I started using Linux years ago and I tried a lot of distributions but Ubuntu was always my main distribution on my work laptop. The reason why I used Ubuntu was simple, it worked and it did not have a lot of maintenance if you didn’t customize. But after so many years of Ubuntu I needed a change.

As I said before I tried a lot of other distribution before but always came back to Ubuntu. I think the reason for this is that I never really prepared myself for the switch but I just did it. So this time I wanted to do it differently. First I made a short list of the distribution that I would like to use, this was a quick one.

1. Arch, because it becomes my system and I decide what happens with it and because it is bleeding edge
2. Debian, rock solid
3. Red Hat Enterprise, I needed a third option

I didn’t really wanted Red Hat and if I am going to switch from Ubuntu to some other distro I needed a bit more change than there is between Ubuntu and Debian (and no I am not saying they are the same!). I have looked in to Arch before and even installed it on my laptop but didn’t give it a change, my main reason to install Arch is to learn more about what my system is doing and to be on the edge of software. But instead of diving in to it as I normally would I went and prepared myself.

I read trough the installation, I looked at different options, made my choices regarding boot manager,artitioning, file system etc… Then I installed it in VirtualBox and started configuring and testing the software I thought I wanted to use, this way I tried new software and decided on my defaults. After that I went and installed Arch on my laptop and since 4 weeks Arch is my main distribution that I love!