Why Switch from Windows to Linux? A Personal Journey and Practical Tips

Why write this article?

On 2020/08/22 the author began documenting the experience of moving from Ubuntu to Debian 10 Buster, noting the time spent on the migration and the lack of prior intention to write.

The purpose is to record personal insights from using Linux daily and reflections after switching back to Debian.

Why switch from Windows to Linux?

Windows is commercial and user‑friendly, while Linux is free and open‑source, fostering community development.

The author agrees with the view that "UNIX is not the exclusive domain of computer experts," emphasizing that anyone can learn it.

Beyond curiosity, the author cites learning and freedom as primary motivations, noting that Windows' convenience sometimes hinders deeper understanding.

Personal frustrations with Windows include opaque problems that require registry edits without clear explanations, leading to fatigue and a desire for a more transparent environment.

Linux offers a free, open environment where users can explore and modify software, though it also has drawbacks.

Linux as daily use – drawbacks

Hardware driver issues

Drivers may be incompatible with certain Linux distributions, especially for Nvidia hardware, requiring manual handling.

Software issues

Linux's software ecosystem is less extensive than Windows; users must verify availability of needed applications, and some software may have bugs, such as Fcitx input method candidate box positioning.

Do you really need to use Linux completely?

The author quotes a Zhihu user: "Linux's best feature is openness and freedom; its biggest flaw is the same. Ordinary people lack the time or ability to choose, and transparency isn’t always desirable."

Reflecting on the switch, the author realized that changing environments without deep understanding can be superficial.

Problems encountered on Debian/Ubuntu

IDEA Markdown preview issue

The author experienced broken Markdown rendering in IDEA, which was resolved by running IDEA with the dedicated Nvidia GPU via

optirun

after enabling Bumblebee.

Wi‑Fi adapter not found

The Wi‑Fi adapter may be blocked; installing

rfkill

, checking

rfkill list all

, and blacklisting the

ideapad_laptop

module in

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

resolves the issue, though it may cause occasional Bluetooth problems.

XMind installation

Requires OpenJDK 8; a

start.sh

script launches XMind, and a desktop entry file can be created in

/usr/share/applications

to integrate it into the desktop.

Fcitx candidate box positioning

The candidate box remains stuck at the lower left of IDEA, likely an IDEA/Swing issue.

The image shows typical Linux directories, helping newcomers understand the filesystem layout.