this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2024
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I'm a little bit underwhelmed, I thought that based off the fact so many people seem to make using this distro their personality I expected... well, more I guess?

Once the basic stuff is set-up, like wifi, a few basic packages, a desktop environment/window manager, and a bit of desktop environment and terminal customisation, then that's it. Nothing special, just a Linux distribution with less default programs and occasionally having to look up how to install a hardware driver or something if you need to use bluetooth for the first time or something like that.

Am I missing something? How can I make using Arch Linux my personality when once it's set up it's just like any other computer?

What exactly is it that people obsess over? The desktop environment and terminal customisation? Setting up NetworkManager with nmcli? Using Vim to edit a .conf file?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

What do you mean by people being obsessed over Arch?

Archlinux is Linux, it's just a minimal distro that allows you to only use whatever you want to use. I have no idea what's with being obsessed over it other than «use arch btw» which became a local meme recently.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

You have reached the pinnacle of Linux, every other distro you try from now on will seem bland. 🧗🏼

[–] MXX53 2 points 3 months ago

I have used a number of distros over the last 15 years. Once I found one I liked, I stuck with it. I understand the package manager, some of the special features of the distro I use and I don't really have time to relearn this every couple of months on new distros.

If I want a different "feel", I change my DE. But that's about it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

That's like seeing the Otaku gang, deciding to give this Anime a go, watching Dragon Ball and asking "what's so special about this?".

Some people make some random thing their personality, others enjoy the same thing without making a big fuzz about it. Arch is great because of the wiki and the AUR, other distros have their own pros and cons.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Did you use arch-install or manual classic install

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Isn't the archinstall command just one word?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Never used it, memory fuzzy I'm sure you're right

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

I tried it out because of the memes and stuck with it because there wasn't a bunch of extra stuff I don't need distracting me. I kinda forget I'm using arch btw

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Ya, its just some people over exaggerated a bit. As long as you don't do stuff that obviously tries to mess with core system stuff it should be fine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

now start using it for a while and you will notice the difference!

you will see you have all of the latest versions of programs, that other distros wont have for 6 months!

you will learn that the AUR has every package you could ever want!

you will see that the Wiki has extremely comprehensive answers to every question!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Most who use Arch prefer to use a customized tiling window manager instead of a desktop environment. I tried using i3, and I do understand tiling WMs, but they're not really for me and I won't be able to do a crazy design out of them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I just wanted a distro built to my specs, up to date, uses pacman, not run by a for-profit company, with good documentation. The hype is mostly Reddit elitism and gatekeeping. I like that nobody has slipped branding and extra bookmarks into my browser.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I have been a GNU/Linux user for about 15 years. During that time, I have alternated between Arch and Gentoo.

Gentoo is very time consuming and complex, and Arch is a pain to keep clean. However, the ability to customize the system to your preferred configuration is a big draw for both.

For a light user like me, patching and customizing to PKGBUILD is just fine. Personally, I sometimes wish for something like the USE flag in Portage.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I'm using Arch because you start with nothing and you can make any system you want. I have disk encryption, btrfs as a filesystem, secure boot with my own custom keys, I'm running self-build kernel, I'm using apparmor and I can use any program from AUR, etc. Thats my personality. Things that you can't see but are important to me.

On other distros some of these things would be very hard to do. Especially without Arch Wiki.

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