I recently switched my Ryzen-based laptop from Linux Mint to Debian Trixie. While I’ve loved Linux Mint for years, the main reason for the change was the flexibility of KDE and my desire for something custom.
Why the change?
One thing that I didn’t like about Linux Mint was it felt to much like using a Windows Machine, with it’s bar at the bottom, a ‘start menu’ as such.
While Linux Mint was a rock solid operating system for what I used this laptop for, typing blog posts, I wanted a change.
Why Debian Trixie
I’m accustomed to the apt package management system and Debian is a very stable operating system. In fact, the apt package manager was developed by the Debian Project. I don’t need the latest and greatest software; I simply require stability and security.
The hardware on the laptop itself is nothing special, in fact I would consider it a low end laptop. Here are the spec’s of the laptop ;-
- AMD Ryzen 3 7320u APU
- AMD Radeon 610m iGPU
- 8Gb DDR4 3200 soldered on RAM
- 128Gb M.2 upgradable SSD
- 15.6″ IPS Screen
- Wifi 6/Bluetooth 4.2
- Chequerboard keyboard with Numpad.
- Trackpad
I really like this laptop. I bought it second-hand for just £110. It has a lovely keyboard and a large screen which is very useful for someone my age.
It did come with Windows 11 Home pre-installed but as soon as I got it home that got replaced by Linux Mint.
Most common distro’s are based on Debian, like Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Debian does not change its packages for around 2 years, when a new version of Debian gets released, apart from security updates. These days that’s fine as you can keep your apps up-to-date with Flatpak, which I use.
The custom desktop
So once I got Debian Trixie with the KDE desktop installed, the first thing I did to make sure KRunner is working. This is going to be the main way I interface with the system. KRunner is KDE’s equivalent to spotlight on the Mac.
I’ll be using KRunner to launch my apps. To open KRunner simply press Alt & Space. Once I confirmed it worked I installed the Nextcloud Client. I run my own Nextcloud server at home and it’s my primary data destination.
Once Nextcloud installed I installed Flatpak and got the apps installed.
I then added some widgets to my desktop like a clock system information the weather (being British it’s a major pastime) and the system tray. I’ve also removed the system bar at the bottom.
The apps I use
Since this machine is mainly a blogging tool, I use apps designed for that purpose. I blog using Markdown and my blog is a WordPress site.
ThiefMD
This is my latest favourite Markdown editor and it’s really good. Once configured, it has a clean interface and is highly customisable. For example, I made a theme for myself as shown in the screenshot. Most importantly, it allows direct uploads from the app to WordPress.
ThiefMD is open source and can be downloaded from Flatpak along with the Theme Editor.
Typora
Typora is another Markdown editor, but it’s a commercial product. While I like its interface and cross-platform compatibility, the main downside is the lack of direct WordPress upload functionality.
However, it’s highly customisable and defaults to hiding all Markdown, so you see what you type or use a WYSIWYG editor.
Typora costs £30 for 3 install’s, and is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.
Vivaldi
While Firefox comes with Debian Trixie, I don’t like the direction it has been going recently. I hate anything to do with AI on my computer. While there are some use’s for it, like in medicine, I don’t think it should be on my computer. While Firefox has just recently released a version where you can turn all the AI off, I think it should be off by default.
So I downloaded Vivaldi instead. In fact I have installed this browser on ALL my machines. I like the fact it is employee owned, so no big corporation can interfere with it, has no AI at all, and they have said they have no plans at all for any AI to be included in any future release.
I also like what else comes with this browser besides the browser. It has an email client and calendar built in, a password manager and a notes app that can sync across platforms and more.
I do use the email and calendar apps but not the notes app and password facility thanks to the app’s below, but I appreciate it is in there. The engine behind Vivaldi is based on Chromium and you can install the Chrome Extensions from the Web Store.
Vivaldi is free, and available for all major platforms.
Iotas
Iotas is a note-taking app that syncs with Nextcloud Notes. I prefer Nextcloud Notes because it’s Markdown-based, making it easy to copy markdown files to a new note-taking app.
Iotas can sync directly with Nextcloud Notes using the Flatpak version. However, the version in the Debian repositories doesn’t seem to work properly as it’s an older version.
Libre Office
While I don’t really need an office suite these days, if I do need one I will use Libre Office. It’s compatible with Microsoft Office and fully compatible with Nextcloud Office. In fact Nextcloud Office online uses Collabora Office, the online version of Libre Office.
Libre Office came pre-installed with Debian Trixie.
Conclusion
I’m delighted with how my laptop now functions with Debian Trixie. This inspiration came from a recent YouTube video about writerdeckOS. It’s a stripped-down OS that relies solely on the terminal, with no desktop environment installed. I tried it but found it wasn’t for me. The default application lacked Markdown highlighting like ThiefMD and Typroa and didn’t work with my Nextcloud Server by default.
I love KDE’s customisation options but I really appreciate how it doesn’t interfere with my computer use. When I’m typing there are no distractions like the taskbar in Linux Mint at the bottom of the screen. It’s just me and the text.
ThiefMD is a brilliant app. I have however, noticed a few bugs, like when I click on a word to check the spelling, it can jump to the top of the document. It is however being constantly improved.
The laptop is also very fast, like Linux Mint was, on my laptop. This just proves that you should get a computer that works for you. I have had a lot of banter over the last few days about the new MacBook Neo only having 8Gb Ram, just like this laptop. You don’t need 16Gb or more of Ram if all you are doing is basic tasks.
Leave a Reply