Why I stopped using mac OS and went GUI-less After Trying Every linux Distro
Tags: minimalist, devjournal, design, linux
Published: 2021-02-09 04:45:12

---
title: Why I stopped using mac OS and went GUI-less After Trying Every linux Distro
published: true
tags: ["minimalist", "devjournal", "design", "linux"]
---



## I'm a no bullsh!t person
I'm the type of person I dislike bullsh!t; and when it comes to my 
dev setup there's no exceptions. Why did I quit using mac, let alone go 
gui-less?

Well, it's simple...To be frank, it was very distracting; with all the
eye candy--everywhere you go. Maybe it's me, if not let me know in the comments; 
but with todays user applications and desktop enviroments it's really hard to 
stay focused with all the dazzle of beautifully designed gui's and well crafted ux. 
Yet, there's one big problem: many modern systems aren't designed with the mindfulness 
of the end user. 

Seriously, I thought UX was about helping the user get the most out of their system. 
This is no disrespect to designers and ux experts; I just think we can all take 
a different route when it comes to desiging desktop enviroments and user applications 
that help the user instead of distracting them.

This isn't to stay they aren't designers and ux experts who are doing a killer job
and creating mindful systems that cater to help the end-user; I'm just think the big
household names can do better by hopping into too. 

Of all the linux distros I've tried; it's been a love and hate relationship. Although 
for the most part I would say my all time favourite that didn't disappoint was, 
[Elementary OS]: https://elementary.io . I think the name does it's self justice. Not
to go all fan boy here; I personally think Elementary Os distro does a great job at 
focusing on the elements of elementary computing. 

Therefore, because I got tired of looking for the best linux distro with a 
minimal user interface; I found it best to stick to a headless linux kernel 
emulated with `tmux`. I haven't looked back since...



## Mindfulness is everything
Wihout getting into details, we all know what 2020 brought on us. From 
being to forced to change your entire routine, to how you see life 
all the way to how you conduct personal business; if there's anything 
that's been ever more important it is mindfulness. We are reaching an 
age where our abilities and talents will either help us for the better 
or turn us all into slaves to our own digital myopia of what it means 
to create mindful spaces for the end-user.

It's not an easy task, but can be done.

Part of why I got tired of using GUI's is the lack of a consistent ecosystem a
cross the devices that I use. More importantly, when I'm using my laptop I prefer
to use it strictly for producticity only. I still watch movies here and there, but 
very minimal. If anything, when I want to stream media I use my iPad. 




## Should you do the same?
Short answer: no.

Long answer:

You have to think of how comfortable you are learning a whole new way of computing. Now adays, 
the average developer isn't a CLI savvy as compored to developers of the 70's. So to recomend you going
head fight into the abyss of unknown would devloper-suicide. Not unless you are up for the challange or 
trying to compile your own drivers and fixing broken packages if things go south. I've been lucky to say:
the kernel I use has alsomost everything working out of the box for my SurfaceBook laptop. Although be warned; 
if you follow suit you'd have to install wifi drivers seperately if you planning on using arch linux headless with 
no gui. 

I've been familiar with `BASH` and `debian` based systems for at least 5 years,
even if I now use arch linux. From experience I personally think you can get around
faster with a shell than with a mouse and keyboard (so much for being a turtle right?). The reason being 
that, once you know the basics of using liunux from the CLI and learn a little bit of `BASH`, you are officially 
armed and dangerous. 

> Who knew the turtle was faster than a mouse and keyboard? 

All jokes aside, I think if you willing to put the initial time in and work a way to get things
done it's very doable. For front-end desigining; I host a local `jekyll` server on my `raspbery-pi` 
with `live-reload` enabled so my changes show up in real-time. As for my test desvices; I use the iPad 
and iPhone as a device reference when working with responsive design. 



**NOTE:** Pardon the spelling errors, this was written all in `nano`.