dadarobot

I use ncdu. It shows what folders/files are actually eating up all your space.

I just started using nix recently. I really like the concept, and how simple it is to “temporarily” install an app only needed briefly.

I was trying to install a python program i wrote, and packaged with poetry (on an arch system) to nix. Pip and pipx both threw errors, nothing seemed to work. Advice online seemed like i needed to basically create a nix flake for the app. I still havent gotten it installed because i have no idea what nix flakes are.

Its probably just a learning curve, and not using nix the “nix way” but im incredibly frustrated and it was a massive time sink for me. I figured pipx would basically work like flatpak does and just install the thing in my home, leaving the system immutable or whatever, and staying mostly in the spirit of nix.

So i’d say its weird enough of a distro to waste your time sometimes.

That said, it seems to have the cleanest updates ive ever seen on linux. So much so i could probably just run them via cron, and never think about it again.

So win some lose some…

A lot of great advice from others here. Must admit i didnt read your whole post, pretty long. So this is more of general advice for switching. Also fairly long, so i dont blame you if you dont read this whole thing lol

I feel like you should find a good way to dip your toes into linux before you fully commit. Dual booting can be complicated, and will break from time to time. You should either spin up a virtual machine, or install linux on an old pc or laptop to test the waters, and figure out your new workflow. This is really my main piece of advice. Use both for a while.

Try to use linux the linux way, dont try to use it the way you use windows. A year or so ago LTT did a series of videos where they were using linux exclusively for a month. I was constantly frustrated when they tried to do things like manually copy files to the non user filesystem. You generally should never do that, and there is usually a location in your user directory that a program will also look for these files. You obviously won’t know what the linux way to do things is right away, but that’s part of why you want to use both windows and linux for a while. You will likely break your system at some point doing things wrong, when you dont know its wrong. Then just reinstall fresh and go again.

You should get a passing familiarity with the command line. You can do a majority of stuff in the gui, but when you run into problems, most advice online will use command line because it is mostly universal between distros and desktop environments. Linux is basically command line first, with a ton of great graphical front ends on top of it.

I expect the biggest pain points will be proprietary software that you might miss. Despite the claims of the linux evangelicals, there is not a good replacement for photoshop depending on what you use it for. Gimp works well for photo editing, but when i worked in marketing and had to pump out a bunch of ads quickly, it was a bit much to use gimp for. Just using that as an example. Stuff like this will be a major adjustment.

Ive been using linux almost exclusively for over 20 years, so i dont have much insight on how to make an easy transition. In fact when i have to use windows for work or something, i generally set it up with more of a linux workflow. Using lots of command line software etc

Good luck, have fun, and dont get too frustrated when things break!

I gotta say, i love how these comments are civil. Linux often seems to devolve into turf wars. Just made me happy

can anyone recommend a linux phone that’s not old tech

Suggests 6 year old phone