My Relationship With Linux

PURVA PATEL — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 03:41:59 +0000

It’s been 4 years since I got my first laptop—or should I say, my first computer ever. I was as excited as a newborn baby getting their first robot or doll. It was an HP office laptop that I needed for my IT course, and over the past 4 years, I’ve used it intensely—learning to code, watching movies, and bingeing series on it.

About 3 months after getting it, I discovered Linux. I found it fascinating, so like every Windows user who first discovers Linux, I installed Ubuntu on a virtual machine. But after just one day of using it, I thought, “If it runs this well on a VM, imagine how smooth it’ll be on the actual SSD.” So, I decided to dual-boot it with Windows.

Most of my coding was done on Ubuntu, while I played Valorant on Windows. But constantly switching between both OSes started to annoy me, and since I clearly preferred Linux, I removed Windows completely. Ubuntu became my only OS—and honestly, that was one of the best decisions I ever made.

I learned about package managers, shells, and how Linux’s learning curve is so rewarding. Even if you’re not a programmer, you’ll still love Linux if you’re curious and love exploring how things work.

Later, in my 3rd year, I discovered Fedora OS and tiling window managers. I installed Fedora and set up a minimal Hyprland config, which gave me a super-productive workflow. While customizing my setup, I came across Neovim—and trying it out was one of the best decisions ever. It was one of those experiences where you instantly know, “This is it—I don’t want to use anything else.”

Still, something felt missing in my Hyprland setup because Fedora’s DNF package manager didn’t support all the Hyprland utilities. So, I installed Arch on my laptop. By then, I had already installed and reinstalled Linux several times, but I didn’t mind—it was all part of the fun. I built my Arch + Hyprland setup exactly the way I wanted. Sure, I followed some tutorials, but learning through that process was incredibly satisfying.

At one point, I had to use Windows again for the first time in 3 years—and honestly, I instantly felt FOMO. I had to use the trackpad, and all the muscle memory I’d built on Hyprland felt useless. I quickly switched back to my old setup and eventually found an alternative solution for the issue that had forced me to use Windows in the first place. I felt relieved that I didn’t have to go back.

I’m not saying Windows is bad, but it’s become a stereotype that it’s the “default” desktop OS—while Linux is seen as overwhelming or “only for techies.” But once you dive into it, you realize how empowering it actually is.

Currently, I’m using Omarchy by DHH, which has been trending lately, and I had to give it a shot. I exported all my Hyprland keybinds and my Neovim setup into Omarchy—because honestly, LazyVim isn’t for me. It feels too much like VS Code.

Youtubers like ThePrimeagen, TJ, and DHH made it really fun to be part of the same OS and open-source community as them.

Thank you so much for reading this far. I truly hope you take the time—at least once in your life—to explore and find out what you genuinely love and what you don’t.

Peace out, amigos.

Neovim As An Editor

PURVA PATEL — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 17:47:56 +0000

It's been over a year since I abandoned VS Code and switched to Neovim as my primary text editor for programming and development.
It has been such a productive experience. Most of the time, if you have a good Neovim config (which, by the way, takes its own share of time to set up), you almost never use the mouse at all. hjkl have become my go-tos — I try to use them for everything possible. For example, if I want to switch tiles in Hyprland (which, by the way, is a cool tiling window manager), I use hjkl for that too.

Even if you’re a beginner, learning Vim motions by installing a native extension or plugin for your IDE will make you much more effective with the keyboard. I’m a strong believer in using the keyboard as much as possible because it’s the only thing that will truly make you faster and more efficient at typing or coding, since you’re less distracted by the mouse.

Even if you don’t want to use Neovim because you find it time-consuming to configure, I’d still suggest starting with IdeaVim in IntelliJ or the Vim extension in VS Code — both provide similar functionality. I started with IntelliJ, then switched to Neovim. But it’s perfectly fine if you stick to modern IDEs; just make sure you learn whatever tool you’re using and use it to its fullest potential so you can get the most out of it.

Remember productive developer is not the one who has 200wpm typing speed, productive developer is the one who knows how to use his/her tools at fullest of it's capacity.

And if you want to start with neovim I would suggest starting with starter kit(https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim). It has all basics covered with good inline documentation.

DEV Community: PURVA PATEL

My Relationship With Linux

Neovim As An Editor