is it time for change?

As I was conducting my usual weekly review, I found myself overwhelmed with frustration. There was a sense of disorder and a lack of any clear structure, making everything feel chaotic.

Last week marked the beginning of it all. My daughter’s desktop computer totally died, and on top of that, her laptop hinge broke and the frame fell apart. Considering that she is in school as well, I thought it would be a good idea to lend her my desktop computer. I had to backup all my computer files, and then erase Mabox. I swapped it with the distro she uses, Big Linux.

As of now, my sole option for school and work is my Mac mini, and it is unfortunate that the use of nonfree software is required for both of these activities. During exams, my school surveils me by forcing me to use the Lockdown browser. Working as a paralegal grants me the opportunity to have a flexible work-from-home schedule, which I find to be a convenient and comfortable setup for me. Nonfree software is a necessity in the legal field, with the majority of available options designed exclusively for the Windows platform. I made the decision to install Windows on my Mac in order to have regular access to these apps, as I need them daily.

The majority of my time is spent on my laptop, which runs on Linux. I am really starting to realize how much I miss having my desktop computer around. The versatility of my all-in-one desktop computer allowed me to connect the mini to it, taking advantage of its dual functionality as both a monitor and a computer. Using my Linux box as my primary machine, I could easily switch to the mini whenever necessary by conveniently pressing the button on the back of the computer, instantly transitioning to macOS. Push the magic button again and suddenly I would be back in the familiar world of Linux.

The absence of the magic button meant I had lost the ability to effortlessly switch back and forth. The destruction of my workflow left me feeling lost and overwhelmed.

It was during the process of backing up my computer that I came face to face with the disorganized jumble of files I had accumulated. The files were sorted into folders with general labels like home, school, work, and research, with no further organization through sub-folders or tags. My usual method of relying on search to find files often led to disappointment, as I frequently failed to locate what I needed. This meant I had to resort to manually searching through a specific folder.

It became apparent to me that the “system” I had been using was defective. It dawned on me that I required a well-organized system to tackle the task at hand. To accomplish the task effectively, I would have to dedicate considerable time and effort to carefully review my extensive collection of files, taking care to separate the important ones from the useless ones, in order to ensure that only the necessary files are ultimately retained.

Before I delved into any of that, I decided to first assess my current needs. The first thing I did was to take a closer look at my operating system. This was the perfect time to shake things up. Mabox has been my distribution of choice for several years now, and I have been relying on Openbox as my window manager for at least a decade. Craving a clean slate, I believed that a change of pace would be good.

Lightweight desktop environments and window managers are my go-to choice because of their ability to optimize system resources and enhance productivity. If I were to make a decision on a desktop environment, my preference would be XFCE, LXDE, or LXQT, as all three options offer a user-friendly interface that is both lightweight and efficient. I am familiar with them because my journey to Openbox involved a significant stint with both XFCE and LXDE, each lasting approximately five years. If I had to pick a window manager, my top choices would be Openbox, Awesome, or Qtile.

The thought came to my mind about the announcement I heard regarding Fedora’s decision to change its default from x11 to Wayland in future releases. If that happens, it is highly likely that the majority of Linuxland will also follow suit. This got me thinking about the base distribution I should choose. No matter what, my custom PC is always powered by Slackware, providing me with a stable computing experience. That’s my usual, and it won’t change. In terms of my personal computing setup, I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of using rolling release distributions, and I have found that those based on Arch, in particular, work exceptionally well on both my laptop and desktop. This has proven to be a reliable solution for at least a decade.

One potential choice for the laptop could be selecting a distribution within the Slackware family. It seems highly improbable that they will be moving to Wayland in the near future, if ever. Despite the possibility of x11 being limited to the AUR, I am still quite confident that it will be available as an option in Arch. While it’s possible that Debian will continue using x11, I must admit that I am not particularly fond of Debian. SUSE would be another distro that I would take into consideration. There are two other possibilities I would consider: Mandriva forks or an independent distribution like Void.

SUSE always felt like a weighty and sluggish operating system to me, but things might have changed. One potential drawback of independent distros is that their repositories may be lacking in some packages.

Here’s the thing, I absolutely despise change! I will not install a distro on any of my machines without thoroughly researching and planning beforehand. My preference is to test on bare metal instead of using a virtual machine. While I have the option to use my testing laptop, it may not accurately reflect the level of support my newer hardware will receive from the distribution.

I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. I enjoy the process of building a system from scratch. Although I don’t mind the initial setup, I would prefer not to have to continuously tinker with it afterwards.

Should I opt for Wayland? That was the last thing I needed to decide. There are a few Wayland compositors that have caught my attention and seem interesting. Wayland’s lack of compatibility with the window managers and desktop environments I am familiar with poses a problem for me.

What’s a girl to do?

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