The Journey to a Distro...
Tags: linux, opensource, programming
Published: 2023-02-07 14:50:59

In the summer, I built myself a computer (huge Linus Tech Tips fan). When it came to the operating system, I had to do some thinking...

When choosing my operating system, I had to consider some of the following aspects: 

- Gaming
- Development (Rust & C) 
- Possibility of penetration testing and machine learning 

## Why not Windows? 

Keep in mind this is a personal opinion. Still, I am not a huge Windows fan and have already been used to driving a Linux distro daily. But here are some more concrete reasons I'm not too fond of Windows when considering the above aspects. 

Windows's only upside against Linux is gaming, but that's not much of an upside. During the summer, the SteamDeck had also been released to the public, and Proton exponentially supported games. Since I also own a SteamDeck, the games I would get would already be based on whether it's supported on the deck. 

When it comes to development, I'm sorry, but Windows is an immense pain in the arse. I prefer installing a programming language using a package manager, and I find working with the file system so annoying...I can see myself doing a 12-hour programming session. These little annoyances will have a better chance of me trying to punch my computer. 

## Linux but which Distro? 

I like my life being more manageable, so I was not going to go wholly hardcore and use an Arch distro. I have had experience using Manjaro, but I tend to prefer Debian because I love the `apt` package manager. 

### Ubuntu? 

Ubuntu is a bit...bloaty, I feel. Something about Ubuntu has yet to make me like it in the last year or two. Their implementation of Gnome 41 was...I wasn't a fan and didn't like how it looked. But if I was going with a Debian distro, I would use a Ubuntu-based distro, and those honestly tend to fair better. 

## POP_OS! 

I had heard about POP_OS! in a Linus Tech Tips video, and I had also been aware of the company System76 by laptop reviews I have seen. I had already heard that it made gaming more straightforward, and I love how the desktop environment works...but wait, they're making their own? 

The news about the COSMIC desktop environment made me happy because, guess what? It's being developed in...Rust! The new desktop environment will use the `iced` crate instead of `gtk`. It will support features like HDR (finally) and more customizations, and I hope the environment will feel smoother.

So I grabbed my USB and flashed it with the POP_OS! iso and installed it on my computer and had it set up, and I did something stupid. 

When I installed POP_OS! on my computer, I had not gotten my case yet, and I had it set up like a test bench. My graphics card was not working correctly (probably not fully connected), so I had to rely on my integrated graphics. I was afraid that there were driver issues, and I had gotten firmware from the git repository, and boom...I broke my graphics drivers without knowing. 

When I had finished building my computer and realized something funky was up with my graphics, I found it pleasant that POP_OS! let's you refresh the operating system without deleting files. This feature really helped me, and once I did, all I had to do was set up my samba server and hard drive mount again and I was all good. 

I have used the desktop for over 6 months and have had no serious issues. I have problems with dark mode not working correctly while using custom themes. Still, I do enjoy having the ability to install either Deb or Flatpak from the POP Shop. 

### Specs 
For anyone interested to know what specs I chose: 
- CPU: Ryzen 5 5600g 
- GPU: Radeon 6600
- RAM: 32gb (16 x 2) DDR4 3200Mhz
- STORAGE: 
  - 256GB M.2 NVME Gen3 Drive 
  - 4TB HDD