I’m a little bit underwhelmed, I thought that based off the fact so many people seem to make using this distro their personality I expected… well, more I guess?
Once the basic stuff is set-up, like wifi, a few basic packages, a desktop environment/window manager, and a bit of desktop environment and terminal customisation, then that’s it. Nothing special, just a Linux distribution with less default programs and occasionally having to look up how to install a hardware driver or something if you need to use bluetooth for the first time or something like that.
Am I missing something? How can I make using Arch Linux my personality when once it’s set up it’s just like any other computer?
What exactly is it that people obsess over? The desktop environment and terminal customisation? Setting up NetworkManager with nmcli? Using Vim to edit a .conf file?
- The Quuuuuill ( @Quill7513@slrpnk.net ) English138•1 month ago
Welcome to realizing the Memes are all bullshit and its just a solid distro that’s worth using for the simpleness. Just go use your computer like the average user is and roll with it
- vort3 ( @vort3@lemmy.ml ) 54•1 month ago
Yep, all this «how do I learn linux» stuff is weird. You don’t learn your OS, you use it. Did you need to «learn» Windows? You just launch it and click your browser / file manager / media player and browse, manage files and watch or listen to your media files.
You can just use your PC as you would regularly use your PC and find solutions once you face some issues. Yes, Linux issues are different from Windows issues.
- SynopsisTantilize ( @SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee ) 40•1 month ago
You got downvoted but as a Systems Engineer when I get home from work, I want my OS to get out of my way. All these other people are crazy.
- KNova ( @knova@infosec.pub ) 6•1 month ago
This x 1000. I’ve had a buddy razz me over using plain, simple Debian because it’s not bleeding edge and the packages are out of date in some cases. bro I don’t care I just want to play some games and occasionally use LibreOffice for some stuff.
- SynopsisTantilize ( @SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee ) 1•1 month ago
Yep. If I could have a true steamOS that had no desktop mode that would be 60% of my home life. I have an 1135g7 32gb ram laptop for Mint.
- acockworkorange ( @acockworkorange@mander.xyz ) 2•1 month ago
You joke, but I was there, 3000 years ago… and DOS, Windows and Lotus 1-2-3 courses sold like hot cakes. Yeah, people had to learn Windows until a critical mass of people knew it so knowledge would self propagate.
- dewritochan ( @dewritochan@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 2•1 month ago
the vhs tapes
- h_ramus ( @h_ramus@lemm.ee ) 84•1 month ago
Didn’t bother going through the hoops and installed EndeavourOS which is arch-based with some additional default applications.
For me, the best thing of Arch isn’t the distribution but the Arch wiki. An impressive piece of documentation.
Arch wiki is superb, couldn’t have installed or configured Arch without it.
- Ooops ( @Ooops@feddit.org ) 5•1 month ago
Which btw is the reason many people ended up with Archlinux… after the x-th time looking up some configuration issues on another distro and landing there.
- prole ( @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 2•1 month ago
EndeavorOS is essentially Arch with a gui installer and a few optional pre-installed packages.
- Lettuce eat lettuce ( @Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml ) 29•1 month ago
You fell for the meme lol.
Arch is great if you want very high levels of customization without having to get into compiling and coding, like with Gentoo or NixOS.
I think of it as the distro equivalent to custom keyboard kit, you get all the parts and can swap them out as much as you want. But you’re not designing and fabricating your own circuit board and microcontroller, writing your own custom firmware, getting a custom case modeled and fabricated, etc.
There’s a reason “I use Arch, BTW” Is a meme.
- probableprotogen ( @probableprotogen@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 1•1 month ago
Tbh I only use arch because I still love openbox too much
- Ghoelian ( @Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English3•1 month ago
Can’t you just install openbox on any other distro? Looks like it’s available for all the major ones at least.
- django ( @django@discuss.tchncs.de ) English23•1 month ago
Come for the memes, stay for the wiki and AUR.
- verdigris ( @verdigris@lemmy.ml ) 20•1 month ago
The meme is mostly a relic from the days when installing Arch was a very involved and mostly manual process – it wasn’t to the level of LFS, but you had to configure most of the base system, and it would leave you with a pretty bare-bones setup (no GUI by default, etc). So it was a pretty big hurdle and successfully installing it did give you a bit of nerd cred, though even then the “arch BTW” meme was tongue in cheek.
These days it’s just one of the most well-supported rolling release distros, and it’s got automated installers and GUI spins just like any popular distro. The two biggest assets are the AUR and the wiki.
NixOS does kind of feel like the spiritual successor in terms of effort to set up, and in that immutable OSes are kind of the next big thing, like rolling release was fairly unconventional when Arch was taking off.
- tekeous ( @tekeous@usenet.lol ) English18•1 month ago
Ha ha, you fool, you fell for the classic blunder!
It’s just a meme, dude.
Not the only meme I fell for… Anyone know the best way to unload 5 thinkpads that originally shipped with Windows 7??
- thingsiplay ( @thingsiplay@beehaw.org ) 7•1 month ago
Everybody gangsta, until someone says I use Arch, BTW.
