Pop! Os

A little over a year ago, I finally had it with Windows. The constant updates, tracking, and shoving ads in various places just sent me over the edge. I decided it was time to give Linux an honest attempt since my previous attempts at using Linux were minor flirtations in dual booting.

I went all in, I wiped my laptop clean and installed Mint. It did everything Windows did, but faster and cleaner. There was a bit of learning curve with some of the command line stuff, but it took me back to installing DOS games in my youth. I was shocked that so many applications were able to install without the use of the command line and well, for most basic users, including myself, Mint had pretty much everything I wanted and needed after the installation.

Earlier this year, I was gifted a Lenovo Yoga complete with Windows 11. My previous computer was a seven-year-old Acer, so I was thrilled to play around with the solid state drive and touch screen. Soon, that thrill wore off, as Windows did what Windows does (manages everything for you) and I found the thirteen-inch screen was not to my liking.

After a few months, I decided to boot up my old laptop and get back to computing the way I enjoy it. It was a bit rough coming from the speed of the new laptop, not to mention, I blotched an update on Mint which slowed down my boot up time and ended up causing some issues with me updating some other applications. I thought about doing some trouble shooting but I just didn’t have it in me. Instead, I planned to take part of my weekend and install a new distro.

Based on the hype alone, I decided to go with Pop! Os and I’ve been very happy with my decision. I remember Mint taking me some significant time to install but Pop! was downloaded and installed within twenty minutes. My mind was blown. I had figured I’d need at least three or four hours to get everything right.

Straight out the install, things worked even better than Mint. The store for applications was fully stocked and outside of some trouble I’ve had installing my VPN, things have been incredible. It looks gorgeous, runs incredibly fast, and I have absolutely no complaints. It has been an excellent upgrade for me.

For what I do on a computer, Linux has been a god send. It allows me to surf without feeling like everything is being monitored and tracked and it breathes new life into my old hardware. It provides me with all the tools I need in a computer and looks good while doing it. I’m quite thrilled with Pop!_OS and while I can’t compare or get into the technical aspects of it all, I can say as a slightly above average user it’s pretty awesome.