I've now been on Linux Mint only for 2 months! I deleted Windows 11 off entirely January 9, 2026 and even though I was a little worried I'd come to regret it, so far I have not! I haven't needed Windows for anything. I'm so happy with Linux Mint!
Even the two apps I was sorry to lose with Windows, Paprika Recipe Manager and Scrivener, I managed to get working once I discovered Lutris ✨ Those two are the only Windows apps I'm stil using, and not that much. Paprika also has an Android version which I have on my phone so that's great.
In other great news, I actually managed to install the otwarchive software (the software that is developed for and runs A03) on Mint. It was not any easier now than back in 2017 or so when I tried the first time. Let me tell you, it was an exercise in frustration! I followed the otw's Docker Desktop installation instructions, had trouble getting my head around Docker but once I did, I mostly figured it out and got the otwsoftware up and running. Except the default installation come with a controller, css and database error, and not being familiar with ruby/rails/whatever, I could figure it out myself. But suddenly it dawned on me to ask AI, and so to Gemini I went. It solved the controller problem in 1 minute, css in another (I had been banging my head on the wall otwarchive wall for 2 weeks by then!), and then the database problem as well and low and behold, I had a otwarchive up and running without any errors! Yay!
... And no yay. 3 times out 4, everytime I'd start otwarchive, docker would come up with an error: ghost container/image and the otwarcheve would not load at all. So, back to Gemini to troubleshoot. And we did, for three days. Nothing worked, always the ghost thingy and always full reinstall. Until after I asked Gemini, is Docker Desktop necessary to run it because that seems to be the problem, can Docker be run from terminal. At that point, Gemini told me that there's native Linux docker engine and it might work better in my system given I've been having such problem with the Desktop version. So with Gemini's instructions on how to remove Docker Desktop fully, then how to install the Linux docker native engine and finally otwarchive itself. And... IT WORKS!!!! 🥳✨
This docker raw engine version is SO MUCH faster than the Desktop was, and not a single ghost container/image/whatever since then. Or any other problems - otwarchive's on my laptop been working like a dream with the native engine! And it's very easy to start and shutdown. I made some aliases and bash script to make it easy. The reason I wanted to try and get the otwarchive on my laptop is because I'm curious, and because it'd be easier to develop site skins that way. Gemini also helped me create a python script to automatically update the site skin css I'm working on, so now I don't have to save it, copy, go to AO3/my otwarchive, find the skin and open it, paste the css, save. The script does all that automatically for me while it's running! So cool 🥳
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