Arch Linux

Materac

Member

Registered: 2025-08-05

Posts: 6

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

ps. dont be afraid afraid to post. afterall everyone like noobs

True, we always like to help

jhnelson0909

Member

Registered: 2025-08-07

Posts: 4

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello i just started using this forum i have been using arch for over 6 months now and have been happy with it so far.

TooOldForDeInterwebz

Member

Registered: 2025-08-07

Posts: 21

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

I just spent about 10 days doing nothing other than trying to get GPU passthrough to a Win guest. Used a distro I had just installed for that purpose, thinking it's 'arch for beginners'.* I did water plants and think I ate something.

*I did quickly understand this is a misnomer and not applicable to arch like with some others.

In the end I found I spent 10 days trying to get around "error 43", caused by their default kernel. A fresh start with only the arch wiki (+ different kernel + things noted from github), and I had my passthrough running in about half an hour.

Then I installed opensnitch Few minutes later started writing installation notes for arch. Booted live(in a VM). Performed prep. "Let's go look at a tutorial now and see if I did the same things... archinstall!... wtf?" Instead of the estimated 2-3 days of basic setup, I had arch running (not in a VM) with Cinnamon text editor and browser a few hours later. If it wasn't for the package selection I'd have been done with the basic install faster than with one of those GUI helpers.

Ended up with Cinnamon after going through xfce and budgie for one reason: Panel on the left that understands what 'autohide' means. Sure KDE does that even better, but seriously, if I wanted an OS that keeps connecting to the outside world, I'd have stuck with Windows as my main OS. And it is not all opt-in... or I was tricked into opting in. It's much quieter with arch.

I'm one of many who started becoming weary since XP, and always found ways to pacify my paranoia. But Windows 11 is different. On the other hand under the hood a lot is the same like decades ago. Though the option of getting to some things with mouse clicks has been removed.

Doubt I'll be using arch as a daily driver soon (if ever at all) but I like the whole thing too much to not use it at all. I will however use it until I've found something with LTS to suit my other needs. Something supposed to be happening this weekend, so likely I'll go for that. I've never started with a brand new LTS. When support for the runs out, I should know enough about arch (which I will keep using) to decide if I can keep maintaining my own installation properly.

Hello Forum

I now know that 'uname' is not a variable for username

EDIT 23Aug'25: It feels like 2 months and not two weeks. Ended up buying another 32GB RAM (breathing space for VMs). Even though I managed to get XFCE to do what I wanted, I now have a 'quiet' DE with Plasma. I'm also no longer able to see why I would not use arch as my daily driver or rather I see more and more reasons to not use anything else.

Last edited by TooOldForDeInterwebz (2025-08-23 17:10:51)

Kr0kus

Member

Registered: 2025-08-08

Posts: 2

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hi Everyone, I'm Kr0kus, and I don't know where to start, so I guess this is the best place.

I'm a laptop-oriented guy, and I've been wanting to change over to Linux for many reasons, with privacy, security and digital sovereignty being main drivers to this.
The functional requirements to my system are probably extremely basic, needing a practical desktop environment, an office suite, a mail client which support GPG, and VirtualBox, because I need to be able to run some small Windows programs while on the go that I can't solve through any other means. My laptop has no GPU besides the Intel Graphics etc, I don't need to be able to game on this system and so on. If I say so my self, I can get around with a command line pretty well, but I have never programmed.

An important factor which has kept me from changing over however, was the lack of sufficient kernel protection which could easily compromise any implementation of Full Disk Encryption, as long as someone is able to tamper with the kernel. While you don't have to agree that this is a relevant threat for most people, I am still convinced that every computer user has a right to this level of computer security. Or personally, I don't want to use a system that is basically less secure than Windows with Bitlocker enabled. Again, if you don't agree with me, that is fine, but please accept it for what is right now, because I'm going somewhere with this.

So, what to do about this. There are measures that can be implemented to increase security in this area. Those are:
1. Secure Boot to ensure that only your approved and signed EFI is loaded. You can use Machine Owned Keys to close gaps on Microsoft-dependencies or manufacturers leaking keys.
2. Unified Kernel Image which is measured through PCR-registers in the TPM to ensure that any tampering is detected and flagged before a user inputs their LUKS passphrase.

Last year, I spent months trying every distro under the sun in hopes of finding one that delivered these security measures out of the box from a basic GUI installer. There wasn't a single one that was able to do this, so I put the project in the freezer for a while. I did do a quick and dirty (nasty) install of Arch with Archinstall, just to try it out. I liked it a lot, it was very smooth.

