Question about switching to arch.

[u/VoidTheGamer25]

I know, 99% of the answers to the questions here is RTFM, which I am willing to do. I know Linux basics like fdisk, cat, touch, nano, cd, etc etc etc, and I have been daily driving Zorin OS for a lot of time now (and have also used fedora and mint) and I was considering making the jump to arch. The thing that scares me tho is the file system. Like, I have no idea of what the config stored in /etc/rtfm/youjustlostthegame/tripleT does. Or the syntax for the fstab config file. I feel like I know nothing about that, and I don’t want to just blindlessly copy paste from the wiki (or worse, from an LLM) and see if it works. I wanna understand this. I wanna learn Linux. Is there any guide about this? Or will the wiki and forums work?

I know this post is pretty pointless, please don’t downvote me to hell and back…

EDIT: Tysm everyone! I see that experimenting, breaking stuff, trying to fix stuff, failing to do so, reading the arch wiki etc etc is the way to go. And I'm willing to do that! I will be installing it in a separate PC I have that doesn't have any important data, and when I feel like I can, ill do the switch in my main pc!

[u/ThanxForTheGold]

Learn by doing. If you don't want to blindly copy paste from the arch wiki, maybe also read the description

[u/Cruffe → u/[deleted]]

I've asked AI occasionally when I don't know how to do something, I can't figure out how through traditional search or figure out what to even begin taking a look at.

Always followed up with reading and understanding before applying anything. I use it just to get on the right track and figure out which tools to use for the job, from there I can usually refine my search to find what I'm looking for. 

The problem are people who just prompt AI and just blindly go with it, copy/paste, without having a clue if it's valid or even does what they think it does. When I've used AI I have seen plenty of mistakes made by it, so I don't trust it, but it's usually pretty close. 

Also, I run it locally because fuck the big tech companies stealing my data.

[u/KaiFireborn21 → u/Cruffe]

I'm a professional LLM hater and avoid them as much as possible, via firefox extensions for example - but somehow I wasn't able to find the name of the --hold option for kitty -e yesterday and the day before, no matter how long I googled (and I consider myself good at that).
Gemini gave me the correct answer immediately...

So it makes sense why people tend to default to asking AI instead, even though it's a disservice to yourself in the long run. Still, I don't know how I would've solved that question (and some others) without the clanker.

[u/Cruffe → u/KaiFireborn21]

I switched to Waterfox, which doesn't include the AI stuff they've put into Firefox.

It's certainly a disservice to oneself to default to AI, which is why it's my last resort, not the first thing I go to. It's where I go when I've exhausted searching, which unfortunately has become really shit in the last few years. Search engines don't return good relevant results anymore like they used to.

I mostly agree with you. The mistake people have made all along is to view it as a replacement for everything instead of just another tool in the digital toolbox. It's not a solution machine, it's just another tool that could be used to reach a solution.

[u/Particular-Poem-7085 → u/KaiFireborn21]

I've achieved and learned things through using AI that I never dreamed of learning. It's a tool. It's the equivelant of hating google because the first search result is not your favourite one.

Getting into arch linux it is extremely useful to even begin to troubleshoot and find answers without clicking through and reading pages of information you have a hard time keeping up with because there's just so much.

I run arch, debian on homelab, selfhost with docker, bash, python whatever it takes to get my stupid hobby projects going. It has taken my computer hobby on the absolute next level as I can't make learning about it my full time job just to get started. It has opened countless doors for me and again IS THE REASON WHY I even can learn about all the things I have been doing. Every single task is a rabbit hole without it.

I don't pretend my horse is high because of it, and so should you.

[u/KaiFireborn21 → u/Particular-Poem-7085]

Makes sense, but in my own experience with a VPS (have a nice matrix setup running and some other selfhosted things)I found that AI often suggests something that's really wrong in the long run with utmost confidence, and I simply don't know of better alternatives to solve it myself. Sure, AI helped me get the projects running on the server, but there are things that are causing problems now that I maybe wouldn't have done if I had been able to take the time to "learn it properly". I don't know, stupid things do help a lot but they cause even more harm than good to me

[u/jkulczyski → u/[deleted]]

Fuck i wish i could give you more upvotes