Ubuntu 11.10 is released, but I am still using Arch Linux

Yes! This is a great news, Ubuntu 11.10 is released. And it was my favourite Linux distribution. The usability and easy to use, let me convert from Windows user to a Linux user.

Then, I changed from Ubuntu to Linux Mint. Actually there is no big differences from Ubuntu and Linux Mint, because Linux Mint is derived from Ubuntu. But the philosophy of Linux Mint is focusing on the usability design. Yes, I like the green colour, because it is natural. Mint installation disc contains some proprietary software. That means, offline installation of Linux Mint is more complete, because I do not need to download the proprietary packages through internet after installation.

Then, I changed from Linux Mint to Arch Linux. There are 3 reasons: (1) Upgrading Ubuntu and Linux Mint is  not very satisfying. Because I need to re-install the proprietary driver after upgrading, this is the problem is the wireless network connection needs a proprietary driver, because there might not have internet connection. (2) I cannot use the latest version of the software if using Ubuntu and Linux Mint, unless I compile the source code myself. (3) Changing the desktop environment is not easy, for example, from GNOME to Xfce or LXDE, might causes some errors.

Yes, Arch Linux is the solution for these. But installation of Arch Linux is not as easy as Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Yet, it is really worth after installation, because upgrading is much easier. Besides that, the pacman (package manager) is really easy to use. The building system using makepkg and PKGBUILD is too powerful and convenient that make me manage my own packages easier, and also share the packages in AUR. Finally, I can customize my desktop environment as anything I want, GNOME with compiz, GNOME with metacity, Xfce4, LXDE, KDE, or OpenBox. But sadly, GNOME3 is really make me frustrating. But fortunately, Xfce4 is satisfying.

If you want to try on Linux, you can really start from Ubuntu or Linux Mint. You will like them.