sent me a PewDiePie video where he was showing off Linux. I told him that I tried to use Linux in the past. When I did it originally my main Windows machine go super upset with me. Windows could not understand the idea of a second operating system on the same computer and it wanted nothing to do with it, I had to reset my pin several times it was that upset. What did I decide to do? lets retry Linux on my laptop what the heck. Ubuntu Linux was the first OS that I tried (I decided to duel boot as I need Windows for Vector, Stardew and EOS). There was so much that had to happed it was not fun. I had no idea where anything was, I was not comfortable with it and it was not treating my programs how I wanted them to be treated. I did not have application icons and some other things that I needed to function. I eventually gave up on Ubuntu and went to Linux Mint. A nice Windows like OS that is familiar enough that I can work though no matter what is thrown my way.

Getting it all to work how I want it to has been a challenge but has been semi entertaining.

Here is the list of things that I wanted to do in order to migrate over:

  • Touch Id,
  • Get all games working on Linux,
  • Application icons,
  • ctrl+C/V to copy/paste in terminal when text is selected instead of the normal function of those key combos,
  • 12-hour clock,
  • Notifications
  • Window shortcut keys
  • Slow Track pad down

Luckily most of it was done before I even broke the terminal out. Application icons was quick and painless (all I did was download the app and poof it worked like it was supposed to), the 12-hour clock was a simple switch, along with notifications. I did nothing to those and they worked, they were not working in Ubuntu that well. Touch Id is not going to work for some reason something about drivers and my reader is not supported. I have not messed with ctrl c and v that much. The track pad was me not knowing how to operate one for a moment. It took me a while to get used to it. I looked at the settings and it is at normal, not used to a cursor whipping around the screen.

Most of the transition over is painless, some of it has been a hard time. Some of those things are very specific. Like Stream Deck, I am looking getting into one soon but I want to make sure that it is the right fit for me. One thing that El Gato (creators of Stream Deck, Spanish for the cat by the way) did was take their program and put it on an app that you can have on your phone. It is 6 tiles so super small but allows me to get a feel for what it is. I have it set up for Discord and Spotify and it has been helpful as I don’t have to move away from what ever I may be doing to do something. For some reason Linux will not work with the Stream deck app on my phone. No issue there (or not a big one) just something that would be nice to have.

I am looking forward to some things though, I love the open concept of Linux and the fact that I can apply themes to it to make it look like a new OS, you can do it with Windows making it look like Windows 7 (which I have thought about) I can do what I want to it to make it mine, a wonderful concept. I am also kind of used to the terminal, this website is actually built in Linux with Hugo. I am looking forward to it up so that I can simply do everything from the Linux desktop. I do enjoy the OS a lot, the fact that it was free helps seal the deal on it. I am impressed with it so far. I do get stuck on it as we all do on things from time to time but there is a whole community out there, and my friend who is an expert in this who can get me unstuck and going again. I will keep you posted as things with Linux develop.