I looking for a Linux Distro which will serve as my prime driver for day to day activities which involves work on Spreadsheets, browser, coding and a scattering of AI chatbot usage. From what I gather EOS is a rolling distro based on Arch. I am comfortable with CLI and Terminal but would prefer to use GUI for most of my work. I am going to be using KDE and LXQT/LXDE. I eventually want to graduate to compiling my own Linux kernel from sources and using it for my Desktop. Aim is to compile and optimise the Linux kernel targetting my native CPU architecture.
Can the experts and gurus please help to clarify a few doubts that I have
Will KDE Discover work in helping me to update and install new packages like Linux Kernels, latest libraries, etc? Or do I have to use pacman on the terminal itself. Is there a GUI like Debian has Synaptic for apt which works on top of pacman? From the posts in the forum I understand that AKM can help me manage the installed Kernel. But I need something more than that. I want to able to delete all old package cache, remove unwanted package cache, take care of dependencies, install only necessary packages but not recommended packages, etc from GUI.
I had gone through a few posts in this forum. And I found that experts have suggested to use LTS kernel only as backup and be on the bleeding edge. Can this be twisted around? Can a user run EOS on the latest LTS Linux Kernel, i.e. 6.12.x or 6.6.x will keep the latest bleeding edge kernel, i.e. 6.13.x as a backup? Basically not a fan of updating every day, rather more like updating weekly or fortnightly. Unless and until there are some security fixes.
On the topic of Linux Kernel. I saw a few posts about Zen Linux kernel but nothing on Liquorix kernel. Apart from mainline linux kernel and zen kernels are other kernel types supported?
Does EOS support only SystemD as its init program? Or does EOS support other init programs like SysV, Runit, etc?
I do not know whether this is the correct category for his post. Or should it be General > Newbie. Please do let me know.
Yes there is. Dont know how it is called. I am not using it. I strongly recommend that you get used to âyayâ or âparuâ which are excellent helper apps!
Absolutly. I am using LTS as my daily kernel. I only boot into latest stable kernels to test a few things. But LTS is it for me.
This wiki article is for you:
If you want to build your own kernels with different march values and your own patches, you might want to look into linux-tkg (https://github.com/Frogging-Family/linux-tkg). This is basically a build environment for Linux kernels which makes it very easy to include your own patches and tweak setting like tick clock, scheduler, O2/O3 optimization, etc.
It is written âsystemdâ. endeavouros is based on arch and arch only officially supports systemd. But you can install others. Read more here:
The best way of package managing is using pacman (and other CLI tools) in a terminal. You can do everything you mentioned using the right CLI tool in a terminal.
Start to do a bit of reading here:
Using Discover and other similar GUI package managers is not recommended. You need to do some manual interventions some times and that you can do in terminal.
If you donât have a bleeding edge hardware that needs support from a blleding edge kernel, you can use LTS just fine. You can try other kernels as well and keep them as backup.
Donât use Discover on Arch. It can cause problems when manual intervention or the aur is required. Pacman or yay are the simplest way to manage your packages but you can install pacseek, a tui package manager, or pamac, the same package manager that Manjaro uses.
You can run whatever kernel you want by default. Updating weekly is fine, although if you have set up snapshots it is better to update daily so you have less to roll back should something go wrong.
The Liquorix kernel is in the aur.
No idea, Iâve never looked into it because Iâm happy enough with systemd.
Thanks. Your answers clarified a lot. Only the point regarding KDE Discover, i.e. Synaptic equivalent, is still pending. Hope someone suggests something on that too.
So the recommendation is not use KDE Discover because sometimes an input is sought from the user which KDE Discover cannot handle properly. And if a GUI is still required then octopi should be looked at.
Arch philosophy is âKeep it Simple, Not Easyâ. Basically if you canât read and follow the instructions (tremendously well documented on the Arch-Wiki), Arch is not for you. Endeavour is a slightly easier to install Arch with a few supplements, but everything about Arch still applies.
You are always welcome to do whatever you want on your own system, but GUI installers or sysadmin aids are typically not well-supported and will often result in breakage of your system. THAT is well documented on the forum
Endeavourâs own tag line is âterminal orientedâ (note, not GUI oriented).
If you must use a Graphical manager may I suggest pacseek. Pacseek is a TUI that is very well put together and easy to manage packages. However being new to arch I do suggest you learn pacman / yay / paru / aur helper of choice. Guiâs can be nice but waste a lot of resources to do a simple task.
Use what works for YOU (Your System Your Rules) But many here run LTS Kernel as their daily
we are on systemd yes.
I update my desktop weekly my laptop maybe every other week and my other laptop when I get around to it. Just keep up with the security updates
This doesnât seem to have been addressed, so Iâll just also weigh in that due to the rolling release nature of Arch (and therefore EndeavourOS) excluding packages may cause partial upgrades and break systems. Get used to there not being such a thing as âonly necessary packages but not recommended packagesâ.
Of course there are times and situations when there are important security related updates, but you still always update the whole system!
On your GUI issue, my recommendation would be to just go with the terminal when updating and installing. I always find it weird when people choose Arch and then desperately try to emulate other distros (e. g. relying on a gui to update and install packages). The saying âWhen in Rome âŚâ has its good reasons.
Anyway, EndeavourOS beginners just have to realize that they simply need to fire up a terminal, type yay and then answer a couple of easy questions. IMHO it doesnât get any easier than that.
If youâre searching for software just type yay <part of package name or part of description> and you will be presented with a list of packages which you can choose from by number. Really not any different than any GUI would handle.
Alternatively just search for Arch packages or AUR packages in your preferred browser (~GUI ) and install with yay -S <package-name>.
You say youâre
So just embrace the terminal for the simple task of updating your system. If, or better when, your system breaks one day, you will have to resort to fixing it by terminal anyway. The whole forum is plastered with command-line advice on how to fix a problem. There just isnât a gui that is going to help you out.
And youâre going to spend a whole lot of time (if not ALL of it) in the terminal compiling a custom kernel!
As Cactux said, I was about to suggest Octopi, which is in the AUR. I use it if I want to âperuseâ whatâs out there. But I almost exclusively install from CLI. 99% of the time.
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