Switching to Linux Full Time

I have used Macs since 2010. MacBook Pros, iMacs, the whole ecosystem. I liked it fine. It worked. But somewhere around 2024 I started getting frustrated. The hardware was getting more expensive, the software was getting more opinionated, and I was spending more time fighting the OS than using it.

A friend had been running Pop!_OS for a couple of years and would not shut up about it. So I installed it on an old ThinkPad just to try it. Two weeks later I wiped my main machine.

What Pushed Me Over

It was not one thing. It was a pile of small annoyances. Finder is still bad after all these years. Window management required a third-party app. System updates kept rearranging my preferences. The file system felt deliberately hidden from me. I am a developer and I want to see my files and control my machine.

The final straw was when an update broke my Docker setup for the third time. I spent a Saturday morning fixing it and thought, why am I fighting my own computer?

The First Week

Bumpy. Not going to lie. I spent the first few days just getting my environment set up. Fonts looked wrong. Bluetooth was flaky with my headphones. I could not figure out how to get fractional scaling right on my monitor.

But each problem had a solution and the solution was usually a config file I could read and understand, not a hidden preference buried six menus deep. That felt good. When something broke I could trace why and fix it myself.

What Is Better

Package management. Installing software on Linux is fast and clean. No hunting for DMG files, no dragging icons into folders, no mysterious background installers. Just one command and it is done.

The terminal experience is native and first-class. On macOS I always felt like the terminal was tolerated. On Linux it is the backbone of the system and everything is built around it.

Customization without guilt. I can change anything about my desktop, my window manager, my keybindings, my file manager. Nothing feels locked down or precious. The system invites you to make it yours.

Performance. Same hardware runs noticeably faster. Boot times are shorter. RAM usage is lower. Applications launch quicker. The system just gets out of my way.

What I Miss

Exactly two things. The trackpad gestures on a MacBook are still best in class and nothing on Linux comes close. And iMessage, but that is Apple’s lock-in working as designed.

Preview on macOS was also genuinely great for quick PDF markup. I have not found a Linux equivalent that feels as effortless.

My Setup Now

Pop!_OS with the default COSMIC desktop. I use Alacritty for my terminal, Neovim for editing, Firefox for browsing, and Thunderbird for email. My dotfiles are version controlled and I can reproduce my entire setup on a new machine in about twenty minutes.

The machine is a tool again. Not a lifestyle product, not an ecosystem, just a tool that does what I tell it to do. That is all I ever wanted.