Anyone uses Archlinux for study/work?

Olnex · 2008-09-10 00:31:32

Hello, I am a computer science honours student, because of what I am studying, it is more convenient for me to use linux. I've tried several distros including Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Mandriva, finally I found Archlinux best for my Aspire 5315.
I use linux for study, it includes writing thesis, writing programs(C/C++, Java and other scripting languages), I also use it to listen to music and play games(as it is my only machine), my question is, how reliable Archlinux(or generally, Linux) is, that I can use it as my main productive system?
This machine comes with Vista Home Basic which is slow, so I installed WinXP and Archlinux, XP is a commercial system, it should be better supported, however it is not convenient for me.

shazeal · 2008-09-10 00:48:28

I have been using Arch as my main desktop for quite some time now. I am an undergraduate student and find Arch has everything I need. I mainly use Astronomy, Math and Physics packages for Uni. I also play quite a few games via Wine.
In my opinion Arch is as stable as you make it, I steer clear of the stock arch kernel, since that allows me to choose when and to what the kernel is upgraded to. This is probably the biggest thing you can do on any distro though to ensure everything goes smoothly so its not just an Arch thing.

Other than that Ive never really had any problems, my girlfriend also runs Arch as her sole desktop, she needs M$ Office for uni which runs great via crossover office. I have a VirtualBox install of Windows setup which barely gets touched anymore.

The only thing you really miss from Windows is the ablility to obtain and spread viruses or to play the Latest games and even that is becoming a lesser problem as quite a few newer titles run almost perfectly out of the box.

I have also setup a network of Arch boxes for my parents business, they have 3 Desktops and one server all running Arch, again with a custom kernel and I keep track of changes to arch and generally do package upgrades much less frequently (Once a month is usual, every few months for the kernel) since this allows less distruption when there are issues.

I would use the vista disc as a drink mat so you dont stain your desk

Allan · 2008-09-10 02:45:46

I use Arch on my work laptop. I even run [testing] on it. The key thing is to have time available after you update in case it breaks something and to know when big changes are happening (subscribe to arch-dev-public mailing list). Read the list of packages pacman says it will upgrade. If in doubt, wait.

shazeal wrote:

I would use the vista disc as a drink mat so you dont stain your desk

I am currently using my Arch "Gimmick" install CD...

neotuli · 2008-09-10 03:56:32

I've been running linux as my main desktop environment for 7ish years. I'm an undergrad now and everything above 100-level courses is on linux exclusively (ssh to a lab workstation if you don't want to run it yourself). So far, I don't have many complaints.

Megamixman · 2008-09-10 04:07:02

Use it as my laptop distro. Linux is what most scientific clusters also run. Basically the whole department runs Linux with the exclusion of 1 Windows Lab. I'm an NE Undergrad at Cal btw.

peets · 2008-09-10 04:18:48

Linux works for computer science. It's "by programmers for programmers" (although many people are trying to change that). Arch, although it gets bleeding edge packages, is very stable. I had to use winXP today and saw more ugly bugs than I've seen in Arch in about 1.5 years.

Allan wrote:

I use Arch on my work laptop. I even run [testing] on it. The key thing is to have time available after you update in case it breaks something and to know when big changes are happening (subscribe to arch-dev-public mailing list). Read the list of packages pacman says it will upgrade. If in doubt, wait.
shazeal wrote:
I would use the vista disc as a drink mat so you dont stain your desk
I am currently using my Arch "Gimmick" install CD...

I use the Arch "Voodoo" and "Duke" CDs...

Barrucadu · 2008-09-10 06:57:49

I'm an A Level student and use Arch for typing up notes in LaTeX, editing MS Office files, creating presentations, et cetera. Oh, and games, music, Internet, and all the other things a computer is used for

appel · 2008-09-10 07:54:36

I'm using Archlinux on my workstation at work. It's stable, and so is Linux.

iBertus · 2008-09-10 08:06:08

I've been using Arch for both work/play since before I joined the forums. Currently, I'm running Arch fulltime on an 8-core workstation for mission critical modeling work. Soon this machine will be executing these models 24/7 and storing the results on a 6 drive RAID array. So, Arch is clearly useful for both work and play.

You should be able to troubleshoot your own problems well with Arch or find a solution on the forums. I'm just a geologist and I find Arch very simple to use, you should also have no trouble.

Last edited by iBertus (2008-09-10 08:09:09)

ArchArael · 2008-09-10 09:06:31

I do. Use just Arch for workstation and desktop. I've give my macbook to my sister and now I'm using exclusively Arch for anything.

At the moment I'm very happy with Dell m1330/Arch linux combination.

An happy Arch user...:D

Lord Illidan · 2008-09-10 09:33:31

I also use Arch for studying. Undergraduate - Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. I might have to install Vista as a dualboot, though, as we are about to learn .NET, and I am curious about WPF.

finferflu · 2008-09-10 09:39:20

I've been using Arch for my last year at university, and it has never let me down.
I am using it now for working as a sysadmin and I am not worried at all about stability issues, and to be honest I had never seen such a stable and reliable system before using Arch (and I have used Debian Etch too).

wuischke · 2008-09-10 09:41:53

I use Arch for work and studies as my main system. (I'm currently in Italy working as a Unix programmer.) I have Vista Business installed and use it from time to time for development and sometimes games.

I also use Solaris and Open/DragonFlyBSD for testing.

