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#276 2013-02-18 19:27:15

manouchk
Member
Registered: 2008-07-29
Posts: 306

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

bluemeda wrote:

sometimes, reasons are not needed to do something.

Loved this answer! As though, I will tel my computer and linux history shortly. This kind of things can be the result of what you did even if the reason of all decisions are not clear.

My first computer was an imac. At that time, I was doing PHD and I started to have problem with a software at work on a PC that would not plot data for me because of long path. I got bored and as my brother was already using linux, I thought it was a good idea to try.

Yellow dog linux:
I first started the difficult by installing yellowdog linux on an old imac. At that thime it was not so easy, in particular because mac keyboards have different layout and this can lead to a lot of problems like, not being able to do anything because root password was not the one you think you typed...

Mandrake (with few hours of redhat)
At work (PHD), I installed mandrake which was very popular in France and start plotting stuff with gnuplot.
I had some problems with mandrake (huge uninstallation of almost all softwares breaking mandrake due to my noobness in linux world) and tried redhat which was much worse and come back very soon (less than one day) to mandrake!

Mandriva:
When mandrake and directiva joined their team, I then followed to mandriva. I got a conventional (not mac) desktop PC at home. Network gestion of mandriva had some flaws. If everything were working, no problem but if somethnigs got wrong, no easy solution. Couldn'tmake a winmodem work with mandriva and network profiles would not work on mandriva at that time, not so easy to switch network at that time with mandriva!

Gentoo:
Then I tried gentoo at home which was very funny because everything was compiled and the wiki and manuals where much better and permitted me to solve all the problem of mandriva (winmodem and network profiles if remember well!)

Archlinux: Then I got tired of compiling or did not want to spend time for that and I found that archlinux could do almost the same thing than gento without compiling: rolling release and good manual or wiki to configure stuff. I would only need to read wiki to get things work smoothly.

There is quite a bunch of time that I run archlinux here. With all the new things like systemd and new configuration scheme, I'm struggling a little bit. I did not yet switch to systemd. The fact that quite a lot of people did not do that transition yet, may have induced  confusing wiki and manuals that mix old (re-systemd stuff) and new stuff (systemd stuff) which is very confusing. That's why I'm a bit tired of archlinux right now but I didn't found better, maybe some time is needed in order to get back to clean wiki and guides for archlinux or maybe I'm getting old a little bit! wink

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#277 2013-02-18 19:37:58

hydn
Member
From: St. Kitts
Registered: 2012-09-23
Posts: 105
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

The main reasons I choose Arch:

1) I was tired of having to re-install CrunchBang in order to upgrade to latest. LOVE rolling release.
2) My laptop is a bit lowend on CPU power and only 4GB RAM and I wanted less bloat. Arch allowed the freedom to ensure that.
3) Blue is my fav color! ha


Linux Performance Blog: http://haydenjames.io/

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#278 2013-02-19 06:02:23

x33a
Forum Fellow
Registered: 2009-08-15
Posts: 4,587

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

hydn wrote:

2) My laptop is a bit lowend on CPU power and only 4GB RAM and I wanted less bloat. Arch allowed the freedom to ensure that.

Only 4 GB? ...

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#279 2013-02-19 06:50:39

bernarcher
Forum Fellow
From: Germany
Registered: 2009-02-17
Posts: 2,281

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

x33a wrote:
hydn wrote:

2) My laptop is a bit lowend on CPU power and only 4GB RAM and I wanted less bloat. Arch allowed the freedom to ensure that.

Only 4 GB? ...

Well I live with 1 GB and some swap space for 2 years now (and swap is seldomly used). And before there were 512 MB only. (I even had Linux running in some 96 MB for almost a year when the memory chips broke in an old Laptop of mine. — Linux is formidable)


To know or not to know ...
... the questions remain forever.

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#280 2013-02-19 10:35:42

x33a
Forum Fellow
Registered: 2009-08-15
Posts: 4,587

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

@ bernarcher, exactly my point wink

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#281 2013-02-19 11:32:00

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

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Currently easier kernel compilation for my new laptop, otherwise I would have stuck with Debian.


