The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

Texbrew · 2016-10-24 23:15:51

mrunion wrote:

Quicken2k wrote:
Does anyone here actually use Arch as a day to day OS. Thinking about moving to Arch and just keep Windows for gaming.
It's the only OS I use, and my entire family uses Linux as well (just not Arch). For me, keeping windows for games only is just no reason to keep Windows. Buy a PlayStation or X Box one, is my opinion. It's all a matter of priorities, though. No game in the world is worth enough for me to play to put Windows in my house again.
Windows-free for over 10 years and LOVING it!

Thread is gathering a little dust, but I concur, mrunion. I'm not much of a gamer these days - I like solitaire - but I can't imagine any game good enough to keep the OS you mentioned.

There's a laptop in the house running that OS - my wife's. But it gathers dust as she favors using her tablets.

A neighbor widow lady keeps getting malware on her "that OS" PC, and I do my best to clean it up, but it's frustrating at times. The lady is very forgetful, which compounds the problem.

For my own use it's been pure linux for 3+ years. can't imagine ever going back.

tex

Edit: @Daerandin, I think linux games + wine is a great suggestion for gamers considering switching to linux. Truth, I installed wine on one linux box but haven't tried any games or other software with it.

Last edited by Texbrew (2016-10-24 23:23:08)

Keon · 2016-10-27 23:23:35

Greetings, Im new for this place. I want tell my short experience about this distro.

Well, I have 4 years on Debian, and I wanted search other philosophy like KISS. I felt that my learn curve was over, because I managed Debian 'so fine', but I need more, more Linux, and here is Arch.

'Arch is the best distro', Now Im sure. Only a few months ago running thousands of stuffs, (servers, virtual enviroments, heavy apps..), nice stabilty, so simple, fast distro, fast repos, and great community/wiki. I want stay more involved, so everyday I read and learn about Arch way.

Arch Linux changed my life for a better chance. Now, I can do everything that I want to do. Simple, always works, when not because my fault. All works on Arch Linux, I stressing a lot each moment, but this OS handle like a boss.

The boot speed is the fastest I never saw anything like this.

I can talk all day about positive things of Arch, because really, this is the queen distro for me. Completly in love, for now, and forever Arch way.

Respects.

Alad · 2016-10-27 23:45:56

n0vember wrote:

Network then worked, but for some reason, pacman wasn't able to resolve server names. I tried the same commands with yaourt and it passed. So to be honest with this, I said I used yaourt.

You do realize that in the end, yaourt does nothing but call pacman ...

This sort of thing is why people should steer clear on any of these "helpers" until they actually know what happens in their system.

Brcher · 2016-11-01 20:08:53

Texbrew wrote:

mrunion wrote:
Quicken2k wrote:
Does anyone here actually use Arch as a day to day OS. Thinking about moving to Arch and just keep Windows for gaming.
It's the only OS I use, and my entire family uses Linux as well (just not Arch). For me, keeping windows for games only is just no reason to keep Windows. Buy a PlayStation or X Box one, is my opinion. It's all a matter of priorities, though. No game in the world is worth enough for me to play to put Windows in my house again.
Windows-free for over 10 years and LOVING it!
Thread is gathering a little dust, but I concur, mrunion. I'm not much of a gamer these days - I like solitaire - but I can't imagine any game good enough to keep the OS you mentioned.
There's a laptop in the house running that OS - my wife's. But it gathers dust as she favors using her tablets.
A neighbor widow lady keeps getting malware on her "that OS" PC, and I do my best to clean it up, but it's frustrating at times. The lady is very forgetful, which compounds the problem.
For my own use it's been pure linux for 3+ years. can't imagine ever going back.
tex
Edit: @Daerandin, I think linux games + wine is a great suggestion for gamers considering switching to linux. Truth, I installed wine on one linux box but haven't tried any games or other software with it.

I use arch as my main machine. It is fairly easy to manage once you've set it up. I'd say rolling release is much more stable than non-rolling. I've heard too many horror stories from people upgrading their whole OS at a time. From a debugging point of view, changing every program at a time is insane, I don't understand how that has become the default assumption for every OS out there. I love arch.

