When I switched to Linux I went to Arch immediately. I figured if I was in for a penny I was in for a pound. And a barebones Linux install, which seemed to be the whole point of Linux to me at the time, was insanely appealing.

I tried Mint, Ubuntu, and one other that I can’t remember, but none of them have been as well documented or as challenging (yet solvable) as Arch. Of course, it only took me three weeks to get my setup complete so that I could use the bare minimum functionality of my laptop. That didn’t include customization. Installing on an old Mac had its own set of challenges.