FreeCAD has become quite usable over the past couple of years, and it keeps getting better with every update. I know you maybe don’t get to choose which CAD program you use since you’re a student, but thought I’d put it out there. I’ve been really enjoying it so far.

Been using Linux for about 8 years now. My DE of choice has pretty much always been XFCE. Here’s an overview of the distros I’ve daily driven.

Linux Mint -> Debian -> Arch -> NixOS -> Arch

I tried NixOS for about a year before switching back to Arch recently. There were just too many problems I couldn’t find a solution to, and I realized that the advantages of an immutable OS just aren’t that important to me.

Arch really is a dream to use, and the setup is pretty easy if you use the archinstall script. And most importantly, their wiki is amazing.