- rickyrigatoni ( @rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee ) 17•1 month ago
How can I make using Arch Linux my personality when once it’s set up it’s just like any other computer?
Well, do you already have a personality that isn’t based on Arch? If you do, get rid of it.
- Kanda ( @Kanda@reddthat.com ) 16•1 month ago
Use it as your daily driver and get really comfortable with it. After this, complain loudly when you see someone doing anything in a different way. Then say “I use Arch btw”
- thingsiplay ( @thingsiplay@beehaw.org ) 16•1 month ago
Yes, and that’s the point of Archlinux. It’s nothing special, at least in the way it is configured. You make it special. You build your distribution more or less. You are the opinionated one, not the distribution. I think what people are “obsessed with Arch” is, that you have to manage it yourself and you build it yourself. It is the philosophy that is appealing I guess. In example not much is automated. Stuff is described in the wiki and community and it is expected that you learn the stuff and understand and then do it yourself, instead relying on automated and preconfigured stuff from a regular distro.
On my main system I use EndeavourOS, which is basically Arch, but with some pre-configs and opinions, and comes with some automation tools.
- NaN ( @Bitrot@lemmy.sdf.org ) English15•1 month ago
Outside of the meme, the only people who make it their personality are generally younger and less experienced users who feel extremely empowered and proud by doing anything useful on the command line. Not like those users on Ubuntu (which they just switched from) who install stuff from a store like losers, nuh uh.
Before Arch you had the same type of people on Gentoo feeling superior because of use flags and watching hours of compiler output, after switching from Mandrake.
- communism ( @communism@lemmy.ml ) 15•1 month ago
Do people really make Arch their personality? Ive been using Arch-based distros since forever and never really met someone like that. I thought it was just a meme.
I like the minimalism and ability to control more parts of your system as opposed to an automated install process doing everything for you. But you don’t have to do that much manually. The main pacstrap step basically sets up your whole system anyway. It’s not that different to other mainstream distros. I have always just used it like any other distro.
Edit: Forgot to mention that the bleeding-edge packages and AUR are nice features too. And being rolling release to a lesser extent, just my preference.
- Toribor ( @Toribor@corndog.social ) English18•1 month ago
I thought it was just a meme.
I see way more complaints about ‘elitist Arch users’ than I ever do comments from actual elitist Arch users.
- llii ( @llii@discuss.tchncs.de ) 3•1 month ago
Also, I never saw anyone saying anything about a “year of the Linux Desktop”. It’s just a meme.
- floofloof ( @floofloof@lemmy.ca ) English6•1 month ago
It was certainly said seriously in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was the kind of phrase you’d find in computer magazines that came with a Linux CD-ROM stuck to the cover.
This guy from Intel claims to have been the first to use it in 1999, but I think it was a more widely used hype phrase around that time, when desktop Linux was becoming just about usable.
- weststadtgesicht ( @weststadtgesicht@discuss.tchncs.de ) 5•1 month ago
Both were a thing in discussions many years ago. That’s why they became a meme.
But since then it’s basically only used ironically because people quickly noticed they’re a meme.
- bluewing ( @bluewing@lemm.ee ) 1•1 month ago
It’s become a meme now. And I certainly don’t take it seriously myself. It’s more in fun to me as anything serious. (I don’t use Arch by the way).
If you can’t joke about yourself about something you do, then you may have a problem and should perhaps consider some therapy perhaps.
- Thann ( @Thann@lemmy.ml ) English2•1 month ago
FOSS is my personality and Arch is my distro
- communism ( @communism@lemmy.ml ) 4•1 month ago
Funnily enough one of the points where Arch distinguishes themselves from other distros is that they’re not strict about only including free software in their repos and are completely fine with including proprietary software alongside foss. There’s Parabola if you want Arch but with a strong political line on free software
- boonhet ( @boonhet@lemm.ee ) 15•1 month ago
Yup, that’s it.
Next, join us at !gentoo@lemm.ee spend a day or 2 setting everything up and compiling every package from scratch, rice your setup, and realize that even that is barely different from Ubuntu to use once you’ve actually got everything set up.
Maybe Linux From Scratch feels a bit more special, but I never got to the finish line with that one, even as a teen I had better things to do with my time lol
- swab148 ( @swab148@lemm.ee ) 8•1 month ago
I’ve done it.
Don’t.
- lemmyvore ( @lemmyvore@feddit.nl ) English4•1 month ago
The graduation from Linux from Scratch is to be able to make your own mini-distro. I reckon anybody who gets that far is above petty feuds about the install process or packaging in this or that distro.
- dion_starfire ( @dion_starfire@lemm.ee ) English4•1 month ago
This amuses me, since I literally went from Gentoo to Arch because it felt like the same bleeding edge distro without having to wait for the compile time for half of the packages.
