Why I’ll Be Using Linux For All My Writing
A few months back I bought a new laptop. It’s the first new laptop I’ve had in roughly 10 years. Hey, I get some mileage out of my tech.
That new laptop came with the latest version of the world’s most popular operating system. In order to avoid any copyright liability we’ll call it Screendoors 8.
I brought my shiny new laptop home with every intention of giving Screendoors 8 an honest shot. After a little more than a four hour trial I have to say:
It. Sucks.
THIS IS A LAPTOP, NOT A PHONE
First impression: Screendoors 8 looks a helluva lot like my phone. Scary similar, especially since my phone is an Android.
The problem: this is a fucking laptop. It’s a tool used, at lest by me, to get some actual, honest work done. I don’t exactly consider my phone to be the most productive gadget in my arsenal. Mostly because I’m not a fourteen year old girl and I can’t type 90 words per minute with my thumbs.
I need a PC I can actually use to get shit done.
Strike one.
I am NOT in China
I managed to set up a user account, hook it up to my email, get bitched at because it wasn’t a Screendoors 8 compatible account, and open the internet browser.
I navigated to Google, searched for some topic about customizing the operating system, and was met with results in Chinese.
Not a list of Chinese sites. Chinese search results.
The bottom of Google even informed me that my government was censoring certain search results. Cute.
I searched for ways to change Screendoors 8’s location setting. I managed to wade through Chinese result after Chinese result and figure out where the settings were. And they were correct. Right here in the U.S. of A.
And my results were still in China. The CLOCK in the corner had me in China. I fiddled around for another three hours, using the standard “reboot until it works” philosophy behind older versions of Screendoors.
Somewhere during hour number four the system decided to let me be in the U.S. The search results switched to English and the clock showed the proper time.
But by then I was already downloading a Linux .iso…
Enter Ubuntu
Back when I was in undergrad I would format my laptop once a year to keep it running smooth. I usually did it over the Thanksgiving break to give myself a long weekend in case I screwed something up.
I had always wanted to try Linux, but I was scared. I don’t know why, maybe because I was in grade school the last time I screwed with a command prompt. Maybe because that bastard Tux won’t stop staring at me.
In any event, one year I decided to download and install Ubuntu (version 9 something back then, I think). I loved it. I ran it for the rest of undergrad and most of grad school, until that PC finally gave up the ghost.
So I’m at least a little familiar with Ubuntu.
And to be honest, three months on I’m not disappointed in it this time, either. It’s quick, it’s stable, and it has a TON of free software to cover just about everything I ever do with a laptop.
What’s even more pathetic? Ubuntu acts more like the older versions of Screendoors than Screendoors 8 does.
So, I’ll be doing all of my work on Ubuntu from here on out. Blogging, novel writing, image editing, the works. It’s all I got so it’s all I’ll use. You can bank on me nerding out in the future and reviewing various pieces of useful software available to a Linux writer.
photo credit: doctorserone via photopin cc