Here is how I started using Linux
I installed Linux Mint Xfce on my old MacBook Air at the beginning of February 2026. It was my first time installing a different OS on my computer. It was also my first time installing Linux. It has been about a month now, and I fell in love with Linux.
How I started my relationship with Linux
One day, my friend said, "Linux is faster than Windows. You should try it." Is that so? His words stuck with me. Before that, I had never used Linux on my personal computer. Although in the past I had run Linux on a local VM project and Raspberry Pi project, it was more like Linux server experience. Installing a Linux desktop directly on an actual laptop felt like a whole different level.
Shortly after, out of curiosity, I started researching Linux more. I began seeing many articles suggesting switching from Windows to Linux because of how Microsoft operates nowadays. They said Windows computers are full of bloat, which makes them slower, and that there are many privacy concerns due to telemetry. "Windows treats you as a product, Linux treats you as an admin." I don't know how many times I saw this quote. It made me even more curious about the OS.
The timing was probably right as well. Microsoft ended Windows 10 support in October 2025. That meant you either upgrade to Windows 11 or switch to a different OS, such as macOS or Linux. But what if you want to stick with Windows and your computer is too old to upgrade to Windows 11?
If you want to stay with Windows, you would need to buy a newer laptop that already has Windows 11, or use a specific tool to force a Windows 11 upgrade on an old laptop (which I actually did on the old free Windows laptop I got from work, it was a good experiment).
Besides the old free laptop I got from work, I already had my 2015 MacBook Air. At that point, I could not install the latest macOS anymore because the 2015 model does not meet the latest OS requirements. Unlike the old Windows laptop, which I upgraded to 16GB of RAM, this MacBook Air has soldered RAM, meaning I cannot upgrade it. This MacBook Air will be stuck with 4GB of RAM forever. Even if I forced a new OS onto this MacBook using a specific tool, 4GB of RAM simply cannot handle it.
So on a random weekend in February, after transferring all my documents from the Mac to a USB drive as a backup, I finally decided to try the Mint Xfce edition live USB on my 11-year-old MacBook Air.
First issue during installation: Wi-Fi not connecting
It was my first time trying a Linux live USB. I had booted from USB before, but only for Windows ISO files. Before booting, I already asked Gemini what might happen, and I was aware of the issue I would most likely encounter: Wi-Fi connection problems.
It booted up, and the Mint screen showed up. It looked more polished and modern than I expected. I liked the design. As expected, when I clicked the internet connection icon, my home Wi-Fi SSID did not appear. I used my smartphone hotspot to connect to the internet, then the Driver Manager installed the Broadcom wireless drivers, and my home Wi-Fi SSID started appearing. I was successfully able to connect to the internet while using the live USB version.
Besides the Wi-Fi issue, everything seemed fine. The touchpad worked. Scrolling websites worked. My biggest concern was the Wi-Fi issue, so after resolving it via Driver Manager, I felt relieved and decided to wipe the storage completely and install the OS.
Second issue during installation: newest kernel not loading
After installing the OS permanently and creating my username and password, I encountered a much more difficult problem than the Wi-Fi issue. After finishing the setup (username, language selection, timezone, etc.), I ran sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. I restarted the computer and it did not load the OS. I was locked out. The real unexpected troubleshooting had begun.
It seemed that after updating, the newest kernel (6.17) was activated, but the compatibility between that kernel and my 2015 MacBook Air was not great, and it struggled to load the OS.
To solve this, I had to enter the GRUB menu before the OS loaded. In the menu, I was able to choose a different kernel version. Since the latest kernel version was causing issues, I chose a slightly older one (6.14). I was able to successfully load the OS and return to the login screen, which was a relief.
After realizing that this old MacBook Air did not work well with that specific kernel version, I added it to the Update Manager blacklist. I have continued using this Mint machine, running sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade occasionally, and I have not encountered the same issue since then.
How I use it after installation
Since becoming a Linux desktop user, I have been forcing myself to use only:
- Terminal for everything
- Firefox for researching and documenting (Notion)
- Sublime Text for coding
That’s it. In the terminal, I installed btop, micro, tmux, etc. I configured tlp and mbpfan to help my MacBook Air hardware last longer. I manually run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade for software updates. I barely use the GUI in general. I know the command line is faster, and it is also good practice when using Linux.
I even installed Kubernetes (K3s) on this 4GB RAM computer and deployed my app on it. It would be much more hassle to try Kubernetes on Windows, so I took advantage of using Linux as a daily driver. Linux gives you more freedom than Windows because it allows you to configure everything manually in the terminal. At least that is how I feel, and that is exactly why I fell in love with this OS. Endless tweaking and experimentation.
Learning never ends
After getting used to Mint Xfce for a couple of weeks, one of my coworkers was moving and kindly donated two old laptops to me. I installed:
- MX Linux on a 2014 laptop with 8GB RAM
- EndeavourOS on a 2011 MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM
The reason for MX Linux is that I wanted to stay within the Debian family, which I am already familiar with, but also try a slightly more challenging distro than Mint. I now use MX as my daily driver when coding and writing blog posts since it has 8GB of RAM and is stable.
The reason for EndeavourOS is that I wanted to explore outside the Debian world. Now I am learning Arch commands such as pacman and yay.
So far, I have only touched the surface of the Linux world. I know there is still a lot to learn. For example, I currently use micro as my terminal editor because it has a more straightforward UI, but I will learn vim eventually. I installed my first Linux distro on bare metal just a month ago. My Linux journey has just started. I am sure I will learn more along the way. To be continued.
Thanks for reading.