It depends on tbe distro you choose. Debian, Ubuntu and Mint are simpler and easier to use, whereas Arch, Void, and NixOS are more complicated.
If you have the time, I highly recommend experimenting with it, and maybe switching over. It can be a lot of fun, and in the end, your computer will feel more like it’s your own.
Also I chickened out of building my OS from scratch because I don’t wanna handle security myself :/
I finally made the switch away from Microsoft (as part of my personal contribution to “elbows up”) and into Linux Mint. And to be honest, it’s … OK. Fortunately I live with my technical support so when (not if) things go bad he’s there to curse low key under his breath while he fixes it, but those incidents aside Mint has been pretty good.
My contribution to elbows up is to degoogle, demicrosoft, and defacebook (I didn’t use apple or amazon to begin with), and eventually, I’m gonna move out of the country (the ultimate boycott).
My counter-argument to the whole “windows just works” thing is “no it doesn’t”. Like, it’s slow, bloated, and it just updates whenever it feels like it. /endrant
It can be really helpful to have someone to do linux tech support. I lwk wish I had someone to do that for irl.
The only real trouble I had was with WiFi. When it installed it saw that I had a “broadcom” and asked if I wanted to install the “drivers”. I said yes and it did so, no problems.
Then it immediately did a huge system update (which it told me in advance it was going to do, so no surprises). But the update broke the WiFi. After a few hours of cursing my tech support and bed warmer got it working again, but I would not have been able to do that myself.
There were problems with one of my Bluetooth devices, but I rarely use it with a computer anyway (this was more a test) so it didn’t matter.
I’d de-googled, de-facebooked, and de-twittered a long time ago (like before Melon Husk took over Twitter time frames). I’ve dropped bourbon (😢) and Diet Coke from my drinks rotation and when I want a Snickers I eat the Russian “Input” or “Sprint” bars instead: I think they’re the same thing, but I can get boxes of 18 full-sized “Sprint” bars at about 6-7 bucks, so that’s what I go for, then eat them sparingly over a few months. The penultimate step was removing myself from Windows at home, and the ultimate step will be when my phone outlives its usefulness (I’ve owned it since 2021-ish, so I’ve got a few more years left) and I switch to a phone that runs HarmonyOS.
I recently got a Fairphone with /e/os, and I’m pretty happy with it. Now, the only time I ever have to use a proprietary OS is when I (very occasionally) need Secure Boot to get past anticheat.
Honestly, the only American companies I’ll struggle to boycott is videogame distributors. I think the only non-American company that sells videogames (digitally; obviously there are physical retailers) is Nintendo, and I’m not buying a Switch, because they’re pretty frickin’ expensive.
Congrats on your progress toward digital sovereignty thus far; it’s honestly quite impressive.
I’m immune to the charms of video games, thankfully, so it’s easier to get rid of American products. For social media, I shifted to Mastodon and Pixelfed.
I never really used social media (I lurked, but I didn’t sign in), but then I found the Fediverse. I particularly enjoy this lil corner (the Threadiverse).
I suppose I could just play FOSS games, but at the same time, I don’t think Steam is making much money off of me playing the games I already bought.
It depends on tbe distro you choose. Debian, Ubuntu and Mint are simpler and easier to use, whereas Arch, Void, and NixOS are more complicated.
If you have the time, I highly recommend experimenting with it, and maybe switching over. It can be a lot of fun, and in the end, your computer will feel more like it’s your own.
Also I chickened out of building my OS from scratch because I don’t wanna handle security myself :/
I finally made the switch away from Microsoft (as part of my personal contribution to “elbows up”) and into Linux Mint. And to be honest, it’s … OK. Fortunately I live with my technical support so when (not if) things go bad he’s there to curse low key under his breath while he fixes it, but those incidents aside Mint has been pretty good.
My contribution to elbows up is to degoogle, demicrosoft, and defacebook (I didn’t use apple or amazon to begin with), and eventually, I’m gonna move out of the country (the ultimate boycott).
My counter-argument to the whole “windows just works” thing is “no it doesn’t”. Like, it’s slow, bloated, and it just updates whenever it feels like it. /endrant
It can be really helpful to have someone to do linux tech support. I lwk wish I had someone to do that for irl.
The only real trouble I had was with WiFi. When it installed it saw that I had a “broadcom” and asked if I wanted to install the “drivers”. I said yes and it did so, no problems.
Then it immediately did a huge system update (which it told me in advance it was going to do, so no surprises). But the update broke the WiFi. After a few hours of cursing my tech support and bed warmer got it working again, but I would not have been able to do that myself.
There were problems with one of my Bluetooth devices, but I rarely use it with a computer anyway (this was more a test) so it didn’t matter.
I’d de-googled, de-facebooked, and de-twittered a long time ago (like before Melon Husk took over Twitter time frames). I’ve dropped bourbon (😢) and Diet Coke from my drinks rotation and when I want a Snickers I eat the Russian “Input” or “Sprint” bars instead: I think they’re the same thing, but I can get boxes of 18 full-sized “Sprint” bars at about 6-7 bucks, so that’s what I go for, then eat them sparingly over a few months. The penultimate step was removing myself from Windows at home, and the ultimate step will be when my phone outlives its usefulness (I’ve owned it since 2021-ish, so I’ve got a few more years left) and I switch to a phone that runs HarmonyOS.
I recently got a Fairphone with /e/os, and I’m pretty happy with it. Now, the only time I ever have to use a proprietary OS is when I (very occasionally) need Secure Boot to get past anticheat.
Honestly, the only American companies I’ll struggle to boycott is videogame distributors. I think the only non-American company that sells videogames (digitally; obviously there are physical retailers) is Nintendo, and I’m not buying a Switch, because they’re pretty frickin’ expensive.
Congrats on your progress toward digital sovereignty thus far; it’s honestly quite impressive.
I’m immune to the charms of video games, thankfully, so it’s easier to get rid of American products. For social media, I shifted to Mastodon and Pixelfed.
I never really used social media (I lurked, but I didn’t sign in), but then I found the Fediverse. I particularly enjoy this lil corner (the Threadiverse).
I suppose I could just play FOSS games, but at the same time, I don’t think Steam is making much money off of me playing the games I already bought.
Same status as me and Android. The damage has been done. But Alphabet isn’t getting another cent out of me.
I mean, Alphabet makes most of their money by selling user data, but switching to a new phone simply takes time.