Fuck It, I’m Moving to Linux

2026-01-25

Table of Contents

Going all-in on Linux and removing Windows was the only thing I was thinking about for a long time, but it’s just a long process and I was worried. I didn’t think all the software I use would work on Linux, but to my surprise, for now, everything works. I know it’s gonna break at some point and I’m gonna hate myself for it, but fuck it I don’t want to use Windows.

Why don't I want to use Windows? Actually, I don’t really know. I just want to learn more about Linux, and my laptop recently has just been getting hot and the RAM usage is getting high, so fuck Microsoft, I’m going to Linux.

Picking the Distro

The first thing was choosing the right distro. In my home lab, I used Debian, and I was thinking to do the same here, but I searched online and found out it would be a hassle to set up the NVIDIA drivers. So I checked out Arch, and it’s such a different thing from all the Debian-based distros I’ve tried. I just can’t imagine myself getting fucked just because I did an update and the system breaks. I don’t care about the rolling release thing they are doing; I just want some reliable distro with the drivers easy to install.

So we are back to the classic one: Ubuntu. I already know how to work with it because I’ve installed it so many times as a VM and I was already dual-booting it anyway.

The programs I use

After that, I was thinking: what software is even on my Windows machine? What’s gonna work, what’s gonna be a hassle, and what won't work at all? I made OpenCode (an open-source coding agent) scan my Windows system to find everything. It gave me a list, and honestly, the dev shit almost all works natively. The whole point of the switch was to make my life easier with development anyway.

  • Note: Check the App Center (Ubuntu Store) first. Most of what you need is in there, and it’ll save you the headache of hunting for install commands online. Trust me, it’s way easier.

Here is the breakdown:
The Dev & Engineering Staples:

  • VS Code, Git, Python, Postman, Node, Docker (Native)
  • MATLAB, KiCAD, Fritzing, Arduino IDE, ESP-IDF (Native)
  • Cisco Packet Tracer (Available as a .deb)
  • Betaflight Configurator (For the FPV drones)

Creative & Media:

The Internet & Sideloading:

  • Zen Browser: I wanted all my workspaces and bookmarks to stay the same, so I did some shit and it worked. Here is an in-depth tutorial on how to do it: How to Migrate Zen Browser from Windows to Linux.
  • AltServer: I use this to sideload apps on my iPhone. I found an alternative for Linux called Althea and it just works. Follow the steps in the repo and you're good.

Gaming: I play Assetto Corsa and DRL on Steam. I just installed Steam natively and used Proton to run them without any problem. But I also play VelociDrone, which can run on Linux but had some issues. I wrote a blog explaining how to do it: VelociDrone installation on ubuntu.

The "Impossible" Apps: Multisim & Office

Now let's talk about the things that I can’t just run on Linux or that would crash if I used Wine. They are for electrical engineering and uni, so I just can’t skip them:

The best approach was to use a VM, but fuck that I found out about something better: WinBoat. I dove deeper into how it works and why I'm using it in the blog where I installed Multisim: Running NI Multisim on Linux. The short explanation is: I can open apps like they are native on Linux, but they are actually running in a KVM in Docker in the background. It’s clean and it works.

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