2026-01-07
This coming May, it’ll be 6 years since I made the switch from Windows to Linux. It’s been an incredible journey, one that—I’m not exaggerating—has changed the course of my life. For the last few months, I’ve been hearing how there’s a growing exodus of people from Microsoft’s Windows 11 (which I’ve never used, and don’t plan to), and in this post, I want to extend a warm welcome to them, as well as offer a few pieces of advice to make their initial experience go smoother than mine.
I’m assuming most new Linux users will have installed one of the big, user-friendly distros, like Linux Mint, Ubuntu, or Zorin. If you use any of these, chances are things will go smoothly, and you won’t have to re-learn a lot of things. If, however, you went with a lesser-known distro, or you are a little more tech savvy than the average PC user (even if only slightly) and want to tinker with your new OS, you might find that Linux sometimes does things in entirely different ways than Windows, and you might start getting a little frustrated.
But, please, remember that “Linux is not Windows”! This is not an empty platitude. The difference is not just in the name or in the logo. The differences can be radical and can require a complete change in focus or approach. “Linux is not Windows”: Repeat this mantra every time you are tempted to say “Oh, but in Windows, this is done this way…” Forget about that. Have you heard the saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans”? Well, now you’re in Linux, so do as Linux users do.
Also, remember that Linux is not a product, like Windows or Mac OS. Unless you bought an enterprise version of Linux, the tech support you’ll need to fix something will likely come from the community of volunteers. In some cases, there will be no tech support at all! You’ll have to go it alone. This is rare, often unavoidable. We’ve all been there. On the other hand, this can be a great learning experience!
Still, one practical advice I can give you is that, if you’re going to be messing with your new OS, I suggest you back up your data frequently, in case you make a boo-boo for which you can’t find a solution and you need to re-install everything. This is normal. I believe a lot of us Linux users have gone through this at least once. Even better, if you have a spare computer, use that to experiment, and keep your main production machine as “vanilla” as you can.
Don’t let yourself get FOMO’d into installing an advanced user’s distro, like Arch or Gentoo, or into using a window manager/compositor when you’ve always used a traditional Desktop Environment.1 Trust me, you’ll likely just get frustrated as you fumble your way through doing even the most basic things. I know, know: you’ve seen a Linux power-user’s setup on Reddit or YouTube, and you want to join the cool kids’ club right away. But, trust me, you’re not ready. Give it some time and just use your beginner-friendly distro until you are acquainted enough with the Linux way of doing things before moving on.
If I were a new user, I’d try to first see what my graphical desktop environment allows me to do (a lot), and then slowly incorporate non-graphical ways of doing things, e.g., navigating the file system with the terminal. If you’re planning to move to a window manager/compositor, then first check whether your desktop already allows you to tile windows. If it does, enable that feature in order for you to get used to the way a window manager works. You’ll also want to configure key bindings to do common tasks like opening, closing, minimizing, and moving windows. And so on.
Only make the power-user move if you feel confident enough, though… Ah, who am I kidding? You’re gonna do it no matter what, right? Well, good luck!
A lot of new users have the idea that they have to chose the “best” setup, partly because they are still thinking of software as product. And because you always want the best bang for your buck, you start searching for the best distro, the best desktop environment/window manager, the best editor, etc. But since Linux software is most often free and open source and, thus, not a product in the traditional sense, this makes little sense. Repeat after me:
The perfect distro does not exist.
The best text editor does not exist.
The best anything does not exist.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s true. So, if you are in the middle of trying out your 8th distro, hoping that you’ll eventually find the best one, you’re out of luck. You won’t find it. Turns out “the best” distro is the one that fits your needs. It sounds like cope or fence-sitting, but it’s not. To ask what is the best distro is like asking which is the best shirt or the best shoes. Well, it depends!
To the newcomer, I suggest that you stick with whatever you have right now, and try to make the most out of it. If you feel your setup satisfies your needs well enough, there’s no real reason to keep hopping around searching for the elusive “best” setup. Only switch if you really feel constrained by it. (See below on productivity.)
“But all the cool kids use [insert flavor-of-the-month distro here]!” Ok, well, if all the cool kids jumped off a bridge…
I fell into this trap myself in the early years of my journey: You watch some Linux YouTuber, who every week presents a shiny new app, a new desktop “rice,” changes distro or text editor every other month, and you want to try all the things you see. But since you don’t yet know any better, and everything looks so cool, you waste time following trends, only to get burned out from the constant chase.
Remember that Linux is just a tool, not an end in itself! You’re using Linux to “get stuff done”, after all. That’s how most Windows and Mac OS users utilize their OS. Since there is a limit to how much they can customize their environment without breaking stuff, their focus eventually shifts to productivity. But on Linux, because customization seems endless, people get stuck doing rices and forget all about productivity.
Here’s a little dirty secret: for many Linux influencers, Linux is their whole identity. Their main reason for using this OS is to signal to others that they use Linux! Or, at the very least, they make their living by staying on top of all Linux-related things, and so they are constantly picking up a new distro, window manager, desktop app, service, or what have you.
You don’t want to do that. Sure, in the beginning, it’s fine to explore the Linux world for a bit. But eventually you’ll want to settle down and just get to work. Actually, if you look at serious programmers who are masters in their trade and happen to use Linux2 you’ll notice their setups are plain as can be, because their main interest lies in doing, rather than on presentation and showing off. I’d prefer following in their footsteps.
If you really want to fall in love again with computing, the best thing you can do is understand how Linux works under the hood. So here’s a non-exhaustive list of subjects that you can read up on to do just that:
A good place to start learning is consulting the Arch Wiki (it’s not just for Arch users!).
You could also learn a little programming. A lot of the internals of Linux are written in C, so learning some C might help you gain a better understanding of how the system was created. Heck, you might even be able to contribute to the kernel! If you’re not up to that, try to at least write some bash scripts to automate tasks in your workflow. See this vid for some examples!
With something like this plan in mind, you’ll likely go through a personal revolution. It can even change the course of your life. That happened to me, and it came straight out of left field. I’m not saying I’m super knowledgeable after 6 years, but I am still constantly learning something new, and it’s due to the fact that, on Linux, you have an incredible amount of freedom to modify the system to your liking. The greater your knowledge and mastery of the system, the greater that freedom.
Here’s to your new and exciting journey!
For those who don’t know, by a “traditional Desktop Environment” I mean the graphical environment that has floating windows and a taskbar with a Start menu, icons of pinned and opened applications, and several widgets, like a calendar, network connectivity, etc. This is what most people use, but are not aware of it. In contrast, in a window manager you very often have to configure all of these things yourself, which might be a bit of a “culture” shock.↩︎
I would recommend checking out the YouTube and Twitch channels of the likes of Tsoding, ThePrimeAgen, and T2sde, just to name a few.↩︎