---
title: "All over again, shall we?"
url: https://perrotta.dev/2014/09/all-over-again-shall-we/
last_updated: 2026-02-17
---


I've just switched from Arch to Ubuntu. OMG, what the hell _with me_? To make
matters interesting, I'm using Unity (not other (non-)fancy DE/WM) **in**an
underlying btrfs filesystem. First point: this change is temporary; it will
probably last just for a couple of months. In the best scenario possible, this
post would begin with a "I've just installed Ubuntu". However, there is the "I
wiped my Arch installation" thing, just because the size of the **SSD**of my
ultrabook: only 32 GB. I've done something similar in the past: however, in the
last time, I've installed Gentoo – to try it – in my **HDD**. It was cool and I
learned several concepts of how a source based distro works, but I haven't used
Gentoo during much time, precisely because I've installed it to my HDD. _You see
the difference?_ First notable thing: it seems like I'm always having problems
with Arch. Tell me: otherwise, why would I delete it from time to time? Well,
let's clarify these things. The problem is exactly the opposite: I **don't**have
_any_ problems with Arch (not today). **And this is precisely the problem!**. It
feels so perfect that I feel I'm missing the point of other distros. Now, you
already know I'm an advocate of Arch, but I should tell you the following: _a
priori_ I don't claim it to be perfect for purposes **other than a personal
Desktop**. In other words, I'm not _a priori_ an advocate of Arch for servers,
or for kids, or for your fancy friends, or for use in corporal environments, or
anything else you might come with. Arch is perfect for a personal desktop
because you are the person who knows everything about it, and you feel (and you
have) 100% control of your system, and you (later on) claim to be an expert on
this Linux thing. And all of this just because of an amazing community and good
philosophy principles and practices (and a little of work from your part).
Right? OK, so let's forget Arch for a while – you should notice I refer to it as
"Arch Linux" just a few times –> it is not the **Linux**thing that is great
here, _but_ the **Arch** thing itself, instead! <– –. Now, let's go back to
Ubuntu and some motivations behind this change. The thing is: I would try Fedora
or open SUSE at first. And I actually installed Fedora. However, I wiped it just
a few hours later; it kept freezing. This wasn't the only reason for this
wiping, however: I find fedora is really annnoying in some points… Well, so I've
ended up on Ubuntu. Linux Mint would be an option, however I felt I should get
out of my comfort zone, so Ubuntu would be better in that sense.

## Now, to the Ubuntu thing

I like and I dislike Canonical at the same time. However, I like it more than I
dislike it. So, I find Ubuntu a pretty decent piece of software (system) for the
Desktop, it is nice. While nowadays I'm not a super fan of it (hm, I'm not even
a common/normal fan…), I don't hate it. There are a couple of reasons why an
advanced user is not **usually** (however, please notice this is not the rule;
there are exceptions!) passionated about Ubuntu – or other linux distros for
novices. I won't talk about these reasons in this post – maybe in another one.
However, there are some goals that I want to address/complete until I get back
to Arch:

## Crazy goals

* `[ ]` play with the btrfs filesystem
* `[ ]` play with Launchpad and PPAs (bzr, etc). In particular, create some .deb
  packages for Ubuntu.
* `[ ]` play with a virtualized Arch Linux – because there is a community out
  there I want to keep up with, right? Examples include but are not limited to:
  ssh to a VPS, gnome-boxes, VirtualBox, docker/containers.
* `[ ]` apt-get, apt-file and aptitude (moderably advanced) insights
* `[ ]` get to know vim! (Why god, why? Emacs is so nice for now…) [wq!]
* `[ ]` insights about the Unity shell. Customization, etc. Yeah, I'm using
  Unity. No cinnamon, no i3wm.
* `[ ]` more Ubuntu specific things I'll discover in this process…

During the next days I'll probably talk about my experience with these goals.
_See ya_.