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#1 2005-04-26 14:22:37

Flasher
Member
From: Bavaria / Germany
Registered: 2005-04-24
Posts: 126

Using ArchLinux for daily work!

Hello!

I started my Linux career with Debian Sarge (currently running on my server). For my desktop-machine I use gentoo Linux about 6 weeks, but it was to much "package-administration" for me. I like it to work with my console, but I want a distribution, who isn't so costly to administrate.

config-files --> my job
package-management --> job of the distribution, without much work for me.

ArchLinux is a distribution, which hit's my philosphopy of a ideal Linux system.

But their is a problem:
Arch is a very young distribution, which haven't so much packages like gentoo. Ok, no problem! I can made my packages easy by yourself!

But the basic system + desktop should be stable packages, without much error fixing.

Now my question  wink

Is ArchLinux "mature" to use it for the daily work, without much error fixing?

Thank's for your answers!

Greetings,

flasher


P.S.: I hope someone can read my english, it's a little bit german-english lol

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#2 2005-04-26 14:40:27

jp_fielding
Member
Registered: 2004-08-28
Posts: 85

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

no worries, my german is worse than your english...

my office is about 8 linux users, of which 6 are arch (have our own mirror), the other 2 are fedora and ubuntu. 

we're a software development shop, and don't have much downtime.  as it goes, arch is close to the stability of either fedora or ubuntu for the packages and systems that we use (dell laptops with java/apache development environment),  that is to say, we rarely experience any issues.

if you're willing to get your hands a little dirty on install, you will reap an incredible easy to maintain system.   

like all things it's not for everybody...  and there's only one way to find out.

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#3 2005-04-26 15:12:38

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

The only problems I've run into are those from development software... which you shouldn't really be using for a "stable" environment anyway (but I love wmii)

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#4 2005-04-26 19:34:06

deft
Member
Registered: 2005-03-14
Posts: 79

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

Yes, similar to phrakture, I've had no probs really, except for one hiccup with pulling in a recent glibc from testing (my own issue) wink

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#5 2005-04-26 19:58:43

shadowhand
Member
From: MN, USA
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 1,142
Website

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

I've had no issues at all with Arch that weren't my own stupidity...


·¬»· i am shadowhand, powered by webfaction

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#6 2005-04-26 20:07:39

Flasher
Member
From: Bavaria / Germany
Registered: 2005-04-24
Posts: 126

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

Thank you for your anwers  smile

You have me convinced!
I will try it now and give you a short statement, after installing arch and make the basic configs!

Greetings,

Flasher

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#7 2005-04-26 22:09:58

xerxes2
Member
From: Malmoe, Sweden
Registered: 2004-04-23
Posts: 1,249
Website

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

look out for kernel, glibc and xorg updates, those are the dangerous ones,

just use "IgnorePkg" in pacman.conf for those and you can update them alittle later (a few weeks will do so the devs can fix the bugs),

it could also be a good idea to compile a few own kernels just in case arch kernel suddenly don't work so you can fall back on something else,

the wiki should explain most of the basic setup and the forum covers the rest  8)

good luck!


arch + gentoo + initng + python = enlisy

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#8 2005-04-27 02:52:35

viniosity
Member
From: New York, NY
Registered: 2005-01-22
Posts: 404
Website

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

I've been using Arch as my main machine at work for several months now.  The updates have gone fairly well with no major problems.  Overall it's done better than other distros in this regard and so as far as stability goes I'd give it very high marks. 

I only have two complaints which you may want to consider:

1) If you are using it as a server it's tough to differentiate which updates are needed for security.  Yes you can ignore packages but unless you keep track of the security updates individually you'll have a tough time.  IMHO the Debian way is better where they have a source specifically for security updates.  That way you don't have to worry about your postgres dbase getting updated unless there's a security flaw.

2) Using it as a desktop machine I had major problems with my USB card reader that I just couldn't ever figure out.  I tried just about everything I could imagine but never got it working.  Same hardware worked flawlessly in Ubuntu and OSX just by plug and play.

But to reiterate, I've been using it as my main machine at work for at least 3 months now with no failures.  So if you can get it working the way you want you should have no problem using it long-term

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#9 2005-04-27 12:46:47

Sader
Member
Registered: 2005-03-31
Posts: 42

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

agree with xerxes2
suggest to test the most important (at least for you) packages on a separate machine prior to global update in case possible.
but arch is pretty stable for my work place & I've been using it for some time already...

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#10 2005-04-27 15:58:59

Meshuggin
Member
From: /home/meshuggin
Registered: 2005-03-23
Posts: 137

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

I've been with Arch for 2 months and no "buggy" problems at all wink


Arch GNU/Linux 0.7.1 (Noodle)
Linux 2.6.14-archck1

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#11 2005-04-27 22:26:01

Flasher
Member
From: Bavaria / Germany
Registered: 2005-04-24
Posts: 126

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

Hello!

It's done  smile

Today, I installed ArchLinux (+xorg + gnome + firefox and so on) without any problems! My new kernel is running nearly perfect ;-)
I would like to change from devfs to udev and in my opinion this should be a complicate job...
But first, I have to configure my new system thoroughly  wink

Greetings,

Flasher

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#12 2005-04-28 00:16:21

T-Dawg
Forum Fellow
From: Charlotte, NC
Registered: 2005-01-29
Posts: 2,736

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

I would like to change from devfs to udev and in my opinion this should be a complicate job...
But first, I have to configure my new system thoroughly Wink

Easy as pie:
http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/UdevHowTo

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#13 2005-04-28 00:56:22

viniosity
Member
From: New York, NY
Registered: 2005-01-22
Posts: 404
Website

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

Sorry to be a bit off-topic, but what's the advantage of udev?

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#14 2005-04-28 01:05:58

T-Dawg
Forum Fellow
From: Charlotte, NC
Registered: 2005-01-29
Posts: 2,736

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

Most multimedia programs as well as others are moving to the udev system for accessing drives. Although I don't know technically why they are...I think devFS is considered legacy.

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#15 2005-04-28 09:34:14

miqorz
Member
Registered: 2004-12-31
Posts: 475

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

devfs isn't considered "legacy", It's deprecated fully and utterly by udev.


http://wiki2.archlinux.org/

Read it. Love it. Live it. Or die.

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#16 2005-04-28 12:54:51

i3839
Member
Registered: 2004-02-04
Posts: 1,185

Re: Using ArchLinux for daily work!

For slightly more info see this wiki page, skip the first part until the /dev section. Searching for udev and devfs in Google should give plenty of hits, like this, that and more.

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