I’ve been using Linux for years, but as the proprietary alternatives get more aggressive with telemetry and adverts, I wanted to document the choices that actually keep my desktop predictable.
This isn’t a manual, but a practical overview of my setup. From why I’ve settled on CachyOS and KDE Plasma for my main rig, to the reality of dealing with proprietary software and app compatibility in 2026. It’s just an honest look at the transition and why I’m done with the corporate defaults.
Why ‘still’? Linux is only getting better and other options are getting worse.
Maybe a “Youtube-like title” for the fun (or dare I say, habit) of it?
I would explain why I still use my butt to poop in 2026, butt I assume you already know the most likely explanation …
The linked blog has a normal title.
This just in: Why I’m staying with my husband that doesn’t beat me, doesn’t gaslight me, doesn’t rape children or explain daily why rapists should run our country. He helps with chores too. The reason will shock you.
It’s his dick, obviously
Alright, I’m lost in the analogy now. What’s the dick in Linux?
That sense of superiority for using Linux? The ‘btw’ those arch folks use?
btw I use arch is what you say when you show your partner your ikea shark and stripey socks
My dick; I fuck Linux so hard
I’ve said some negative things about KDE Plasma feeling like three desktop oses taped together, but the latest version the fixed all that and it’s pretty good.
I still want to destroy all the hotksys and window decorations, but it just works, and it works well, and it works for edge cases where Gnome and Cosmic crash or fail silently.
KDE is pretty good, and I say that about a very small amount of software.
Also: I just switched to Nixos and now I can actually setup systemd units without wanting to shoot myself in the face. So that’s nice.
I’m a huge fan of tiling window managers, and i3 is still the king of getting the hell out of my way and letting me work/play. That’s the beauty of Linux systems, everyone gets to set things up how they want.
You know you can change the hotkeys and window decorations right? That’s the great thing about KDE. You have choices.
Better still, in the Nix world there’s https://github.com/nix-community/plasma-manager which allows you to set up all the settings exactly once, and then auto-apply them on all the machines!
I use chezmoi and chezmoi_modify_manager to keep my dotfiles (including some KDE configs) in a Git repo, and it works well enough.
What surprises me more is that someone feels the need to justify staying on Linux at all. That’s a conversation that shouldn’t even exist.
The question has almost always been the other way around: why use anything else?
Yes. I have used Linux for 26 years. Never have I ever considered leaving.
I mean I kinda get it. BSD is pretty cool in its own way.
I was waiting for “I use Arch, BTW.”
Steam has reported record number of linux users in their os survey! I made the switch this year too!
Why I still drive a Ferrari instead of the poop smelling ice cream truck.
Windows 11 is less of a poop smelling ice cream truck and more of a Kaiser’s Coffee Shop van. And you ain’t in the driver’s seat.
“coffee, black”
“Apologies, all our coffee come with creamer loaded with corn syrup. We’ve got matcha though! Also with corn syrup.”
And yet you use & support systemd…
Do you have any actual problems with systemd, or do you just want SysV init scripts to stick around forever?
Maybe systemd isn’t the best, but it’s way better than a bunch of mostly unstructured shell scripts, and more secure (it’s pretty easy to reduce privileges, sandbox the filesystem, restrict syscalls, etc per service just by editing the unit file)
Omg shut up. Nobody controls Systemd, it’s open source.
You can also replace individual components. It’s basically a bunch of binaries using an API.
