My Linux journey

Linux is the only way I want to interact with a computer these days. It gives me the flexibility and control I need, while allowing me to optimizing my workflow to suit my personality. That wasn’t the case, when I was still a Windows user. I liked Windows and thought it was a solid operating system, but compared to Linux, an OS I now deeply understand and love, there’s simply no contest!

The Spark: Hacking and Kali Linux

I was around 13 or 14 when I first discovered hacking. My introduction to Linux came via Kali Linux, a distro built for penetration testing and security research. Why Kali? Well, hacking was what first caught my attention. Based on movies and online clips, hacking was portrayed as mysterious and cool, so naturally, I wanted to dive in myself. After some experimentation, I managed to boot Kali from a USB stick on my laptop, and just like that, I was off to the races.

Many tutorials and hours later, I began to feel more comfortable with Linux. I didn’t fully understand what I was doing, but that didn’t matter. It was exciting just to run commands and see things happen. Even more thrilling was being a “script kiddie” and pulling off basic hacks at home. I’ll never forget the first time I remotely enabled the webcam on my other laptop, I felt like a real hacker.

That phase didn’t last forever. Eventually, I took a break from Linux and returned to Windows, gaming, and hanging out with friends.

Finding My Footing: Fedora Workstation

Although I wasn’t using Linux directly, I kept learning about routers, the internet, and coding. At some point, I realized that Linux powers over 90% of the cloud. By then, I was building small apps and websites, and naturally wanted to host them online. Everywhere I looked, Linux came up. It re-entered my life.

I started researching different distributions, having already learned there were many “flavors” of Linux. When it came to hosting, Ubuntu stood out, so I used it for my tiny free GCP instance. I’m an optimist, so I figured it would be online in no time. Well, not quite. I ran into issue after issue. But eventually, I got my site up. Once again, I got to experience the joy of solving problems far beyond my current knowledge.

That process made me think: why not use Linux as my daily driver, too? Of course, I went down the distro rabbit hole again. I tried Ubuntu, openSUSE, and a few others, but none felt quite right. Maybe I still wasn’t comfortable enough with Linux, or maybe I just hadn’t found the one. Either way, I spent a lot of time undecided. Then I re-discovered Fedora. Touted as the best GNOME desktop experience, backed by Red Hat, and offering more up-to-date packages than Ubuntu, it caught my interest. I downloaded the ISO, flashed my USB, and installed it on my main machine.

One day became two. Two became three. Three became several years. I had made the switch to Linux “permanently.”

Leaping forward: I use Arch BTW

Arch Linux. The ultimate distro. The endgame.

This has been my though since I first heard and learned about Arch. This is still true for me, even to this day.

I’d looked into Arch before but got scared off by the comments online: unstable, hard to install, too much manual setup. But after using Fedora for over six years, I was ready, I felt ready.

By now, I knew what I wanted from my Linux setup, what mattered, what didn’t. Fedora updates were mostly fine, but package availability was a frequent blocker. I’d try to install something only to find it missing from DNF, Fedora’s package manager.

So I looked back at Arch once again. Rolling release. The AUR (Arch User Repository). A simpler installation process thanks to archinstall. It was time to become part of the club: “I use Arch, BTW.”

It’s only been a couple of months so far, but I’m extremely happy with the decision. It’s easier to get the packages I want, and even ones I didn’t know I needed. pacman is awesome at what it does, especially when paired with yay, which makes installing packages from the AUR seamless.

My setup is similar to what I had before, but more refined. I have yet to experience any upgrade conflicts, but I feel confident enough now to handle any that arise.

Conclusion

Linux is here to stay in my life. Every step I’ve taken has moved me forward and made me better. Whether it’s using a tiling window manager like i3, switching to Neovim, or finally moving over to Arch. It’s all been worth it.

If there’s one takeaway I want to leave you with, it’s this:

You don’t learn anything by sticking to what you already know.

So throw yourself into something new, even if it feels intimidating. Take your time and find the right balance that works for your life and your goals.

New to Linux yourself?
Give it a shot. Discover, learn, and enjoy the process while you can. If you end up not liking it? Cool, now you know. Just take a step back and change course.

Thanks for reading

Feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback. I'm happy to chat.