[Suggestions/Complaint] Installation guide

Jay_Aberlour · 2019-03-13 21:37:40

Allright, so I'm new to the forum (obviously), but I like the idea of Arch and I hope to roll in soon (I'm currently using Fedora, but testing my capabilities of installing Arch on a VM). I know I'm probably getting to a sensitive point now (I've read the discussions about the beginners guide), but I would like to suggest ór a rebirth of the beginners manual (probably not gonna happen, but I still wanted to mention it) ór a normalification (plain english: making the guide more a step by step-guide) of the guide.

When practising Arch (a few times we're "real" tries), I failed every time, until now (this will soon change for the better, I hope). And to make it clear: this is not been the fault of the excelent Arch wiki (if Fedora had a wiki half the quality, I would probably not even consider the change) and has sometimes been my own stupid mistake (reading over a line, for example), but I do like to argue that a manual is needed for new people, who are willing to RTFM. The current guide is probably very useful for people who know Arch and just need a reminder, but for a newbie which trusts the Arch-wiki, it has certain flaws.

I'm giving one example (but please, do not react on this post, just to answer/correct my example): the bootloader. The installation guide has exactly one line on it:

"See Arch boot process#Boot loader for a list of Linux-capable boot loaders."

I assume this is plenty for (semi-)veteran Arch-users, but for the normal/willing-to-be-expert user, this is too little. We don't have to need a external guide, with a wiki which is as great as the one of Arch. New users which are willing to learn, do need to be able to succeed, (idealy, without need to use the forum).

Let me know what you guys think.

p.s. and again: please do not just react to my example. This post is not for solving an issue/problem. It's just an idea, offered by a newbie(-Arch-user).

loqs · 2019-03-13 21:44:06

Please see https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=216665

jasonwryan · 2019-03-13 22:21:02

Arch is for competent users. That doesn't mean competent with GNU/Linux, it means "able to read a series of wiki pages". The reason there is no longer a Beginners Guide is, for the most part, there is no canonical Arch installation. The whole point of the distro is you choose the components that you want. To do that, you work through the Installation Guide and decide which sections/pages are relevant for your choices.

The wiki can only do so much. It can't help people who are unable or unwilling to do what amounts to a trivial amount of research and, frankly, neither can we.

Inxsible · 2019-03-13 22:31:58

Jay_Aberlour wrote:

We don't have to need a external guide, with a wiki which is as great as the one of Arch.

But that link (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ar … oot_loader) actually takes you to a page on the Arch Wiki itself with a table which lists all the different capabilities of each boot loader. You can then choose the one you want and install it by going to the Arch Wiki page of that specific bootloader.

If you still feel something is remiss, please feel free to edit the page or if you don't have the sufficient privileges, then add your comments on the talk page.

Arch Linux

#1 2019-03-13 21:37:40

[Suggestions/Complaint] Installation guide

#2 2019-03-13 21:44:06

Re: [Suggestions/Complaint] Installation guide

#3 2019-03-13 22:21:02

Re: [Suggestions/Complaint] Installation guide

#4 2019-03-13 22:31:58

Re: [Suggestions/Complaint] Installation guide

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