My Linux Journey

Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For any readers of my blog totally unfamiliar with Linux, let me give you a really quick primer. Linux is an operating system (OS), like Windows or macOS. The OS is what tells your computer how to “operate”—draw windows, handle files, launch programs, all that good stuff.

You may never have run across anyone using Linux, because only about 5% of home computers run Linux. But in the networking/cloud computing space, the percentage of machines and virtual machines running Linux is as high as 96% of web servers. Point is that it’s very likely you’ve never seen Linux, but Linux is, in fact, widely used where you don’t see.

# A Mac Guy

I’ve long been considered a “Mac Guy.” I bought my first Mac in 1988, and while I’ve owned Windows and Linux machines in the past, a Mac has always been my “daily driver.” A number of things has always kept me using mainly Macs:

It’s what I started on, and know the best. Lots of accumulated experience and expertise.
Back when I started using computers for music, the Mac was the only game in town for stable, low-latency audio. The other OSes have caught up but the Mac still has a bulletproof reputation in audio production.
Look and feel. Maybe that’s shallow, but if I’m going to use a computer on my non-employee hours, I want it to look nice and operate fluidly. Again, other OSes have caught up here, but macOS is still the standard for “pretty OSes.” The new Liquid Glass look is gorgeous, for example.
Ecosystem lock in. When you use Apple phones, Apple tablets, Apple services, it’s easier to stay on Mac. You either lose features, or need to use complex workarounds, to tie everything together. To be honest, I’m kind of bitter about this, but I did it to myself (and much of my family, too).

# The Idea of Linux

I’ve always loved the idea of Linux. It’s open source, meaning no company owns it. It’s free (although you can buy things like support packages). With the “Silicon Valley” operating systems (Windows, Android, ChromeOS, macOS, iOS) the company that owns it can decide to change how something works, or interrupt you constantly with messages to upgrade, use AI, subscribe to their TV service or buy more online storage from them, you get the idea—and there’s nothing you can do. And if an update breaks something, reverting to previous versions is no easy task.

There’s none of that with Linux. Linux is modular, infinitely configurable, non-corporate, and easy to revert to previous editions if an update breaks something, you can roll back extremely easily. You can make it look like whatever you want, operate however you want, and even tune the OS itself for your specific needs. There’s no ads, no changes you don’t approve of, it’s truly your OS.

But with that flexibility comes complexity. There isn’t one single version of Linux, there are dozens of “distributions” (distros) all of which are Linux, but they’re all look and operate slightly differently. Once you have picked a distro, if you want to customize it, the process can range from easy (download an app and adjust some settings) to “expert only” (download raw code and “compile from source”). Speaking of downloading apps, since Linux has such a tiny share of the desktop market, there’s not a lot of incentive for software companies to invest time and resources into creating Linux versions when there isn’t the prospect of big profits.

I’m a fairly savvy user. I can type command lines in the terminal when necessary. But that doesn’t mean that’s how I want to spend my time. I want my system to be stable, pretty, easy to use, and get out of the way.

Okay, with all that in mind let’s start on the journey.

# First Steps Into Early Linux

Around 2006 or so, I was regularly traveling for work, and wanted an extremely tiny and light computer to take with me for basic email, browsing, etc. This was when extremely inexpensive (I think $200?) “Ultrabooks” started coming out. These tiny machines had 9” screens, were light as a feather, I don’t think it had a color screen (or if it did, it was crap), and it ran Linux (I think an early version of the Ubantu distro). I snapped one up, both because the size appealed, but also the idea of playing around in Linux.

It was not a great experience. To download the Mozilla browser and email, and OpenOffice, I had to use the terminal. Every single thing I wanted to do, required the terminal. And Linux, at least on this machine, was ugly. So I quickly wrote it off as a worthy experiment, but the machine was not comfortable, and Linux did not seem ready for prime time.

# Next Steps: Twenty Years Later

Even though I wasn’t actively following Linux, I never stopped loving the idea of it. Twenty years of regularly using Windows and macOS at work and home meant I was even more comfortable (and tied in) on both, but also that their flaws and corporate goals had more time to rub against me.

Then in 2026 a writer friend of mine, who like me had earlier experience with Linux but hadn’t kept up, decided to jump back in. He was quite impressed with how modern and useable Linux has become. The time seemed right for me to do the same.

I did some research into distros, starting with Ubantu and Fedora. Ubantu is a bit more supported because of a large user base, but Fedora seemed to be both more “cutting edge” in that it used more up to date Linux kernels (the “heart” of the OS) and more standard (used less custom components). I have a Windows gaming laptop from a number of years ago and I installed Fedora Workstation onto it and began playing around.

I found the desktop environment, called GNOME, to be sleek and pretty and modern. In fact, by installing an “extension manager” and theming GNOME I could make it look and feel exactly like macOS if I wanted to! Ultimately I found that I actually like the look and feel of GNOME, so I turned off most of the theming other than a macOS-like Dock and transparency, and a Windows-like apps menu.

Speaking of software, with Linux adopting Flatpaks as a standard, many apps are available to download and install graphically, no terminal required. And I was surprised by how much of the software I use was available on Linux, thanks to “Electron” - a framework to take a web-based app and make it work on any platform (Windows, Android, macOS, iOS).

Did I mention web apps? Yeah, many of the apps I use these days are browser-based, so there’s nothing to install.

All told of the apps I use daily, nearly all have Linux or browser versions. There are also native Linux apps that can replace some web apps or apps that don’t exist on Linux. For example, the web based Microsoft Office apps work fine, but LibreOffice is a fully featured (and compatible) Office replacement.