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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#282 2013-02-28 09:37:46

ruien
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2013-02-27
Posts: 13

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I was only goiong to test Arch on my new box that i buildt to see how it runs so i made a 50gb partition and installed arch a few days ago in order to be able to delete it again. But to my surprise everything installed and running fine. I started with openbox and i am now on Lxde. So i have moved /home to a seperate partition in order to use arch every day. But the main reason is the wiki. I used Arch wiki before when i was on slackware because it's all there that you need to know but i never installed Arch before now. No regrets so far.


Politically correct: A term used for whiny pussies that need shit sugar coated.

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#283 2013-03-14 18:33:11

Nico666
Member
Registered: 2012-04-24
Posts: 56

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Unlike others, I DO NOT love Arch. However, I have tried other distros just to end coming back to Arch at the end of the day.
I do not embrace the Arch Way myself, and the community has become increasingly unfriendly in the last years (It was a small group of very friendly people when I first started to use it, but now I found it a bit pedant, at best).

But there are very important reasons that make Arch the best distro I have tried. I would love to use a more friendly and more free-software advocated distro, but Arch has:

- Rolling release: So you don't have to do those massive upgrades of everything at once, which take a lot of time and usually end with something broken difficult to traceback.
- Customisable: So you don't have to waste your disk space with millions of solitaries and widgets you will probably never use.
- Excellent Documentation: So you don't have to ask stuff in the forums, the answer is probably in the Wiki almost ever.

However it has a cost (I am risking a moderation warning with my comments below):

- While I like to have a highly customisable system, some stuff is actually simplest when automatic.
- Most people around are quite smartass "Oh look how cool I am". There is, obviously, very nice and helpful people too. But as arch has become more popular that sort of "supremacist" arch users are becoming a  majority.
- Many packages used by many people are part of AUR, and therefore "unofficial". There is a system to vote packages that you think should be included in the official repositories: But packages with tons of votes are kept forever in AUR. That sometimes happens for licencing problems (which is fair enough). But sometimes is just because there is no developer who wants to adopt the package (which is fair as well). A very simple and sensible solution would be to put the package in the official repository with THE SAME MAINTAINER as when was in AUR. However this seems to be not possible if the mentioned AUR maintainer is not somewhat related or close to the development team.
- There is absolutely no democracy about express your opinion against the way forums are moderated, the way news are announced, or the way arch is developed. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Forum_Etiquette even if you do it in a respectful and polite way.
- This is not a distro run by the community. The Arch Development Team is the "owner" of the distro; just as canonical with ubuntu of RedHat Enterprise with Fedora.

So the final decision is up to you. But I wanted to give you a non-rosy view of Arch. It is the best distribution around in my opinion, but is not perfect.

Last edited by Nico666 (2013-03-14 18:41:46)

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#284 2013-03-16 18:35:49

keepitsimpleengineer
Member
From: San Joaquin Valley, CA
Registered: 2012-06-25
Posts: 379

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Nico666 wrote:

Unlike others, I DO NOT love Arch. However, I have tried other distros just to end coming back to Arch at the end of the day.
I do not embrace the Arch Way myself, and the community has become increasingly unfriendly in the last years (It was a small group of very friendly people when I first started to use it, but now I found it a bit pedant, at best).

But there are very important reasons that make Arch the best distro I have tried. I would love to use a more friendly and more free-software advocated distro, but Arch has:

- Rolling release: So you don't have to do those massive upgrades of everything at once, which take a lot of time and usually end with something broken difficult to traceback.
- Customisable: So you don't have to waste your disk space with millions of solitaries and widgets you will probably never use.
- Excellent Documentation: So you don't have to ask stuff in the forums, the answer is probably in the Wiki almost ever.

However it has a cost (I am risking a moderation warning with my comments below):

- While I like to have a highly customisable system, some stuff is actually simplest when automatic.
- Most people around are quite smartass "Oh look how cool I am". There is, obviously, very nice and helpful people too. But as arch has become more popular that sort of "supremacist" arch users are becoming a  majority.
- Many packages used by many people are part of AUR, and therefore "unofficial". There is a system to vote packages that you think should be included in the official repositories: But packages with tons of votes are kept forever in AUR. That sometimes happens for licencing problems (which is fair enough). But sometimes is just because there is no developer who wants to adopt the package (which is fair as well). A very simple and sensible solution would be to put the package in the official repository with THE SAME MAINTAINER as when was in AUR. However this seems to be not possible if the mentioned AUR maintainer is not somewhat related or close to the development team.
- There is absolutely no democracy about express your opinion against the way forums are moderated, the way news are announced, or the way arch is developed. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Forum_Etiquette even if you do it in a respectful and polite way.
- This is not a distro run by the community. The Arch Development Team is the "owner" of the distro; just as canonical with ubuntu of RedHat Enterprise with Fedora.