But there are plenty of reasons to keep a windows PC around for games. The goodness of arch needn't be evidence of the badness of windows. For me, I keep in touch with a few old friends through Steam gaming (we all dispersed after college, so it is nice to be able to still play games together). No individual game is worth keeping Windows around, but the overall experience is absolutely worth is (and it isn't as if Windows is some horrible thing to keep around on a mostly powered off gaming pc). I did the steam linux thing. I did the WINE thing. They are fun hobby projects, but not particularly plesant as an end user. Windows basically functions as a console.

I'd never try to get actual work done on Windows, though. The uber-tweakable nature of Arch is amazing. All the appropriate programs are a few keystrokes away.

m1hu · 2016-11-04 02:22:01

Past years my laptop got visited by Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, SUSE... every of this distro was missing something, was having something which made me dislike it. Even Debian despite being my first distro - my adventure with linux started from Sarge 3.1, I even bought 2 x DVD which i have till this day!

Arch made me confused at the begining, in the past i failed at Gentoo, went back to something else. Right, thanks to Arch Wiki which is incredibly well made i didn't had problems with installation, configuration etc.
What makes Arch better than any other distro for me? AUR and ability to make my distro extremely lightweight - which is pretty crucial for me - my laptop, Lenovo G570 have some years and it strugle with performance.

Right now, I am using Arch with i3wm-gaps and overall performance i can compare to my work/gaming desktop.

Still a lot to learn how exacly some things works, how are packages build, etc but it is fun, at least something what takes me out of gaming as alone old guy on work vacations.
Thanks for this great distro!

Peace,yo!

Texbrew · 2016-11-04 18:12:40

@Brcher, excellent points about the reasoning behind doing full distribution upgrades. My other mainstay OS is Debian 7 "Wheezy". When Debian 8 "Jesse" (new stable) came out, I installed it in a VM. It still only resides in VM's, recently upgraded to version 8.6 I don't care for the default Gnome interface, but Gnome "Classic" in Jesse seems buggy to me. I my never switch from Wheezy to Jesse.

I dwell in a strange pardox which contains at least two facets; I don't really like major changes as presented above, yet I whole-heartedly embrace Arch Linux and use it every day. Weird.

Another facet of this paradox is that I don't trust the popular non-linux OS, but I trust linux, which is made up from contibutions by people from all over the world. An example of that trust, I wouldn't do online banking or make purchases from the big OS, I do both from linux. And like you, I wouldn't do any important work in a non-linux system.

Enough about that. I have no quarrel with anyone as to their choice(s) of what OS to use. I simply prefer linux.

tex

drcouzelis · 2016-11-04 18:19:23

Texbrew wrote:

I dwell in a strange pardox which contains at least two facets; I don't really like major changes as presented above, yet I whole-heartedly embrace Arch Linux and use it every day. Weird.

I don't think it's too strange (if I'm understanding you correctly)... You don't like major changes, and Arch Linux doesn't have major changes. Instead, it presents you with 10 or so of the tiniest changes every day.

Sort of a "Ship of Theseus" sort of dealy.

Texbrew · 2016-11-04 19:07:12

drcouzelis wrote:

Texbrew wrote:
I dwell in a strange pardox which contains at least two facets; I don't really like major changes as presented above, yet I whole-heartedly embrace Arch Linux and use it every day. Weird.
I don't think it's too strange (if I'm understanding you correctly)... You don't like major changes, and Arch Linux doesn't have major changes. Instead, it presents you with 10 or so of the tiniest changes every day.
Sort of a "Ship of Theseus" sort of dealy.

Hi Doc, for clarity's sake, switching to Arch was a major change for me, driven by raw curiosity plus boredom. Those things are each in themselves two-edged swords; can lead to disaster or amazing discovery as in my discovery of Arch.

Yes, the few small changes each day you mentioned are preferred over sweeping changes we get in non rolling release distros.

A quick scan of your wikipedia reference is thought provoking; being both a geek and a label reader, I will go back to it.

tex

lshappy · 2016-12-14 10:02:19

I simply want to say thank you to the arch team and the community!

I ditched windows a few weeks ago and switched to linux. I tried several distributions, starting with mint, just to have a look at linux. Shortly after, debian jessie, debian testing, manjaro, antergos. But none of theme felt right to me, so i tried arch.

The setup was simple, and i learned a lot. And it was fun! Its fast, its slim, its simple, and finally i really have fun in computing again.