Recently, I found this guide on the Arch Wiki by the user Bai-Chiang. I spent 2 days installing Arch manually, and I ended up with Arch on a laptop, with LUKS2, and Secure Boot ánd Measured Boot. At least according to

bootctl

I was smiling for days, it was an incredible feeling.

Without this guide from Bai-Chiang, I would have never been able to get where I am right now, but I'm not 100% there yet. I tried to install VirtualBox yesterday using the wiki, but I'm getting stuck at step 1.2, signing the modules. If I go to /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel, which I have the impression which is what is meant with "Navigate to your kernel tree folder", I can't find those vbox modules.

So now the actual core of my question.
I want to help Arch Linux, become an active contributor to the forum and particularly the wiki. I'm a technical copywriter by trade, and I have a knack in writing clear, concise documentation that is noob-proof. Because I really am a noob! I'm not smart enough to solve every problem that I run into, as the one above with VirtualBox. But if someone can solve those for me, then I can write or update the wiki so that problems are hopefully solved for everyone running into the same problem. I feel like I could lessen these burdens on more technical folks.
What is the correct way to raise issues and get assistance? Back to my VirtualBox example, I could edit the Discussion tab on the wiki, describing the problem I run into. Or should I open a forum thread? (In which subsection?)

Same with the guide from Bai-Chaing, it was extremely well written, but some steps are different already since that was written about 6 months ago. Should I DM that user with some notes of mine with the hope that they'll update it? Use the discussion tab? Or fork it to my personal wiki?

Thank you for reading this slop and I hope that I can be of assistance!

Last edited by Kr0kus (2025-08-08 12:36:41)

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,280

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

/lib is a symlink to /usr/lib on  archlinux and many other distros .

The virtualbox modules are supposed to be in /usr/lib/modules/(uname -r)/extramodules/ .
Wiki page changes are best discussed on talk/discussion pages.

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

blackCell

Member

Registered: 2025-08-09

Posts: 1

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

My name is blackCell — how do you do.

I'd like to take a moment to thank the community for the inception, evolution, and maintenance of the Arch Linux distribution. I'm a Linux neophyte but am looking forward to growing with you. Presently I am following an Udemy course on Arch Linux and IT fundamentals.'I hope to proceed from there.

I am thankful for the Open Source initiative, as it reveals an altruistic side to humanity often obscured by polarisation and malicious behaviours.

Your's sincerely,

~ blackCell

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Civilisation is founded upon two virtues: 1: civility, 2: intelligence.
Guard them in all you say, think, and do. Without, the world relapses into the dark ages.

— blackCell

MultipedBeatle

Member

Registered: 2025-08-12

Posts: 1

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello! I'm Caden, username MultipedBeatle, and I've been using Arch-based and other Linux distros on and off for about 2 years.

I bit the bullet and did my own complete Arch install using the wiki about two months ago, and I couldn't be happier. Everything feels so much smoother on my new system.

I only made my account for the forums now because I'm having an issue that no amount of old Reddit or forum posts seem to be able to give me an answer to, but I'm very happy to be joining the community, and I hope that I can learn how to really get into truly making this machine mine.

(We'll see how that goes with college lol. Busy schedule this semester!!!)

Zragovell

Member

Registered: 2025-08-14

Posts: 1

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello everyone.

Last edited by Zragovell (2025-08-15 07:35:56)

GuhBean

Member

Registered: 2025-08-15

Posts: 2

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello everyone.

sup Zragovell

GuhBean

Member

Registered: 2025-08-15

Posts: 2

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

i chose this week to try out arch linux and wanted to explore the AUR today only to find out that it is down

edit: wait nvm maybe i can make that pkgbuild whatever myself i try

Last edited by GuhBean (2025-08-15 23:15:05)

close2zero

Member

From: Norway

Registered: 2025-07-14

Posts: 65

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

i chose this week to try out arch linux and wanted to explore the AUR today only to find out that it is down

edit: wait nvm maybe i can make that pkgbuild whatever myself i try

Welcome to the forum GuhBean

It was good to see that you edited your post. I like the sound of that approach much better that the "explore the AUR" section. Try to explore the official repository instead, cause you will probably find whatever you need there. If not, get the source code and make the PKGBUILD yourself.

