[SOLVED] Questions From A Returning User

Agent69 · 2026-01-16 15:40:14

Hello!

I am not a total newbie, as I used Arch Linux from 2006 to 2014, but I will be getting back into it this weekend and I wanted to make sure of a few things.

1. I intend to go Wayland-only (no X11). From what I have seen in the wiki, it would appear that I can install the packages needed for Wayland just by installing a compositor via Pacman. I am understanding this correctly?

2. When I used Xorg I did not be using a display manager. I just launched it from the console as needed. Does Wayland work the same way?

3. In my research the terminal I see most frequently mentioned for Wayland is Alacritty. Are there any other terminal programs that anyone feels I should also be looking at?

4. When I last used Arch ALSA was the sound system of choice. Are people still sticking with that or have most people moved on to a newer thing?

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by Agent69 (2026-02-04 11:10:35)

seth · 2026-01-16 15:49:52

1. yes
2. yes
3. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/List_o … _emulators - kitty and foot are popular DE agnostic alternatives
4. Several clients will use libpulse but you don't /have/ to use a sound daemon (which today would be pipewire, pipewire-pulse and wireplumber) - it's mostly whether you DE/compositor hard depends on such and whether you can benefit redirecting multiple in- and outputs. And whether that benefit outweighs the additional complexity/opportunity for bugs.

Agent69 · 2026-01-16 16:08:22

Thank you Seth. I appreciate the reply.

Lone_Wolf · 2026-01-16 22:40:41

Some of us are still sticking to alsa .

libpulse is present to inform apps wanting to use pulseaudio it's not available.

Unfortunately recently I have had to accept pipewire as some of my apps depend on it.
Fortunately though linking the pipewire.socket to /dev/null (masking) prevents it from being (auto-)started without my consent .

Agent69 · 2026-02-04 03:20:22

Life altered my plans but I finally got Arch installed today. To keep things simple I am using systemd-boot as my boot loader and systemd-resolved to handle DHCP. I went with iwd for wireless as I like it more than wpa_supplicant. I am using XFS as my root filesystem.

I think I am going to keep it as a console-only system for a little while I learn more about systemd. Then I will move on to giving Wayland a try.

Thanks everyone.

Agent69 · 2026-02-04 03:24:41

I also just realized I have been registered here for almost 20 years. Crazy.

seth · 2026-02-04 08:49:11

keep things simple I am using […] systemd-resolved

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System … figuration - pay attention to the config peculiarities (notably the filetype dpendency)

Thanks everyone.

You're welcome (back)

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2026-01-16 15:40:14

[SOLVED] Questions From A Returning User

#2 2026-01-16 15:49:52

Re: [SOLVED] Questions From A Returning User

#3 2026-01-16 16:08:22

Re: [SOLVED] Questions From A Returning User

#4 2026-01-16 22:40:41

Re: [SOLVED] Questions From A Returning User

#5 2026-02-04 03:20:22

Re: [SOLVED] Questions From A Returning User

#6 2026-02-04 03:24:41

Re: [SOLVED] Questions From A Returning User

#7 2026-02-04 08:49:11

Re: [SOLVED] Questions From A Returning User

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