I don’t know if these are “official” differences, just my own experience - the face-value difference between Endeavour and Arch was I wasn’t afraid to try Endeavour. I know my way around Linux comfortably enough, but have always kept my distance from Arch due to it’s seemingly complex nature and granular hands-on installation and maintenance. Not saying that’s the case now, but that’s how I always viewed it.
That being said, one thing I always knew about Arch was it was screaming fast because of it’s simplicity - yes I’ve tried Manjaro for that reason… no I couldn’t stay with Manjaro.
I would love a screaming system - but I tend to be able to afford budget laptops on sale. Enter the first perk of Endeavour for me - the speed of Arch. Then there’s the whole family/work time that takes my interests in actively tinkering and maintaining a system away. Endeavour does all the hard work for me, and while I do need to keep maintenance as a priority, all the leg-work was done for a easy install ready to use OOTB.
Then there’s the community. Endeavour folks just seem to understand that we are all real people that just like Linux and want to use it. We are here to help each other out to create an enjoyable Linux system for each person, and keep Linux - dare I say - fun to use as a daily driver.
So to sum up for me:
- Endeavour takes the speed and simplified nature of Arch, wraps it up in a neat, everyone-can-use package, installs quick and easy, and just works OOTB from the first second. While I won’t shy away from diving into the technical aspect to get something fixed - my time is better spent with my wife and kids when I’m not on the road, so the less I have to figure out up front, the happier I am!
- Endeavour forums blow the doors off Arch forums for the welcoming community, untold amounts of support and encouragement, and just a great place to gather in general online.
- BONUS - the Endeavour appearance - themes, wallpapers - are by the far the best I’ve seen in years of distro hopping. I can’t say I’ve felt that way about any other distro I’ve used without some tinkering at the least.