So the final decision is up to you. But I wanted to give you a non-rosy view of Arch. It is the best distribution around in my opinion, but is not perfect.

Well said


Al Einstein: "Man soll die Dinge so einfach machen wie möglich ~ aber nicht einfacher." (Things should be as simple as possible ~ but not too simple.) ~ Al (Einstein) war ein Cousin von Albert, "Al" ist die Abkürzung für Aloysius

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#285 2013-03-16 18:46:51

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

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I felt nico echoed my thoughts, perfectly well. But I 'm using arch  mainly for the flexiblity it offers as a rolling release.

edit:
I have a huge respect for Debian, but their package manager is just rocket-science for me.

Last edited by hadrons123 (2013-03-16 18:48:38)


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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#286 2013-03-16 18:50:37

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Nico666 wrote:

...I am risking a moderation warning with my comments below...

I am curious as to why you think that?  If you do not want to respond here, please drop me a PM.

There is absolutely no democracy about express your opinion against the way forums are moderated, the way news are announced, or the way arch is developed. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Forum_Etiquette even if you do it in a respectful and polite way.

I am not sure I agree with you.  I, for one, have no objections to polite discourse and will consider all rational arguments.  In the end, you are correct, the final decision does belong to the moderators.

Your friendly moderator team smile

Last edited by ewaller (2013-03-16 18:51:08)


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#287 2013-03-17 00:56:42

Nico666
Member
Registered: 2012-04-24
Posts: 56

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

ewaller wrote:
Nico666 wrote:

...I am risking a moderation warning with my comments below...

I am curious as to why you think that?  If you do not want to respond here, please drop me a PM.

There is absolutely no democracy about express your opinion against the way forums are moderated, the way news are announced, or the way arch is developed. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Forum_Etiquette even if you do it in a respectful and polite way.

I am not sure I agree with you.  I, for one, have no objections to polite discourse and will consider all rational arguments.  In the end, you are correct, the final decision does belong to the moderators.

Your friendly moderator team smile

Your interest about this opinion speaks highly of your work as moderator. I thought that because it is openly in disagreement with some of the rules in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Forum_Etiquette  and could be considered bikeshed.

About the expression of views in disagreement with the official channels,  I based my opinion particularly in two experiences: One arguing about whether the change from python2 to python should be announced in the home page https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=150885&p=1, and other related with a discussion long time ago on IRC about why a package that seemed essential in my opinion wasn't in [CORE], and the discussion became quiet rude in terms of accusing me about not been respectful with the decisions of the developing team (though I tried to be as polite as I could, I know I am not an expert and I have always respected the work done by Arch developers).

I cannot speak beyond my own experiences, but I have heard similar opinions from other users. Sometimes I feel like there were two "social classes" of arch users: A "elite" (trusted users, development team, etc), and the "plebs, uneducated masses" (small AUIR  maintainers, beginners, non-technical users, etc.).

Thank you for asking.

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#288 2013-03-17 13:22:02

Antoine
Member
From: Picton Ontario
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 90

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Nico666 wrote:

I cannot speak beyond my own experiences, but I have heard similar opinions from other users. Sometimes I feel like there were two "social classes" of arch users: A "elite" (trusted users, development team, etc), and the "plebs, uneducated masses" (small AUIR  maintainers, beginners, non-technical users, etc.).

Then there's those of us who just use the OS and don't really care about the politics of OS development. Arch is by far the easiest Linux to install, the most up-to-date (obviously) and the Linux that's easiest to quickly configure to a state that one is happy with without loading up anything that one is unhappy with.

I hang out on the forums because I'm an old Usenet guy and I like doing that. I help if I can, try to be polite and supportive, and (this is fairly new for me) try my hardest not to flame the stupid (it's not Usenet (or Facebook) after all -- there are moderators and I believe in moderation up to a point).

And as I've pointed out before: Arch is best because someone else has done all the work. Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's!

