This year, I decided to make a big change in how I work with my computer: I’m moving from Windows to Linux. I’ve actually used Linux quite a bit through WSL while working on dev projects, but it always felt like something was missing. I felt limited by the Windows OS I used for my daily tasks. So, I figured this was the year to make Linux my main system and see if my workflow actually gets more efficient.
Of course, finding the right setup wasn't exactly easy. I cycled through a few much-tested distros, from VanillaOS to Zorin OS, but nothing really clicked. The workflow and the underlying philosophy just didn't align with what I needed.
After a fair amount of research and testing different things, I finally landed on KDE Neon. So far, it feels like the right call. Since it's Ubuntu-based, the environment is still user-friendly. What’s interesting is that while the Ubuntu base is an LTS version, the KDE desktop itself is a rolling release. That’s exactly the setup I was looking for; I don't want to spend all my time messing with the core OS, but I want total freedom to customize my desktop to my own taste.
But, moving house always comes with hiccups. The most annoying issue I ran into was compatibility with my secondary drive. It turns out the partition was formatted using Windows' Dynamic Disks (LDM) back when I was on Windows. As a result, KDE Neon couldn't mount the partition in write mode. It was read-only.
I was pulling my hair out trying to fix it before realizing I had to use
ldmtool and clear the hibernation config on that partition. I had to install
ldmtool, run ldmtool create all, identify the device, and then install
ntfsfix to repair the volume before I could finally mount it through the
Dolphin file manager. I even had to write an extra script just to get the volume
to mount automatically.
To be honest, the whole process was a bit of a pain. I also realize I didn't prepare for this transition as thoroughly as I should have. My plan moving forward is to move all my data to a safe place and then reformat that partition to exFAT. It’ll make integration much easier and stop all this drama.
Another thing that made me hesitate was gaming. I’m not a hardcore gamer, but I do play light games on Steam. Luckily, after some digging, I saw that the Steam Deck itself runs on Linux. There’s also ProtonDB, which helps me check if a game actually runs well on Linux or not. So far, several of my games run without any issues, so my fears haven't really been justified.
Not everything has to be seamless from the start. This transition has its challenges, from compatibility issues to just getting used to a new system. But I think it’s all manageable with a bit of research and experimentation. Overall, I’m happy with the decision.
Enough for this note.