Good luck, and enjoy the stay

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while true; do mount /dev/close2zero /mnt/clarity; done

fijarom

Member

From: Istanbul, Turkey

Registered: 2025-08-14

Posts: 20

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello there, I am a newish Arch user. I just signed up in the forum yesterday. I wish everyone a wonderful weekend!

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Cheers!

dillyric

Member

Registered: 2025-08-18

Posts: 1

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello!
Finally I'm here. It took me 3 days to install and configure my arch system, and I'm so happy using GNOME instead of KDE)
I've just graduated from MIPT recently and I'll continue education on master program.

Thank you all, peace to all

MrModish

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2025-08-18

Posts: 1

Website

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello,

Been running Arch over the summer, love it and will stay, thanks for being Awesome!

Blob (aka MrModish)

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1. Respect life
2. Less is more
3. Try, to communicate*
4. Banana

Skinny3961

Member

Registered: 2025-08-19

Posts: 1

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello there!
I'm obviously new here.

It's been a while since I decided to move away from Windows, but I've always gravitated towards "easier" linux distributions, such as Pop!OS and Mint, but some time ago I bought a MiniPC to install Debian as my Media Center / download station and it's been working perfectly (after some tinkering of course...)
yesterday I have finally found some time to install Arch! I'm still not sure whether I'm tech savvy enough to use it daily as my primary OS, but in the meantime I liked the challenge to install it!

Adriseque

Member

Registered: 2025-08-21

Posts: 5

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hi, I'm new to the Linux world!
I'm no completely new, as I've been using Arch for a few months both in my desktop and my laptop. I came directly from Windows, as i didn't want to waste time in user-friendly distros that won't teach me so much about the linux kernel and the OS, and I also fell in love with Arch's DIY philosophy. I'm a developer and i know C++, Python and Web development. In the future, i would like to contribute with code and other things to Arch. Hope everything goes smoothly in your Arch installation and see you in the forums!

Last edited by Adriseque (2025-08-21 20:51:25)

SylviaAmbermoon

Member

Registered: 2025-08-21

Posts: 43

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello all ! :3
New to linux after 20 ish years since I first tried Ubuntu. Freshly switched from W11 to Mint to Arch. Looking forward to joining the community. /wave

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Trade offer: Help me get Counter Strike working and I'll help you rank up. :3

SystemdReaper

Member

Registered: 2025-08-22

Posts: 6

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello Arch World.

Finally made the plunge and loving the simplicity of it. Thanks for having me.

iwuvkittens

Member

Registered: 2025-05-30

Posts: 87

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello Arch World.

Finally made the plunge and loving the simplicity of it. Thanks for having me.

welcome

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gnu/linux/tux

receal

Member

Registered: 2025-08-23

Posts: 1

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello :)

Made the decades long Windows user --> Kubuntu for a month --> Arch Linux plunge so I'll be a newbie for a while. However, Arch is exactly what I wanted without even knowing it.

iwuvkittens

Member

Registered: 2025-05-30

Posts: 87

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello

Made the decades long Windows user --> Kubuntu for a month --> Arch Linux plunge so I'll be a newbie for a while. However, Arch is exactly what I wanted without even knowing it.

welcome, enjoy

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gnu/linux/tux

potato.chisp

Member

Registered: 2025-08-24

Posts: 2

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello, I started using Arch Linux recently and am still learning the rope

jap1977

Member

Registered: 2025-08-22

Posts: 1

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello, :-)

I was used Unix system 20years ago. Next i have a long brake using "other" system like normal office user. 2 months ago i was back to linux. Start from Mint, Ubuntu, KDE Neon, Kubuntu.... and discover Arch and i Fall in Love.... The best system and environment when I ever see.

Welcome and best regard for everyone Arch users!.

santoshdts

Member

Registered: 2025-08-25

Posts: 1

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hi I am Santosh from India.

I've used Ubuntu since 3 years.
As I was finding it hard to install the latest version of packages/tools on Ubuntu, I was attracted towards Arch.

And, finally. Installed Arch. Of course, using archinstall. However, I still had to navigate certain setup configurations, as I was trying this on a Laptop with only WiFi enabled and no wired internet connection.

So far soo good.

Hoping to learn a lot here.

Moonveil

Member

Registered: 2025-08-26

Posts: 35

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hi!

I used Ubuntu in the past but I'm still learning how Arch Linux works and I hope I can learn more on this forum to make Arch Linux my daily driver