Neil Summers

I'm not an artist. This is my first ever drawing that I made outside of school, and my first digital drawing. I haven't colored anything in very long, so it was really hard. Apparently this took twelve hours, which is kinda sad. I like the background more than the subject. I think backgrounds are very important.

I was somewhat inspired by Kanade's card from the "Unreliable Notes" event, because it made me realize sunsets could look kinda sinister. But I couldn't make it look as vibrant.

I really hate this drawing. But since I spent so long on it, I thought I might as well post it. The colors are inconsistent and somehow dull, the pose feels weird, the subject lacks contrast, the shadows are wrong, it's too static, and the ground is boring. But maybe it's because I've been staring at it for too long.

I have a lot more ideas, and I feel more confident in drawing now because this one helped me learn a lot.

You'll need to download Rufus. You also need a small USB drive, at least 8 GB. Lastly, you need to download the Linux installer. I chose Cinnamon flavor in Mint. It's probably not that different from the other variations. The installer will probably come in a torrent file. I used uTorrent to install it, and it was suspicious and had ads. It worked, but you need to be selfish and stop the seeding process. Then I think you click on it and the actual iso file should be in your downloads.

I backup my files using OneDrive. It is incredibly slow but it's the one I am most familiar with. If you have the app, go to settings and turn off something relating to limiting network usage or whatever. That might speed it up. Please make sure everything important is backed up. You can just do this in the background while preparing.

Some of your files like installers and stuff will be useless, because much of the software that works on Windows is unusable on Linux, such as WinRAR. Very sad. Also, installers for Windows are different from ones for Linux. Just remember what you have and install it once you switch.

Just to be sure, run Certutil -hashfile "filename.ext" SHA256 in your command prompt. You should get a random string of numbers. Now, compare this to the checksum of the version you downloaded. It has to be EXACTLY the same. If it's not, your file is apparently corrupted and you should redownload it.

Open Rufus and plug in your USB. It should detect the one that you're using. Now, if you're using a modern computer (after 2012), choose GPT for "partition scheme" and UEFI for the target system. I have no idea what any of this is. Then choose the iso file.

I didn't change anything about the format options, so it probably doesn't matter. I had FAT32 file system and 32 kilobytes or something like that.

You can start the process now. This will write the installer onto the USB. If prompted, choose DD image. I don't know what this is either.

It will take a few minutes. When it is done, don't unplug your USB. Shut down your computer, then turn it on. You need to enter your BIOS now to turn off some thingies. I use Acer, so it depends on what key it is. Just search it up on your computer. For me, I spammed F2 to get to the menu.

Now here, find Secure Boot and disable it. Find Fast Startup and also disable it. Make sure that the Boot Mode is set to UEFI. Dunno what any of this does, but it's probably important. Oh, and make sure the boot menu key is on. My computer used F12.

Now you can save and exit. This time, you need to spam your boot menu key and choose whatever name your USB is. This makes your computer use Linux. You should see the Mint logo, and after a while just wait until you see your new desktop. If it shows a long list of error codes, it is likely because your USB sucks. Just go back to Windows and rewrite the installer onto a different USB, then repeat previous steps.

If it works, click Linux Installer, and just follow its instructions. When it asks you whether you want you wipe your hard drive or use dual boot, I'd recommend wiping it completely. That's why you have your backed up files.

Now, you're pretty much done. Congratulations. I think backing up files is the most tedious part.