I’ve installed arch Linux and liked it, but lfs and Gentoo would be too time consuming compiling everything and not doing anything during and after install. Are there any distros like arch that don’t have me compiling everything?
A linux distro is a linux distro. It’s you, who invests the time to experiment and understand, who unlocks advanced features. There’s no shortcuts to learning Linux than to use it and read about it and install it many many times.
Exactly. You can use Ubuntu in a noobish way, or you can do crazy things with it. It’s not the tools, but the craftsman that makes the difference.
That said, distros each have a niche, so find the one that’s closest to the types of problems you want to solve. For example, if you’re making a kiosk, you’re probably better off pushing out your own images, so a distro that’s designed to build small images is probably desired over one that seeks to pack in every library and application under the sun.
If you don’t know what you want, pick something well supported and dig in to whatever interests you. Want to learn systemd? Pick a distro that uses it and write your own service files (e.g. maybe a Minecraft server, or perhaps synching). Want to learn to build software yourself? Grab a tarball from the project’s page instead of installing through the package manager. And so on. If you start from something unfamiliar, you’ll have to learn a lot of irrelevant things, which may not be what you want.
What do you mean by “Like arch” exactly? What part of it would you like to keep in your next distro?
I’ve tried quite a few and have been on the debian train for ~5 years simply due to stability and usability
If you’re just looking to learn something new, why not try an immutable OS like Fedora Silverblue? It’s an easier install than Arch, obviously, but there’s lots of differences from a standard distro. There’s security upsides but also consequences to work around.
Speaking of immutable, I’m surprised nobody has suggested Endless yet, which I don’t know much about but is usually suggested in these kinds of threads, and it’s immutable. You might want the ISO with the smaller size if you don’t want to basically download Wikipedia.
Assuming your goal is to gain knowledge about operating systems
Try arch but without kde, gnome, xfce, lxqt… make your own DE, based on a WM of your choice. That way you’ll gain lods of knowledge about how an OS interacts with the user and which applications do what.
After that, you would have to go for LFS or Tannenbaums Modern Operating Systems
I’m pretty sure that runs way opposite to OP’s stated goal of “don’t have me compiling everything”
Not on Arch it doesn’t. Almost all window managers have a package somewhere. There will be a lot of configuring, but no compiling.
maybe nix with no de?
Try Void
What do you need that Arch doesn’t provide?
OP is probably complaining about AUR packages needing to be compiled most of the time. In that case, use the chaotic AUR. If you don’t trust it, then compile the software from the AUR yourself.
Are the AUR helper applications still not well documented these days?
Why would a wrapper around pacman need documentation? Anyways, --help and the Arch Wiki have it too.
What do you mean by “advanced”?
I’ve been using Linux on-and-off since before kernel version 1.0, and I use a distro (Pop!_OS) with a reputation for being newbie-friendly and just working out-of-the-box.
I’m originally a FreeBSD guy since 1998, but eventually migrated to linux some time around 2008. I’ve been through many distros, liked most of them (especially Gentoo, as its package syatem is similar to that of FreeBSD), but my main desktop OS today is Mint.
Advanced like arch where you have to configure everything from scratch.
All distros have a no gui install you mean that ?
Ah. By “advanced” you mean “stone knives and bearskins”. Got it.
When I say “advanced” I mean more like “taking advantage of lots of good work that others have already done.”
… “and actually get something useful (advanced or not) done with Linux instead of wasting time tweaking animated windows transitions and bragging about how many distros you hopped last week”
Similar to arch in what way? What about arch don’t you like, you can look at other arch-based distros.
Most distributions have binary package managers anyways, so you won’t struggle to find some.
Exactly. If it is the rolling nature op does actualy like perhaps opensuse tumblweed is a good one to try?
There isn’t anything about arch I specifically don’t like, I’d just like to see if there’s anything that’s better in a certain criteria I don’t yet know of.
You could always try NixOS.
Arch may not be particularly easy to use, but it’s a simple system, in that you can build a mental model of your entire setup with a fraction of the effort and time that you’d need to expend with other systems. It gives you the standard Linux experience without fuss, or handholding.
Nix, however, gives you several capabilities that other systems won’t, but you’re paying for that through its learning curve.
Just enable flatpaks or install Pop_OS! and use only flatpaks.
There are lots of good distros. The question is a bit too vague for useful answers.
LFS and Gentoo, you have to compile, sure… but Arch? You don’t compile the kernel on vanilla Arch, if you mean packages, then just get the
*-binversions.Edit: misunderstood your post. What’s wrong with Arch and Arch-based distros?
I phrased that wrong, I just edited it to reflect what I wanted to say.
Yeah sorry I misunderstood, have you looked into NixOS? It offers quite a different workflow. I use arch and there hasn’t been a time where I wish I have it differently, except the occasional temptation to try Nix.
Thanks, I’ll try that!
I have to shamelessly plug for Arch Linux here. I think Arch would be a great way to get into the more advanced side of Linux without quite delving into the complexities of LFS.
I’ve installed arch Linux
You don’t really compile anything during or after install with arch linux unless you find something on the AUR that needs to compile? If so, just look for <package_name-bin>.
Otherwise, a really nice system is NixOS.
Another is GNU Guix.
I like Void, it feels a little more like a BSD. But I’ve only really used it for experimentation, no idea what it’s like as a daily driver.
You could also try an actual BSD. OpenBSD has a very clear style and direction which I like but be careful when partitioning, they have their own ‘disklabel’ system. Updates are really streamlined with syspatch and sysupgrade.
NetBSD had a nice TUI installer. It may appear a bit less focussed on its aims but has a lot going for it: many supporter platforms, a friendly community, etc.
There’s also FreeBSD, DragonflyBSD, possibly more but I don’t have much experience with those.
The FreeBSD handbook is amazing for this! IMO the best guide out there for an operating system
What’s the purpose? Which application do you have running on Linux that you think you need to compile everything, configure everything, and that will only run on an “advanced” distro?
Is it some high specialized clustered distributed high performance, high availability computing application where you need your own kernel tweaks in?
Or are you just a distro hopper, tinkering just for the sake of it and for imaginary bragging rights? If it’s for learning, try to establish a specific real goal and learn how to reach it.
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use the chaotic aur repo for Arch
Automated building repo for AUR packages
It’s not safe to use because it just compiles AUR packages. However, it’s good practice to have your data like personal info, game saves etc. in a encrypted vault away from the devices you use everyday. Even my boomer parents get this, I tell them their NAS needs be open like a safe with their Yubikey.
The AUR itself only got malware like once or twice. If you don’t trust binary blobs from some strangers then why do you trust my advice?
