looking for a new Distro

mikecore · 2007-07-02 04:06:49

Hello all I have been looking for a new distro ever since I left Gentoo in early 2005. Because of time I have been stuck with Fedora and dislike it.
I been reading a little about Arch and it looks promising. Can some one tell me about its good and bad parts?

Kenetixx · 2007-07-02 04:44:05

There are no bad parts.
The only thing is it all needs to be setup after the initial install, some say its harder but it is pretty easy and easy to understand, coming from Gentoo it shouldnt be a problem. Check out the install guide in the wiki for more info.

raul_nds · 2007-07-02 07:18:49

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arc … _vs_Gentoo

tomk · 2007-07-02 09:25:24

mikecore wrote:

Can some one tell me about its good and bad parts?

Impossible question to answer, IMO, as you haven't given any indication of your preferences, what you use your computer for, etc. I'd suggest you read a bit more - here, on the wiki, the MLs, etc. You could also get on to #archlinux to ask any questions that aren't answered elsewhere, or even just to lurk.

vacant · 2007-07-02 10:10:53

Personal PC is Arch which I sync for updates most days. I like the KISS, package management & speed
Cybercafé PCs are Mepis (stability) which also uses ubuntu debian repositories (I try k/ubuntu every so often but haven't been converted yet)
Rescue liveCD is Puppy, for reinstalling grub, moving partitions about, as a kiosk-style web browser when a Windows PC goes down

What are your main needs?

Last edited by vacant (2007-07-02 10:13:02)

kiao · 2007-07-02 15:18:36

A Big bravo to Arch

I'm actually doing migration from LFS (my own) to Arch in a very smooth way.
I've put a link on how I do this. It's just fantastic because I don not use a separate partition for that. I've been inspire by the wiki "install from another distro" but on a unique partition.
The web page is constantly improve as I'm going on with the migration.

http://kiao.no-ip.info/depot/arch

mikecore · 2007-07-02 21:54:44

tomk wrote:

mikecore wrote:
Can some one tell me about its good and bad parts?
Impossible question to answer, IMO, as you haven't given any indication of your preferences, what you use your computer for, etc. I'd suggest you read a bit more - here, on the wiki, the MLs, etc. You could also get on to #archlinux to ask any questions that aren't answered elsewhere, or even just to lurk.

As to my preferneces.

I like a minimalists desktop. When I was running gentoo I ran FVWM wm, conky system monitor, gdekcal, rox filer, naim, firefox, thunderbird
most things with custom config files. I use my laptop for every thing.
If your install doc is correct and its not to hard to build packages I would like to try my hand at that.
I guess the most important thing is I don't want change happening so fast that the documentation and I can't keep up
Thats was a huge problem with gentoo, that along with that many a broke ebuild.

Im getting a good feeling about Arch from the reading I have been doing. Sounds like the community is not to big and not to small I really like the kiss Idea. I think after a few days of looking at forum posts I will probably make a move to Arch. Thanks for all the replys

dhave · 2007-07-02 22:54:33

I switched to Arch a couple of months ago after two years or so with Gentoo. I had actually tried Arch once in 2005 but wasn't in the mood to switch at the time.

I think much of what you may have liked with Gentoo you'll find with Arch: speed, simplicity, good package management, configurability, knowledgeable community.

I left Gentoo mainly because I was ready for a change. While I didn't mind Gentoo's lengthy compilation sessions, I find that I don't miss them at all now that I'm using Arch. It's great to update major apps and OS components in just a minute or two.

kiao · 2007-07-03 04:21:21

I thing one distro or another distro what's the difference, at the end, we used the same packages. (open office, gimp, skype, k3b, etc, etc, But one thing which for me make really the difference with Arch is the WIKI Documentation. I mean, it goes straight to the point. No need to search much. Everything is there. And of course this incredible package management system.
I love it.

faw · 2007-07-03 13:34:15

Yeah, I think the main thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to do most of the initial setup before you get a desktop environment running. But because the base is set up first, you can add whatever you like on top of it. And it sounds like you have a pretty good idea of how you want to individually set up your laptop, so Arch could definitely be a good option for you! I wouldn't call myself too much of a noob anymore, I can get by, but have never had any training or hands on help from anyone. Yet, it wasn't too hard for me. It was challenging enough for me to make the install enjoyable, but not so much that at any point during the install did I feel like turning away from Arch. To give you an idea of my prowess (or lack of), I had only been on Ubuntu for a year and a half, and then Zenwalk for a few months, and they are both pretty user friendly, don't-have-to-get-your-hands-dirty-too-much type of distros. But since being here I have installed Arch on my laptop to a level that I am happy with, and in the last couple of weeks I have even gotten comfortable with building packages from AUR, which is exciting for me.

All of this wouldn't have been possible without the great documentation that is found in the wiki, and searching for answers in the forum. There is no hesitation in me recommending Arch to you!

QuimaxW · 2007-07-03 17:32:22

Going from Suse to Arch...I was horribly disappointed in the performance on SuSE 10.2 on my notebook. I was looking for something slimmer, simpler, and more configurable.

I was freaked out by all the text mode stuff, text configuration files and other things with no GUI. However, being fed up with not being able to configure things the way I wanted to with SuSE, I was ready to change. I've been so happy with Arch, I've changed my notebook, my wife's notebook, and my server over to Arch.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-07-02 04:06:49

looking for a new Distro

#2 2007-07-02 04:44:05

Re: looking for a new Distro

#3 2007-07-02 07:18:49

Re: looking for a new Distro

#4 2007-07-02 09:25:24

Re: looking for a new Distro

#5 2007-07-02 10:10:53

Re: looking for a new Distro

#6 2007-07-02 15:18:36

Re: looking for a new Distro

#7 2007-07-02 21:54:44

Re: looking for a new Distro

#8 2007-07-02 22:54:33

Re: looking for a new Distro

#9 2007-07-03 04:21:21

Re: looking for a new Distro

#10 2007-07-03 13:34:15

Re: looking for a new Distro

#11 2007-07-03 17:32:22

Re: looking for a new Distro

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