Now look, I know most people by now expected me to switch back to the Microsoft ecosystem and it "was just a phase" blah blah blah.
Well sad to say, but you're wrong. I'm still daily driving Arch Linux, and I am still migrating towards the Steam Deck.
Now after last month's post, I did have a few more problems. I accidentally installed KDE's Plasma alongside GNOME on my main system,
which I did not use at all. And silly me, I didn't realise when installing that NetworkManager was a dependency of Plasma, meaning
Pacman (Arch's package manager) would uninstall NetworkManager. This is so far the only time I have had to use arch-chroot. But I highly doubt this will be my last.
Another issue I am actively facing is mdadm not assembling my RAID0 array on boot (for a daily system snapshot) - which I am still yet
to fix due to the fact that the Arch wiki has led me in circles. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Now, I am still in the process of migrating away from my Series S. Now, I'm sure some of you think that this is hesitation or that I'm
"not really doing it". However, it is solely due to finances. Turns out, repurchasing all your games on Steam is not cheap,
especially on a student budget. And well, with 50 games on my Steam wishlist - it won't be done any time soon.
I also now installed Arch on my laptop, overwriting Manjaro, and there is not much different there. Since Manjaro is already Arch-based,
the only difference is the lack of Manjaro's branding and software. I do have to admit though, Manjaro Store's ability to install
from the AUR (Arch User Repository) without the terminal was definetly a creature comfort I'll miss. But, I can live without it.
Now of course, I'm sure some of you are wondering "Is gaming even that good on Linux?", and well, it's got its ups and downs.
For example, Stellaris is very broken on Linux, and even worse through Proton. I hope PDX will fix this soon
as I am a massive fan of their game. However, on the other hand, I have found that games like Minecraft run
much better on Linux than Windows, and I have found that I have been playing it more often since the switch.
Of course, the keen eye will notice that this is far from vanilla Minecraft. I have been playing on a highly modded
custom modpack that I "made" (I use the term "made" very loosely) in January. For anyone interested, I can provide a list of mods
and the modpack file. As of writing, I am in the progress of the Brass age on the mod Create, which has reignited
my love for Minecraft as a whole. Minus the dev team. And minus Bedrock Edition.
Another blatant upside of the Steam Deck is practically garunteed mod support for most if not all games.
Which of course, I heavily enjoy as I don't always enjoy the game for what it is, but what it could be. And I am sure
that the Steam Deck will be a great platform for that. I am also trying to allow R5Reloaded to run on the Steam Deck,
as I am a fan of Apex but not a fan of the community or the developers. However, as of writing, R5Reloaded does not load
into games, only into the lobby. I hope this will be fixed, either from the developers or from a custom mod.
Now, I am sure some of you are wondering "What about the Series S?". Well, I am still using it, however I am using it less and less.
Currently, I am using it for vanilla Apex Legends, as I am not experienced enough in PC lobbies. And well, the community's toxicity
towards controller on PC is not something I can be bothered to deal with. I am also using it as a Plex media device, as my TV
is not smart and I don't want to buy a whole new TV just for nothing. And plus the "spying" that some TVs are seen to do
is not anything I can be bothered to regulate, let alone deal with.
Finally, I am sure someone is wondering "Well, what about the Microsoft ecosystem?". I've still yet to touch it. I have not
touched Windows since the last post, and the only Microsoft "product" I have had to touch is Teams due to college. And well,
I can't really avoid that. So, frankly, it does make me wonder - why didn't I do this sooner?