X/ax · 2008-09-10 09:45:30

I use archlinux as my main system for study and work. In fact, the entire house has archlinux computers. Including my home server.
I have no complaints, setup is easy, capabilities are unlimited...

Stability is (as said earlier) entirely your issue, if you run [testing], you'll have less stability and reliability. But if you stick with [core] and [community], there shoud never be any issue at all.

bangkok_manouel · 2008-09-10 09:50:32

using arch exclusively on 3 machines (all [TESTING] repo) including my office laptop (no coding, only standard openoffice / email / internet / *ahem* torrenting *ahem* )

alcafar · 2008-09-10 10:53:14

I have always used linux (and arch since 6 months) for work (I am a physics post-doc).
Only one suggestion: if you have some short deadline, don't update your system, because from time to time something can break.
Usually is something that you could fix quite easily, but if it happen when you have a deadline you can go crazy.
My story: last October, when I was still running opensuse, the day before a talk I had to give at CERN my xorg broke for an automatic update of the intel graphic card driver. Having had an hour to think and to google, I would have solved the problem, but I had not the mind to think at computer stuff that day! At least with arch, updates are not automatic!

timetrap · 2008-09-10 11:18:27

I need to run windows for my work enviroment. So I run 2003 Server as a workstation.

But I created myself an Arch VM on a VMware ESX cluster. I use putty to ssh into the VM, and use smbmount to mount my local workstation C and D drives back into the Arch VM.

So in effect, I am running both windows and Arch at the same time. Pretty cool actually, I just wish 2003 Server was as stable as Arch.

b9anders · 2008-09-10 11:42:44

I almost always use Arch Linux for my daily activities. That said, there were problems with openoffice in June when I had to write my papers, so I was almost exclusively in vista at the time. Multitasking felt very weird after I have accustomed myself to compiz fusion.

curve · 2008-09-10 12:01:51

When I was a CS undergrad a few years ago, I just kept the default xp on my thinkpad to be on the safe side. There were times that linux would have been more convenient, but there were also times where it would've been a hassle. A couple things I can remember off the top of my head:

– One of my classes required us to use DrScheme for acl2.
– Another class involved PSP and we had to use a program (don't remember what it was, and I hope I never see it again) to record PSP* forms. We had to submit them online with that program's file format.
– I'm not sure how well an arch install would have handled mouse/audio/video plug-n-play interaction with digital projectors.

In retrospect, these probably all had easy workarounds (especially if I had been familiar with vbox/qemu), but at the time I just didn't want to go through the extra hassle and/or risk incompatibility.

nogoma · 2008-09-10 12:33:27

alcafar wrote:

Only one suggestion: if you have some short deadline, don't update your system, because from time to time something can break.
Usually is something that you could fix quite easily, but if it happen when you have a deadline you can go crazy.

I've used some form of Linux since I was an undergrad, and Arch in particular through my masters and now in my working life; this is perhaps the best piece of advice. I get around it by having both a desktop and a laptop (both running Arch) and I never upgrade them simultaneously. That way I know I have something to fall back on if an upgrade breaks something (where "breaks" is usually something trivial, but when you're trying to get a project done it doesn't matter how trivial a problem is, you just want it to BE FIXED NOW).

ralvez · 2008-09-10 13:29:53

I am a software and web developer and have been using Linux for the past 9 years now for work, office and home.
Just as some have pointed out the key is to "keep and eye" on updates and avoid critical updates if you have a deadline or some other very important work to complete.
Other that that I have to say that I'm very happy with my Linux systems; I am *never* down (and in the office in a couple of occasions all the windows systems were due to a virus attack) and I find the quality of the tools I use for software development, particularly free software, to rival with that of paid software (like Komodo for example) which I also use on a equal footing.

mrunion · 2008-09-10 18:22:26

I am a software developer and I use Arch for everything at work and home. It even runs the local DEV box!

phrakture · 2008-09-10 19:58:54

We run Arch at work for a few of our testing servers. The real production servers don't run Arch, though (because I would have to maintain them, and don't have the time)

haxit · 2008-09-10 20:02:57

I am in the 11th grade. I use arch as my main OS. I use it for doing everything from doing homework to chatting with my peeps

Dusty · 2008-09-10 20:24:38

phrakture wrote:

We run Arch at work for a few of our testing servers. The real production servers don't run Arch, though (because I would have to maintain them, and don't have the time)

I thought you quit.

Dusty

Arch Linux

#1 2008-09-10 00:31:32

Anyone uses Archlinux for study/work?

#2 2008-09-10 00:48:28

Re: Anyone uses Archlinux for study/work?

#3 2008-09-10 02:45:46

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#4 2008-09-10 03:56:32

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#5 2008-09-10 04:07:02

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#6 2008-09-10 04:18:48

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#7 2008-09-10 06:57:49

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#8 2008-09-10 07:54:36

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#9 2008-09-10 08:06:08

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#10 2008-09-10 09:06:31

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#11 2008-09-10 09:33:31

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#12 2008-09-10 09:39:20

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#13 2008-09-10 09:41:53

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#17 2008-09-10 11:18:27

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#18 2008-09-10 11:42:44

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#19 2008-09-10 12:01:51

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#20 2008-09-10 12:33:27

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#21 2008-09-10 13:29:53

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#22 2008-09-10 18:22:26

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#23 2008-09-10 19:58:54

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#24 2008-09-10 20:02:57

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#25 2008-09-10 20:24:38

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