I was really blindsided two weeks ago, when I lost my connection. I hadn’t anticipated it, and I was running clean Arch systems on two machines at the time.

I know it sounds foolish, but when I realized I had lost my beloved fiber-optic connection, I thought for sure something would go haywire and I’d end up installing Ubuntu on one or both machines. That just wasn’t the case.

Arch has proven just as dependable and stable as any Ubuntu system I’ve ever installed. I will concede that I don’t install nearly the array of programs in Arch as I might with a full Ubuntu installation, but just the few that I have are completely reliable and solid. No glitches, quirks or mysterious behavior.

So this was a lesson for me. I always thought Arch a little more experimental or cutting edge than Ubuntu; that might be a holdover from learning Ubuntu first, or it might have been a misconception borne of the rolling release vs. periodic release arguments. Regardless, I have just as much faith now in Arch’s stability as Ubuntu’s.

And on that note, I will continue to try and get my connection restored. Wish me luck, and you can bet my first online act will be pacman -Syu.