I’m going to let you in on a little secret — I’ve never been one for mucking about with Linux. Well, maybe that’s not totally true. I mean, I’ve sailed the seas of Windows since the days of PC-DOS (yes, I was that nerdy kid), and then MacOS kind of wedged its way into my life about 2009-ish. But Linux? Always felt like the odd kid at school who knew something everyone else didn’t. And I was perfectly fine not trying to figure it out. Until I got my hands on the Legion Go S from Lenovo. A gaming device, sure, but hey, why not poke around a bit?
Now, let me be real. Booting up KDE Plasma on the Legion Go S was, um, a bit like finding the secret level in a game — you know there’s got to be something cool on the other side. Press the power button for a few seconds and voilà, there it is. Simple, right? Kinda. Once in, I fumbled around with it for your basic internet and photo tweaks. But — and I did say things might get dicey — only having two USB-C ports was like trying to juggle with one hand.
Here’s a chuckle for you: using KDE Plasma without a mouse or keyboard is like trying to write poetry while dancing. It’s doable, but probably not pretty. So I dug out this old Logitech mouse and keyboard combo — bought it for a song at Target — and guess what? They needed a USB-A port. Seriously, who even remembers those without a panic attack? Thankfully, I had an adapter because who doesn’t hoard cables?
And as if by magic, my little setup was functional. Plasma’s layout felt like running into an old friend — comforting and just familiar enough to keep you from getting lost.
Want a true tale of impatience? Downloading Microsoft Edge took something like eight minutes. Internet speeds should’ve been zippy (thank you, T-Mobile), but it felt more like dial-up nostalgia. Ugh. Oh, and talk about nostalgia, using this tiny 8-inch screen screamed “I’m not a teenager anymore” — so out came a portable monitor, the Espresso Displays 15 Pro. More adapters, because why not?
The quirks didn’t stop there. The touchpad? Total nightmare. Instantly rebooted the thing back to SteamOS. Twice! Eventually, I found my rhythm, hooking up my trusty gadgets and wrestling with apps like GIMP for some photo tweaks. It wasn’t Pixelmator, but hey, it worked.
So, there you have it. Playing around with the Legion Go S wasn’t just about gaming. It was a curious journey — mostly smooth with the occasional pothole. Would I use it as my daily workhorse? Eh, not really. But it proved it could handle writing a review, barely breaking a sweat. Maybe not the hero we need, but the hero we got? Yeah, something like that.