The Official Hello Everyone Thread

sevendogs · 2016-01-26 02:19:13

Arch newbie here but not a Linux noob: been using Linux as my main desktop for nearly 20 years. Just wanted to pop in and say howdy from Texas. I have been using mainly Gentoo and Debian/derivatives for most of my Linux career, took a brief hiatus to Mac uintil I realized it is just like Windows (only prettier) and the hardware is really expensive, so back to Opensource I went. I initially wanted "it just works" so have used Mint for a long time. I realized after a while that I quickly get bored with "it just works" and needed a challenge. I used to build Gentoo boxes (stage 1 or 2?) but as I get older I find I no longer have the patience for a multi-day Linux set up. I have been toying with the idea of doing an Arch install and I took the plunge a couple of times but failed until I figured out my boot/partition scheme. This past weekend I did an install, got lightdm+xfce4 up and operational, printing and (almost) all of my software installed, to include Steam.

Very impressed with this distro because it doesn't hold my hand but instead gives me the documentation and tools to do what I want to do, not what someone has decided I need to do. This is the very reason I came to the Opensource community nearly 2 decades ago.

Thank you Arch community, I am a happy user :-)

ewaller · 2016-01-26 02:53:44

Merged with Official Hello Everyone Thread

sevendogs · 2016-01-26 03:59:52

Oops, sorry for posting in the wrong place. Missed that one :-)

ewaller · 2016-01-26 04:42:55

No worries. Welcome to Arch Linux from a Gentoo guy

Rick_Allard · 2016-01-27 15:10:37

Hey all !

Greetings from Montreal, Canada. Grey and uncharacteristically mild this January 27th (3 C).

I've been a computer enthusiast for most of my adult life, a Windows user as well (work and home) and more importantly, a Linux user since 2008. Started my Linux adventure on a whim a few years earlier than that - quite unsuccessfully, I might add ;-). I had been given a copy of Debian by one of my colleagues and armed with little other than his encouragement, attempted to install it on whatever IBM Thinkpad I had at the time. Never even succeeding in booting the install media ...

Flash forward to 2008 and a more successful attempt with Ubuntu. Ubuntu's approach was perfect for the Linux-ignorant-but-intrigued person that I was at that time. I eventually started looking for something that would run more efficiently on old hardware, and came across Puppy Linux. A brilliant little distro with several variations that enabled me to productively use some old laptops (1998-99 vintage !) that had been gathering dust.

I eventually started to get more curious about customizing things and began looking for a distro that would allow me to easily install only that which I needed and nothing more. Tried all sorts of distros at this point and eventually found Arch in 2010. Took a bit of work to get it going, but I learned alot in the process and am still learning to this day. I realize that this is one of the things I enjoy most about Arch - seemlessly end enoyably learning about Linux.

I now use it on all of my home computers and have recently moved to Arch for my main home server as well (headless). Still run Windows on headless Virtualbox VMs for those times (fewer every year ...) that I can't find a Linux alternative, but enjoy Arch much more. My most recent accomplishment was getting it up and running on my Microsoft SurfacePro 3 (with much help from the MadHatter, Matthew Wardrop, who maintains a patched kernel in the AUR). I am writing this now on the SP3 under Arch. My preferred environment is LXDE for its lightness and speed.

So Cheers to all - hope to chat with you soon :-)

Rick

Last edited by Rick_Allard (2016-01-27 15:27:56)

konakona · 2016-01-28 00:09:16

Hello!

I've been using Arch Linux for almost a month now and I really like it. I also learned a lot about Linux when installing it and before I installed Arch Linux I was using Windows 7 so that was a big change. After the first week I found out that I could do everything I do in Windows in Linux too so I didn't need Windows anymore. I like all you can do in Linux and also how customisable Arch is. I'm still learning more everyday and I also have FreeBSD (Unix) in dual boot with Arch Linux.

I'm happy to join the forum and I hope I will have a good time here.

Soroshi · 2016-01-29 02:52:05

Hello everyone. I am coming to Arch from Mac OS because I bought a PC laptop and can't stand windows for software development. My laptop also has a Skylake processor and I can't get it to boot with install media from distributions like Manjaro or even the current Arch install image. I am hopping that I will have more luck with Linux Kernel 4.4 as some people did on this thread, and Arch is one of the few distros to use it at this point (at least I hope it will be moved from testing to core before the February install image is created). I have very little experience with Linux but I'm just going to dive right in because most of my friends use Arch already, and it's really something I need to learn anyway!

sevendogs · 2016-01-29 03:03:48

Welcome! - Linux user for nearly 20 years, took a Mac hiatus for 5 or 6 then got sick of having my hand held while being pushed down the path towards "better [more expensive]" hardware. I am forced to use windows daily at work so it is very nice to come home to my Arch box. Linux is anything you want your OS to be - dive in, take control and enjoy!

compox · 2016-01-29 04:20:58

Hi everyone.

