TINKERING WITH LINUX

After a comfortable few months with Linux Mint, I decided to re-install the whole OS to try out Linux Mint with the XFCE desktop environment instead.

It turns out that Linux Mint XFCE has a bug with the panel plugin XApp Status. (The panel is the equivalent to a taskbar.) I don't know what it is exactly, but it likes to randomly spike my CPU usage. And pollute my crash logs because it's not using the correct version. And the system also gets mad at you for removing it, which is permanently ignorable but still rather annoying.

So, I decided to switch to openSUSE. Not for its cute chameleon mascot, but it makes for a nice bonus. Everyone just seemed to really like it when I poked my head in r/distrohopping.

I made sure to pick KDE Plasma as my desktop environment because the mascot Kongqi was made by Tyson Tan, who is an artist I've admired for around a decade now.

Then I spent some 12+ hours trying to solve how to correct my mouse having a wretchedly slow scrolling speed. The ultimate solution was to switch from the X11 display server to Wayland, which may have repercussions for my system that I don't know about because I barely understand what they do.

Despite that small setback, I can play the games I like, draw in Clip Studio Paint, model, program, browse, watch videos...

I just sometimes have to hop through more hoops than my friends to launch the same game. And Clip Studio Paint refuses to display non-English characters in its UI. And I have to solve why my computer won't store my Wi-fi password and access it automatically when I log in.

...but since I like to keep my mind and hands busy, I don't even really notice spending all day troubleshooting these things. Nor do I find myself regretting it.

I'm still not a programmer or very computer savvy in the end, so I can't talk about all the technical bits for the life of me.

But I really am glad to be out of the Windows ecosystem for my personal, day-to-day business. Even if I'm not particularly skilled with any of it, I enjoy learning about computers and how they work in the modern day more. Being able to use CSS to customize my desktop is also deeply funny to me.

I'd recommend Linux both to anyone with a similar love for tinkering and troubleshooting and, frankly, anybody who doesn't. You very well can get smooth, effortless time with Linux. Just don't poke your nose where you don't have to.

Because trust me - I could have avoided the contents of this entire post if I knew how to stop fucking around.