So, I switched to Linux...

Can someone who makes Minecraft videos on YouTube use Linux? I am here to blog about it, after using it for a long time.

How did I discovered Linux?

I’m not a very techy person, so my discovery of Linux first happened when I found my irl friend @HannorSmith, using Ubuntu at school (Thinkpad user moment). He made it look like MacOS, while it’s not the most convincing thing ever, I still think it’s pretty convincing. I didn’t thought about it that much, until one day I found my old MacBook air from 2011.

It made the Old Macbook actually usable, and Ubuntu Yaru icons look really really good! It felt like a refreshing look. It’s new, It’s unique. (If it was Pop as my first distro, I might not have stuck with it as I don’t think it looks good at all) I was super impressed with Linux, I also found cool apps like LibreOffice which I actually used it on Windows (I don’t have MS office, I was using Google Docs and it was horrible) Anyways, I like it.

Why Switch?

I wanted to not use Windows, Windows feels janky and has soooo many issues. (Keep in mind I use a real Windows Pro License)

Downloading Files

I often had this issue where I download stuff that isn’t from Google Drive, and I keep getting this issue where it wanted me to resume, It’s super annoying. I tried solving the issue and it just never works so….

Minecraft Java Server disconnect

Same thing here, tried solving the issue. It’s super annoying. You can go look at my off-episodes unlisted videos and see how often this happens.

Inconsistent Dark mode

Any win32 apps will always be light mode and it’s super inconsistent and my eyes have been burned.

Long Update time

Updating your operating system is an important thing to do to ensure your computer’s security. Too bad Windows Update took super long to update and it distrupts the time I could be doing something else

What was Deal-Breaker before

Minecraft Bedrock

I have heard about it Linux before, but it was in the context of Minecraft. Minecraft Bedrock is not available on Mac & Linux. This is an issue that I found a couple of solutions for. Read more about it here I mainly use Bedrock to play with my cousins for bedwars, skywars, lucky blocks, and more. It’s super annoying that THE Minecraft crossplay platform is not available for Mac & Linux.

LINE

Ew, so in Thailand we use this app called Line, right? It’s bad. Device limit and no web apps (Well, there is technically a Chrome Extension but it’s horrible) It’s one of those “Everything App” it’s trying to be a social media and chatting. (I mainly use it for school and family) and of course, no Linux support on the PC. This was another roadblock.

Paint.net

Don’t laugh! Paint.net is a good and competent photo manipulation program, despite being simple. (Basically simple by default powerful when you need it) Paint.net is only available on Windows and that’s a problem. I rely on it to make YouTube thumbnail, that’s a problem.

Premiere Pro

Gonna admit it here, I don’t completely rely on Premiere Pro. I was finding for an “iMovie alternative for Windows” and there aren’t any. (There are a lot of spammy apps which are REALLY bad) I don’t know what’s a good video editor so I just thought “Y’know Adobe has a lot of pirated stuff floating out there, what’s an Adobe equivalent to Video Editors” and that’s how I used it. (If I had known Kdenlive or Resolve exists, I would never use Adobe) so yeah, I was a little glad to move even though that means the loss of compatibility with my old projects.

Solution

There will always be a solution to each problem!(apparently) so, let’s go into it

Minecraft Bedrock

Read more about it here TLDR; I now use Bedrock Launcher for most things and Waydroid for some, but before this I used to use FydeOS as it can run Linux and Android apps, more about it later.

LINE

This is a tricky one, I use LINE on Wine which is an “almost perfect” after a few tweakings, but I still can’t save any files, which I need Line for Chrome Extension. It’s not a perfect solution and it is a pain that we still use this app T-T

Paint.net

I never got Paint.net working on Linux even with WINE, I’ve also tried Pinta which is a Paint.net clone but it uses GTK. It’s fine but I can’t even resize things (For some reason) so I just never used it for a long period of time. There is also GIMP, I don’t really like it, it felt weird. What I use now though is Krita. It is an amazing KDE app that can also be used for photo manipulation if you want.

Premiere Pro

Of course, I switched to Kdenlive. It’s a really good FOSS app (If you want to see me type more about video editors, check out this blog) It also goes a long really well with Krita. However, I don’t use Kdenlive anymore as the playback is laggy, so yeah :/ I now use Davinci Resolve. I love Resolve it’s a nice program, it is not open-source though

Distro and Desktop Environment

Desktop Environment

I’ve used a couple of DEs but many I haven’t daily drived it: KDE, Cinnamon, Pantheon, and Unity. Let’s see what I’ve actually used and daily drive.

GNOME

GNOME is one of the best DE ever, with a consistent look and dark mode (hooray!) I am using GNOME right now, and it is also the first Desktop I’ve used and I think I like it, My setup is basically Vanilla GNOME with some extensions like Blur My Shell.

Budgie

As someone who has a Budgie profile picture, I would be drawn to this desktop. It’s a very good and customizable desktop that uses the GNOME technologies I only switched to GNOME because I wanted Wayland. I have set up a Mac-like DE.

Distro

Of course, I’ve daily drive a couple distro, so let’s get right into it.

Ubuntu

Ah Ubuntu, Where would I be without you? This is still a solid Linux Distribution. I don’t really like snaps though, they’re not the worst but compare to Flatpak. It’s not very good, you can always install Flatpak. Ubuntu LTS is also a very stable distribution, Ubuntu non-LTS is also stable but not as stable. Overall, I think it’s a nice distro

Fedora

I am using Fedora Silverblue on my Laptop. I love Fedora, you get newer stuff while still maintaining stability. Silverblue is also very good, you can swap images in case things broke but things usually don’t break. It’s nice!

Nobara

Nobara is essentially Fedora with extra patches. I use it on my desktop as it makes installing Resolve easier on AMD. I really have nothing much else to say, I think it’s good although you’ll get a later upgrade than Fedora (I just got GNOME 44 for ex.)

FydeOS

I used to use this “distro” because it supports running Linux and Android apps so I can use Minecraft Bedrock, there are some issues though. Minecraft Bedrock on there isn’t perfect, I can’t even put on a custom skin. Linux apps are also in a VM and that’s super annoying. I don’t use much Android App compared to Linux apps. While the performance is somewhat okay, Minecraft with shaders just don’t work.

Will I continue using Linux?

Absolutely, I was never a Windows fan. I always hated Windows since forever, I used to use MacOS and I only use Windows because I wanted to use other hardware so Windows was my choice. I think I will continue using Linux as there is not a strong enough reason for me to use other OS. (Maybe MacOS) I think the future of Linux desktop in LibAdwaita, Flatpak, Proton, and Wayland is going to be bright. I have already moved a couple of people to Linux and they loved it! This will be it though!