Why I Stick with the Linux Desktop

I've been using Linux "on the desktop" since '96. I stuck with it because, it's Unix. It's not BSD pretending to be Windows. It's not Android, running around with a Java dress on, pretending to be something it's not.

X11 sucks and so does Unix. But they suck less than every other system out there. I can make X11 act however I want it to act. It can act like Windows, or it can act in some new way that was not blessed by the high priests, Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

If I want my system to do something, Unix provides the toolset. It's an amazing ecosystem for learning, exploration, and creation. If you know a bit about Perl, Python, or Bash then you can pretty much make data do what you want. A file is not just an opaque blackbox, requiring a single expensive proprietary application to interact with it. Fitting together disparate tools in a way that was never envisioned by the authors of said tools is not a "hack." It's just good design.

a)Tiling window managers are another nicety that is under represented on windows and osx.

b) In the past when I wasnt using tiling window managers - devilspie was really nice since it allowed me to specify where different windows would popup, allowing me to step away from physically arranging windows.

c) Be able to remove features you dont like / use. I currently have my system boot into a dwm session with a minimal set of services started at bootup. Most visual experiences / fonts are all configured via config scripts. Which means that I just need to scp two directories on any new machine and turns into the same flavor visually and behaviorally that I am used to. It is relaxing being able to upgrade machines / move to new machines knowing down to the pixel what environment and keyboard shortcuts you are going to get.

I used to navigate workspaces spatially too, but then I increased to three monitors and the traditional workspace model broke down big time. Namely, switching to a different workspace switched whatever was displayed on all of my monitors. I couldn't easily compose groups of windows onto my displays.

The solution (for me) was to throw out a spatial representation of workspaces and adopt a more dynamic approach. Instead of being fixed to a set of N workspaces in a particular geometry, I switched to having a fluid list of named workspaces. What makes this work particularly well on multiple monitors is that each workspace can be viewed on any monitor. So for example, with three monitors, I have three workspaces visible at any point in time. And yes, I can flip the workspace on one monitor to the other monitor.

This ends up being great for my work flow, since I can maintain my work area for any particular project without cluttering up the rest of my desktop. For example, when I'm working on the window manager that implements this functionality, I might have a workspace called "wingo" for code. And when I want to switch back to working on the X client library for Go, I go to my workspace "xgb" and it has me right where I left off.

And of course, I have workspaces like "browser", "mail", "irc", etc. I have some temporary workspaces too, which are used for scratch work.

Any workspace can be removed. And I can add a new workspace with any name at any time.

If you're interested, this is all implemented in my hybrid stacking/tiling window manager: https://github.com/BurntSushi/wingo

(Similar features exist in i3 and xmonad, but both are emphatically tiling window managers.)

All of these are nice, and contribute to my enjoyment of Linux.

But, there's one thing that always makes me reboot from Windows into Linux (if I was gaming or watching Netflix; I usually run Linux): Having to do any work involving the command line, whether local work such as development, or remote work such as building and deploying packages or website updates.

PuTTY isn't a bad ssh client...but, it's not the same as always having a bunch of gnome terminals open in tabs and being able to "ssh myserver" or "vim myprogram" or whatever I need to do. The mental friction of having to click through menus to open a new ssh session for every server I need to work on (I've usually got two servers open when working: staging and production; and I've often got three or for sessions per server). Sure, I could use screen or tmux, but I can't remember the key combinations. And with gnome terminal tabs I don't have to. Worse, PuTTY doesn't seem to support the keepalive functions that OpenSSH does. I can keep my ssh sessions open all damned day under Linux. Under Windows, if I walk away for lunch or a nap, I have to relog everything when I get back.

Not having them in tabs, and not being able to manage windows under Windows in any reasonable fashion is also frustrating. It's an exercise in frustration finding the right terminal (there will always be two or three with the same label, unless I explicitly make an effort to change it; with tabs I can put them in the order I always use and know exactly where everything is without reading; windows get moved around all the time).

Lack of middle mouse button paste was always a nuisance until I got an awful HP Envy 15 lappy without a middle mouse button...it has the Mac style single mouse button with click areas, which never work right, in Windows or Linux--I often get a right click when I wanted left and vice versa...I've had to retrain myself to use three finger click, which is error prone and I end up getting a double paste....basically I'm realizing that I've been living in misery ever since I got this awful laptop. I need to order a bloody mouse, so I can stop punishing myself with this clickforsaken thing.

Actually, there's a ton of things that are coming to mind now that are just an awful nuisance. Lack of a good command line is the biggest. I use locate and find all the time; the analogs on Windows are a joke. grep! sed/awk/perl for munging things quickly! cygwin is a second class citizen and I'm always trying to figure out where I need to go to do what I need; the paths are so weird and long. That can be said of Mac OS X, as well, to some degree...while it has an actual UNIX underneath, it still has all the clunky Mac baggage that makes it ornery.

I wish I was so systematic, but Virtual Desktops still are vital for my workflow. I have 2 Monitors and a 3x3 grid. Usually I start Sublime in the center desktop, terminator occupies the second screen, so I an easily split my terminal if necessary. If I need to look something up, I'll start my browser on an adjacent desktop, and probably a terminal next to it if necessary (most if the time it will run IRC). When I want to try something out where I need some space or just work on something different, I'll go to one of the spare desktops. Yeah, I tend to forget about terminals sometimes and then I have a cluttered desktop somewhere, but there is usually a free desktop left somewhere. (Yes, at that point I'm sometimes getting lost, looking for the proper terminal. But that's when I decide it's time to close all terminals I'm not using right now.) And if I feel like taking a break, I just go to a free desktop and play a game.

Now if only I had something like virtual desktops for my real-life desk…