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#151 2012-03-09 17:14:40

hadrons123
Member
From: chennai
Registered: 2011-10-07
Posts: 1,249

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Once you are into rolling release its too tough to get out of it.
I recently tried Debian, mint,mint debian, FreeBSD,PCBSD, Fedora 17 alpha, ubuntu 12.04 beta.
But after a few hours I had switch to arch linux other wise my head would explode.


LENOVO Y 580 IVYBRIDGE 660M NVIDIA
Unix is user-friendly. It just isn't promiscuous about which users it's friendly with. - Steven King

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#152 2012-03-10 04:24:48

Schala
Member
Registered: 2012-02-14
Posts: 72
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I chose Arch Linux because of it being a rolling release distribution of Linux and because I could install only what I needed, not extra stuff dumped on my drive like Win(blows) does. I originally turned to Linux last year because I wanted the familiar Unix-y system that Mac OS X had, but not totalitarian and expensive like Macs are, which I used before switching to Windows after getting quite annoyed with Apple. I was into Ubuntu at first and I found it sort of comforting, but ultimately, having new software releases delayed every 6 months irritated the hell out of me. Then I found Gentoo and heard about "rolling release" policies. I was overjoyed, but Gentoo turned out to be a major pain in the butt to install when I gave it a test install via VirtualBox. Additionally I would later discover Gentoo's package repo is slightly outdated. After the headache caused by Gentoo, I finally found Arch Linux as the only other rolling release based distro. I tried it on VirtualBox and decided "This is the Linux for me."

So I went ahead and installed it for real and despite a rocky start, I've come to recommend it to any Linux prosumer, even offering to help my friend get it when Win7 ticked him off and he came to me asking about which Linux distro would be good for him. I told him Arch was preferred distro and even offered to get him set up with it. The best thing about rolling release systems is that they remind me of MacPorts and Fink, and the thought of an entire operating system based around the concept makes me drool.

Though, in terms of people who want ease of install, or are just plain lazy, I recommend Kubuntu because Ubuntu is as babying to the user as Windows is and KDE gives Linux a Windows-ish UI feel.


Hardware: Gigabyte X570 AORUS Pro, AMD Ryzen 5900X, Nvidia GTX 1080, 32 GB DDR4 RAM
Choice software: Arch Linux 64-bit with KDE desktop / Windows 11 Home 64-bit

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#153 2012-03-15 13:56:07

czubek
Banned
Registered: 2012-03-08
Posts: 141

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I'm into self abuse.

Last edited by czubek (2014-09-04 17:06:22)

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#154 2012-03-19 04:00:29

MooPi
Member
Registered: 2012-03-18
Posts: 8

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I have chosen Arch because Ubuntu has lost it's luster. I have used  Ubuntu's minimal install for several years and it has work marvelously until 11.04 came out. They broke the minimal install by locking down certain aspects of the install. It has taken me a while to get here but I believe it is my new Linux distro. Feels very much like my minimal Ubuntu install without the upgrade hell that comes with it. I like that Im back in control of what is loaded onto my computer again.


I am invincible until I die.

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#155 2012-03-19 08:29:22

Awebb
Member
Registered: 2010-05-06
Posts: 6,272

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I recently asked myself the question, why I'm still using Arch Linux, even if it is time consuming (if you try new things), doesn't come with standard configurations (why should I want to care about udev rules?) and on top of that, I have to manually correct every third or fourth PKGBUILD from the AUR, not because they're wrong, but because something on my system makes them wrong. I can't begin to mourn the hours I lost, because, unfortunately, 'vanilla' seems to be a synonym for 'no configuration included'.

Then the next day, with my head held high and a grim hint of a smile, I ventured to the dungeons of my workplace, to work twelve hours and to set up four dark and evil servers. The first server was from the land of Debian, summoned upon the server room to power an incarnation of the unholy abomination known as hylafaxd. It took three hours and a pot of coffee to set it up, as the Debian package management is like a burning jungle: it might be confusing, but if you cover your eyes and don't mind the heat, you will find your way eventually.

