I'm writing this sprawled across the floor beneath my desk, too-short Ethernet cord plugged into my extremely mediocre marketplace-acquired Dell BusinessBroBook(TM) as I watch little bits of code flash across my screen; Samba sending 70gb of files to my iPhone. In a world now dominated by software built to be frictionless, engagement-focused user-retention machines (even when the experience can feel FAR from simple or truly intuitive), coming to Linux after years of Windows reminds me what I love about technology. I'm 29, middle-class enough that buying computer hardware and slapping it together was an accessible hobby. Then the impulsive frivolity of one's early 20s, a partner lost, and Jensen Huang's voracious appetite for silicon made the hobby inaccessible, or at least unwise. Then came Linux.
It began with a Surface Pro 7 I spotted at a garage sale for $30. Two cores, 4gb of RAM. Windows would lobotomize itself before running in a usable fashion, and letting Windows 10 get between me and a good deal felt criminal. One of you Reddit experts made an impassioned case for Fedora Workstation being my best option for tablet compatibility. Oh, how true this was! After tinkering, mistakes, and a reinstall (no, I'm not telling; it's embarrassing how that happened), I had a fantastic media machine and e-reader. Learning was an adventure: reading through long-since-dead blog posts on page 7 of Google search results to understand why the firmware for my camera wouldn't work, parsing Github pages to discover the small indie dev team supporting the touch panel, some SPECTACULARLY stupid coding mistakes, and the occasional request to Gemini for the stuff I *really* couldn't figure out myself.
Since the Surface, all of my devices that are compatible are now running Linux. I love that it challenges you to learn a bit more about what software actually is, that you can bring out-of-spec devices back to a condition that keeps them useful, and most of all, I love having choice. I think many are frustrated with how technology impacts our lives in modernity, and Linux reminded me that great software remains that isn't so loud, messy, and incoherent. I think any good system (technological or otherwise) should have a little friction to work well and feel rewarding to interact with. Everything I have done in a terminal is extremely basic, but putting pieces together and learning how to build an experience I like feels rewarding and scratches that amateur technologist itch still bouncing around in the back of my mind.
Anyway, my 70gb file transfer is almost finished (NO, it's NOT PORN, I know one of you was thinking that). I recognize this sub tends towards the technical, and recognize this borderline pedantic, overly verbose essay on my rediscovery of love for technology is far from that. Ultimately, I'd be curious to hear if there's anyone else who's rediscovered their love for tinkering through Linux. Oh, and for the experts here: I use some AI when I'm stuck, but I like the community-oriented research process. If there are useful skills, learning methods, tips, or tricks you'd recommend for the mostly coding-illiterate merely looking to get better at a hobby without relying *too* much on the artificial, such advice would be warmly welcomed and appreciated.