Slowly de-tangling from big tech - Windows to Linux
And a slow process it has been, and still is.
Last year when Windows announced that they would no longer support Windows 10, I made the move to Linux. I probably would have moved sooner, but convenience is a real drug. At least that is what I am starting to realize. So it took that event in October to make the switch. I had to do a little bit of research, buy (more than one) USB flash drive, but it wasn't too bad. I got it to work.
I'm running Linux Mint with Ventoy on a USB. At the time I had grand plans to put different distributions on a bootable drive, maybe add Windows 11, but I got distracted. So Linux Mint from the USB it is. This is my minimal viable solution for now.
It's been 5 months. It's not a persistent USB. So I am literally booting up my HP laptop like it's a terminal machine. It's kind of refreshing, because it's like I start fresh every single time. The only settings that I have to adjust whenever I reboot is to disable the touch pad, and set the date. I just plug in my hard drive and it's a go from there.
For what I am using the computer for (mostly internet and web based applications) there is not a whole lot of difference. But since I am using firefox everyday (prefer to use brave, but that might be part of the persistent usb drive project) I don't have the convenience of having my passwords auto-populate in Chrome. But it really isn't all that much slower. I just have a different process of tracking and saving my passwords.
The next step will be the persistent USB. I was thinking of buying one already done, but I wanted to figure out how to create one myself. I think I'm like 75% of the way there, it's just been too easy with my current setup, I don't have a real impetus or a compelling reason to complete that project immediately.
This has just been a small part of the "de-tangling" process. I really am looking at everything in my life related to tech/media/devices/internet differently these days. But having to do things differently and adapt, rather than being on autopilot, brings clarity to what is important, and what is just there for the sake of convenience.