The second server was from the land of Ubuntu, summoned to power a virtualization srver and a terminal server, so the minions of the lab could embark lands unworthy of their own server. It took a pot of tea and half a flask of the blood of a virgin pizza delivery boy, as the package jungle of Ubuntu is similar to the one of the land of Debian, but with a stronger, more distinctive smell.

The third server was from the land of Slackware, summoned to house a perverted Glassfish custom build, which defied the usual distribution routine. It took three hours, as well as three times three, three cigarettes, three bottles of tap water and three ventures to the candy summoning apparatus. The spirits of the base system I prepared a few weeks ago, gave me hope to see my loved ones again.

The fourth and last server was from the land of Arch. It was summoned to power the empire with the force of a syslog daemon, a webserver for intranet relevant rites, a ticket system and a git repository. It took three hours, a pot of coffee, a pot of tea and two ventures to the fireplace to embrace the dark lord of nicotine, as I absolutely knew what I did, but had to build every scroll of configuration with my bare hands. It might be relevant, that two of those three hours went into the land suffering from a chameleon camouflaging as a package mirror.

Twelve hours, four severs and three times the caffeine I should intake. I finally traveled home to rest in my alcove, until the sun went up again on a new day of an administrator's life.

~fin~

No, seriously, they all suck. All operating systems suck. Computers mean work, work means lost time and lost time means growing an old man before I built enough houses, planted enough trees and sufficiently contaminated the gen pool with my contributions. I use Arch, because I got used to it's way of sucking, I know it's quirks and I know what I shouldn't even think about trying if I only have half an hour at my disposal.

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#156 2012-03-20 14:55:11

kamirao
Member
Registered: 2012-03-20
Posts: 16
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I chose archlinux because it is simpler, more open and customizable than other distros.

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#157 2012-03-20 18:55:16

PReP
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2010-06-13
Posts: 359
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Awebb wrote:

*Neat Real-life story two posts up* ^

Kudos for that post Awebb, It feels really real and honest.


. Main: Intel Core i5 6600k @ 4.4 Ghz, 16 GB DDR4 XMP, Gefore GTX 970 (Gainward Phantom) - Arch Linux 64-Bit
. Server: Intel Core i5 2500k @ 3.9 Ghz, 8 GB DDR2-XMP RAM @ 1600 Mhz, Geforce GTX 570 (Gainward Phantom) - Arch Linux 64-Bit
. Body: Estrogen @ 90%, Testestorone @ 10% (Not scientific just out-of-my-guesstimate-brain)

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#158 2012-03-24 05:30:34

w0ng
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2009-06-04
Posts: 88
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

KISS, rolling release, vanilla packages, customizability and wiki have kept me around

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#159 2012-03-26 03:45:22

deficite
Member
From: Augusta, GA
Registered: 2005-06-02
Posts: 693

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

1) Arch is predictable.
2) Arch does exactly what I want, how I want
3) Packages are fairly vanilla
4) Pacman

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#160 2012-03-30 20:21:30

Pr0Wolf29
Member
Registered: 2012-03-30
Posts: 25

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

It was less bloated and doesn't have broken packages (although I heard otherwise) like Debian and Ubuntu did.

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#161 2012-03-31 13:43:19

Xeitgeist
Member
Registered: 2012-03-14
Posts: 17

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

It's a rolling release so I get the latest software quickly and never have to do "major" upgrades in the same sense as the other mainstream distros like Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora.

Plus I like tinkering with stuff. Arch has taught me a lot about the Linux system that other distros would simply hide from me. The KISS approach is just my style.

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#162 2012-04-06 14:13:59

ezzetabi
Member
Registered: 2006-08-27
Posts: 947

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Many reasons:

- got a problem? most often the solution is in the arch wiki.
- community is great, even in the forum there is exceptionally little trolls, hate speak and children mods.
- pacman, abs, makepkg and aur. Need a package? Most probably it is there. It is not there or it is not as you need? Change an existing or make it, it is simple.
- general. One distro. Do what you need. Arch is fine both for ``simpleton'' final users, nerd programmers or servers. I find ridiculous there are dozen of Ubuntus where the difference is just a WM.