Another option for apps that don’t have a Linux version or solution is to use a Windows virtual machine or compatibility layer such as WINE (which stands for WINE Is Not an Emulator) that lets you run Windows apps inside a Linux environment. Those options work seamlessly for simple apps but run into some snags with complex desktop/cloud hybrids such as Adobe Creative Cloud.

Speaking of things that just don’t work, I’ve used Logic (first as Logic Platinum then as Logic Pro) for creating and recording music for nearly 25 years; it’s a Mac only app. There are various professional audio apps that do run on Linux (Fender Studio Pro, Bitwig Studio, and Reaper for example), and others people managed to get working via WINE (Ableton Live, Cubase). Most plug-ins can run in Linux (either in native Linux versions or via the Windows version installed via WINE and wrapped via yabridge). But Logic Pro never will.

## Takeaways

I ended up installing an atomic, immutable version of Fedora called Fedora Silverblue. Atomic means updates are always in one piece, and immutable means the root OS is read-only and can’t be cracked or corrupted. It means I can’t do the kind of low level tweaking possible on non immutable distros but I don’t do that level of tweaking anyway. And rolling back is very simple. I’ve got it set up for everything but audio. I still use my Mac for most things but I can certainly use this and be happy with it.

# The Future: Laptop-As-Desktop and Linux

For years, my main computer has always been a Mac desktop (currently a 2022 Mac Studio), because desktop machines were more powerful than laptops for things like running audio applications and making music videos. I would also own a laptop, usually a lower spec, smaller and lighter one, so that if I wanted to take a computer to someone’s house for role-playing games, or make music with a friend, or write away from my desk, I could.

One drawback to this system is that I have to maintain two machines: keep their systems and applications updated, make sure I can access the files I need on two machines, etc. These days cloud drives help keep things in sync but being absent minded I inevitably forget something, be it a PDF I only downloaded to one machine, a plug-in, or I didn’t update the apps or OS on the laptop so when I turn it in I’m greeted by nastygrams and downloads.

Thankfully computers have reached the point that current generation laptops, even smaller and lighter ones, are more powerful than my Mac Studio. So the idea of getting a sleek, portable laptop that is also my “desktop” computer, plugged into a monitor and peripherals, is a real possibility.

The best laptop on the market (for everything but Windows-only games) is the MacBook Pro. You can spec it up with a ton of RAM, storage, and the M-chips are industry leaders when it comes to power-per-watt, so they’re both extremely powerful and with industry leading battery life. But that power comes at a price; a fully spec’d up MBP M5 Max would easily run you $6k. Meanwhile a high end PC laptop that is more powerful than my Mac Studio runs about $2500; even a spec’d down MBP that compares to the PC laptop costs $3800.

In addition to the money issue, there’s the whole “Silocon Valley control/lock-in” issue I mentioned above. If I were to get a PC laptop, I could install Linux as my OS, and be free. But that freedom comes at a price, too; I’d save money on the laptop and the OS, but it wouldn’t have the raw power and battery life of a MacBook Pro.

There’s also a price to be paid in application support. All my productivity apps either run in Linux or have excellent native Linux options. There’s web apps for the Apple ecosystem apps I use (Apple Music, Apple TV, etc). Even my video app, DaVinci Resolve, has a native Linux version. But Logic Pro would be a no-go. I’d have to move to a Linux audio app, or keep a Mac around just for Logic. Which isn’t the worst idea, but it does fly in the face of the “just run a single machine” goal of the laptop-ask-desktop setup.

Anyway, I’ve got a working setup now, so I’m not in a rush. But these are the things I’m weighing for the future.

# Conclusion

If you follow the tech news, every year for the last decade or so, someone has either declared that it is, or asked if maybe this is “the year of Linux” (meaning, the year that the Linux user base grows from the low point of Apple’s market share in the 90s to more like Linux’s web server market share today). I have used modern Linux. I have a cyber-crush on modern Linux. And I’m very seriously considering switching to either a Linux or Linux-first home setup. So I can definitively answer the question, “is this the year of Linux”—

No.

As I noted at the beginning of my essay, I’m tech savvy. I don’t mind installing an OS and customizing it. I don’t mind learning new things, reading documentation, community posts, Reddit, asking LLMs to help me, etc. I know that the average computer user just wants to buy a computer at a store they’re familiar with, turn it on and have it “just work.” They don’t want to install anything new or troubleshoot. Sure, they may complain about the constant ads or updates or changing workflow, but not to the point they’re willing to actually do anything about it.

For it to be “the year of Linux,” cheap, desirable laptops came with Linux pre-installed would need to be mass marketed. Linux won’t begin to see a surge in users until the average consumer can walk into a Best Buy (or any preferred “big box” electronics retailer) and purchase a well-put-together, sleek-looking $700 laptop that runs Linux—the kind of machine in which the user just opens it and their browser launches and they don’t even realize it’s not Windows. We’ve reached the point that big box retailers like Best Buy have a tiny selection of mini-PCs and developer machines running Linux, but online only, not in store. When there are cheap, desirable Linux machines to buy in store, I think that’s when Linux may start to seriously gain in market share.

That said, I do think that for the tech savvy, especially those who want to get off the “Silicon Valley OS” treadmill, Linux is ready. The caveat being if someone relies on applications that aren’t available, that’s a limiting factor. But for productivity, writing, coding, gaming (Steam is native Linux, Photon can bring AAA Windows-only games), running local LLMs, you name it, Linux is up to it, and frankly is a joy to use.

Let’s put it this way: I no longer consider myself just a “Mac guy.”

cyber on The Merton Folio