My Linux story starts with Slackware in 1997, back when installing Linux on a home PC was somewhere between a hobby and an act of self-harm. Getting the OS to boot was only the opening ceremony. Then came sound, networking, modems, display configuration, random hardware Linux apparently wanted nothing to do with, and hours of documentation because some tiny thing refused to work. It was a gigantic pain in the ass, and somehow I still loved it. That probably explains the next 29 years.
🧱 Slackware → Red Hat → Fedora → Mint → Ubuntu
Over the years I've used Slackware, Red Hat, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and plenty of other distributions I've probably forgotten. Eventually I settled pretty comfortably into Debian land. I used Mint for years, Ubuntu became familiar territory after that, and a lot of Greyforge's workflow and infrastructure naturally grew around those systems because they were dependable, predictable, and easy to live with.
Then sometime around 2012, I finally decided to see what the Arch Linux people wouldn't shut up about. I understood the appeal almost immediately: minimal base system, total control, great documentation, build the machine you actually want. Unfortunately, I also remember spending days getting ordinary stuff working properly. Wi-Fi, packages, hardware, desktop configuration... every little problem seemed to open another rabbit hole. It felt weirdly familiar, almost like Slackware all over again.
I eventually got Arch working, learned a lot, understood why people loved it, and then went right back to Debian-based Linux for about 14 years. 😂
👀 Then Omarchy Started Appearing Everywhere
I'd been watching @dhh build Omarchy for a while, but I kept resisting it. My Linux setup already worked, and Greyforge has development environments, scripts, terminals, agents, infrastructure, and years of accumulated habits attached to these machines. Changing the OS wasn't intimidating because of Linux itself; it was intimidating because migrating an entire workflow can turn into a week-long self-inflicted disaster.
Then @nixfred kept posting screenshots. Themes, plugins, Hyprland setups, useful little utilities, terminal stuff... eventually the algorithm figured out exactly how much exposure it would take to break me. I cracked. 😅
⚡ A Few Hours Later...
I've only been running Omarchy for a few hours as I write this, so these are very early impressions, but the learning curve has been much smaller than I expected. The keybinds and shortcuts are logical enough that they start making sense almost immediately, and I can already tell that after a week or two, moving windows, jumping between workspaces, launching things, and doing almost everything from the keyboard is going to become muscle memory.
I'm also already a big fan of Hyprland. There's a fluidity to the whole thing that feels great once you start getting the hang of it. Windows snap around instantly, workspaces become part of how you organize what you're doing, and your hands spend a lot less time leaving the keyboard. None of it has felt especially intimidating; it just feels unfamiliar for a few minutes until your brain catches up.
I've also been playing around with Herdr, and right now it feels like somebody handed me the keys to a race car before I've learned how to drive it. I can tell there's serious capability there, I just haven't learned how to properly use it yet. And somehow Omarchy Radio has actual bangers on it, which is exactly the kind of weird little feature I didn't know I wanted from an operating system. 🎵🐧
🔨 Greyforge Might Actually Change Because of This
This is probably the biggest surprise. After only a few hours, I'm already reconsidering parts of the Greyforge topology, architecture, and development workflow. We've spent years building around fairly traditional Linux desktops, terminals, agent harnesses, and multiple machines, and now I'm looking at some of those assumptions again because this environment makes a very keyboard-heavy, workspace-driven setup feel much more natural.
You can also tell this OS was built with a genuine love of the game. The themes, defaults, utilities, keyboard-first workflow, even the radio all feel like they came from people who actually enjoy sitting in front of a computer and wanted the environment itself to be fun. It's opinionated, but so far those opinions make sense.
🤖 About That "AI Slop"...
There's also something pretty funny about Omarchy being associated with an enormous amount of supposedly terrible "AI slop code." I've been pushing it pretty hard already: video running, browser tabs everywhere, multiple terminals, coding agents, sub-agents, workspaces flying around, basically my normal Greyforge nonsense.
So far, not a single crash or even a noticeable hiccup. That's especially impressive because this machine isn't running brand-new exotic hardware. In fact, the whole desktop feels more responsive than my previous Linux distro, which I will graciously leave unnamed out of shame for being this late to Omarchy. 😂
🐧 Yeah, I'm Hooked
I was genuinely apprehensive about taking the plunge because I didn't want to rebuild years of workflow or spend days fixing things just to get back to where I started. That old 2012 Arch experience was still sitting somewhere in the back of my mind, warning me that I was about to ruin my week.
Instead, I've spent the evening having fun with Linux again. After almost three decades of using it, that's actually pretty hard to do. Omarchy feels fresh, fast, thoughtfully put together, and different enough to make me rethink how I use the machine without making the transition feel painful.
So thank you @dhh for putting this much time into it and sharing it with everyone, and thank you @nixfred for feeding the algorithm enough screenshots to finally wear down my resistance. The algorithm won. I'm already hooked, and I don't think I'm going back anytime soon. 🐧