Tried some DE (gnome3, xfce, cinnamon, lxde, lxqt) but i sticked with openbox with some lxqt-components and sddm. Seems i like it simple. My desktop should not be in the way doing things.

And with arch, i could do all this. Now my machine is just what i want! I have migrated several laptops, workstations and our server to arch.

So, thank you for arch! Great job!

x33a · 2016-12-14 11:04:05

Glad you like Arch, you really seem happy (as can be seen from your username too ). As for using openbox, a lot of Arch users tend to use lightweight window managers instead of full-blown DEs. Apart from being lighter on resources, they also make maintenance much easier.

ChemBro · 2016-12-14 11:04:09

(There is an extra "The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread" stickied in this forum.)

x33a · 2016-12-14 11:53:22

Damn, I had totally forgotten about the sticky. Thanks for the reminder ChemBro

@lshappy, I have merged your thread with this one.

silverevo · 2016-12-15 05:28:31

There will never be a Arch V1.0 distro. It's a rolling release for a reason

aexoxea · 2016-12-31 10:44:57

A big 'thank you' to the ArchLinux project and community -- past and present -- with my best wishes for the season and for the coming year . I would also like to acknowledge those here that contribute to upstream FOSS projects, in whatever capacity.

It is a few months past four years since I started using ArchLinux as my primary workhorse at home, having decided to move away from proprietary desktop OSs. Initially I ran it in a virtual machine on my existing hardware (a Mac), but in January 2013 I moved to real (non-Mac) hardware, and have been there ever since. I have few regrets, and certainly nothing that has made me want to go back.

ArchLinux was the key. Its tools, inclusive repos and local (to my country) mirrors are what made it possible for me to jump over, while the project principles and resources are what have kept me here.

In spite of being rolling release and aimed at expert users, ArchLinux has been very stable and very maintainable for me. That I have a real choice as to how I use it, and (usually) a real choice as to when, where and whether I 'delve in' to things, is something that I continue to appreciate every single day.

Also, as someone who has tried various Linux distributions on-and-off since the turn of the century, I am blown away by how far FOSS has come in terms of quality, capability and range in that time (and indeed, even over just the last four years). Combine that with the rise of the web, and I think the FOSS desktop ecosystem has a bright future.

Long live FOSS, and long live ArchLinux!

ypnos · 2017-02-01 18:22:48

At this point the system was actively harming my productivity so I did what any rational person would do: blew it away and installed Arch Linux.

From: http://bitcannon.net/post/finding-an-al … -x-part-2/

As a long-term arch user, I couldn't agree more. Very often I see other GNU/Linux users having various problems, it typically boils down to them not using Arch Linux.

bgdawes · 2017-02-01 18:49:59

I was a devoted Apple user for 10+ years, beginning when my old Gateway (do they still even make those anymore?) desktop bit the dust and I purchased my first Mac mini. I didn't know anything about technology at the time, aside from a few computer science courses I took in college. I remember when I first fired up that Mac mini, I couldn't believe it. Everything 'just worked' and the Mac OS was so elegant compared to Windows. I loved it, and for 10+ years I didn't look back. I was all in and I filled my house with Apple devices.

Just a few short months ago, the luster wore off my Apples with the release of macOS Sierra and iOS 10. In one fell swoop, Apple made both my iMac and my iPad obsolete. My wife was 'allowed' to install Sierra on her MacBook, however, the upgrade wound up bricking her laptop; it takes about 5 minutes just to open a window in Finder.

I like to stay current with new software; however, with two toddlers running around that I need to keep in fresh diapers, I didn't exactly have the disposable income to drop $3 grand on new Apple devices so I looked at other options.

There was no way I was going to turn to Windows and I was always curious about Linux so I gave Ubuntu a whirl. I loved it. I think Ubuntu is a great distro and I'm glad that it exists, but I did find it a little lacking in a few areas.

After researching teh internetz, I kept reading about Arch and when I first visited archlinux.org, the website alone instantly appealed to my sensibilities (the structure, organization, simplicity). I was slightly apprehensive about the learning curve but I had to give it a shot. Admittedly, I made some rookie mistakes early on and successfully completing my first installation took a few tries but after I got everything up and running...it's just...perfect.