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#163 2012-04-08 10:16:51

sevenfourk
Member
Registered: 2008-02-21
Posts: 185

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Awebb wrote:

I recently asked myself the question, why I'm still using Arch Linux, even if it is time consuming (if you try new things), doesn't come with standard configurations (why should I want to care about udev rules?) and on top of that, I have to manually correct every third or fourth PKGBUILD from the AUR, not because they're wrong, but because something on my system makes them wrong. I can't begin to mourn the hours I lost, because, unfortunately, 'vanilla' seems to be a synonym for 'no configuration included'.

Then the next day, with my head held high and a grim hint of a smile, I ventured to the dungeons of my workplace, to work twelve hours and to set up four dark and evil servers. The first server was from the land of Debian, summoned upon the server room to power an incarnation of the unholy abomination known as hylafaxd. It took three hours and a pot of coffee to set it up, as the Debian package management is like a burning jungle: it might be confusing, but if you cover your eyes and don't mind the heat, you will find your way eventually.

The second server was from the land of Ubuntu, summoned to power a virtualization srver and a terminal server, so the minions of the lab could embark lands unworthy of their own server. It took a pot of tea and half a flask of the blood of a virgin pizza delivery boy, as the package jungle of Ubuntu is similar to the one of the land of Debian, but with a stronger, more distinctive smell.

The third server was from the land of Slackware, summoned to house a perverted Glassfish custom build, which defied the usual distribution routine. It took three hours, as well as three times three, three cigarettes, three bottles of tap water and three ventures to the candy summoning apparatus. The spirits of the base system I prepared a few weeks ago, gave me hope to see my loved ones again.

The fourth and last server was from the land of Arch. It was summoned to power the empire with the force of a syslog daemon, a webserver for intranet relevant rites, a ticket system and a git repository. It took three hours, a pot of coffee, a pot of tea and two ventures to the fireplace to embrace the dark lord of nicotine, as I absolutely knew what I did, but had to build every scroll of configuration with my bare hands. It might be relevant, that two of those three hours went into the land suffering from a chameleon camouflaging as a package mirror.

Twelve hours, four severs and three times the caffeine I should intake. I finally traveled home to rest in my alcove, until the sun went up again on a new day of an administrator's life.

~fin~

No, seriously, they all suck. All operating systems suck. Computers mean work, work means lost time and lost time means growing an old man before I built enough houses, planted enough trees and sufficiently contaminated the gen pool with my contributions. I use Arch, because I got used to it's way of sucking, I know it's quirks and I know what I shouldn't even think about trying if I only have half an hour at my disposal.

Actually I read all the message you wrote, and you pretty damn right, computers are just tools to accomplish things, not more


No cause is lost if there is but one fool left to fight for it.

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#164 2012-04-11 13:54:14

omer666
Member
Registered: 2011-01-26
Posts: 70

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I chose Arch Linux because :

1°) I do not agree with politics of "free vs. nonfree".
By this I mean that on distros like Fedora, Debian or some others, it's damn too difficult to install things such as flashplayer or nvidia drivers. On arch, all this is integrated to Pacman, we know pretty well that it's not open source, then there is no reason to make their installation difficult on purpose. On Fedora I had to put something like 10 new repos to have something working. Well if we have to mess with the distribution in order to use a "user-friendly linux", well there is no user friendliness anymore.

2°) Learning Linux the Linux way is far more interesting, and in the end, far more convenient than relying on user interfaces that lie to the end-user. Someday or another you are confronted to command-line, and that day you'd better know how it works. In addition, some other distros hide or prevent users from maintaining their system the linux way. Well I think they are wrong.

3°) The rolling release of course. Hell I don't see the point in using Firefox 3.5 anymore.

4°) Arch Linux is pretty easy to use once you get into it. IMO it's the easiest distro I ever used. I successively used SuSe, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Sidux on an everyday basis, and as I consider these to be really great and functional systems, I always ended up thinking "OK now I've got to try something else". Now that I'm using Arch, I'm still interested in those distributions, but saying to myself "that Linux should be great for some relative of mine", and that's all.

