Let me absolutely clear - I will NEVER say “I use Arch btw.”
Ever since I started using Linux, I had known about Arch and was always afraid of it, to be honest. But it was one of the things I wanted to check off my list - to be able to say I installed and used Arch Linux at some point. I finally pulled the trigger this morning! (my run got cancelled thanks to the snow storm we got, which gave me the time, in between clearing the driveway and sidewalks)
I absolutely owe this “achievement” to EndeavourOS, which was my first major dive into an Arch system. While I absolutely love EndeavourOS and everything the team has done to make it what it is, including the amazing group of folks here - I just always wanted to make Arch a reality on my machine (as simple as it may sound to some folks).
I know it probably sounds silly, but one more box on my tech bucket list has now been checked off thanks to EndeavourOS and the amazing community here, which has inspired me to make it happen!
And no, this does not mean I’m leaving Endeavour, either! I currently have that on my old Dell Optiplex (main desktop computer) and forever it will be my first choice OS.
Totally understand, I in fact did it so many times (VM) that I could fully install in about 5 minutes (or it seems like it…that’s a couple years back now). Did you run the script or type the commands (I did it via the commands documented in the arch wiki)?
Essentially you have the same thing, just installed in a different way (vs EOS configuration).
@dbarronoss to be fair, you couldn’t tell if it was Arch or Endeavour the way I customize my desktop - they both look the same! That’s why I had to include the obligatory fastfetch output
Also - I was EXTREMELY tempted to use the ArchInstall script. I almost convinced myself that because it was on the Arch Wiki it was a legitimate reason. But I wanted to be able to say I followed the documentation and did the commands like the old-fashioned install before the script… so that’s how I settled on it, just having the wiki up on my Optiplex while going through the process on this laptop.
Yep, that’s how/why I got it right on the VM where I could look at the browser, before launching it for real. Highfive for ‘Btw, I use Arch’ in the arch way
It really isn’t hard (imo).
honestly after working through it and just going through the steps, I have to admit I felt kinda silly for how much I let it scare me. It’s not hard… it’s just detail-oriented I guess you could say. But I would do it again in a heartbeat without hesitation!
Exactly. The beauty of it is that you specifically decide everything - you decide what bootloader you want to use, you decide if you want swap and if so, how it’s implemeneted, you decide…everything.
Assuming you made informed and well-thought-out choices, you will have a system that is tuned to exactly what you need - no more, nor less - and you will know exactly how that system is set up (because you specifically set it up that way).
I done this back in Early November for a manual Arch install but ended up getting a working system first time and moved on from there and still use Arch on my day to day system with working games and various other softwares for art.
Both Arch and EOS are pretty much the same (Especially with all packages disabled in calameres installer) but I originally done it for the learning process and wrote notes and other stuff down along the way since I love learning about everything I own or use and wanted to find out more behind the scenes and ended up finding out a lot about how everything works in configs and where things are stored in directories. And I kind of liked the process and deciding every package I add. Although I will use EOS for the Raspberry Pi side of things once I get one of those.
Arch community however, especially in the past, I place some blame for making many people afraid to try Linux in general, and I am glad distros such as EOS, Mint, and Fedora have helped reverse this idea. Without EOS I may not be on Linux right now at all, it’s not just the distro but all the information on the forums as well.
I remember completing the manual Arch install and couldn’t believe this was what was being boasted about (Although I get now it’s mostly used as a joke) and put off people using Linux for a long time, not necessarily on whether it was hard or not but just the idea this boasting of all things added on to slowing down Linux adoption. Even the past couple of years general people I’ve spoke to who happen to know Linux exists still thinks the whole OS (And distros) is only command line typing with unhelpful user base or that Linux takes half a day to install with commands.
Hah, almost any Linux distro can be installed in 15 minutes, whether it be cmd line Arch or a GUI. It just depends on if you know what you’re doing or not as to how long it takes.
or
I guess as to how successfully it’s done ;0
Well - I guess I enjoyed it so much I just HAD to do it again…
Every time I take the time to customize my Xfce4 environment, I can’t help but notice how GNOME-like I tend to create it to be. So I figured, why not - just do it again but this time do GNOME. So… for the obligatory updated screenshot - although being lazy and just using the “about system” dialogue.
@_Six I agree with you on the Arch community part. I’m pretty sure that’s where I first landed years ago and after a brief visit, I firmly believed that Arch was completely out of my league from the interactions I was witnessing in the community.
Ironically, I guess you could call me lazy because while Linux can be a completely console-based system, I tend to stick to GUI as much as possible just because, well, I can. So the manual install and then the process of keeping things updated using the console was a refreshing, dare I say “fun” trip back to the clicking of the keyboard and watching the lines scroll.
Good on ya, as mentioned it isn’t hard - just requires a bit of time and reading. The first time I installed arch I had the wiki up on my phone and a book full of notes from reading the wiki beforehand, screwed up partitioning the first time but it didn’t stop me from trying and learning something new.
I did Arch once the Arch install way, too. It is cool. I had no idea what I was doing so I didn’t know about the ‘tailoring just me’ aspect that @Stagger_Lee brought up.
I bring this up because the Alpine install is like that, and I did it three time-consuming times to further make it mine. [They use MUSL which is mega secure but unpopular for apps vs glibc]. By the time the distro had made GlibC a real choice I didn’t try it a 4th time!
Any way, I digress. Nice work.
@drunkenvicar i actually didn’t think much of the “tailored” aspect neither until i got into it again… it truly seems the possibilities are endless for the install to make it truly yours if you’re so inclined!
I hear you on this, - I learned so much from installing Arch from scratch, and I’m still fascinated by the sheer modularity of Arch as a distro. EndeavourOS is still my go-to for installs, - simply because it smoothens down those rough edges or time-sinks. Arch can be anything you want it to be. EndeavourOS is your Swiss Army Knife, with the tools all modular. It comes with the knife though, - just sharp enough that you can cut yourself if you’re not careful.
Same with me. I admit before a manual install I never knew too much about fstab, fdisk, chroot, and setting up mirrors through terminal (Via reflector package) mostly as I never really had a reason to go in to these tools before but now I know how to use them all. Still more to learn of course but that is why Linux got me excited about computers again as there is a lot left to explore and freedom to tweak like when I was a child with Windows (Back then I thought Windows could be tweaked a lot).
This has also helped with troubleshooting issues as well as I became very familiar with the directory structure and where things were stored and what they were for, or why they are there.
Any virtual machines, or devices like a Raspberry pi though I use EOS as it’s very convenient and well packaged for most tasks out of the box which I can deselect if I want through calameres.
I have this Great Plan that someday I will install Arch as one and only OS to my system. However, what hinders me is the fact that I’m completely lost about what I should install besides DE, so that’s my issue.
Also the fact that EOS is so well done, this Great Plan of mine will be postponed to the distant future. Or then I will just keep using EOS.
