stolen from linux memes at Deltachat
Is there an easier way to install Arch? I know there’s Archinstall but my dumbass messed that up somehow.
If you use EndeavourOS, know that you shouldn’t ask for support on the Arch forums, its a policy they have.
Archintstall sometimes produces problems(at least I had problems with it). Make sure that you have the current iso version of arch on your stick and try again.
The problem I was facing was manually creating partitions. Should I use Gparted to make them first and then use archinstall, or does it not work with manual partitions?
EndeavorOS or other. Artix maybe? But never used any of those
EndeavourOS is it. It’s basically a better version of archinstall, especially if you’re planning to install a DE.
I used endeavourOS and it was super straightforward
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I know there’s Archinstall but my dumbass messed that up somehow.
I don’t see the problem
Mint BTW
I’ve only ever had two problems with Arch based systems…
- Nvidia drivers…
- Installing poorly create aur packages…
My first ever distro was Arch, over a decade ago.
I just consider it my trial by fire, everything has been smooth sailing since because anything else is easier!
Especially a decade ago before archinstall
These days it is comparatively easy.
Red hat, 25 years ago learned to recompile the kernel to make my sound card/modem work.
25 years into the future and my biggest issue regarding sound is having to tell pipewire to stop going into standby since I do not enjoy the white noise coming from my speakers if it does.
Arch user here.
My recommendation to noobies is always Linux Mint even though I don’t use it.
I use Arch, btw.
As a seasoned distrohopper, can confirm. When I try something new, I always ask myself: Would a noob be ok with the fact that in this distro you have to do things this way. In Fedora, Debian, Manjaro and so many other I always end up saying “no” more than a few times. With Mint, you just don’t bump into these situations very often. IMO, Mint is the best starter distro for most users. If you know your friend is very technical, you can recommend something else.
Yeah I think Arch is fine, but I’d never recommend it to a new Linux user.
Most Arch users (myself included) don’t recommend Arch to n00bs or even light seasoned Linux users if they already are happy with their setup.
But the meme is the meme and I like bullying Arch elitists.
Even I wasn’t cruel enough to banish my mother to arch. She uses fedora on her desktop (because she liked gnome) and Linux mint on her laptop because I wanted her to make sure she still wanted to switch after trying it for about a month.
She wanted to jump head first but it would have been a pain to go through four installs if she didn’t like it.
Mint was my first used, was straightforward and easy to get going. Still use mint.
I’ve always read it doesn’t really matter what distro you choose, just to pick one you like. That’s confusing to a noob because they don’t know why they should or shouldn’t like a specific one.
Mint is very simple to setup and works very much like a windows PC by default. Can even set it up to work like a Mac if you want to.
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So glad you asked. I’d like to report that I actually do use Arch Linux. Most people can’t, so you know, I’m kinda a big deal. I don’t have anymore time for questions, though. It’s update night.
I remember when this was the joke with Slackware.
I think I’m remembering right.
I’ve never used arch. If I get another laptop one day I’ll give it a go.
Hey, you’re on the wrong Lemmy instance. :P
Yeah but this account is 4 years old and you know us Arch users like to flex.
I so want to join that one :D Brilliant name.
… Then go back to Gentoo and stay anyway >:P
Yep. LM or Ubuntu is my recommendation to newbies
I finally tried out Linux Mint this year at work (we use Fedora for some of our different tasks). It arms like such a nice experience out of the box, and I’d put it on a family computer in a second.
Indeed, besides most linux distributions are fairly equally lightweight and can be customized. I tried 4-5 distros this past January (Arch being one) when I got my new gaming laptop and they all booted in ~9.5 sec for example, and perform equally well in general, they had fairly similar RAM load with the same desktop environment.
Arch is about managing the system as a hobby, which is fine.
One problem here is that new users install Endeavour/Garuda but don’t know how to manage updates safely about pacnew/pacsave/etc. So the system might slowly “rot” without them knowing about it because new components use old configs, etc…
I also recommend Mint to new users. I don’t use Mint, nor do I use Arch.
Tbf I don’t think many people know about pacdiff. The way I found out about it was by looking up a warning about pacnew/pacsave during an upgrade, because I was bored. Very random.
Arch is about managing the system as a hobby, which is fine.
Only the installation takes more time, maintenance is no longer than the noob friendly ones.
Arch is about managing the system as a hobby
You’re thinking of Gentoo.
As a Gentoo user currently vacationing in Arch-land I’m not sure whether to feel insulted or affirmed. Imean, it is but some might say that to disparage it or its users 😅
No disparaging intended, it just isn’t my thing.
For me: Gentoo is a meta distro, you are the distro maintainer then the power user of that specific distro you created for yourself which can definitely be fun. Arch is more like: let’s give you one instance of a Gentoo distro when you are tired of being the distro maintainer.
I use both, but Mint is strictly better if you want a no-fuss system that just works and will continue to do so
Arch Linux with NVIDIA is definitely not great for newbies, especially for people who can’t keep up with the distro. If left unupdated for too long, your system may break. Even if you update every day, you could break something. You just never win with a rolling release distro like this. My only saving grace is that I run with an AMD gpu and so far, that thing has just worked.
