Linux: The Writer’s Guide
by Raymond Trabulsy
I was in college from 2005 to 2010. In that time, I aspired to be an author of a Great American Novel. To obtain that goal, I spent more than I probably should have on pens, paper, and white-out. But — most of all — the biggest waste of money was on my MS Office Suite and my Windows Vista computer.
Foolish and young, I thought this was the only way to write. After all, it was required that I submit my papers in college formatted in MS Office terms (Times New Roman 12, and so on), and — never mind that I never once used my copies of Excel or PowerPoint — I had to be ready at all times to put together a presentation…for some reason. No one was ever very clear on that. Regardless, I bit the bullet, and — opening up a Best Buy credit card — I shelled out the $100+ for a copy of Office 2007, and somewhere around $700 (2008 dollars) for a late model HP Pavillion, running what was already a failing Windows version.
It’s moments like these, looking back, that I wished I been introduced to Linux, and the FOSS (Free Open Source Software) world sooner. While there are plenty of free office suites out there that are compatible with Windows (I have never, and will never, own a Mac) they pale in comparison when it comes to quality of use on Linux-based OS’s.
Before we go any further, know that this guide will not be for everyone. There are situations where you may need to shell out for Windows or Adobe or MS Office. For the vast majority, especially those who are looking for write creative or scholarly works for school or personal endeavor, the following is a road map to get you off the Windows or Mac ecosystems, and into Linux.
Step 1. Pick Your Distro(bution).
There’s a lot of options on the table here. Choosing one will depend as much on your needs as what you have under the hood of your PC or laptop.
A good rule of thumb, anything with 2GB of RAM should be fine with just about any OS. The distros I am listing are known for working well on your lower to mid-range level equipment.
As an example, I am currently working off of an eight year old Lenovo ThinkPad X130e. The “e” denotes that this laptop was originally designed for schools. This means that my machine is demonstrably lower powered than what you’d see on a ThinkPad of the same year, but sold for mass market consumption, never mind what you’d see on a laptop made within that past five years. Despite this, I am able to run the latest version of Ubuntu MATE and Kubuntu on this device without issue.
However, for the best experience, check with your desired OS’s recommended specs, as 2GB — while serviceable — may leave you feeling let down on some Distros. For example, the standard Ubuntu (now called Ubuntu GNOME) does not run well on my older machines, which were manufactured between ’08 and ’12. However, it worked flawlessly on my wife’s 2019 Asus laptop. Just make sure, when you choose a distro, that you check its recommended hardware specs against your machine’s. A quick Google or DuckDuckGo search will be able to tell you if you two are going to be a good match.
I haven’t not tried every OS out there, so my recommendations here will be limited by what I’ve found to be the best for my experience. For that I am only recommending Ubuntu flavors; I have had the best luck with installing them, and also have had the easiest time setting them up; over all, I personally find them to be the best free OS for the general public.
Ubuntu Budgie
This distro is beautiful and functional right out of the gate. I run it on my oldest and newest computer. On either one, it works flawlessly. If you’re looking for something that will turn on and just work for you, you can’t argue this option.
The down side to Budgie is that, while it looks great from the get-go, it lacks a lot of customization featured in other distros. If customization is not your thing, than I think you’ll be ecstatic with Ubuntu Budgie. However, if you like tinkering with your desktop, you’ll probably want to try my next choice.
Ubuntu MATE
While not as pretty as Budgie, MATE still looks good and works great with minimal to no set up. The best thing about MATE is how much you can change, and how easy it is to do so.
Don’t like the icons that came with MATE? That’s fine. It has a built in option for downloading icon theme packs that’s as easy as clicking a button. The same goes for backgrounds, and the panel (think of the panel as the windows toolbar). Again, all of these modifications can be done with no command line interface, and no digging through the OS’s code to find the them or icon folders. It’s all a click or two away.
In the end, you can make your MATE desktop look like Windows, Mac, Budgie, Gnome, or just about any other desktop style out there. This is a huge benefit if you want to make the switch, but are nervous about learning a new desktop environment.
