Yes, several, but there are also several reasons to use Ubuntu over Arch. One thing that tend to fly over most people head is that under the hood all Linux are the same, there are two main differences between distros: Package Manager and philosophy.
Package Manager
Ubuntu is Debian based, so it uses apt, whereas Arch uses it’s own package manager called pacman. If there’s a package you want that is not available in the official channels on Ubuntu you would need to either download a .deb file or add an extra repository of packages called PPA to have that available. On Arch there’s a User Repository called AUR where users create scripts to install packages that are not available on the main repos, this usually involves compiling or downloading a .deb, .rpm (RedHat installation format) or tarball (essentially zipped files), extracting the files and putting them in the correct place. Arch is easier to install extra content because of this, almost anything you wish to install is in the AUR, and that’s one of the main reasons I use it, whereas in Ubuntu you need to find which PPA has the package you want to install.
Philosophy
This is the main difference between most distros. Ubuntu is a user-friendly, stable versioned release distro. Arch is a bare-bones, bleeding edge rolling release distro.
User-friendly vs Bare-bones
Ubuntu will provide a lot of what you’ll need out of the box, after finishing the installation, which is an easy next,next,next type of thing you will be able to browse the web, write documents, play games, or most of what you like to do in your computer, there might be stuff you’ll never use already installed because other people might find it useful, but you can uninstall them. And if you want something extra like a photo editor you can easily install it using a GUI (Graphical Users Interface, i.e. things you use with your mouse), and the system will let you know when there are updates with a handy notification that you can click to install said updates.
Arch is as minimal as possible, the installation will drop you to a command line and you need to manually do a lot of the steps to get your system working, after finishing the installation you’ll be dropped into another command line interface with an installation that is so minimal that it’s essentially useless for anything other than writing .txt files. You need yo build your system up from that point, you need to choose which Graphical backend you will use, which desktop manager, which browser and install all of them. Unless you install something it won’t be there, so unless you know and install a GUI package manager you’ll need to use the terminal for that. In short you need to build from the ground up. If you like everything else in Arch but prefer a less bare bones distro you can check Manjaro.
Stable vs Bleeding edge
Ubuntu has some packages that are mostly stable and only receive security updates, this makes it harder for things to break, but it also makes it difficult to get the latest version of things.
Arch on the other hand gets the latest version of everything every day. This can cause problems if for example a library gets updated but programs don’t support that version. To be fair this is rare, but it does happen, and you’re expected to know how to downgrade the library until the program gets updated as well.
Versioned vs Rolling release
Ubuntu has versions that get released every 6 months but are supported for longer, this means that if you want to always be on the latest version of everything you need to upgrade the system version every six months, not unlike how you would update windows versions from 7 to 8 to 10, etc.
Arch does not have versions, instead packages get updated, and that keeps going until everything is updated naturally. If you like the idea of a Rolling release but would like something more stable than Arch check out Debian.
Yes, several, but there are also several reasons to use Ubuntu over Arch. One thing that tend to fly over most people head is that under the hood all Linux are the same, there are two main differences between distros: Package Manager and philosophy.
Package Manager
Ubuntu is Debian based, so it uses
apt, whereas Arch uses it’s own package manager calledpacman. If there’s a package you want that is not available in the official channels on Ubuntu you would need to either download a.debfile or add an extra repository of packages calledPPAto have that available. On Arch there’s a User Repository calledAURwhere users create scripts to install packages that are not available on the main repos, this usually involves compiling or downloading a.deb,.rpm(RedHat installation format) or tarball (essentially zipped files), extracting the files and putting them in the correct place. Arch is easier to install extra content because of this, almost anything you wish to install is in the AUR, and that’s one of the main reasons I use it, whereas in Ubuntu you need to find which PPA has the package you want to install.Philosophy
This is the main difference between most distros. Ubuntu is a user-friendly, stable versioned release distro. Arch is a bare-bones, bleeding edge rolling release distro.
User-friendly vs Bare-bones
Ubuntu will provide a lot of what you’ll need out of the box, after finishing the installation, which is an easy next,next,next type of thing you will be able to browse the web, write documents, play games, or most of what you like to do in your computer, there might be stuff you’ll never use already installed because other people might find it useful, but you can uninstall them. And if you want something extra like a photo editor you can easily install it using a GUI (Graphical Users Interface, i.e. things you use with your mouse), and the system will let you know when there are updates with a handy notification that you can click to install said updates.
Arch is as minimal as possible, the installation will drop you to a command line and you need to manually do a lot of the steps to get your system working, after finishing the installation you’ll be dropped into another command line interface with an installation that is so minimal that it’s essentially useless for anything other than writing
.txtfiles. You need yo build your system up from that point, you need to choose which Graphical backend you will use, which desktop manager, which browser and install all of them. Unless you install something it won’t be there, so unless you know and install a GUI package manager you’ll need to use the terminal for that. In short you need to build from the ground up. If you like everything else in Arch but prefer a less bare bones distro you can check Manjaro.Stable vs Bleeding edge
Ubuntu has some packages that are mostly stable and only receive security updates, this makes it harder for things to break, but it also makes it difficult to get the latest version of things.
Arch on the other hand gets the latest version of everything every day. This can cause problems if for example a library gets updated but programs don’t support that version. To be fair this is rare, but it does happen, and you’re expected to know how to downgrade the library until the program gets updated as well.
Versioned vs Rolling release
Ubuntu has versions that get released every 6 months but are supported for longer, this means that if you want to always be on the latest version of everything you need to upgrade the system version every six months, not unlike how you would update windows versions from 7 to 8 to 10, etc.
Arch does not have versions, instead packages get updated, and that keeps going until everything is updated naturally. If you like the idea of a Rolling release but would like something more stable than Arch check out Debian.