My tip for anyone switching to Linux is to switch to AMD. Even if NVIDIA is better overall for performance and features, even if the last time you tried AMD on your windows system it was slow and a bit buggy, on Linux, AMD just works, without extra steps.
I’m wondering why “I use Funtoo btw” didn’t become a meme, and arch did. Gentoo is objectively better at letting the user customise everything compared to arch
I’m pretty sure it’s because less people use it. They make fun of Gentoo taking longer to compile stuff on install/update, but that’s pretty fast nowadays. What really takes up time is making all the choices. I remember hours of selecting obscure kernel options and choosing use flags “what is ncurses? Do i need ncurses? What is sdl? Do i need sdl? …” I mostly use Ubuntu now, because I got no more time for that.
I honestly had no idea how to do use flags and just gave up on gentoo since a lot of things I wanted to install needed me to tinker with them somehow, but I might try again later on.
There are binary versions of heavy stuff at least. Although, yeah, it kinda becomes tedious once you get into more or less obscure options… Mine was compiling everything with musl (for some reason)
Gentoo had their own meme: Gentoo is for ricers.
That’s a classic.
The one and only time I said “oh hell naw” to a distro install. Mid install.
Smart man.
Weird shot at the Arch wiki, which is truly great. I turn to it regularly despite not using Arch.
Isn’t archwiki one of the most comprehended wikis for Linux distros out there? If anything, the arch-wiki (to me) has often too many answers for the same problem than the other way around.
That’s the issue. Arch and it’s wiki are labyrinths for beginners.
For anyone not interested in tinkering all-day long they’re better off using fedora, debian or suse.
The Arch wiki is great, but Arch is a terrible platform for newbies, unless they go into Linux with the intent to do a deep dive into the structure behind a Linux OS.
Is actually great since it forces you to learn which saves you much more time in the long run.
But most people can’t see past their nose.
Edit
Can’t believe somebody got offended by this…
couldve stopped at the first sentence, but had to keep with the stereotype i guess ;)
??
Smug sense of superiority. You’re special and do things the right way because everyone else is too dumb.
Jesus fucking christ what a bunch of drama queens
you’re doing a really good job of breaking this stereotype, bub
To be fair, your original comment would have been more likely to push people towards trying Arch if it didn’t have the last sentence.
You can’t invite people to your party by antagonizing them.
Most people want a functional OS, they don’t care about the benefits of NetworkManager over its competition. Figuring out every possible configuration setting and finding the right combination to get everything working as intended takes forever.
Some people are into that, and power to them, but most people aren’t.
Is actually great since it forces you to learn which saves you much more time in the long run.
It is great when you have time to learn, but when you are trying to troubleshoot while understand basically nothing of the wiki … it is not good.
Can’t believe you got so offended someone was offended you edited your comment…
I’m not in just tired to deal with whiny bitches
to be fair, i wasnt offened :) just wanted to point out the irony
oh nooo, you weren’t offended at all (:
I switched like ten years ago because I wanted to learn the details, but in all honesty I still feel like I barely understand anything. Not sure how normal this is, maybe I’m unusually dumb, but I feel like what I’ve really learned is how to troubleshoot and solve issues by reading documentation and tinkering, rather than understanding what I’m actually doing. I’ve had a stable system for years but I kind of feel like if a typical arch forum poster looked my system configuration for five minutes they’d be like wtf are you doing.
Knowing you don’t know everything is what makes you smart. Arch helps keep people smart by forcing them to be on edge all the time by feeding everyone the most recent, often not very well-tested versions of software. All the shiny new tech, with some of the sharp edges that still need to be sanded down.
Every time you learn how to configure a tool or daemon or subsystem, a new, shinier tool comes out, or there’s a major update, or you discover an approach that works better for you. The Linux landscape is constantly shifting. You can bite down and stick with what you know (CentOS and derivatives are great for that!) or you can stay along for the ride.
Weird shitty configs is the Arch Linux life. The flexibility is what allows you to configure your system in whatever way works for you, and until it inevitably all explodes with some future update, it’s probably best not to touch anything and break your config because there’s a “better” way. Unless you like that stuff, of course.
If you know where to look and where to tinker, then I think you have at least some understanding of what you’re doing.
It is most comprehended, but for newbie it is too comprehensive. Its overwhelming, I tried to troubleshoot why I boot to black screen even the installation said its successful and there’s no error. I saw solutions that want me edit grub, edit xorg … and some other file that I never understand.
I understand the wiki is very good and very important, its just not newbie friendly.
True
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I run Debian and I regularly look at the Arch wiki.
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This is why I recommend Chrome OS /s
I always say Ubuntu, to make the haters snap
groaaaan…
Its not a very good OS. Very opinionated, weird modded GNOME, nonstandard Snap doing weird stuff. But its probably okayish and pretty stable
Yeah, arch isn’t the most welcoming to new users, or so I’ve heard lol.