Two weeks of Linux
About 2 weeks ago, after many minor inconveniences of Windows 10, I decided that it was time to give Ubuntu a try after a 6 years hiatus.
About 2 weeks ago, after many minor inconveniences of Windows 10, I decided that it was time to give Ubuntu a try after a 6 years hiatus.
Why did I decide to try Linux
There were both factors that pushed me away from Windows 10 and pulled me towards Linux.
Push factor - Most of the developers on the team use Mac, thus many weird behaviors were only exposed to a windows machine. These were things like relative file paths not being escaped properly (because windows use backslashes unlike UNIX systems) or things like path rewrite for .tsconfig was not behaving correctly. Some issues were within my control, but most were not.
Pull factor - For anyone to want to try Linux, it is always for the command line. Being able to install any programs with just a couple of lines in the terminal, being able to look at every intricate part configuration of your system just with a few commands is very appealing to a tinkerer like me.
My setup
So, I made the switch. I installed Ubuntu 20 LTS on my desktop with a Ryzen 5 3500X and (painfully) Nvidia GTX 1060. My first impressions were pretty mild. Despite the desktop environment being Gnome instead of Unity, I still didn't like its inconsistent behavior. But what I love was the terminal. I left most of my configuration at defaults, installed tmux so I could use my iPad as an SSH client and share the same session as my desktop. Setting up my GitHub and NPM tokens is as easy as changing the ~/.bashrc file.
I installed Neovim, dropped my init.vim file into the corresponding folder, installed VSCode and GitKraken and Git (surprisingly, git is not preinstalled, who knew) and got to work.
Positive things that were no surprises
CLI - wow, the terminal is a joy on Linux, who could have guessed. Ok, sarcasm aside, the Linux terminal is an absolute joy to use. I will skip pass the usual "oh, I can install any program with sudo apt program-name and jump into the fun stuff that I enjoy.
tmux- tmux is a "terminal multiplexer". Jargons aside, it is really cool. It allows you to run multiple instances of the same terminal session, it allows you to detach from them or even synchronize across different devices. I used my iPad as an SSH client and use it to read the console output of my build!neovim- I have been using neovim on windows for a while now, so the learning curve for this is not high. I literally only have 2 text editors on my system. VSCode for work (with vim bindings) and NeoVim.
Positive things that improved since 2015
I used Ubuntu 14 LTS many years ago. It was a pretty bad time for UX. GUI programs didn't work well and the selection was small, the Unity desktop environment was clunky and not intuitive among other things.
When I tried Ubuntu 20 this year, I expected things to be better and they did. With ElectronJS, GUI programs were really powerful. I could get GitKraken and VSCode and Discord running very easily. Many programs like Telegram that uses QT behaves exactly as on Windows too.
Since Ubuntu 18, the operating system has moved away from Unity and instead adopted Gnome as their built-in desktop environment. As a basic user, I don't have to figure out how to change the desktop environment to Gnome 3 and make it permanent on day 1. This also means features like System Tray and notifications works out of the box. I also get access to the library of (semi-working) plugins on day 1.
Overall, UX on Ubuntu has gotten better over the past 6 years. But it is still not polished enough (and I doubt it willl ever be) as compared to their commercial OS counterparts with dedicated UX teams and designers working on the interface of their products.
Annoyances
Here are a few minor non-dealbreaker complains; I understand most of the limitations they are facing, but it still remains that as a user, I don't have a good experience. Now let me whine:
- Why is Node Version Manager not a repo on any package repository? (ans here)
- Why is Nvidia Driver such a pain in the ass? (ans here)
- Why is my bluetooth mouse so sensitive on the lockscreen (ok, I know this one. I configured the mouse acceleration in GNOME, so it doesn't get applied on the lockscreen, but still an annoyance)
Things that are just plain deal breakers
Bluetooth - I don't have a good experience with using Bluetooth. I don't understand why, but my headphones just decide not to randomly connect at times, my bluetooth mouse just stops working for a few seconds after logging into my session.
Commercial Software - This mostly isn't Ubuntu's fault, but its a major turn off.
- Logitech Options doesn't exist, so getting gestures to work on my logitech mouse means running scripts and editing configuration files.
- Microsoft teams on Linux is a preview build, it chugs, the UI behaves weirdly despite being an Electron app, my microphone just gets cut off randomly, it doesn't use the correct microphone or speakers.
- Getting One Drive to work is something I was excited about; mounting the service as a file server seems like a really cool idea, but the experience was so bad. Files loaded slowly, they don't sync properly, it is overall a bad time.
Fin
This is not meant to be a rant. During the 2 weeks of using Ubuntu, I enjoyed the authentic POSIX terminal experience, but the major lack of UX focus and non-existent support of commercial software made the switch really difficult. What is your Linux experience? Hit me up on LinkedIn!
