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#1 2010-07-04 02:50:07

Racer X
Member
Registered: 2010-07-04
Posts: 2

Is Arch right for me?

I've been doing a lot of distro hoping lately.  I started with ubuntu and I hated it, Its fat has a ton of programs pre installed that I not only don't use but have a horrible time removing.  And honestly it reminds me of windows, which I'm trying to move away from.

Then I found Debian, I like(d) Debian, but it feels like they aren't going anywhere and that the distro is dieing.

Then I went to opensuse, it was alright, really heavy too and again reminded me of windows (though not as bad as ubuntu)

Then on the linuxquestions forum they recommended arch so here I am.

On my system I do the following

Use an x86_64 distro to use all my ram
Access a website that requires smart card login(Which I will probably just maintain a windows partition for)
Play some older games (Starcraft, Diablo 2, Civ 3 and 4 Nothing to new) via Wine
Watch and rip dvd movies (Currently backing up my dvd collection and would love to be able to burn watchable copies of them as well) Via wine dvdshrink /native acidrip
Wireless (Broadcom 4132
Emulators (NES/SNES/PS1/GBA etc)
Watch videos on hulu (flash)

I love that arch has a massive documentation which most distros do not (The wiki is amazing! Combine with the helpfulness of the forums its amazing!)
And the KISS ideaology is nice, I just worry that maybe its to simple for me (I used windows and more graphical distros for years so I will have to relearn)
And is Arch suitable for a main machine, I;ve heard some people suggest that it isn't ready/stable since its so bleeding edge

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#2 2010-07-04 02:54:03

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Is Arch right for me?

All of us here use Arch on our main machines. And contrary to popular belief, you don't HAVE to limit yourself to console apps and tiling WMs with Arch, some of us do use Gnome/KDE with all the bells and whistles.

As long as you remember the simple 'search-before-asking' rule, you'll be fine. No need to hope for distros anymore smile, Arch can probably do what you want (as long as it doesn't involve hand-holding and intentionally staying on long-outdated releases).


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

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#3 2010-07-04 03:43:46

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Is Arch right for me?

> No need to hope for distros anymore
I think you meant 'hop' ... but on the other hand [wiki]Arch is the best[/wiki] :-)

Last edited by karol (2010-07-04 03:45:23)

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#4 2010-07-04 03:49:16

jasonwryan
Anarchist
From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: Is Arch right for me?

Racer X wrote:

And the KISS ideaology is nice, I just worry that maybe its to simple for me...

Chopin wrote:

Simplicity is the final achievement

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Welcome to Arch!


Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

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#5 2010-07-04 04:06:54

nomilieu
Member
Registered: 2010-07-03
Posts: 133

Re: Is Arch right for me?

Arch is a "graphical distro." Arch does whatever you tell it do, so if you install a DE, then *poof* you'll have a DE. Otherwise, you won't.
Be sure to grab your wireless driver from the AUR if necessary.
Also, as far as I know, there is still a problem with flash for x86_64, but that's not Arch-specific. There's a workaround if you search the forums.

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#6 2010-07-04 04:08:13

olive
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2008-06-22
Posts: 1,490

Re: Is Arch right for me?

Within arch; the installer gives just a command prompt in a console and then you install exactly what you want. Apart from a very minimal system nothing is installed by default. Wine will work as well (or as bad) as in the other distros. But prefer a native application when it is available. You can do what you want with DVDS without using wine. For the stability, I run arch and is mostly stable. Archlinux usually ship the latest version of packages without modifying them too much (which is a plus for he stability since any problem usually is nothing more than an upstream problem in a stable package).

But I am careful about updating my system. I make regularly backup of my whole system in order to be able to go back if something go wrong. And if you need a computer that works right now, don't update until you have some time you see what happens. From my experience updating the system bring the same kind of problem as updating Ubuntu and the like from one release to the other. But if you update on a very regular basic that might be a lot.  The only inconvenient I have is that in order to install a new application you are often forced to update the whole system. This is something I would like to avoid. Maybe having a local copy of the whole archive might be the solution.

Last edited by olive (2010-07-04 04:13:32)

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