[ale] Arch Linux anyone?

Wed Mar 24 21:38:53 EDT 2021

>AUR is awesome, but sometimes things don’t build. Its rare.

Come to think of it, I have had problems with Spotify, but I guess that
could just be the spotify team itself.  But I sometimes have to remove
ffmpeg-compat-57 because of conflicts, and then I have to rebuild it after
I've solved the dependency problem. And occasionally, there are some builds
that don't work.  But then come back in a week or two, and poof!  They
build fine.  Yeah, you make a good remark.  I've been having a really good
day, so I might have come across a little too sunny, but honestly, I'm
still very impressed with the AUR.

By the way, I'm wearing a Manjaro tee shirt today!  :-D

On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 8:48 PM David Askew via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> +1 agree 99%, although I use Manjaro (Arch derivative) and installation is
> easier IMHO … if a little more bloat. My next install will be Arch directly
> most likely.
>
> AUR is awesome, but sometimes things don’t build. Its rare.
>
> Docs are incredible, and this is my favorite part really.
>
> On 24 Mar 2021, at 19:37, David Jackson via Ale wrote:
>
> 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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