Arch Linux

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As a capable but lazy user, how much would switching to Arch frustrate me? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I know my way around a command line. I work in IT, but when it comes to my personal fun time more often than not I'm quite lazy. I use windows a lot because just plugging in anything or installing any game and it just working is great.

But support for windows 10 is ending and I should probably switch sonner rather than later, so I'm wondering if Arch would be a good pick for me? For reference, I mostly game and do Godot stuff in my free time.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

For most things it has not been an issue. Mice and keyboards have all been plug and play for me. Bluetooth headphones also work just fine for me. Setting up a printer was probably easier to do than in windows. My USB DAC, external hard drives, USB SD card readers, etc. have all been plug and play.

A persistent issue in Linux, however, are gaming peripherals. Anything which requires proprietary vendor software to configure RGB settings may be an issue. OpenRGB detects and allows me to configure the RGB on my Logitech G Pro Wireless Mouse, and I picked up a secondhand Drop CTRL mechanical keyboard which I was also able to reprogram in Linux, but broadly speaking any peripheral which requires dedicated software to program may or may not allow reconfiguration on a case-by-case basis. The last time I had to boot into Windows was to re-bind the key-map on an off-brand USB footswitch, which was a one-time fix and then it has worked fine since then. Similarly, the RGB on the keyboard in my Gigabyte laptop can only be configured from Windows.

On the laptop side, the main things to watch out for will be compatibility issues with fingerprint readers and certain oddball WiFi chipsets, but generally speaking my peripheral experience has been good.