The Linux Experiment

Today, for the first time in 23 years, I own a computer that is not a Mac.

For a while now I had the idea to break away from – or at least become less dependent on – closed systems, in my particular case: Apple’s eco system.

Don’t get me wrong: It is very cosy here. Everything pretty much works. The UI is quite pleasing in most cases and I feel very at home. I have all kinds of tools and apps set up in a way, that allows me to be very productive. So why would I want to give that up?

Well, first of all, the plan is not to give it up. But, I very much like the idea of tech independence. I think of it as kind of like a backup. If Apple becomes Evil Corp, it would be nice to know there is an alternative setup, which allows me to get my work done. One that is (as much as possible) hardware agnostic and freely available. It doesn’t need to be shiny, it just needs to be functional.

So for now this is an experiment, first and foremost. I want to dip my toes in the water, so to speak, and see how far I can get, without loosing too much convenience.

This solution will not meet all my computer needs, particularly when it comes to photography. I am not a huge fan of Adobe, but Lightroom works for me and I don’t think comparable alternatives exist. (A couple of weeks ago I had a look at what’s available in terms of open source raw processing and photo management and its pretty bleak.)

The plan for now is to start with work stuff. Web development should be relatively easy to cover. (I hope!)

In terms of operating system, I looked at different options and decided to go with Ubuntu, because of the wide compatibility and the ease of use for a newbie like me. I don’t want to spend too much time solving obscure issues that require deep dives in to message boards etc.

I will try to document my experience on this blog, write about roadblocks I encounter and hopefully what positively surprised me along the way.

Please note, that I am an absolute beginner when it comes to Ubuntu/Linux. I know just enough command line fu to be dangerous and I have been using macOS for the last 23 years, so bare with me! :)

Which hardware did I go with?

After doing some research I decided to buy a ThinkPad. It is actually a ThinkPad E14 Gen 6 (AMD). I looked at a lot of other options, but in the end I wanted something cheap, upgradable with a decent screen. As I said, I don’t want to replace my MacBook, otherwise I would have gone for a more premium option. Also I bought it during Black Friday, which brought the price down significantly.

Preparation

The first thing I did, even before the laptop got here, was to prepare an USB-stick with the Ubuntu installer.

I used balenaEtcher to flash the stick with the latest version of Ubuntu. You can find lots of instructions on YouTube or follow the official guide on canonical’s website, although it is a bit outdated.

Downloading and flashing the drive took about 10 minutes total.

Installation

Once the ThinkPad got here (after being stuck in Korea for 5 days, probably due to BF craziness) it was as easy as putting the USB stick in and following the on screen instructions. Very straightforward process, that took maybe 30 minutes.

So Ubuntu is up and running smoothly so far.

I’ll try to document what I installed in the next post.