Some people collect memories. I collect systems.
Fourteen years ago I installed Gentoo for an ex-girlfriend. I didn't touch it again until this year. When I booted it, I found my younger self still sitting at the terminal—curious, impatient, unafraid to break things. I'd missed him.
1. How It All Started
Fourteen years ago, I installed Gentoo Linux without really knowing what it was. Actually, I didn’t even know much about Linux at all.
Back then, my girlfriend (now my ex) needed help with her final year project. She had to run a networking application, but it was tricky on Windows. I found a post on a forum – someone had installed it successfully on Gentoo.
I didn’t think much. I just wanted it to work. So I installed Gentoo on my laptop, dual boot with Windows, following the guide step by step. The terminal was intimidating. Commands looked strange. But it worked.
The application ran. Problem solved.
But instead of uninstalling Gentoo, I started using it. I installed things, broke things, reinstalled it many times. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I liked how different it felt. Nothing ran without me asking. If something broke, I could usually fix it.
Back in university, I even tinkered with the kernel, updated ebuilds, and installed specific GCC versions — all just to get that networking program running. It felt tedious at the time, but I learned more about how the system worked than I expected.
After I graduated, I stopped using it. Windows became my main system, and Gentoo faded from memory — except for one time I played with it on a Cubieboard.
Then, years later, it came back — quietly, in the back of my mind.
2. Why I Went Back to Linux
Five years ago, I bought a new laptop. It ran Windows, and at first everything was fine. But over time, I noticed problems:
- The fan was always spinning.
- The CPU was always busy.
- Memory usage hit 60% before I even opened anything.
- Booting could take 15–30 minutes before the system felt calm.
I don’t like using a computer when the CPU is busy for no reason. I would wait until everything settled before I started doing anything. Eventually, I realized I was spending more time waiting for my laptop to be quiet than actually using it.
I thought of Linux. I remembered it being quiet, fast, and simple — not because of ideology, just because it worked differently.
A few months ago, I decided to try Linux again.
I started with Linux Mint. It was fast and quiet, but I didn’t like the look. Then Ubuntu. I remembered it being clean and modern back in university, but now it felt heavier, and sometimes the speakers didn’t work.
That’s when I thought: maybe it’s time to try Gentoo again.
3. Returning to Gentoo and Discovering Hyprland
Installing Gentoo again felt familiar and strange at the same time.
When I first booted it, memories came rushing back. I remembered late nights typing commands I didn’t fully understand, reading forum posts, breaking things, and fixing them again. I remembered the thrill of seeing something work that I didn’t know how to make work before.
It wasn’t like meeting an old friend. It was more like looking at a younger version of myself — the curious, impatient version who installed Gentoo on a whim and loved every minute of it. Seeing that younger me reminded me of how curious I was during university, and how much time had passed since then. I felt… older.
At first, I went with GNOME, something familiar. It mostly worked. The speakers were fine, the fan was quiet. But sometimes the speakers didn’t work, and it reminded me that even a system I thought I knew could surprise me.
Then I tried Hyprland.
Booting into Hyprland for the first time was a shock.
I had only ever used desktop environments like XFCE, KDE, or GNOME. I had never touched a window manager before. Suddenly, there was nothing:
- No panels
- No icons
- No taskbar
- No menus
- No widgets
- No file manager
- No terminal
I stared at it for a few minutes, thinking:
“This is it?”
It was exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Everything I was used to being automatic was now my responsibility. I had to build the environment myself.
Beneath the initial shock, though, I felt a familiar curiosity. That younger-me energy. The thrill of possibility. Of control. Of learning.
I realized I wasn’t just installing an operating system. I was stepping back into my own past — but this time with more experience, patience, and choice. I wasn’t following a guide blindly. I was designing my own system.
4. Building My Workspace
I started adding everything myself:
- Taskbar
- Notification daemon
- Widgets
- File manager
- Terminal
- Screenshot tool
- Lock screen
- Virtual keyboard
- Auto-rotation lock
- Thumbnail daemon
Every addition felt intentional. Every choice mattered. By the time I finished, the system felt right. Quiet. Fast. Predictable. Every piece existed because I wanted it to. Nothing ran without my consent.
Even now, I keep adding small things whenever I see them fitting into my setup. I moved from Alacritty → Kitty → Rio terminal. I tweak keybindings, widgets, and daemons as I go. It’s not static — it grows with me.
Gentoo gives me control. Hyprland gives me freedom to design the workspace the way I want. Together, it fits.
5. Why It Feels Like Mine
With Gentoo + Hyprland, my computer finally feels like mine.
Nothing runs unless I want it. Nothing installs unless I choose it. Even little things like the thumbnail daemon exist because I decided they were needed. Every app, every keybinding, every service has a reason.
Even the speaker issue that used to frustrate me turned out to be Windows. If I don’t fully shut down Windows, Linux sometimes inherits a weird hardware state. Once I realized that, it made sense.
The computer doesn’t make decisions for me. It doesn’t guess. It doesn’t assume. And that changes everything.
Gentoo + Hyprland isn’t popular or hardcore for me. It’s just… right. My computer waits until I tell it what to do. It exists only as much as I allow it to exist.
After three months of using it again, I know one thing: I’m happy.
6. Reflections
Looking back on this three-month dive into the void, a few things have become clear:
- On Control: I like a computer that obeys me, not one that decides for me. A computer shouldn't guess or assume; it should wait.
- On Minimalism: Intentional setups feel lighter and faster, even as you add complexity. There is a difference between "bloat" and "tools I chose."
- On Learning: Building my own environment taught me more than using defaults ever did. Hyprland + Gentoo isn’t "hard"—it’s honest. Everything is there because I put it there.
- On Hardware: Small quirks aren’t always Linux problems. Sometimes it’s just Windows leaving a mess in the hardware state.
- On the User Experience: I don’t need a desktop that looks like everyone else’s. I need a workspace that fits me.
Returning to Gentoo was like seeing a younger me again — curious, reckless, exploring. Installing Gentoo and discovering Hyprland brought that feeling back. Goosebumps included.
Maybe one day I’ll try something else. Maybe not. But right now, this setup — my setup — feels like my computer for me.
And that’s enough.
Top comments (1)
LOVE IT!!