2 MARCH 2026 - MONDAY

TRYING OUT NEW THINGS

Recently I have been taking a deep dive into Linux, or as deep of a dive as I can with the limited free time I allow myself to learn when I am not aimlessly doing things at my desk. I locked in this last weekend and managed to install CachyOS onto an older HP laptop before I had to go into work. It took a couple tries for me to understand how to install it properly and have it succeed, as I failed to realize that I did not partition enough disk space for the OS to exist. I should have started looking at the forums first instead of diving into it like a lost creature.

There's obvious reasons for me wanting to try something new out, such as having a more optimized desktop experience and to get aware from the bloatware that Microsoft tries to stuff into our machines. I began thinking about how it might be near impossible for me to upgrade my PC in the following years, and call it naive, but I did wonder if switching to a Linux distro would help prolong the life of my current machine. Currently, it is difficult to get a hold of RAM, CPUs, GPUs... mostly due to the ever increasing gluttony of AI and the companies injecting it into their software. GenAI is the biggest culprit, and it seems that the world is either ignorant to this rising problem or the greater powers at the top are succeeding in suppressing our unhappiness about it. I digress.

Despite not being on a Linux distro for several years, I am quite excited to learn more as I experience this OS thru my laptop. I have a trip soon and I am thinking about bringing my laptop and my journals. I need a way to update my website while I'm out, of course haha. The best way for me to learn is simply thru exposure.

This push towards Linux was also strongly motivated by my recent loss of several terabytes of files. That is a whole ordeal that I cannot get into, but in an effort to forget about the loss, I pushed myself to think about having a much more secure operating system. I was first entranced by diinki's video on YouTube called, "Linux & Theming: The Ultimate Guide", where they went thoroughly explained their process in 'ricing' - the art and ability to customize your desktop. Not only was the video incredibly entertaining (and diinki's style being absolutely immaculate), I found myself curious on how I would approach such an art. I have hardly ever heard of anyone describing anything to do with Linux as something 'artful', and am very glad to be wrong.

Throughout my life, talk surrounding Linux had largely been not neccessarily negative, but heavily inlaid with the belief that using Linux is an unpleasant, tedious, and laborious effort that only very very special people can do. Perhaps that is true to some level, in that people who use Linux value certain things that perhaps the average Windows or MacOS user does not, but it is also just an operating system. All operating systems do require some level of learning, and to cocoon Linux as something too tedious for the average person to learn is a bit sad to hear.

Another thing I am trying out is a new keyboard layout! I've been using an 80% keeb for quite some time, like five years now, and for the first time ever I am on a 60% keeb. The biggest hurdle so far has been the arrow keys, or rather, the arrow keys also being other keys. I have never had to use fn so often to make things happen that on my previous keyboard had its own key for already. It'll take some adjustment but I can already observe that I type a lot faster, more efficient with less mistakes, and the sound of this keeb is quite satisfying. I am a clunky, aggressive typer, so I like hearing the sounds this keeb makes. I do think it would not fare well in an office environment, lol.

Some things that I would like to get done before my upcoming trip are to get most of my files from my main machine onto some external drives. I haven't backed up in awhile, and am facing the consequences of doing so by losing a large portion of my digital portfolio (I had nearly 100 pieces in another external drive that cannot be accessed right now, and I am trying to not crash out about that), but that's also on me. I am someone who had frequently told others to backup their shit, yet here I am, a man attempting to recover from the loss of a lot of memories, moments, and hard work. It would also be good to do so since I need to reorganize all my files, and everything is kind of living in very poorly named and categorized folders. It annoys me, too, when I attempt to navigate my own shit!!! I get lost, and then I wonder why I can't find anything.

The moral of the story with all of this is that I need to love my computer better. I do so much on my machines, yet I take them and what they do for me for granted. I love mine computer... cuz no one in this world knows me better! Shoutout ninajirachi. Anyways, thanks for reading! This one is quite the ramble.