Switching to Linux (+50 dev xps?)

Okay, I think this is a fun one. Recently, I attended “Linux Install Fest”, an online event organized by ALiAS, a community of developers, enthusiasts and geeks at my College. In that event not only did we talk about Linux Installation, but also about Open Source Software and Command Line tools etc. in general.

So why am I talking about this event?

Well, I have been a Windows user since the start, you may even call me a Windows enthusiast.

Its not like I was alien to Linux or never tried Linux tools. I have. Heck, I used to use all the command line tools I use now, on Windows using WSL. Even before this Fest I tried installing Linux but usually, what would happen is, I would encounter a problem with the distro (Ubuntu 18.04 : Display Server issues) or the distro would fail to boot completely (Manjaro 19.04 and PopOS 20.04 Hybrid Graphics Driver Issue, probably because of 1050Ti that’s currently on my laptop). And any time something like that would happen, I would just format the drive, boot in Windows and get on with life because to some extent I preferred the stability that Windows gave me (besides the BSODs ofcourse, which are very rare) and not to forget the fact that switching the OS would also change things about how I work.

So, what changed with the event? To be honest, nothing. It was a good event and was very informative. But that event just made me feel why not try again? And I guess that was their intentions after all. So, I went to System76’s website, downloaded the latest PopOS 20.04 ISO, created a bootable pen drive with Balena Etcher. Oof big mistake. Anyways, installed PopOS on a separate partition as per the requirements, changed the boot order and well everything worked, until it didn’t. So, in the previous paragraph I mentioned about Hybrid Graphics Driver issue with 1050Ti, I previously encountered the same problem with Manjaro and the distro didn’t even boot just after the installation. This time I booted into PopOS and saw there was an option in PopOS Settings for Hybrid Graphics, and I checked that instead of Nvidia Graphics which was previously checked. (Oof another mistake).

My laptop restarted after that and got stuck in a bootloop, which is exactly what happened with Manjaro (except the fact, that Manjaro didn’t boot for once). So, instead of spending hours on troubleshooting PopOS (which I did with Manjaro, with no fruit to bear whatsoever) I decided to do a clean install again. So, half an hour later, I have booted into a clean installation of PopOS and this time everything seemed to be working fine (Hint: I stayed away from that Hybrid Graphics Option).

Now, let’s talk about my experience on Linux.

If you’re expecting that after that everything just worked and that I didn’t have second thoughts about the whole thing then you’re wrong. I’m a college student and I have lots of work that I do on Microsoft Office, and If you’re going to suggest me, well Saurabh, use Google Docs or LibreOffice, I know I can. But from my experience I can tell, neither Google Docs, nor LibreOffice completely works with Microsoft Office formats and editing preexisting documents with any one of them could make you feel miserable. Even the Online Office doesn’t feel as good as the native desktop one.

Another thing that frustrated me was how the windows of the same program are merged when you switch between them with Alt+Tab shortcut and selecting one almost felt like an extra step. I multitask a lot and keep multiple chrome windows open and switching between them was an absolute pain. And lack of Windows Track pad gestures certainly hurt too.

These were somethings I initially felt, and I think this would be natural for anyone who’s switching from one Windows to Linux. That week I had an assignment to complete, and I thought I would use Windows instead of Linux (because Microsoft Office) and I did, I booted back to Windows completed my assignment, it almost felt like woah, I’m back on Windows. I opened one of my React projects, ran the ‘npm start’ command and I was surprised how much faster file performance Linux had, compared to WSL. WSL2 takes ages to just the compile and start the whole thing, even WSL1 felt slower. The idle ram usage was way more, and in general PopOS started to attract me more.

Conclusion

What I realized was, while caring about all these nitty gritties which were obvious that I would face once I switch over, I failed to appreciate what Linux is actually good for. Since then, I have come to appreciate how dev tools just work on Linux (at least for now they seem to work nicely). Since then, I have come around most of the nitty gritties that Linux offer and have been enjoying PopOS. I still don’t know what I’m going to do about Microsoft Office, I think I’ll give Google Docs a shot.

So, I would say Yes, +50 Dev XPs.

One last thing….

If you’re on Windows, I suggest you use Rufus to create a bootable media, instead of Balena Etcher. Etcher has this problem where Windows doesn’t show the pen drive anymore in My Computer and makes it completely unusable. With Rufus, you have the same thing, but it gives you an option to make your pen drive non-bootable again after you’re done with it. So, I suggest you go with Rufus on Windows if you’re thinking to create a bootable pen drive.