I have been using Arch a while ... and wanted to join these forums now. I have lurked here for quite some time so thanks for all the posts that I have found helpful in the past. Just wanted to join the community now and get more involved.

TCBear · 2016-01-29 23:18:11

Hello, I'm visually impaired and trying to move away from operating systems that don't have talking installers. I've been using Arch by way of the Talking Arch installer, for about a year and a half, and Linux on and off for over a decade.
I was a little surprised I was recently able to get the Mate desktop with Firefox and Libre Office up and running on an old Dell Latitude c600 that had been CLI only, though it is very slow. That's what I like about Arch.

Last edited by TCBear (2016-01-29 23:50:09)

nomorewindows · 2016-01-30 06:22:09

TCBear wrote:

Hello, I'm visually impaired and trying to move away from operating systems that don't have talking installers. I've been using Arch by way of the Talking Arch installer, for about a year and a half, and Linux on and off for over a decade.
I was a little surprised I was recently able to get the Mate desktop with Firefox and Libre Office up and running on an old Dell Latitude c600 that had been CLI only, though it is very slow. That's what I like about Arch.

I must say that is nice.

gurkan · 2016-02-01 08:32:02

Hello. An overall Arch Linux noob here. I have been using Arch a couple of months now and Im amazed over the dist. Tried first on a laptop , but ended up I added it to my gaming computer too.

/A happy Swede

sevendogs · 2016-02-02 01:56:05

nomorewindows: I like your signature!

raven.sirius · 2016-02-03 08:37:10

So... Hi,

I started with computers in my 20's with a Commodore64. There, that gives you an idea of how old I am and that I am used to, prefer, a bit of a hands on approach. (Even if it does go pear shaped in the process!)

It was not long before the XT gave way to the AT, Gates made his first billion, I decided to clean the inside of my 486DX33. The second time I did this, several months later, I was installing my first CDRom. There was a time before processors were idiot proof. It was in fact possible, without bending pins, to put a Socket1 in 180 degrees to it's intended direction. After I cleared the rancid smoke out of my room I discovered the reason pretty quickly. So several hours, a few hundred dollars, a lesson learned and a faster, 66 MHz processor, later I wwas typing 'Win' one more time.

Just about the time Bill was making his nth billions, and Windows was about to go live registration, I jumped out to Ubuntu. This was long enough ago that Ubuntu was still in single digit releases, had a functional DM and DE and was in fact free free. (I know it's still free but putting the donation screen so you must go through it to get to the 'oficial' dowload has pissed me off@!\\)

So that kind of brings me to why Arch? If I were to be honest, it's simple: I now have a pc (hand built) capable of running Windows10. But there's no going back. I want control... not the lack of control. I think more the point is what has taken me so long to actually try Arch? Probably fear based on all the evil things I've heard over the years about how dificult it is to get up and running. However I've noticed of late the opposite in the reviews.

So wish me luck, as I embark on my inaugural journey under the Arch... (Brasero I said burn dammit!)

nelsonm · 2016-02-03 19:47:59

Hey folks, I've just settled Arch into it's new home on my Bay Trail Chromebook. It's been a pretty smooth ride so far thanks to the documentation in your wiki, and the helpfulness of your forums! This is my first swing at Arch, most of my Linux experience is with Slackware (9 and up), so I'll be spending some time learning about Systemd and automatic dependency resolution.
After reading about the Arch philosophy, I think I'll really enjoy this distribution. Thanks!

Jelbert · 2016-02-03 23:22:10

Hi,

Long time ago I started out on an Aquarius, that one was based on the Z80 with 2k memory. After that I got a ITT2020 (taking 8 hours to calculate a Mandelbrot in 256 collors) ,that was an apple ][ nockoff and then an apple 2c. In 1986 I got my first pc (80286/16Mhz with the incridable amount of 1MB of ram and 40MB of hdd. People were wondering what I was going to do with such a huge amount of storage).

Later with my class mates I started copy parties. First with tape storage and later with a coax cable for the network. Oh this was pre windows(3.1).
In 1988 I got my first surfnet connection. 'What you let your computer talk with computers at the other side of the world? Whatever for would you want to do that for? You are crazy!'

From DOS I went to windows and stayed there until 2007 then I went back to apple. In the mean time I also did some work on UNIX to control parking garages. And now and then I played around with linux too.

Now my hardware has grown very old, a macbook pro from 2007 and an other one from 2008. OSX starts to behave like windows and it is time for a change. So lets switch to arch!

