First Week as a Linux User

So my new computer, affectionately nicknamed "The Panzer", named after the whirring sound the CPU cooler makes, has been in full effect for over a week now. The whole processes has been a roller coaster ride. One moment I'm thrilled that it's put together, then I'm depressed it didn't post. Then I'm thrilled I got the hard drive in, but then I have to deal with the fact that I forgot all about putting in a wireless card to get onto the Wi-Fi.

I have finally got all of these things resolved and I am up and running on Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon. So there are a couple of observations I have after my first couple weeks as a Linux user.

1) It Feels Great Giving Windows 10 the Middle Finger.

After a week, I already cringe at the thought of
turning on my older-but-still-functional windows 7 PC because of the Windows 10 nag. I'm aware there is a trick to patch your registry and eliminate the ad, but now that I'm using that computer so little, I don't see the point in going through with it.

2) Long Term Files Don't Go On the Harddrive.

Linux Mint gets a huge update in about three months. Upgrading Linux means installing a new OS and losing everything on the hard drive. I only see a couple ways to mitigate this problem. I can not upgrade, switch operating systems to something with a rolling release like Manjaro, or just keep all my long term stored files on external storage. That is.. at least until I can afford a second hard drive.

This must be one of the reasons why a dedicated SSD's specifically for running an operating system are so popular with PC builders. It would be nice to be able to just wipe my OS with no worries when the time came. The good news is that Mint 17.3 (code-named Rosa) will be supported for three more years. So I have time to get parts to mitigate this risk in the future.

3) The Deceptive Feeling of Speed

Linux is lightning fast. This one worries me a bit to be honest because I find it difficult to determine how much of this is going from a nearly full laptop to a brand new build with 8 gigs of ram and an empty terabyte of hard drive space. One thing is for sure, there is much less junk going on in the back ground. (Surveillance to be specific, unless you are using Ubuntu and don't know how to turn if off.)

I still can't play CS:GO competitive even after 6.5 hours of play due to their lame anti-smurf policy which requires leveling up, but I have been enjoying the heck out of being able to play just about any game in my library.