All that - and then you end up using Gnome?!

Amen to everything you’re saying.

Wait - you’re still running e16?!

I remember that one of the things that really blew me away was the virtual desktop pager which was a live miniature of the actual desktops.

Could you expand on that? What is exceptional about the feature set, and how does e use the desktop differently?

‘not speedy, but ongoing’ - That sounds like E, alright …

I didn’t think I would ever say this, but: arch isn’t always the answer. True: the last time the entire system broke on me was in 2006’ish, but I can’t count the times certain apps have stopped working or some python upgrade messes up things. Sure: that’s the price of rolling release and AUR, and I wouldn’t be without it, but it’s a thing one has to learn to live with, and a thing that makes ‘arch’ the wrong answer to this particular question.