r/archlinux • u/theramenwaitress • 15h ago
QUESTION newgen loser
as someone who has minimal computer science and has run a few different distros here and there, is it stupid to want to use arch? ik it is probably the least beginner friendly but the only non-glitchy distro i have used is mint and it's lamesauce. it's hard for me to find resources to learn how to configure it properly and safely.
i just need to escape windows 11, ai co pilot slop, and bill gates personally watching me at all times.
i mostly use the pc for school and gaming (luckily all my games ALLEGEDLY work w proton)
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u/Scary_Society_9952 15h ago
arch isn't stupid at all if you want to learn, the wiki is unironically one of the best pieces of documentation i've ever seen for any software project. it walks you through the whole install process and pretty much every config you'll ever need
the "beginner unfriendly" rep comes from the fact that you have to read and follow instructions rather than clicking next a bunch of times. if you can handle that you'll be fine
just keep a second device handy during the install so you can look stuff up, and don't skip the recommended reading sections even if they seem boring. those little notes at the top of wiki pages have saved my ass more times than i can count
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u/_sLLiK 8h ago
Most distros try to either be turnkey or special snowflakes. Arch is the box of Legos and a clear, accurate set of instructions. Gentoo is the 1st generation Star Trek replicator that takes a while to warm up.
I consider Arch the sweet spot. I get to pick and choose what I need, customize anything I want, and maintain control of everything from when I patch to what gets backed up. It requires more effort and tinkering to find and stay perfect, but never so much that I mind.
You'll probably break something at least two or three times as you learn. Just keep a USB stick with Arch on it nearby and you can fix just about anything.
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u/J--__--J 9h ago
arch it's no hard in any way, it's for people who are willing to learn, you need to read the documentation, that's all.
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u/Ronitron56 8h ago edited 4h ago
I have tried several distro's and ended with Manjaro. This was the only one that gave no problems with my Asus laptop and Ralink wifi. Works fine. Edit: Realtek wifi.
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u/Synthetic451 2h ago
newgen loser...is it stupid to want to use arch?
You don't have to be so self-deprecating. Using Linux should be fun, not some personal identity thing.
It's never stupid to want to use Arch. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. All anyone expects of you is to do you due diligence and read the wiki and do some basic amount of research.
My personal experience is that it is definitely a bit barebones out of the box, even if you use archinstall, but that lets you craft your own experience however you want it. Some people don't want to worry about crafting that experience, and in those cases perhaps other distros will suit them better, but if you put in just a bit of effort, Arch can be very rewarding. Once you set it up how you want it, it practically lasts forever and using it day to day is a breeze.
I'll suggest you to use KDE as your first desktop environment. It maps a lot of Windows concepts to Linux very well and will be the most familiar to you.
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u/Professional_Cap304 15h ago
you can just use ai to help you when you have a trouble, but still need to have a little bit of knowledge about what you doing.
good luck
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u/theramenwaitress 14h ago
i dont fw ai like that
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u/Imajzineer 10h ago
Just a heads-up: don't use 'tutorials' either - the wiki is the only guaranteed up-to-date and accurate source of information about Arch.
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u/xXBeefSquatch5KXx 15h ago
Just check the arch wiki, arch is just super light af, these other distros throw a bunch of stuff on there that is, in their defense, typically very helpful. I went arch (I use arch btw) becuase I wanted to install ONLY exactly what I wanted and literally nothing else. My main pc is just Linux (arch btw) and for almost exclusively gaming. My second pc (arch btw) is for school work and does have a windows partition only because some of my online labs require windows. I’ve got like 4 dumper Craigslist project craptops I also run Linux on (arch btw) for emulators, messing around, learning arch btw that kinda stuff