Arch on Distrowatch

hypermegachi · 2006-12-04 22:15:24

tomfitzyuk wrote:

Niakwe wrote:
Hi guys
Just my opinion... There are 372 distros registed in distrowatch today. So the current rank of Arch is not so bad taking into account that Arch isn't under the light as often than well know distro like ubuntu, fedora... I think Arch is already recognize for its qualities.
I think that's what the thread is about. Why isn't Arch as popular as Ubuntu/Fedora?

probably because it's newest and all the people using rpm/dpkg/portage can't be bothered to learn a new packaging system.

codemac · 2006-12-04 23:45:03

Seriously, it's just configuring everything yourself.

Some people don't want to. Ubuntu on my laptop sets up wireless, cpu-scaling, X, multiple monitors if I plug them in, 3D accel with fglrx, and the list goes on. I did each of those myself on Arch. Something I would like to see is the return of hwd only not for module loading, but detecting hardware, and spitting out appropriate configuration files. It would be nifty and more work than I intend to do :-P

chilebiker · 2006-12-05 02:27:10

I recently switched to Arch, it took me three days to install and get it working correctly. Mandriva, on the other hand, did it all on the fly - that's why Arch's ranking is "so low" on Distrowatch.

For someone new to Linux, setting up Arch is quite a task! But Arch's philosophy suits me much better

Misfit138 · 2006-12-12 00:12:39

chilebiker wrote:

I recently switched to Arch, it took me three days to install and get it working correctly. Mandriva, on the other hand, did it all on the fly - that's why Arch's ranking is "so low" on Distrowatch.
For someone new to Linux, setting up Arch is quite a task! But Arch's philosophy suits me much better

It took me 2 days the first time I tried. So then I installed it again, for practice, and got it done in 2 hours....because Arch taught me so much the first time!
I love Arch, because it taught me more about Linux in 2 days than I had gleaned in the past 2 years.
I'm glad Arch is not in the top 10. It's like an underground band or an inside joke.....and perhaps if everyone were to learn about it, something would be lost...
Sort of like Metallica or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who made their best music while they were known and loved by few, and then became huge and mediocre.
Is that too philosophical?

kishd · 2006-12-12 07:15:29

Talking about distro-watch. I first saw arch on distro-watch when 0.72 was released and this prompted me to try it. Installing was a ballache as I did not read any documentation and just plunged in. Luckily I had a second computer connected to the net and googled until I had a running system. Later about a month ago I tried Ubuntu 6.10 and installed it as it just looked so good. However after about a week I had to remove it and re-install Arch. I just could not come to terms with having all my OS decisions made for me. With arch you can fiddle install re-install update upgrade downgrade and get back to a working system without ever being forced to re-install. The rolling release system also keeps you constantly updated and at the cutting edge with no real bleeding. The forums here are also great. On the ubuntu forums if you post a problem you get a hundred "me too" responses with no solution.

Thank you for a truly great distro.

kamagurka · 2006-12-15 12:59:35

Well, it's not a simple distro. Which is why I'm here.

lumiwa · 2006-12-15 14:08:03

I don't know how distrowatch works and I never try to find it .
I think now is one year of my "arch membership". I had some problem from my previous distro and I look for Linux distributions I think on linux.org. I saw Arch, download network version and I was very surprised how fast installation was compared with distros which I know and I am here. And thanks to develepors and thanks to Arch users for very friendly and good help.

Crooksey · 2006-12-18 14:08:23

As i have not much going on right now, i looked at fairly new Distro's and popular distro's on distrowatch. So i look at fairly new distro's (as far as community and fairly large user based facts), the ones i was looking into were mainly: Zenwalk and Ubuntu, and i was looking at the main diffrences on first impressions, what says first impressions better than screenshots?

The screenshots on the Zenwalk site are very nice, whereas the only screenshots offered on Arch are those on OsDir, these show a console based install and a plain KDE, now if Arch were to provide an offical screenshot/media section, users could see how very good it looks.

Just say update it everymonth from the 10 best screenshots from the monthly thread, this would take much to achive, but gives new potential users a look into what arch is, then of course having a standard "offical" screenshot thread, showing kdemod or something playing movies, some XGL action just showing arch in action.

I say this as when i speak to Windows users at college they tell me "they like the look of linux" a retarted comment, but shows that people are judging a book by its cover, and dont deny it, if a Windows/Mac users has the choice between screenhots of a plain Desktop (kde on OsDir) or highly customised WM's (like zenwalk's site), i think we know what users would pick.

I think people just get intimidated, somewhat scaring them away.

There is no doubt that established users of Linux use arch, but the people that dont are new users, and if arch can coller these, im sure it can move into the top 15, 26 atm

--

I think arch did use to have a screenshot page? Thats why i first came to it a while ago I think i saw some fluxbox screenshot with a field desktop background, looked ownage, then in August 06 i ran it as a main desktop Hence the joining date, dam gnome needed some locales!

STiAT · 2006-12-18 14:25:03

Well, to be true, i dont think there are many users who want all those hassles about installing, configuring a system themselves.

Arch tends to be a distribution for more experienced persons, who already have a clue about linux.