Arch is exactly what I was looking for; to step beyond Apple. The same sense of 'awe' I had when I first turned on my Mac mini has returned. Everyday when I come home from work and tinker around I find some great new tool or command or configuration, etc. I also installed Arch on my wife's laptop and she loves it too (although I don't think I'll ever fully tear her away from Apple devices).

Ultimately though, I think the most remarkable aspect of Arch is the community. It's crazy to me that such an incredible achievement as Arch was built (and is maintained) by a 'community' as opposed to a corporation.

TL;DR - Arch is great.

Last edited by bgdawes (2017-02-01 20:51:58)

zombiecube · 2017-02-12 04:12:05

New user. It took me several attempts to get the install right, but I made it. Very satisfying. There were a few times during the install when I really wanted to register for this forum and ask a question. But the only device I had where I could view the Arch Linux website and search for answers was my mobile phone--and the "activation energy" for me to type in the answer to the registration question (date -u +%V$.....) always felt higher than the effort for me to just keep plugging away, studying the wiki pages, searching the Internet, and answering my own questions. Clearly this is by design. And rightly so.

Anyway, I'm glad to be here. I hope that someday I know this system well enough to be able to help others. Until then, I'll be lurking, learning, and trying to stay out of trouble.

leslieking · 2017-02-16 12:24:13

Hello. I've been using OS X since the Intel transition. It's a great operating systems, but I feel that Apple becomes more and more closed. I started looking for an open alternative and Arch Linux seems to be the best of all Linux distros I tried.
These days I use my computer for learning languages, so I don't need much apps. A web browser, e-mail client, word processor for printing stuff, audacity to record and play phrases, and anki for memorizing stuff. The only thing I miss is Adobe Photoshop, but for doing basic tasks such as resizing images and liquify, GIMP will probably do the job. I'm very happy to be part of this community!

WorMzy · 2017-02-16 12:45:30

Mod note: Merging leslieking's thread with the mega thread

wleles · 2017-03-01 22:37:12

I was at "things you fell arch is missing" and to be honest: there's nothing.
OK I still have win7 just for my family use and a ubunto lts as a backup distro if something here breaks.
But when I installed arch I feel that it is what I was searching for years since I left Mint (2015) to grow as a Linux user.
I've tested manjaro, sabayon, funtoo, ubuntu, mint, debian, fedora, suse, mageia, Dragonfly bsd ... And Arch is the best.

Last edited by wleles (2017-03-01 22:38:21)

Lemongrass · 2017-03-03 16:28:11

Hi there, everyone!

I would like to hear your opinion... I have always used Debian-based distributions when it came to Linux. Right now I'm using Debian Jessie Xfce as my main distro, and I'm fine with that, I could install the missing driver, and when a problem arose, I could fix that with Google + Debian Wiki, and I know a little shell scripting. I have Jessie Xfce because I wish to have more resources to the actual work that I'm doing.

I would like to ask your opinion: how much time could it take for me to learn Arch (to get to a level where I don't really have to spend much time on reverting my errors' consequences)? I only have one laptop (+backups), and I'm a bit afraid I break the whole laptop, mostly because this is my only laptop that I have and I work on it (if I choose Arch, I'm quite likely to try it in a VM first).

So, what do you think? What's the difference in performance between Arch Xfce and Debian Xfce and in other territories? Thanks in advance.

Last edited by Lemongrass (2017-03-03 16:40:48)

Texbrew · 2017-03-03 23:28:57

Hi Lemongrass, Welcome to the forums.

Well, you asked for opinions. First point, some people can install Arch and get it configured the way they want in a few hours. I think my first install took 8 hours or more, and I messed that up, had to do it again, paying a lot closer attention to instructions in the Arch Wiki. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide Some people can breeze through it all quickly, others take longer. I can't emphasis this enough - read the Wiki.

My first successful install was in VirtualBox running on a Debian laptop. I would definitely recommend you install arch in a VM first, since it's your only machine. Assuming you use VirtualBox, there are a couple of things you will need to do to get guest additions to work - don't use the guest additions from the Debian repos or from Oracle - they won't work, and it will waste your time. Follow this wiki page, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Vi … _Additions and if you need help, ask.

