this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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Privacy
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You’ve heard good things about arch solely because you’re on Lemmy. Using arch means you’ll be dedicating about 50% of your working time towards tinkering and making it fucking work, which is fun don’t get me wrong- unless you have actual work to do.
Ubuntu is solid but a little sluggish, I’m personally an advocate for Mint as far as something you can drop a windows users in and they’ll generally figure it out.
Seems like the general consensus in this section is Mint, so I'll give that a look over for sure
Mint is a good recommendation. I've used it for most of a decade because I just want my system to work.
I main Mint. Less annoying Ubuntu. Better user experience IMHO.
I don’t get this. For each of my devices running arch, the only tinkering I’ve encountered were for nitpicky customizations I wanted, which I have to do on another distro. After the arch installation completes it’s given me a fully functional desktop
if you don't install the wrong packages or skip a step in the installation lmao
🤦♂️ of course! I forgot to install it wrong lol
Your opinion about Arch is outdated at best. I run Arch, and I don't think I needed to do any tinkering in the last few months. For first time Arch users, I'll recommend them to just use EndeavourOS. I have it on my laptop, and it's basically Arch, but with a hassle free installation process.
Same for me, installed arch with archinstall, it installed faster than windows does, and I haven’t had to modify anything or tinker with anything. Even Steam games work out of the box with compatibility mode
50%?? Been daily driving for over a year and system maintenance is nowhere near the levels it's hyped up to be. Every once in a while the update requires manual intervention which can be solved by reading the email arch sends out before any of these atypical situations (register to be on the mailing list). Other system set up tinkering is well documented in the arch wiki.
Anyone interested in playing games on Linux should be exploring a rolling release distro even if for nothing more than access to updated GPU drivers as soon as they come out.
Don't forget the utiltiy of the AUR.
EndeavorOS might also be a good option, from what I've heard. It's Arch based, but easier to install and use. I recently switched to Garuda, also Arch based, but focused more on the gaming community.
Manjaro is an okay middle ground. It’s got the benefits of Arch but a bit more stability. It still breaks, but maybe once a year. I get work done on it.
Manjaro fell out of popularity a few years ago -- in addition to some drama with the handling of community donations, they do some weird stuff like hold back all Arch package updates by 2 weeks for "additional stability"... But really it's just an extra 2 weeks where you don't get potentially critical security updates. I also think the way they handle the AUR is reckless and leads new users to install unstable or poorly maintained packages without realizing it
It's still a viable distro, but generally I think Garuda beats it in every category: still based on Arch with a focus on gaming, but without the useless delay or the other issues that Manjaro has.
The AUR was disabled by default on my install. I use flatpak for a lot of stuff so I’m probably pretty up to date with my most used programs. Where did you hear about this community donation scandal?
All the petty downvotes makes me think Lemmy has become a bit too much like Reddit. The whole “downvote everyone’s opinion that isn’t my opinion” is pathetic.
I don’t really care about what’s popular. With all my installed programs I use to get shit done, I can’t distro hop every other month like some people.
Did you try googling Manjaro community donation scandal because it's pretty easy to find... Here's the first of many articles I found https://linuxreviews.org/Manjaro_Linux_Lead_Developer_In_Hot_Waters_Over_Donation_Slush_Fund_For_Laptop_And_Personal_Items
Garuda does everything Manjaro does but better.
I don't really like mint's desktop environment
That's a big exaggeration. Is Ubuntu a better choice for a newb? Yes. Do some people gravitate toward Arch because of the freedom in tinkering it offers? Also yes. But Arch has had simple graphical installers for years now, not to mention the wraparound distros like Endeavour that bundle extra software for a more complete OOTB setup. Arch is a viable choice for a new Linux user and really doesn't require tinkering for a working setup.