In March 2017 I took pains to install Arch Linux on my Lenovo Thinkpad. This way, I was having two working computers, one Arch Linux on Thinkpad, one Windows on Surface, and Dropbox enabled file-sharing between them. So why did I choose Arch in the first place? By then I hadn’t had any Linux experience, and on seeing some internet posts which compared Linux distributions, my impression was that Arch allowed more customization, which sounded like my inclination. In addition, I thought that if I partitioned the disk in person, it would be easier to modify the partition later. I didn’t know installation was so convoluted, but it wasn’t a real difficulty for me. In May 2020, I started to use, on my Surface, the Windows subsystem for Linux–a new application Microsoft proposed to please Linux devotees. It had most of the functionality Linux had, and particularly conveniently, I could open files with the Windows file explorer, and edit with VS Code, without transferring files from Dropbox. From then on, I used Arch on Thinkpad less and less.
On October 18, 2020, when I tried to update Arch for the first time after a while, Pacman told me there were conflicting files. I uninstalled several conflicting packages on the warning list, intending to reinstall everything; after having restarted the laptop, the desktop was emptier, and Pacman wasn’t even recognized by the terminal. I might have deleted some system packages, and probably used some flags for forcing. Fortunately everything was backed up by Dropbox and copied on my Surface. Incidentally I didn’t have a Arch Linux USB at hand, and after some careful thought, I decided to install Ubuntu.
I do find on the internet quite a few people complaining about conflict packages when updating with Pacman. Perhaps the matter is due to the rolling release, or (and) the less stable packages than Ubuntu. Looking back now, apart from the fussy installation process (overtly so for laypersons), it isn’t a robust practice, to my eyes, to burden the user of resolving constant conflicts between updated packages.
It has been almost a year, and Ubuntu is doing fine. There have never been conflicts in updating, even when I haven’t updated for a month. Now I don’t understand the appeal of Arch at all. I can’t think of a thing which Arch can do, but Ubuntu can’t. Unless you are undertaking highly technical work which really requires Arch’s flexibility and privilege and you are well-versed in Linux, I simply suggest Ubuntu.
❧ August 6, 2021