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#289 2013-03-20 02:10:35

miek
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 25
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I use Arch mainly because I was looking for a desktop distro I really loved, and found none other. With the nice documentation and some help from the forum I was able to select and configure just what I want and I see no reason for going back to Ubuntu/Crunchbang/Mint/etc.

Now my desktop's perfect (almost) smile

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#290 2013-03-23 21:06:03

GI Jack
Member
Registered: 2010-12-29
Posts: 92

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I did not choose Arch, it chose me smile

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#291 2013-03-23 21:15:32

MagicSkyFairy
Member
Registered: 2013-03-14
Posts: 79

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I really like the community, and I have found myself spending way way more hours configuring my machine exactly how I want it with arch than I did with Poobuntu.

Last edited by MagicSkyFairy (2013-03-23 21:15:54)


I have wasted atleast a second of your time by making you read my signature.

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#292 2013-03-24 03:21:35

hectorlopez
Member
From: argentina
Registered: 2013-03-13
Posts: 5

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

because i like the customization and versatile of arch linux, and its all i want tongue i love kde too

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#293 2013-03-28 03:21:17

mamamia88
Member
Registered: 2012-08-29
Posts: 483

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I'm not a programmer by any means but, arch explains stuff in the wiki in a way that it's not just copy and paste, I actually get a general idea of what is going on behind the scenes.  I have been distro hopping for awhile in search of a distro that everthing works smoothly all the  time.  But I've come to the conclusion that will never happen.  So it's better to use a distro that just by using and installing it, you in turn learn how to fix the problems that may arise (or at least panic or get extremely frustrated with less than perfect answers you may find on google).

Last edited by mamamia88 (2013-03-28 03:21:47)

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#294 2013-03-28 08:45:02

kjell
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2012-03-26
Posts: 99

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

wonder wrote:
ilAli wrote:

which one is more stable and has more user friendly interface?
1- linuxmint    2- opensuse     3- archlinux

ubuntu

I certainly hope that was a joke.

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#295 2013-04-04 09:35:34

scar
Member
From: Hungary
Registered: 2009-10-01
Posts: 442

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Simplicity


“The future has already arrived. It's just not evenly distributed yet.”
― William Gibson

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#296 2013-04-04 10:01:54

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

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

kjell wrote:

I certainly hope that was a joke.

How certain exactly?

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#297 2013-04-04 10:18:36

parazyd
Member
From: Amsterdam
Registered: 2012-10-14
Posts: 259
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Minimalist approach and because of the amazing docs and community.

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#298 2013-04-05 00:35:47

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Hmm...I started this whole Linux gig back when I noticed Linux Mandrake on the shelf.  Of course, we've all been thrown out the Windows.  I was trying for the MCSE track back then.  Then you had to keep up with the core changes for the tests and keep taking them.  I still am in dispute over the whole A+/N+/MSCeverything certification process just to get a computerized job.  The machines are going to replace us one of these days!  I started using the drake and was a good starter.  Then later I got the next version of it.  It quickly started accelerating to be a Windowish OS in Linux.  Then later on, while trying to study for the MSCE stuff, I decided *NIX was the better OS, bar none.  Then Active Directory came out, and NDS has more or less faded, and even Novell uses Linux for their latest products.  NDS was neat, but drowned out by AD.  Then later I was pushing Windows aside on a disk for Linux, and tried to burn the Mandravia 2009 One CD.  It burned, but when I booted it, it wouldn't hand off to the CD to install it.  Something about driver 'sr' needs to be updated.  So I went looking for Ubuntu, an OS that would support the latest wireless devices.  I was never really impressed with Ubuntu.  Then later I discovered Arch, and Ubuntu bit the dust.  Can't find anything more desirable to use than Arch.  In order to support my hobbies I wonder whether I should go try to learn any of that runaway certification mess?


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#299 2013-04-06 10:52:27

Eregus
Member
Registered: 2013-04-02
Posts: 20

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I just wanted to 'learn' Linux. When I installed Arch for the first time I had very little experience, I only used Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora distros. I chose Archlinux becouse of its wiki and community.

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#300 2013-04-19 04:22:58

doug piston
Member
From: Seattle
Registered: 2011-09-11
Posts: 387
Website

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I was told I was 'n00b' for using Ubuntu. While I cannot disagree more with this statement it brought me here and I don't think I could much more pleased.

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