Blaugust 20 - Linux I

2025 August 20 // 2025, webdev, linux, blaugust

My main goal is to get TVPaint and Clip Studio Paint working as much as I can on Linux. I've only done very basic stuff with Linux, just getting my 2000s VNs work on my steam deck. And even then... I haven't fully figured out videos...

I've seen people say moving to Linux is easy enough. But the way people talk about it so enthusiastically and jargon filled give the opposite effect. It's very overwhelming! Is this how I sound when trying to get people to make websites???

So, if you're like me not very techy but willing to try because FUCK MICROSOFT, I hope that seeing my journey can give you a starting point or help to clarify something in my attempt to move OS ;; w ;; let's try together! Let's take back our machines!!!

Backing up files

I mean, you've been doing this the whole time... right? Right?

I have two external 1TB hard drives, which I had gotten myself years before. They were around €60-70 each, and I still think they're around this price. I used gdrive as my cloud backup. I still have a few google accounts if you need a workaround with storage limits.

I have around 7 years of work and goods on these babies... EEK!!

Picking a version of Linux

I went with linux mint cinnamon as my OS. I wanted a plug-and-play... Computers are scary!!! This is the one that came up the most when researching, looked the most like an OS i've used before.

I mainly wanted something with a lot of community support, or had enough people using it I could research an issue and get some results.

Back up all important files to my two 1TB hard drives + GDrive (I still have the 10GB plan)
BUY a usb that fits linux on it LOL
I used this tutorial sent to me by a follower on bsky (thank you!!). This is how to create an installable version of linux from a flash drive. If you follow this tutorial and get a "child spawning error" (why are computer errors so serious...!!), run as admin when right-clicking on balenaEtcher.
Backup everything again just in case.

And so I was all prepared... I mainly used opensource software when I can, so I'm used to most of Linux Mint's preinstalled programs (LibreOffice/Gimp/Krita) so I wasn't too bother by that.

D Day

TLDR; I did it!!! As of 19/08/2025... I am a Linux Mint user!!!

I posted a thread on my bsky, everything went okay! I was bricking it the entire time in was installing. But it took less than half an hour. The longest part was figuring out how to get my BIOS up...

Then I followed the offical linux doumentation as it installed. I'd watch a few videos as well so you know exactly what to expect. Afterwards, I used this tutorial to update the ui to my liking.

My tablet (which acts as my second monitor) worked pefectly fine! There was no issue getting that set up. I did have to go into the menu and find the graphics tablet settings>tablet>map to monitor so it tracked my tablet pen. And it works on Krita no bother. There is no pen pressure though, and I was expecting that. The other thing is screen tearing occurs if I scroll too fast on that screen, but I knew that was an issue going in. I'll figure that out in the future.

code editor

I downloaded vscodium from the software manager. it seems okay? i'm not too techy, but i think this is just the version without all of MS's fingerprints. I'll do some mroe research in the future but just my basic google search got me those fuckass "Well... what exactly do you want to DO with your editor??? pleb???" i want to edit code... there is no difference in the editor itself

CSP + Tablet

THE MAIN EVENT! I think the most overwhelming part of this is knowing there's a million ways to do one thing. It's how I feel about coding... Information overload!! o)-(

I have been trawling bsky and reddit threads for the past few months for anything new and up-to-date. It drives me MENTAL when someone goes "I figured it out!" "Cool how did you do that" crickets.... SIS SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE!!!

But luckily, a few days ago... An angel DID share their knowledge! I followed this tutorial by Peter Wartman. Thank you! There was a few other steps I had to take... let's try together...

If you're on Mint like me, go to the release notes to install the newest version of wine as instructed via the page (ctrl+f "wine" to find it!) The terminal is scary... but we did it!

And here I have to do something else completely LOL if you're lucky, your tablet has a linux driver. If you're like me...

OpenTabletDriver

I ran into my first issue on step one. My graphics tablet (Huion Kanvas GT 191) is from 2017, they don't even list it on their site anymore. Newer huion devices have Linux support, but not mine! Let's find another solution...

Okay, a quick google lead me to Open Tablet Driver.

This took me a day to figure out. On the github, my tablet is unsupported. So I thought cool they say to join their discord because the back-and-forth will be quicker etc etc

I was not allowed post on the discord, or maybe I misunderstood the system? but since I was there already, I did some deep-dive discord searching and i found they DID have the settings for my tablet! Cool! Now I had to make my own json file and a new config menu to put it in and... it worked! I did get confused a lot but I did it!!! ^w^ I had to basic unplug my tablet/reboot my pc.

I assumed the pen pressure wasn't working, and there's a bit of a lag - but that might br kirta, which i was using to test pen pressure on and... protip.... MAKE SURE YOU'RE USING A KRITA PEN THAT SUPPORTS PEN PRESSURE!! this is why i can't fuck with krita. mind games. manipulation. messing.

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Luckily, sleepyhart posting their guide on their settings on running CSP via bottles. I've used WINE before to run games on steam, so I'm a little familiar.

※Some features will not work. So far, these seem to be the video-recording function, and the CSP store. The CSP store is an easy workaround, just go onto the CSP store and download from there. But I believe the video functions might be trickier... I'll see if downloading codecs would fix it... Maybe knowing video bullshittery will finally come in handy lol I'll get back on this...

Final thoughts

I hope I was able to help you in some way, as one complete newb to another. I think a lot of people are afraid to try something new... but it can be done! Change is scary, especially if you're an artist and this is your income... But lads, we've gotta move. I need to escape the AI nonsense, and my computer works FINE. I cannot get over how fast it is now!!

--xoxo becky