monovergent
IMF: Imperialist Monetary Fund
Storytime!
As a physics major, daily driving Linux worked out pretty smoothly. The thing that saved me from trouble the most was making a weekly full system backup (I used Clonezilla and my file server). If anything was truly incompatible, I took care of it on the school’s computers.
In my second semester, I began dual-booting on my X201 Tablet and desktop, eventually booting into Windows infrequently enough that I made my X201T Linux-only by the end of my second year.
Around that point, I began using LUKS full-disk encryption on my machines and USB drives. I highly recommend if you don’t already, even if just for peace of mind. I have strong ideas about the way things ought to look and work, so being able to customize Linux to my heart’s content (with Chicago95 ofc) made doing work on my computer a bit more enjoyable.
Documents
- MS Office: Libreoffice worked 95% of the time. For the other 5%, I used the school computers or my Windows VM.
- Google Docs and GMail: accessed through Chromium, which I only used to access Google and sites linked to my school’s SSO system.
- We did a lot of writing in Latex, though it might be a physics thing
- A lot of other small stuff I’m starting to forget, but if I don’t mention it, I probably did it through the browser.
Lab
- MATLAB: GNU Octave sufficed 75% of the time, often needing just slight changes to the code. Otherwise I used the lab computers or my desktop with actual MATLAB.
- Proprietary dana analysis software: One had a .deb package for oldoldoldstable so I set up a VM just for that. Otherwise, lab computers it was.
- Lab computers running old and new versions of Windows were available to us, so if there was anything computationally intensive or requiring proprietary software, I would just take care of it in the lab.
Social
- Slack, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp: browser client, which I would check on a schedule
Tools
- VPN: NetworkManager, though it was a bit janky. I think it’s a lot better nowadays.
- Printing: We had a web print portal to upload docs and pdfs to a printer of our choice.
Graphics
- Mostly prepared my posters, etc in a mix of Libreoffice Draw, GIMP, and Inkscape
- Adobe: Had to use it on one occasion. Used the library computers where it was installed for everyone to use.
- Digital notes: I would use Xournal on my X201 Tablet whenever I forgot to bring my notebook or refill my fountain pen. Managed to impress a few of my iPad-toting classmates when I whipped out the pen and the display around on what they believed to be an ancient clunker.
As for the desktop, I had purchased it with gaming in mind, but it eventually became my SMB file share, media server, and RDP session host so I could make any library desktop like my own. Each thing in its own VM, of course. By the end of it, I was one of about 3 students running a server over the campus LAN. Even in the comp sci department, surprisingly few students used Linux.
Linux also met all of my computing needs while studying abroad in Germany. For five whole months, I had not used Windows once. Though my SSD did give out on me once, a backup saved the day.
A friend once did need to use a rather invasive remote proctoring tool. Highly recommend a separate laptop or at least a fresh SSD for this case.
Mobile privacy, if it’s relevant
- I was in the fortunate position where none of my classes or jobs required proprietary mobile apps
- Friends used Venmo or whatever else, I paid back in cash
- SMS and emails sufficed for regular communication
Overall, it was smooth sailing using Linux throughout my college years and no incompatibilities that couldn’t be solved in the library or a computer lab.
edit: i used debian btw
Wayland, but I’m patiently waiting for xfce to support it
yt-dlp. Too many options to remember and look up every time, but all useful and missing from GUIs when you just want to dowload audio or ‘good enough’ quality video in batches without re-encoding.
While nmtui is perfectly fine for the CLI-uninitiated, I sometimes wonder why the nm-connection-editor window doesn’t provide the same level of functionality.
GrapheneOS profiles ftw
First experimented when Windows 8 took away Aero Glass and other customizations. Committed when I had to fight with Windows 10’s twice-yearly feature updates that messed with my settings and wasted space with new programs I didn’t ask for. I now keep a separate laptop just to run Windows when I have to.
Distrohopping was mostly confined to my first year using Linux. Deepin (kept crashing) -> UbuntuDDE (went unmaintained) -> Arch Linux -> Debian. Settled on Debian Stable since it just works, I haven’t been using bleeding-edge hardware, and I don’t like things changing around too often (see my Chicago95 rice).
Wondering if anyone else is in the opposite boat. I don’t recall the name of any Kardashian except for Kim but I’ve known about Yuri Gagarin since primary school.
Windows 10. When your OS no longer respects your choices and you have to fight it every minute, there is something wrong. The creeping invasions on privacy have only cemented my use of Linux
Truthfully, I’m not sure if I would have ever switched over if Microsoft kept the Windows 7 paradigm. But I started my search for alternatives when Windows 8 - already too adventurous for me - came with the computer I bought.
Towards the end of my time using Windows 10 as my primary OS, the realization that the UI is not an inherent component of the OS sealed the deal. As a Windows 2000 fan, I fell in love with the way Chicago95 Debian replicated the look and stability that I had sorely missed.