That said, I generally don’t recommend Arch (or Gentoo) to newbies. It’s great when it works, but the number of times I’ve had to troubleshoot some random dependency issue because I took more than a week to update my system would scare any newbie away. It’s a bit like the parable of the cobbler’s kids having the worst shoes, or the mechanic always driving a project car - when you have the skills to fix something, you’re willing to put up with a lot of bullshit that a normal person wouldn’t.
- Ooops ( @Ooops@feddit.org ) 1•1 month ago
I think it’s not a newbie but a general user issue. I have learned to recognize the linux newbies for whom Arch is a good fit over time… just by watching which people distro hop until landing with Archlinux.
PS: And among the typical distro hoppers is really a big chunk of them… because for a lot of them distro hopping is just a symptom of wanting to make the mandatory big system upgrades every few years at best worth it by trying something new. Those should actually get a rolling distro as a recommendation much earlier.
- Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 ( @Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English14•1 month ago
The AUR is pretty awesome. If a piece of software exists on Linux, it’s in the AUR. Even software that doesn’t have a native Linux version can sometimes be found these, e.g. repackaged versions of Electron apps for Windows.
And once you start really customizing your system, you’ll see the value of the Arch Wiki. If there’s something you can do on Arch, the Wiki probably has a well-written guide for it.
- Thann ( @Thann@lemmy.ml ) English12•1 month ago
100% its the Wiki and AUR!
On every other distro, once you want a program not in the package manager, it will likely be broken by the next update. On arch 99.995% of the time it will be in AUR and you can just make a simple PKGBUILD when its not, so your updates will automatically recompile all of your personal projects!
- ari_verse ( @ari_verse@lemm.ee ) 2•1 month ago
Well these days we have flatpak to solve the “not in the repo” (or ‘old version in the repo’) problem.
- Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 ( @Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English3•1 month ago
Only for (some) desktop applications. The AUR has everything, including CLI tools, configurations and even some niche scripts
- theshatterstone54 ( @theshatterstone54@feddit.uk ) 5•1 month ago
Exactly. I hate when people constantly bring in Flatpak, because I’d be happily using Debian, if I could have Qtile Wayland with Qtile-extras and Hyprland in the repos with all their dependencies. But that’s never happening, especially for Qtile. These are window managers, you can’t package them in a Flatpak. And what about niche cli tools, as you mentioned? Or what about the latest Neovim on Debian? Yes, there’s a Flatpak but do you really want to mess with a Flatpaked CLI app? I know I don’t.
- Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 ( @Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English1•1 month ago
Yeah imagine having to type in
flatpak run io.neovim.nvim
to launch Neovim
- moody ( @moody@lemmings.world ) 9•1 month ago
I used the Arch wiki to get gamescope working on Pop OS. It’s a great resource regardless of your distro. In many cases the info on there is not even Arch-specific.
- 01011 ( @01011@monero.town ) 13•1 month ago
Arch is too easy to set up nowadays for it to be a “thing”.
Maybe 15 years ago when the process was slightly more complicated but even then it’s always been paint by numbers.
Even Gentoo isn’t that difficult, just time consuming.
- Anna ( @AnnaFrankfurter@lemmy.ml ) 13•1 month ago
Arch isn’t cool anymore you should switch to gentoo
- yboutros ( @yboutros@infosec.pub ) English8•1 month ago
Meanwhile: NixOS
- Lemmchen ( @Lemmchen@feddit.org ) English7•1 month ago
You misspelled Linux from Scratch.
- fermuch ( @fermuch@lemmy.ml ) 4•1 month ago
Gentoo isn’t cool anymore. You should switch to funtoo, so you can have fun too!
- JackbyDev ( @JackbyDev@programming.dev ) English1•1 month ago
How do you like it? I’ve been trying to get people’s opinions on it but haven’t found any users yet.
- xycu ( @xycu@programming.dev ) English3•1 month ago
Funtoo is dead after this month
https://forums.funtoo.org/topic/5182-all-good-things-must-come-to-an-end/
- JackbyDev ( @JackbyDev@programming.dev ) English2•1 month ago
Ope 💀
- fermuch ( @fermuch@lemmy.ml ) English1•1 month ago
It is a lot of fun! Right now I’m back to arch, since I don’t have a lot of time, but funtoo does right those older decisions in gentoo which do not make sense in these day and age. And the updates are fast, really fast, since they use git!
The downside is the docs aren’t as good. Not even close. The wiki for gentoo is a great source of information.
- JackbyDev ( @JackbyDev@programming.dev ) English3•1 month ago
Actually looks like Funtoo got discontinued a week ago lol talk about timing
- fermuch ( @fermuch@lemmy.ml ) English4•1 month ago
I blame capitalism
- ProgrammingSocks ( @ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social ) 4•1 month ago
Usually a safe bet
- Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 ( @Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English2•1 month ago
Absolutely!
- Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 ( @Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English1•1 month ago
Isn’t it deprecated?
- fermuch ( @fermuch@lemmy.ml ) English1•1 month ago
Yep, ded. So sad.
- superkret ( @superkret@feddit.org ) 3•1 month ago
The cool kids are going back to Slackware.
When you’ve set that up correctly on modern hardware and got Gnome to run, it’s a real achievement.