[ale] Arch Linux anyone?

[David Jackson]

Hey Jonathan!

Yeah, I'm a Linux is Linux guy too, but what I like about Arch is the DIY
aspect and its minimalism.  When I install any of the big distros, there's
always a TON of stuff on the system that I don't even know what it does, so
I just ignore it.  For example, if I take a Fedora box I have nearby I can
see something like 3300 packages plus.  On this Arch box there are 684.
And I actually got to see those installing, so I'll even recognize a lot of
the package names.  Now, I realize that I could have installed a minimal or
server version of Fedora or whatever distro you'd care to name, but now
that I'm used to Arch, I don't think I will.

Next, repositories.  So far, I just haven't found any software that isn't
in either the normal community repos or the AUR (Arch User Repo).
Everytime I think I found an obscure piece of software I say, "Ah ha!
Gotcha now!"  Nope.  It's there.  Sometimes in several versions, like one
with Qt widgets or another version with gtk widgets.  Sometimes there's a
version that tracks the latest development version and another version that
tracks the stable version.  I just haven't stopped being impressed by
that.  Plus, the AUR is sort of like a BSD ports tree in that it often
builds the package in a jiffy on today's faster computers.  So it "just
works" in my humble experience, no matter what my goofy hardware du
jur happens to be.

Famous documentation.  With Arch the command line is your GUI.  So it
encourages me to always be learning more CLI rather than more Yast or
something.  So whatever the problem is, I know I can probably solve it with
a CLI.  An example is with installation.  Normally you boot up the ISO, you
get a CLI, and you do housekeeping and start running chroot type commands
(after installing a base system) and so forth.  Unless I do installations
every day, I have to look up my notes, and that takes more time, and it
gets to be a pain.  Besides, I started with Slackware 3.0 in 1996 on a
semi-compliant 386, so I figure I paid my dues!  I wanted to put this stuff
in a script and be done with it.  Easy enough to do with the
documentation.  I found it easy to stay superficial when I needed
superficial and easy also to dive deep where I needed to plumb the depths.
Great documentation.

Rolling distro.  I really haven't had a stability problem with Arch.  I get
the latest kernel and software versions, and this is just on my personal
rig(s), so I'm not having to support anyone else.  Everything just works
for me.

The community seems okay.  I really haven't had a lot to do with the
community.  Googling has seemed to help me find whatever I've needed so
far.  Sometimes I see people getting told to RTFM, but I think that's not
always unfair either.  Folks seem to figure out somewhat quickly whether
Arch is something for them or not.  There's kind of a meme that Arch users
are snobs and that Arch is so hard that you must be a genius to use it, but
that's clearly folklore.  Installing Slackware from floppy disks was
waaaaay more complicated!!!  :-D

No, it's just a rolling minimalist distro that lets you figure out how you
want to do linux and make it your way.  But is it really any better than
doing a minimal/server distro with Fedora/CentOS or whatever, and building
your own Fedora/Whatever distro?  Not sure.  Probably not.  I do find the
repos easier on Arch.  I never quite grokked the COPR repos or the
Silverblue distro.  From what I hear Silverblue is more of a rolling
release format for Fedora?  Is that right?  Never tried a server install on
Ubuntu.  Might be comparable.

Anyway, just my $0.02.  Hope it adds a little bit to your day!

Dave



On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 6:21 PM Jonathan L. Meek via Ale <ale at ale.org>
wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 11:54:07AM -0400, David Jackson via Ale wrote:
> I have heard of Arch Linux but haven't quite understood it. Would mind
> telling what pulls you to use Arch Linux as a daily driver? I am
> honestly curious, not trying to start a flame war on the internet :-D.
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I was just wondering if anyone here was into Arch Linux.  I could use
> some
> > feedback for my install scripts...  :-D
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> > Dave
>
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