Distro-hop

For the past year I have run Gentoo Linux on my Thinkpad x201 (my main laptop, pretty sure I installed this OS during the period my phlog went dark after I was laid off). I used lightdm and BSPWM on this setup. There was some rough edges: thinkfan was not configured properly and I had settled on setting the fan speed manually to keep my x201 from overheating, for example. These rough edges did not really bother me though.

In the last few weeks I had wanted to return to an Arch based distro. The rolling release paradigm is just, IMHO, better. I thought about how many times in the past year I had actually reviewed the source code I was compiling on my Gentoo install. Maybe twice. Two times in one year. So the net result was long compile times for software installation and no tangible benefit.

So I started investigating Arch and Arch-based Linux distributions. I have chosen Manjaro BSPWM edition. I was tickled pink that Manjaro had a BSPWM edition period. I have installed Arch the *Arch Way* many times, but the Manjaro installer was just plain more enjoyable. The BSPWM installation comes preconfigured and lightly riced (it has a nice panel, an attractive color scheme, preconfigured SXHKD bindings, etc.). Some tweaks on the panel and the SXHKD bindings to make them my own and voila!

The year of Gentoo usage was a valuable experience. I would not choose to change this were I to have a time machine (let's face it, a time machine would be used by me to create much larger time-line disruptions than an OS install, I do not think I'd travel back to find an IBM 5100 either...).

Honestly, with git and dropbox any computer can become *your computer* in a matter of minutes. Arch is just more cozy and for now I am happier with my computing experience.