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== Timoteo Ponce's blog ==
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ArchLinux deception

ubuntu slackware archlinux
Last weekend I decided to give ArchLinux a chance, I only read good articles about it and I thought it would be nice to get out of Slackware world.

I will divide my experiences in a few sections:
  1. Installation
    • This part was really strange for me, it supposed to be easier than Slackware ncurses wizards. It's not, it's even worse. 
    • I don't know if is just me, but I the default installation doesn't have anything, no media support, not extra-fs support, nothing. I don't know why ArchLinux community declares that it's painless than Slackware.
  2. Configuration
    • A good point here, configuration of mirrors and the system in general is pretty straightforward, very simple configuration with a lot of comments.  
  3. Package management
    • Maybe Pacman is its best feature, it's even better(IMHO) than APT.
  4. Usability
    • For me, it's not usable at all, I spent 2 hours to get a minimum XFCE desktop working. And don't make me talk about a work environment, it will take days!. I don't really get the idea of having such a basic environment, I don't want to install everything from scratch. But that's just me, maybe there's some other people who like to waste their time, good for them.
  5. Conclusion
    • In general, it's not better than Ubuntu or Slackware, installation and configuration tasks are not hard, but can be simplified. Meanwhile, I will stay with my Slackware desktop for another year.