I Took the Leap of Faith and Dumped My Windows 10 in Favor of Linux
By: Xin Xin
Tags: Writing, Linux Tutorial, Remote Work, Digital Life, Productivity

I Took the Leap of Faith and Dumped My Windows 10 in Favor of Linux

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

If only, I had a new laptop. If only, I had faster Internet. The things our inner critic wants us to hear.

For us writers, if only, I had a nicer pen, if only, I had the inspiration. If only I had— and there are many more you can add here. It doesn’t stop, but it doesn’t mean you have to listen to it.

This year, I rediscovered my love for writing. I stopped years ago, in part because I never thought I could do it, and do it with regularity. I fought the inner voice. Today, I am still writing after eight months of doing it, day in and day out. Like many of you, writing is my remote work.

As a writer, I only need a laptop. I still use pen and paper, to scribble my thoughts. A writing tip I wish to share with my fellow writers, writing on paper gives a different writer’s high. Each stroke of a pen, touching the surface of a paper is a pleasurable experience.

I use my old laptop, it still works and why wouldn’t it as it is only 5 or 7 years old. I used it to surf the Internet and access social media. The very same things I do with my old iPhone 6.

I use my laptop when I want to watch Netflix or YouTube on a much bigger screen. I don’t own a smart TV or even a regular TV. I use my laptop if I want my Spotify music streamed louder, as it has an old speaker attached to it.

Everything is beginning to get old, me, and my stuff.

Whew, what a long introduction. But I want you to know where I am coming from. When I started to write again this year, all I needed and all I have is my laptop. It runs on Windows 10 Home Edition and it has 4 GB of RAM.

The laptop would fail me when I try to write and do my research on Google at the same time. Also, when I am on social media, or Spotify or YouTube.

My laptop wants to give up and I want to give up. Yes, I want to give up writing, when the laptop freezes or the Google Chrome freezes and stops responding. Now that I am writing about it, shouldn’t I be giving up on the other things I mentioned and not give up on writing?

The solution is either to get a new laptop which I can't afford right now. To add another 4 GB of RAM, or the dreaded last option, to reinstall Windows.

Without a doubt, my choice would be to reinstall windows as it will not cost me a dime.

But the whole process of it, like doing a proper backup of my data, documents, photos, will take days for me to do. All of which, I don't have time for, because I am writing, or is that my ego, now talking.

The other solution is to install another operating system. An operating system or OS is what makes a computer works. It is the software, that makes a hardware device as your computer comes to life.

Linux, here I come.

Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

I am familiar with Linux. I geek about computer stuff. I have done it in the past, install another OS on my laptop. For some reason I would always come back to Windows, it could be because of some programs I felt, I needed, like Adobe Photoshop.

I can choose to do a dual boot for my laptop. It is my best solution, it will keep my Windows, and install a fresh Linux OS on my laptop. I would have the best of both worlds, and not only that, it will take less time and less effort on my part.

Which Linux Distro to choose?

What is a Linux Distro or distribution, think of it as the different flavors of Linux. There are many to choose from, but all I need is the simplest and the one that will use minimal resources. I opted to try Linux Mint.

It is one of the most popular Linux Distros, like the other open-source Linux distros, it is free. It is a derivative of Ubuntu, another popular Linux Distro.

It took me days, procrastination is my enemy. I tell myself, it can wait, because I am writing. Until one day, in the middle of writing, Google Chrome came crashing. If not now, when?

How to Install Linux Mint 20 and create a dual boot laptop with Windows installed.

I did some research and found this link. The instructions are easy to follow.