Many people use ubuntu or similar distributions, since they're easy to set up, have a good (or better) hardware support out of the box, have graphical configuration utilities and package managers etc.

Arch users tend to like the way arch is, how it is, and what it is. I personally like arch best, and i tried the latest version of ubuntu, kubuntu, suse, fedora etc.
I wasn't happy, i think i'm a noob, since in those distros - nothing worked, and i could not get any support anywhere.

What i personally like best in Arch is the community of friendly people, being around on IRC, or in this forums, helping each other and try to make arch better.
In my eyes, the best feature arch has to provide is the community, not the distribution.

I'd love to see a graphical package manager for arch (qt), but have to say i got used to the commandline in the past year.

Crooksey · 2006-12-18 15:05:24

Why are Gentoo and Debian so popular then?

There is alot of coverage and information of it around, people use it and like it, people need to start usuing arch to see how good it is.

Misfit138 · 2006-12-19 13:43:39

STiAT wrote:

.................in those distros - nothing worked, and i could not get any support anywhere.

I had the exact same experience with the 'buntu distros. Nothing worked, and it was real work to change the defaults.
Arch fits like a glove.

tubasoldier · 2006-12-20 07:36:12

STiAT wrote:

I'd love to see a graphical package manager for arch (qt), but have to say i got used to the commandline in the past year.

I think the largest benefit of having a graphical package manager is the easier ability to keep track of what software is installed. It is sometimes hard to remember if i have library X or program X installed.

dolby · 2006-12-20 11:07:18

tubasoldier wrote:

STiAT wrote:
I'd love to see a graphical package manager for arch (qt), but have to say i got used to the commandline in the past year.

I think the largest benefit of having a graphical package manager is the easier ability to keep track of what software is installed. It is sometimes hard to remember if i have library X or program X installed.

errm have u looked at /var/log/pacman.log ?
i dont think theres anything better than that...
alternatively/additionally u can always pacman -Q foo..

kamagurka · 2006-12-21 01:44:58

One of the great things about a package manager like pacman is that it's incredibly easy for someone who's knowledgeable about such things to program a GUI frontend for it (I'm honestly surprised this hasn't happened yet) that simply does the commadline calls pacman itself would do. On the other hand, with a distro that has a GUI package manager, it's pretty hard to write something that translates that to the commandline.
All in all, I don't give half a shit about about arch's rank on any site or how many people use it, as long as there's a fairly active and helpful community on the forums (which there is. Thanks, by the way). I simply accept that it's a fairly advanced distro geared towards the tinkerer who knows how to use the shell.

dolby · 2006-12-21 03:54:00

kamagurka wrote:

One of the great things about a package manager like pacman is that it's incredibly easy for someone who's knowledgeable about such things to program a GUI frontend for it (I'm honestly surprised this hasn't happened yet) that simply does the commadline calls pacman itself would do. On the other hand, with a distro that has a GUI package manager, it's pretty hard to write something that translates that to the commandline.
All in all, I don't give half a shit about about arch's rank on any site or how many people use it, as long as there's a fairly active and helpful community on the forums (which there is. Thanks, by the way). I simply accept that it's a fairly advanced distro geared towards the tinkerer who knows how to use the shell.

pacman has actually several GUI Frontends

manmower · 2006-12-21 05:18:09

First of all I don't think Arch's ranking is "low" considering the sheer number of distros available. But maybe the way Arch presents itself as an advanced distro with heavy reliance on the command line scares off some new users (in some cases rightly so). Could be a case of "don't knock it 'til you tried it": if more people tried Arch a lot of them would probably stick with it. I myself am still a total newbie to Linux in general but this is the first distro that has actually pushed me towards understanding the OS rather than just understanding Gnome or KDE. Even though Arch's KISS philosophy will actually start making your life easier after a while, most probably don't even try to get to that point. I'd say it's their loss, and in no way does Arch need to change to accommodate more of these users.

Romashka · 2006-12-21 12:55:43

We are mentioned in the latest DistroWatch Weekly.

c0ldevil · 2007-01-09 13:31:07

Arch figures so low in the Distrowatch rank because there are no news about it. New installation releases are far between and front page news are rare. We need more marketing people

Romashka · 2007-01-09 14:57:42

c0ldevil wrote:

We need more marketing people

Why?

Arch Linux

#51 2006-12-04 22:15:24

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#52 2006-12-04 23:45:03

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#53 2006-12-05 02:27:10

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#54 2006-12-12 00:12:39

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#55 2006-12-12 07:15:29

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#56 2006-12-15 12:59:35

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#57 2006-12-15 14:08:03

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#58 2006-12-18 14:08:23

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#59 2006-12-18 14:25:03

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#60 2006-12-18 15:05:24

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#61 2006-12-19 13:43:39

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#62 2006-12-20 07:36:12

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#63 2006-12-20 11:07:18

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#64 2006-12-21 01:44:58

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#65 2006-12-21 03:54:00

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#66 2006-12-21 05:18:09

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#67 2006-12-21 12:55:43

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#68 2007-01-09 13:31:07

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

#69 2007-01-09 14:57:42

Re: Arch on Distrowatch

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