Humble Beginnings
I’ve started using GNU/Linux since late 2021. Lots of things have changed since then.
Buying A Laptop and Ditching Windows
First of all, I started using GNU/Linux after buying a ThinkPad with Windows 8. Now my Windows installation was broken, so after 3 hours I rebooted it and it showed a blue screen. After doing tons of research, desperately trying to get this new laptop working, I stumbled upon a video by Linus Tech Tips about GNU/Linux. They were showcasing a distro called “Pop! OS”. Now before buying this laptop, I already had another laptop where I dabbled with python and fiddled with technology, and I have always heard about this operating system called ‘Linux’ that is perfect for programmers.
Installing Pop! OS and Linux Mint
In this LTT video, they said that installing Pop! OS was as easy as downloading a file from the internet, flashing it on a USB using a special program, plugging it into a computer, accessing the boot menu, then letting the installer do its thing. And so I did exactly that, and it was fun as fuck. I loved stuff like this, and after two days of using Pop! OS (And yes the exclamation is necessary) I started distro hopping! Which is when someone starts installing different distros to see what fits their needs, I didn’t know that the graphical interface could be changed down to the bone! And so I installed Linux Mint and it was great! Used it for maybe a month or two, got comfortable with the command line, you know basic commands like: ls, cd, mkdir, and general system navigation. After a while, some weird issue happened with Linux Mint, I can’t remember what it was exactly, but nevertheless I decided which distro to hop on next, and it was Manjaro!
Manjaro
Arch based goodness.
By using Manjaro I had access to the AUR, and it is a distro with lots of support in case anything happens. I installed Manjaro and instantly fell in love with it. I used Xfce4 and it was amazing, then ummm… I wanted more. Like Xfce4 was using a lot of resources (By my standards) so I wanted something more bare bones and customizable, and I started using i3. Here is an image of me using i3:
dwm
During this time I started watching Luke Smith and Mental Outlaw, and me being me, I still wanted something less resource consuming, introducing dwm!
Now dwm is great. No like really it’s great! It’s the lowest thing I can achieve right now and it’s amazing. It’s customizable, heck it’s too customizable because you can edit the source code directly and add things if you know a bit of C, or if you don’t know C you can use community made patches. Emphasis on editing the source code directly, I’ve always thought of editing the source code as a fucking hassle, because come on those fancy window managers gotta have thousands of lines of code, where do I even begin? Luckily, dwm is like, between 2000-3000 lines of code? And might I say it’s elegantly written because how the fuck do you get a window manager running, using less than 3000 lines of code? But I digress, dwm is cool.
Also you can tell that Luke Smith had a big influence on me, after all I’m using his builds of st, dwm, and this website is currently using a theme called lugo! But of course all of them with many changes, almost to the point where I can call them my ‘builds’. Also there’s dmenu too which is neat, and I have started using zsh which is super neat. Here are some images of me using dwm:
I was using dzen2 as a status bar, I even drew the little characters from adventure time!
These shapes can be achieved by using picom and setting the corner radius to a crazy number like +500.
And here is in image of my desktop while I’m writing this article:
I love the art of taking images for my desktop, heck I even consider it to be an art form for a very niche set of people. The way you put these neat windows together, and the wallpaper to complement everything. Bonus points if you are playing music. Then there are these very SICK rices like that 3d window manager or using linux on a typewriter. I might have one of those SICK rices, I own an iPod and I modded it a lil bit, you know made it my own. Perhaps I’ll share that one day.
You can find more images here
The Future
By now you must know the drill, I want something even lighter. I’ve heard of many things like how openrc is lighter than systemd. Also Manjaro is probably not going to cut it. I have been thinking of gentoo but that’s for another time.
Thank you for reading.