In the tech world, twenty years is practically an eternity. To put it into perspective, when I first installed Linux, it was an escape hatch from the rigid, nonsensical licensing bureaucracy of the proprietary OS world. I wanted freedom and stability, and boy, did Linux deliver.
I initially purchased a book with a copy of linux and installed it with a dual boot for around two to three months and then went on the lookout for a distro that could do what I wanted to do, and very soon after, in October 2003, I installed PCLinuxOS as the sole operating system, and never looked back.
At the same time – I treated myself to a Cherry Linux Keyboard, which I am still using today , 23 years later!
From the heavy-lifting desktop PCs to the powerful laptops, PCLinuxOS handled everything I threw at it. Even the lighter machines thrived on the brilliant MiniME spin until that project wrapped up. For two decades, it was a rock-solid ecosystem. The community was helpful, the advice was sound, and I never once looked back with a shred of regret.
But even the most faithful companions can grow long in the tooth.
Lately, the cracks were starting to show. Erratic repositories and stubborn, unresolvable friction between my CPU and GPU began to take the shine off. The final straw came on a day when I couldn’t afford a distraction; a critical crash left me wrestling with the system for three hours straight. Digging into the underlying code only revealed a tangled web of legacy commands conflicting with modern ones—artifacts of a bygone era that should have been cleared out years ago.
It was a tough pill to swallow, but the realization was clear: it was time to move on.
After a ruthless audit of my essential needs versus what I could happily leave behind, a new contender stepped up to the plate.
The New Chapter: Enter Linux Mint Cinnamon
Yesterday marked day one of the new regime. Linux Mint Cinnamon is now officially up and running.
Moving house after 20 years is never simple. The desktop environment feels different, the quirks are new, and I know I have a mountain of learning ahead of me that will likely take ages to truly master. But the foundation feels solid, modern, and ready for the future.
The Elephant in the Room: 20 Years of Code
Of course, leaving a 20-year legacy behind comes with a tax. My biggest hurdle right now is the massive library of custom shell scripts and code I’ve accumulated since the mid-2000s. Turning those loose ends into Mint-compatible scripts is going to be a monumental task of rewriting and debugging. It’s daunting, but it’s also a grand opportunity for a digital spring cleaning.
Final Verdict
To the developers, the community, and the OS itself: thank you for 20 years of unmatched stability, freedom, and reliability. You were a magnificent, faithful servant.
RIP PCLinuxOS.
And to the new guard: Welcome in, Linux Mint. Let’s see what the next two decades bring.