Arch-like alternative

echasslau · 2011-04-26 14:22:18

Hi.

I really love the Arch philosophy and the do-it-yourself-mentality but from time to time it's too much time to get everything running as expected.
So I'm looking for an Arch-like alternative which is also as flexible and kiss as Arch but on the other side more pre-configured and out-of-the-box.

At the moment I use XFCE with mostly Gnome apps.
Some years ago I used Fedora but it's far away from a kiss PKGBUILD/makepkg.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Andreas

SanskritFritz · 2011-04-26 14:24:36

I'd say go for Ubuntu. It is not too heavy, apt is almost better than pacman, and you get everything working out of the box.

drcouzelis · 2011-04-26 14:52:49

I think something like Slackware would suit you. It's comes in a nice preconfigured package and is kept very simple.

You didn't mention how important it is to you to have up-to-date software or a package manager. You may want to consider a derivative of Slackware, such as Zenwalk or Vector Linux.

Actually, now that I read about Zenwalk, it looks perfect for you. There you go, I found your next Linux distribution. You're welcome.

lilsirecho · 2011-04-26 14:53:52

Try CTKarchlive.....

echasslau · 2011-04-26 14:59:35

@drcouzelis: Having up-to-date software is important and a package manager is must-have. I want to have less work, not more...

ewaller · 2011-04-26 15:04:10

I love Arch and I am a bit of a representative. Your requirements are a bit at odds with each other. I'm pretty sure you don't want Gentoo or LFS

For years, Slackware users had a good reputation for really knowing the internals of the system -- You might look at that.

What do you consider to be "Too long to get everything running as expected?" I can take a system that has never had Linux installed transform it into a fully functional Arch system in a few hours. I'm not denigrating Microsoft, but to go from bare metal to a full installed Windows machine, patched, malware protected, drivers installed, application software and development system has taken me days. As to install times for Arch vs. Slackware (or any other distribution [including Ubuntu, excluding Gentoo and LFS]) really are all on the same order of magnitude.

Fedora out-of--the-box usability has a long history of being hampered by their exclusion of proprietary software (Codecs).

Might you be interested in helping to improve our Wiki with regards to installation?

Inxsible · 2011-04-26 15:28:04

I think he wants less work..Slackware with no default package manager that checks for dependencies will mean more work.

Debian or any of its derivatives is probably the best bet for you.

Unia · 2011-04-26 15:28:11

Debian netinstall with repo's pointing to testing or unstable?

echasslau · 2011-04-26 15:54:17

@ewaller:
You're right. Installing a fully functional Arch system lasts only a few hours, but I don't want to compare with Windows. I banned WinXP 4 years ago into VirtualBox and never missed it.
I'm getting older and don't want to set up everything by hand like years ago. My other spare time activities are using enough time and today I now just want to have a working system.
I want to play around with it when *I* want, not when *the system* wants (or needs to). The 2-3 Arch-years learned me many many interesting things, but the time is constantly changing...

I think I will give Ubuntu a try but with the last releases they are trying to force the user to act like they want. I thinks thats too strict for my current usage. We will see...

Thanks so far.

arinlares · 2011-04-26 16:18:27

Unia already said it, but Debian Testing or Unstable, from a netinstall. Yes, you'll be behind a fair amount of the time, but it'll be next to rock-solid and fairly simple (provided you don't get too-far sucked into using update-alternatives for everything). Not quite so KISS, but you could even do this if you were so inclined. I do recommend scrapping Debian's .bashrc, first thing and using, for instance, Arch's, as it makes bash start slow in terminal emulators, at least in my experience.

Google · 2011-04-26 16:27:37

Kiss my Arch.............

Seriously though, you may want to try Crux, Slackware or keep using Arch. I don't think there are many distros that can do it better than Arch.

bangkok_manouel · 2011-04-26 17:05:43

echasslau wrote:

So I'm looking for an Arch-like alternative which is also as flexible and kiss as Arch but on the other side more pre-configured and out-of-the-box.

Google wrote:

Seriously though, you may want to try Crux

whether you do not know CRUX or you did not read OP...

hokasch · 2011-04-26 17:33:14

For "Arch-like" in terms of rolling release, have a look at LInux Mint Debian (there is also an XFCE edition).

ctarwater · 2011-04-26 17:34:14

If you like Arch but want something preconfigured I'd say give Archbang a try. It's a pretty standard/simple preconfigured Arch+openbox setup with a few tweaks here and there. Otherwise I've heard great things about Crunchbang (debian+openbox). They keep things a bit more KISS than ubuntu it seems, while still keeping with a good Out of the Box experience.

Beelzebud · 2011-04-26 17:46:18

One distro that I will try someday, once I have more free time is Frugalware. It's Slackware with Pacman implanted in it. Sounds very cool.

http://frugalware.org/

chris-kun · 2011-04-26 18:16:51

seconding linux mint debian

SanskritFritz · 2011-04-26 18:20:04

Frugalware is really great, and hungarian
It is very active distro, definitely worth a try.

jasonwryan · 2011-04-26 18:34:58

Related thread you might want to peruse: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=82073

dolby · 2011-04-26 20:07:52

The original poster didnt even bother telling us what the machine will be used for.
There's no 'one size fits all' in Linux. I'm guessing desktop so i would recommend OpenSUSE.

Last edited by dolby (2011-04-26 20:08:26)

ANOKNUSA · 2011-04-26 20:37:53

No one's mentioned Crunchbang (#!) yet: Ubuntu spin-off with either XFCE or OpenBox on installation, with pretty good forum support for more advanced stuff.

ctarwater · 2011-04-26 20:39:35

ANOKNUSA wrote:

No one's mentioned Crunchbang (#!) yet:

LIES! LIES!

Inxsible · 2011-04-26 20:39:43

ANOKNUSA wrote:

No one's mentioned Crunchbang (#!) yet: Ubuntu spin-off with either XFCE or OpenBox on installation, with pretty good forum support for more advanced stuff.

It has been mentioned. You just didn't read the thread carefully !

Misfit138 · 2011-04-26 20:55:25

chris-kun wrote:

seconding linux mint debian

I'd like to thirdly recommend this. It's just Debian testing, preconfigured Mint-style. I'll bet you're happy with it.

3]) · 2011-04-26 21:53:47

What about taking a look at Unity Linux(http://unity-linux.org/).

They have the same rolling release philosophy, and are a small distribution.

Unia · 2011-04-27 05:46:43

ANOKNUSA wrote:

No one's mentioned Crunchbang (#!) yet: Ubuntu spin-off with either XFCE or OpenBox on installation, with pretty good forum support for more advanced stuff.

The latest version is based on Debian Squeeze

Arch Linux

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Arch-like alternative

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