However the switchover is not going very smooth. The macbook pro 3,1 with nvidia Geforce 8600M makes things difficult. I'll post about that a different post

raven.sirius · 2016-02-04 01:02:17

To the moderator,

You are awesome. Thank you. I'm currently reading the suggestion on 'how to ask questions.

arunsahadeo · 2016-02-06 11:07:46

Hi all,

Arun here. Mostly used Windows and Mac (I studied Creative Media Production at college so we had an iMac editing suite for editing on FCP 6, and also worked on Macbooks/iMacs outside college for briefly editing on FCP X, now using an iMac in the workplace), replaced Windows XP Professional on an old Dell Latitude D610 with Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS, now looking to install Arch on a Dell Dimension 2400.

Looking forward to learning a lot from you all

sevendogs · 2016-02-06 14:18:29

Welcome arunsahadeo! Hope you enjoy your venture in using Linux. It is a very rewarding (or can be) platform to use because you can control the whole thing, especially with Arch. Have fun!

sevendogs · 2016-02-06 14:20:43

Jelbert wrote:

Hi,
Now my hardware has grown very old, a macbook pro from 2007 and an other one from 2008. OSX starts to behave like windows and it is time for a change. So lets switch to arch!
However the switchover is not going very smooth. The macbook pro 3,1 with nvidia Geforce 8600M makes things difficult. I'll post about that a different post

I ran quite a few Linux distros on my 2008 Mac Pro 3.1 so I may be able to help. Laptops are different beasts though so what I did may not work. I'll look out for your posts. Welcome!

Texbrew · 2016-02-09 14:45:48

Hello everyone from "Deep in the Heart of Texas"!

My path to Arch Linux goes back about 5 years beginning with simple curiosity. I had two old Windows PC's which were no longer trusted for web use, and had done some reading about linux. These two old machines were just gathering dust, so I had nothing to lose. Downloading ISO's cost nothing. The learning curve was a little steep for me, but it was FUN! Still learning and still having FUN, BTW.

Yes, I have done my share of distro hopping. Debian Wheezy is a favorite, I think using Debian has made me feel pretty comfortable using Linux, and I like the way it works...

Curiosity and a desire for a challenge led me to Arch Linux. Virtualbox is the tool I used to begin my quest. Guilty of looking to places in addition to the Arch Wiki (using the Wiki to confirm), I struggled a bit, but eventually got a working Arch system going.

Your Wiki is excellent, by the way, and I have learned to rely on it even if it feels like it's over my head now and then.

After several months of Arch/Virtuabox, I now have Arch installed on "bare metal" on one of those old Windows PC's and on a Thinkpad R61 - an ebay purchase.

Openbox, Slim, tint2 and feh make these two machines lean and fast. Firefox, Filezilla, LibreOffice, gnome-terminal and a few other apps make them very usable.

I believe I have learned more about linux using Arch than any other distro, with Debian being a close second. And I love pacman.

Thanks to Arch developers, contributors, Wiki maintainers and forum members. Also thanks to Youtube poster midfingr. I found his Arch Linux videos to be very helpful.

tex

Texbrew · 2016-02-09 14:56:55

I also love the freedom of linux. And free as in beer. Not a moocher, I buy rounds often enough.

Cheers,
tex

sevendogs · 2016-02-09 15:08:56

Welcome fellow Texan! San Antonio here, recent Arch convert but long time Linux user (1998). I am also a long time Debian (and derivative) user but wanted something I could have more control over. Arch works very well and the more I use pacman, the more impressed I am with it. Yes, Linux is freedom to do with the OS what YOU wish, not what some corporation wishes you to. There are some pushes by people with agendas in the Opensource world but I am not going to get in to them here because they'll be off-topic.

Enjoy your new Arch installation and again, welcome.

Texbrew · 2016-02-09 17:05:31

Thanks for the welcome, sevendogs, Western outskirts of Fort Worth here.

Wow, look at the crust on you, "linux user since 1998"! That makes you something of a pioneer. For reference, my first "modern" PC ran Win98, purchased in early 2000. It was the machine I used for learning linux starting in early 2011 (I think). Old and slow, very low spec, so I figured it was perfect for use as a linux classroom. Nothing to lose, everything to gain.

You can always PM me about the "pushes in the OpenSource world", I'm curious...

I think I understated my gratitude for the most excellent Arch resources in my first post.

Thanks again to all contributors!

tex

Last edited by Texbrew (2016-02-09 17:08:55)

sevendogs · 2016-02-09 17:58:07

You are welcome! never thought of myself as crusty but I suppose you are right :-) I am not crusty in terms of computing - got my first PC in 1993. I know people who were using computers in the 80's but I never dived in until later. I guess that's age-relative: I also remember when we didn't have CDs.

Arch Linux

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