Post #690014

2026-03-16 07:01 UTC

Thinking about switching from Windows to Linux yesterday created a cascade of thoughts in me I didn’t expect and I would liket to tell you a bit about it, about me. I am an AuDHD cis woman (she), somewhat fluid in gender (autigender) and personality, I constantly grow and adapt. I am a Xennial and worked as a concept developer and PM in tech during my 20s until my first huge burnout, that made me spend several months on an almost empty island in Thailand and in India and quit my job. During my 30s I worked as a yoga teacher, but I never really recovered from the burnout. Because of that and other health problems, I have been unemployed for several years by now. I live together with beagle Lumi, a rescue from animal testing. Since I found out that I am autistic 4 years ago, things slowly improved, but I cannot change the fact that I am an autistic, disabled person in an allistic, ableist world. Because of my sensory issues and other aspects of my disability, I can barely exist in the outside world. Besides my daily walks with Lumi and very few planned activities, I spend most of my time at home, so it’s almost impossible for me to meet like minded people IRL. The fact that I live in a very conservative country, city and neighborhood doesn’t help with that either. As an Anarchist I believe in community and mutual support, but switching to a new operating system with only the online-community here on Mastodon as support is scary. I have an IRL friend who is a sys-admin, but he is specialized in Windows and very busy. I am a fast learner and have exceptional analytical skills, but I am not a programmer, my math skills are extremely limited and the burnout affects my capacity for learning new things. I have a very monotropic mind, am very attached to objects and change can be difficult for me as autistic person. But currently I feel the need for change, for tidying up my life, my data, myself. I still have my information architect and project manager skills and I already have a list in my mind of all the things that will be affected by the change and I have a lot of questions. I will write about that in another post, probably several other posts. Thank you for reading this, thank you for helping me, boosts are welcome. #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #neurodivergent #Linux

Replies (11)

@KaCi@autistics.life 2026-03-16 08:22

@BjornW@mastodon.social @zompetto@mastodon.art @LeelaTorres@ieji.de @temporal_spider@masto.ai @20000lbs_of_Cheese@freeradical.zone @tizlit@freeradical.zone @dirkdierickx@mastodon-belgium.be @mosgaard@uddannelse.social Thank you. 😊 So as far as I read the comments and documentary two questions occurred to me (I mean a lot more, but I will ask them later) that might show how much education I need: Ubuntu or mint? VM or booting from USB? I have an Acer notebook (11th Gen Intel(R) Core i7-11370H @ 3.30GHz), 16 GB RAM #linux

Open ##2830253
@KaCi@autistics.life 2026-03-16 10:21

@tizlit@freeradical.zone @BjornW@mastodon.social @zompetto@mastodon.art @LeelaTorres@ieji.de @20000lbs_of_Cheese@freeradical.zone @dirkdierickx@mastodon-belgium.be @mosgaard@uddannelse.social Thank you so much for your helpful comments. 🤗 Here’s the plan: I will choose the dual boot option for the beginning. On Wednesday my sys-admin friend will help me to install mint or ZorinOS (I have to figure that out until then) on my notebook. I already created an 80 GB partition for the start. With his help I will successively make it bigger and the Windows part smaller in the future. This will give me time to get used to the GUI, find and install the apps I need and do research concerning hardware problems, that might occur in the future. So the current task is making the decision if I want to use mint or ZorinOS. Please correct me and my language if I got anything wrong, I really want to learn how all this works. #linux

Open ##2830254
@KaCi@autistics.life 2026-03-16 19:52

@cybervegan@autistics.life @Ralph_de_Rijke@mastodon.online This fingerprint reader problem you mentioned is bothering me a bit, because that's definitely a function I need. Does anyone know a solution for that or can you recommend sources where I can search for a solution myself? #linux

Open ##2830256
@temporal_spider@masto.ai 2026-03-16 07:15

@KaCi@autistics.life I'm not a programmer, either, and I've used several flavors of Linux with relative ease. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can dual boot, that is, keep Windows and choose one or the other at boot. Lots of videos will show you how. Linux Mint is very easy and natural to use coming from Windows.

Open ##2830257
@tizlit@freeradical.zone 2026-03-16 07:28

@KaCi@autistics.life Dear Katta, nice to read you and about your circumstances! Also AuDHD here 🤗 I switched to Linux about a year ago and I'm very happy about it ever since. If you need help with switching or simply have questions (no matter how small or stupid they may appear to you), feel free to text me privately and just ask. All the best!

Open ##2830259
@dirkdierickx@mastodon-belgium.be 2026-03-16 07:31

@KaCi@autistics.life support for linux is plenty, not just here on mastodon. Almost every distro has their own forums, you have other sites like reddit and more, there could also be a LUG in your region (https://share.google/i2ySE3YJ9EwsNIZ8o), hope this helps you, linux has a strong community.

Open ##2830262
@BjornW@mastodon.social 2026-03-16 07:35

@KaCi@autistics.life you might be interested to know that you can use a usb-stick to try Linux on your computer without having to install it. This helps to ensure your computer works with Linux. Ubuntu Linux is one of the more well-known flavours of Linux and can be tested this way. If it doesn't work or if you don't like it no problem, just reboot and you'll be able to use your Windows installation again. Have a look at this tutorial: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/desktop/en/latest/tutorial/try-ubuntu-desktop/

Open ##2830264
@zompetto@mastodon.art 2026-03-16 07:47

@KaCi@autistics.life I would be happy to (try to) answer any Linux questions. A recommendation I can make is to start with a live Linux environment, boot from an USB stick and don't change your installed OS as a start. It's a very good way to get an introduction to the system without the commitment of installing it :)

Open ##2830265
@mosgaard@uddannelse.social 2026-03-16 08:00

@KaCi@autistics.life this is really brave of you, and I think it could be a very meaningful transition. Mastodon has been a great help for me while switching. Just the other day I asked a question using the linux hashtag and got all the answers I could wish for. My advice would be to take as small steps as possible. Like how many of the tasks you do today, can you do in a browser? All the tasks you can do in a browser, you can move with you, and take your time finding native Linux solutions one at a time.

Open ##2830266
@atom@ludosphere.fr 2026-03-16 08:12

@KaCi@autistics.life where are you in the process of switching from windows to Linux? Did you already try some live systems or experiment with virtual machines? This could help make the switch a smooth ride instead of a big bang.

Open ##2830267
@carbsrule_en@polyglot.city 2026-03-16 08:15

@KaCi@autistics.life good luck 💪

Open ##2830270