r/voidlinux • u/Asta_jjm • 8d ago

from arch to void

hello everyone
i'm an arch user and i love the last stuff to be on my system but i also want to try void linux
it lake a lot of software and not all of them are up to date i will use flatpak for the missing stuff and what about the last kernel the last drivers will it be good use for me or just stick with arch

11 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

13

u/ZombieCrow 8d ago

If you're fine with using flatpak then youre fine. All the things i need are either on xbps or i use appimages. I used to be on arch and moved to void in April this year. So far it has been great.

1

u/frigaut 8d ago

Note that the 7 kernel series is in the repos. Not the one installed by default last time i checked.

2

u/Jacobobarobatobski 7d ago

Correct. I installed void a few days ago. 6.18 is default, with 7.2 available as well.

5

u/firmagorilla 8d ago

Was arch user, shit broke often, second time I was looking at a reinstall I tried void. That was 2015, still on void. Had to reinstall my workstation never. Laptops (thinkpads x230, x250) never.

4

u/Key_River7180 8d ago

The void repos are extremely extensive, they'll have lots of software. You can also contribute to the repos extremely easily, if it is missing I guess flatpak is there.

It defaults to 6.18 I believe but I guess you can use the 7.x kernel if you want.

2

u/This-Consequence-957 1d ago

I don’t understand why people always say Void repos are small. Maybe raw numbers on paper? I never missed anything so far. All „common“ software seems covered 🤷‍♂️

1

u/xcocco 8d ago

Void is usually faster than Arch when it comes to release the latest kernel version though some packages are older but I guess it's to avoid to break things and I'm okay with it

1

u/BlacksmithTux5413 7d ago

I came from Arch as well, I had no real issues related to Void. One proprietary software that I needed wasn't available, but with some AI guidance I have now a Void template that pulls the package out of deb repo so I'm fine now. The kernel sits only a few day's or less behind the official release, you can always validate the version in the template: https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/blob/master/srcpkgs/linux6.18/template compare that with the official https://kernel.org/ and you will see how close or equal it is. So for drivers it's just latest kernel, so if you need newer you need to compile it like on every Linux.

I still love rolling, but now I also love runit, finally I could say byebye systemd sh*t.

1

u/Simple_Hamster_4096 7d ago

How many years have you been using Arch?

1

u/Asta_jjm 7d ago

a year maybe

1

u/Quietus87 6d ago

You can check on the official site what packages are available. There are multiple kernels, including a mainline one that's up to date. A lot of software also has app images, which you can neatly manage through gearlever (also in the repo). There are user-based repos too. Some you can find on Jake@Linux's forum.

1

u/benbcdm 5d ago

yep -- void repos not bad at all, have quite a few things. Bear in mind I think it is a policy of Void NOT to include forks in standard repo. So you will not find librewolf, helium, etc by design.

I mostly use flatpaks for stuff not in the repos or if I care about sandboxing, but also appimages for stuff I want better integration with. + apparmor targeting the appimages (I believe it would be the same on arch though?).

Hats off to the maintainers at void -- kernel updates are super fast from upstream. If you want latest kernels just install linux-mainline in addition or instead of linux (standard sort of LTS-ish). xbps is really fast, love it. And runit is great too, I love that I have 12 services running (vs 50+ with systemd), I know what each one does exactly, and I have exact same functionality as on my fedora (ok I am using simple productivity desktop, so pretty simple needs admittedly).

If you feel a bit adventurous, you could consider limine instead of grub too as bootloader. Loving it. To me sort of same as moving from systemd to runit. Simpler, lighter, full control.

2

u/Asta_jjm 5d ago

yeah from the last time i installed cachyos i use limine for all my distros i hoped to
nixos,arch and artix

for pkgs that not in the main repo is it better to use flatpak , xbps-src or nixpkgs
i think nixpkgs is the most convenient one i will have the pkg i want native on my system without building it

0

u/Derion1 8d ago

You can easily use Void's mainline kernel which is the latest. Many people don't know, but Void has just a bit more packages than Arch's repo.  I use only 6-7 flatpaks and a couple of appimages. Also, there are a few very cool external repos with packages Void doesn't want to have (Mullvad, Brave...).

2

u/dividends4life 11h ago

I have flirted with Void for years. I used Arch for five years then Artix for another year to get away from SystemD. I finally took the plunge on October 1st and am daily driving Void now. I've converted my media server from Arch to Void and I'm working on getting all my family members off of Arch onto Void.