In additional to almost limitless customization options, MATE also has a save as function. This allows you to create multiple desktop themes and then switch through them, or go back to a previous custom setting, if you find your tinkering did not work out the way you anticipated.
Kubuntu
This distro, which uses the Plasma interface from KDE, is the perfect middle ground between the above two. It is beautiful as soon as you start it up, and it has plenty of built modifications. If you want more options, like Mate, Kubuntu has an easy, one-click, process for adding new icons, themes, and even changing the loading screen.
Kubuntu also has great syncing and security features, such as KDConnect for syncing your phone to your PC, and Kwallet for saving your credit card information. These aren’t functions everyone will need, but, if you like moving seamlessly between phone and PC, or want to have a way to save your card without risking it being stolen, these might be worth a look for you.
There are plenty of other options out there — aforementioned Ubuntu Gnome, Pepperint, Linux Mint. From my experience, these are the best options for getting into Linux and FOSS.
Step 2. Pick the Software
Not just for their beauty and functionality, the next best parts of these Ubuntu flavors are the software. Ubuntu distros in particular are known for their deep catalogues of free software. The latest iterations of Ubuntu have made it easier than ever to download and install them, so that you can get going faster and work longer.
Pluma and MousePad Text Editors
While office suites are the creme de la creme of the word processing world, the lowly text editor is the real hero.
Please note that Kubuntu comes standard with Kate text editor. It is not bad by any stretch. I just preferred MousePad (standard on Xubuntu) and Pluma (standard on Mate). One of the greatest reasons for Ubuntu is that, if you do not like a specific piece of software, you do not have to keep it. A different text editor is just a click away.
Text editors are not unique to Linux systems. Windows has several versions available — Word Pad, and NotePad to name a couple. It is in their smooth operating, color scheme options, and light footprint overall that makes them so desirable on Linux systems. While I’ve written on numerous office suites — Office XP, 07', Office ’16 to Apache Open Office — none have felt quite as good as writing on a text editor. I’m writing this article right now in Pluma, and I could not be happier.
Office Suites
Still, there comes a time that you will need to use your Office Suite. Most likely, it will be the word processor: for a resume, cover letter, paper, et cetera. Just like text editors, there is freeware available on Windows; there is LibreOffice for Windows as well as Apache Open Office.
Also just like text editors, freeware on Windows isn’t nearly as good as the Linux versions.
Most notably, LibreOffice (which comes stock on the three distros I’ve listed above) is smooth, beautiful, and has a very familiar UI. While you won’t find your traditional Times New Roman or Courier New listed as available fonts like Liberation Mono and others get the job done just as well.
LibreOffice is also compatible with other word processor formats. One of my biggest problems in college came from the fact that my college professors never made the jump to Vista. Whenever I sent a document through email (we were still in the sneaker net days), they would not be able to read it. This was because — for some awful reason — Office for Vista was using a file type that was unreadable to the older XP Office. If I didn’t go in and manually adjust my save settings, all my work would show up as gobbledygook on any other computer.
With LibreOffice, whether it’s a Mac doc, doc, docx, ODT, txt — you will be able to view and edit it as though you were in your (formerly) native Office Suite. As well, because LO using the default ODT file type, your documents will be readable and editable in just about any other suite, and will also work in cloud storage systems like OneDrive.
Now, the change is not always seamless and perfect. After all, freeware can have its flaws, just like paid for software. But what you lose in going FOSS, can easily be offset by its ease of use and literally zero cost.
Step 3. Get Writing
Part of the joy of writing is developing your own process. For some, this means writing everything long hand like Neil Gaiman. For others, it means long bullet point lists that will one day be a book. In the 21st Century, when it’s time for the metaphorical rubber to hit the road, you know you’re going to be writing on a computer at some point. It is a requirement of the digital age. If you’re going to do it, might as well find a way to make it as pain-free and as affordable as possible.
The options I’ve listed in this article, while not definitive by any stretch, are a good way to get your foot in the Linux world and start saving yourself money along the way.