I ran Arch in a VM for at least a couple of weeks in order to learn how it works before I ever attempted to install it on "bare metal". I now have Arch on three different machines, and I kept the Arch VM on my Debian laptop. I try to always upgrade/update the Arch VM first before I upgrade those three machines.

Another couple of options for you to consider; install Arch on a spare hard drive, or onto a USB thumb drive. If your laptop supports USB 3.0 that's better than USB 2.0 in terms of speed.

Your last question was about performance - Arch Xfce vs Debian Xfce. I have never installed Xfce on my Debian machines, only Gnome, and it's kind of bloated. My guess, Arch Xfce should perform as well or better than Debian Xfce.

You'll never know if Arch is a good fit for you until you try it, so why not try it?

tex

collector1871 · 2017-03-04 10:14:29

Lemongrass wrote:

Hi there, everyone!
(...)
So, what do you think? What's the difference in performance between Arch Xfce and Debian Xfce and in other territories? Thanks in advance.

I have used Debian XFCE for years. And at this moment I am in Arch XFCE. You will not notice difference in performance, it is almost the same.

There is one thing that make Arch better than Debian in my opinion - packages and repositories. Debian has much more bugs, in software which I have chose. After moving to Arch - magic wand started working and bugs disappeared ! Arch has AUR which is much more updated, tested, better configured, dependencies are better selected. But it is only for Desktop, I think Debian is better for server.
So after using Debian XFCE for years, I can see in AUR we have much more quality in software dependencies, stability, configuration - but it is regarding only with desktop software.

It is only private opinion.

c00ter · 2017-03-04 21:17:39

Welcome to Arch Linux, Lemongrass

In answer to your questions I can near-echo the previous poster. I ran Debian Testing for years before switching over to Arch totally, and used Xfce DE towards the last of my Debian experience. I have no gripes about Debian whatsoever, and am very grateful it s still here. But I like Arch better. Performance-wise, Arch & Debian both use a vanilla general use kernel by default. And as with both, you can also add custom kernels tailored to desktop performance or otherwise, as you want.

Xfce runs well in Arch and is a *snap* to setup. Installing and setting up Arch itself will give you a new appreciation for Debian's installers. I'm a firm believer in using the Wiki's Installation Guide for at least the first two installs--the first one sometimes doesn't "count" according to some users. After that, there are a few install scripts scattered about the 'net and if you still like to play around alot on bare metal, then they make a re-installation a bit easier/faster. (However, 'we' only support Arch as installed per the Wiki, and no other.)

Pacman, the CLI package manager, for me is the glue that ties it all together, along with the AUR. Here is a link to the Pacman Rosetta that gives detailed information about Pacman and tabled contrasting commands in other package managers such as APT, etc. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman/Rosetta

Regards

Last edited by c00ter (2017-03-04 21:17:58)

Lemongrass · 2017-03-08 13:34:41

I installed Arch. So far it's really good. I mean the unused half of my system is missing, and everything is the newest version. Thank you for your reviews. I especially like the "tweak to the core" thing.

I have a few problems (mainly autostart xfce4 and wireless), but I can start them manually, so I guess I try fixing these on my own first.

Last edited by Lemongrass (2017-03-08 13:38:51)

Arch Linux

#1076 2016-10-24 23:15:51

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1077 2016-10-27 23:23:35

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1078 2016-10-27 23:45:56

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1079 2016-11-01 20:08:53

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1080 2016-11-04 02:22:01

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#1081 2016-11-04 18:12:40

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#1082 2016-11-04 18:19:23

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#1083 2016-11-04 19:07:12

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1084 2016-12-14 10:02:19

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1085 2016-12-14 11:04:05

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1086 2016-12-14 11:04:09

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1087 2016-12-14 11:53:22

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1088 2016-12-15 05:28:31

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1089 2016-12-31 10:44:57

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1090 2017-02-01 18:22:48

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1091 2017-02-01 18:49:59

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1092 2017-02-12 04:12:05

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1093 2017-02-16 12:24:13

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1094 2017-02-16 12:45:30

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1095 2017-03-01 22:37:12

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1096 2017-03-03 16:28:11

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1097 2017-03-03 23:28:57

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1098 2017-03-04 10:14:29

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1099 2017-03-04 21:17:39

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

#1100 2017-03-08 13:34:41

Re: The Official Unofficial 'Arch is Best' Thread

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