Raw Notes on Using Omarchy

Some raw notes on using Omarchy

I installed Omarchy two days ago and so far it’s been very fun to play with it and learn how to use Arch.

I’ve always been linux-curious (even back before I was a Mac user, I even burnt SuSe on like 10 CDs back in the day before…not installing it because I had just one computer and I was scared to brick it) but I’ve never actually taken the plunge.

I have “used” Ubuntu before in the sense that I installed it on a machine at Uni that I used as an always-on server, but it was never a machine that I actually interacted much with.

So, Omarchy!

The thing that I notice most is how deeply the macOS shortcuts are engrained in my memory. Like Cmd+C and Cmd+V for copy and paste is so deep that the Ctrl-Shift-V stuff (and the general use of Ctrl) just breaks my brain. We’ll see whether I will get used to it or whether I will try and fiddle with the system shortcuts to be closer to macOS.

The second thing I’ve noticed is that AI is a godsend for moving to Linux. Instead scouring the Internet for two hours to change one configuration, I just open up Claude Code in a terminal window and ask it to do the thing. Under close supervision of course, but “Hey I got this app image, what’s the arch way of adding it to my app launcher (also what is my app launcher)” is so convenient!

The third thing is that tiling window managers to require some getting used to. I still haven’t fully figured out how I can switch windows around in all the ways I want, and being so keyboard focused is great, and something I try to do on my Mac as well, but there is still a difference.

Fourth: Raycast! I think Omarchy comes with Walker as the app launcher, which seems great, but…is just an app launcher. With Raycast and before that Alfred and before that…forgot what it was, and before that Quicksilver I’m used to app launchers that do much, much more than just launch apps. Need to research what Linux has in that regard.

Fifth: Gaming! It’s insane to me how good gaming support has become thanks to Steamdeck and Proton. I installed Steam and downloaded some games and…they just worked. On Linux! Crazy.

Finally - it’s just fun to play with tech again and try stuff out. The Mac feels so stale and has been for so long, and that’s not even counting in all the political stuff Apple has been pulling. This is just fun, and it makes me smile.