5°) Liberty. My Linux is not GNOME-oriented, nor KDE or XFCE or LXDE either, it does not use silly proprietary desktop, it uses what I want. The same is true for software. I've been using Openbox for quite some time now, and as soon as I want, whenever I'm not satisfied anymore with it, I can switch to something else.

6°) I know that it's true for other distros, but I feel that the Arch community is quite cool and open. Yeah it's true, I love you guys.

And lastly, an argument that is mostly personal, but I don't have time to use Gentoo and recompile everything all the time, because I'm running an old Pentium 4. Otherwise, this could have been a solution for me. And Pacman is so fast. I can't believe my eyes whenever I try some other package system.

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#165 2012-04-11 16:25:42

sevenfourk
Member
Registered: 2008-02-21
Posts: 185

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

omer666 wrote:

IMO it's the easiest distro I ever used.

That's the golden truth, fella.  I meat it, despite Arch is being pretty hard to install for newcomer, it is way to simple in maintenance and configuration, tweaking.  It's philosophy speaking for itself.

Last edited by sevenfourk (2012-04-12 05:48:46)


No cause is lost if there is but one fool left to fight for it.

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#166 2012-04-11 16:33:22

ezzetabi
Member
Registered: 2006-08-27
Posts: 947

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I also agree... It seems strange, but even some friend newbies (after some initial difficulties) find no problem at all. It is somewhat the opposite of Ubuntu: everything seems fine when you install but you got lots of problems later.

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#167 2012-04-13 01:50:16

Ishpeck
Member
From: Earth
Registered: 2011-06-02
Posts: 48
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I chose Arch for my desktop/laptop systems because the AUR reminds me of BSD Ports, because Arch seemed to embrace the tenets preached in ESR's Art of Unix Programming ( http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ ) better than other distros I've tried, because I had fewer headaches with Arch than I did with Debian, Ubuntu, Mandrake or Redhat, and because OpenBSD's drivers for my printer, scanner, and friends didn't quite seem to be as mature.

I adore the parsimony.  I adore the simplicity.  I'm not a huge fan of rolling release cycles but they do mean that if there are bugs, you don't tend to live with them for too long.


If I were to ask you a hypothetical question, what would you want it to be about?

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#168 2012-04-13 17:32:13

aardwolf
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2005-07-23
Posts: 304

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Because it's actually an easier distro than you'd think big_smile

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#169 2012-04-15 05:27:23

adcdam
Member
From: Argentina
Registered: 2012-04-15
Posts: 44

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

becase of the nice t shirts "arch linux is my bith"
                                           "i run an arch linux server"
                                            "all feared"
and as others said the cool logo,
joke apart because its fast and  Arch does  what I want.
pacman is 1000x better than apt-get.
i get tired of linux mint debian

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#170 2012-04-19 18:59:14

multiphrenic
Member
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: 2011-04-26
Posts: 73
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Two reasons. I installed on a little netbook with a gig of ram that came preloaded with Windows 7. It was impossibly slow and using the tiny trackpad on a small screen was inefficient. I installed Arch on a suggestion from a friend (I had been out of the Linux game for years, my last distro was that sadomasochistic flavour known as Gentoo).

It didn't work at first and I couldn't figure out why for the life of me. On a whim I tried the test isos and the drivers picked up and it worked. A few hours later, I realized this was the one.

Fast forward a few years and I finally convinced myself I should buy a desktop. Spilling alcohol on my Macbook Pro helped, so did looking at the cost of replacing one. I decided to give Windows 7 a chance thinking that a powerful processor, more RAM than I could possibly ever fill, and a nice video card would be enough to keep everything happy for a few years.

Wrong. Random problems from update issues, to Windows Media Center crapping out, to applications suddenly deciding not to run plagued me. I didn't want to install Linux at first since I have a few games I like to play, but after reinstalling Windows three times and every time running into similar (but different) problems that are impossible to troubleshoot, I gave up. I couldn't do it anymore. The only error messages I got were error codes which were not referenced in a help file. The solutions ranged from "Use Microsoft Fixit" to "spend the next five hours modifying the registry".

Non!. Je refuse.

20 minutes of troubleshooting Windows was 19 minutes too many. I installed Arch and spend the next two weeks tinkering and configuring. The trade-off is definitely worth it, I've learned more than I ever could hacking together registry fixes, and I've never looked back.

ilovearch.

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#171 2012-04-21 16:39:19

linoyst
Member
Registered: 2012-04-21
Posts: 7

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I use Archlinux because of many reasons.
First, Pacman, the package manager for me is much easier to use than apt and rpm for some reason. I just plain like it.
Second, I get to choose what software I have installed and what I don't. No bloatware unlike Windows and Ubuntu.
Finally, I really like the AUR. Instead of compiling software that is not in the repositories, I can just save time and grab a package from the AUR.
I love Arch and I will be keeping this OS for almost forever. big_smile

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#172 2012-04-21 18:39:46

Sara
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2009-07-09
Posts: 219
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

The package manager, rolling release model, and the AUR. If Arch didn't have the AUR, I don't know if I would have given it a chance, given how many AUR packages I use. That the Arch community is active and helpful is an additional bonus.


Registed Linux User 483618

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#173 2012-05-07 16:49:43

ngagun
Member
Registered: 2012-05-07
Posts: 17

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I just started using Arch recently. I was drawn to Arch by the high quality material that I would always find on the Arch pages even when I was using other distros. The Arch pages are so well written and the community seems stronger. I was tired of posting questions to the Ubuntu forums and getting no response at all.

I run Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a handful of desktop workstations and a server in my lab. I'll continue to run Ubuntu on these machines, I don't want them to be bleeding edge and I don't want to spend any time maintaining them! These are work machines that just need to work. It's easy to run linux on any desktop, and Ubuntu gets the job done with no fuss.

But on my laptop (Thinkpad X301), it's a different story. I was running Xubuntu, which is a nice OS, but there were some serious issues. Especially a failure to maintain a wireless connection to my complicated university network. I spent a few days trying to figure it out, but I just couldn't get to the bottom of it. Also, the suspend/resume behavior was not perfect. It worked, but it was always spitting out error messages and it would take a while to resume. Eventually I decided to wipe Xubuntu and give Arch a try.

Arch has been great on my laptop so far. No problem at all maintaining a connection to the university network. Clean and fast suspend and resume. Sure, it took me a day or two to get everything set up, but I learnt a lot in the process so I don't regret the time. I am using Xfce and it's very nice looking and fast.

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#174 2012-05-07 18:42:19

Terminator
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2012-05-07
Posts: 265

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I started using Arch Linux about half a year ago. After switching between Xubuntu and windows for a few years, I tried a bunch of Linux distro's and chose ArchLinux. ArchLinux is my favorite distro because it does not install anything I don't want, it's fast, up-to-date and has a great package manager. I also like that it still uses grub legacy.

I would advice ArchLinux only to people who are familiar with Linux, mainly because the installation is rather intimidating. As others in this topic, I failed to install ArchLinux on the first try. The second time I used the Beginners' Guide and successfully set up my system.
Also, I would warn people that ArchLinux will occasionally break (being up-to-date has a price). The last time for me is a few weeks ago, when kernel 3.3.1 broke my wireless.

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#175 2012-05-09 09:09:58

Padfoot
Member
Registered: 2010-09-03
Posts: 381

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

1. I am in control - there is no-one in the shadows telling me what I have to install on my computer.
2. Pacman - only the finest packaging system on the planet.
3. Rolling release - no 6 monthly system crash from a bulk upgrade forcing me to do a re-install.
4. Software as intended by the developer - no patching apps beyond recognition (cough cough *buntu - excuse me) that they break everything else and may as well be a fork. wink
5. Vanilla configuration - I set up software for it to work for me, not how someone, who has no idea what I like, tells me I should like what they do.
6. All of the above and more.

Need I say anything else? Oh yes, the most comprehensive and up to date wiki - yes even all the other distros regularly direct users to Arch to get the answer to their questions.

Finally, only the most frendly, helpful and appreciative forum community around.

Cheers.

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