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?

  • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
    92·
    1 year ago

    Welcome to realizing the Memes are all bullshit and its just a solid distro that’s worth using for the simpleness. Just go use your computer like the average user is and roll with it

    • vort3@lemmy.ml
      303·
      1 year ago

      Yep, all this «how do I learn linux» stuff is weird. You don’t learn your OS, you use it. Did you need to «learn» Windows? You just launch it and click your browser / file manager / media player and browse, manage files and watch or listen to your media files.

      You can just use your PC as you would regularly use your PC and find solutions once you face some issues. Yes, Linux issues are different from Windows issues.

      • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
        191·
        1 year ago

        You got downvoted but as a Systems Engineer when I get home from work, I want my OS to get out of my way. All these other people are crazy.

        • KNova@infosec.pub
          81·
          1 year ago

          This x 1000. I’ve had a buddy razz me over using plain, simple Debian because it’s not bleeding edge and the packages are out of date in some cases. bro I don’t care I just want to play some games and occasionally use LibreOffice for some stuff.

          • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
            1·
            1 year ago

            Yep. If I could have a true steamOS that had no desktop mode that would be 60% of my home life. I have an 1135g7 32gb ram laptop for Mint.

      • prime_number_314159@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        Modern operating systems have made it take very little knowledge to connect to WiFi and browse the internet. If you want to use your computer for more than that, it can still take a longer learning process. I download 3D models for printing, and wanted an image for each model so I could find things more easily. In Linux, I can make such images with only about a hundred characters in the terminal. In Windows, I would either need to learn powershell, or make an image from each file by hand.

        The way I understand “learning Linux” these days is reimagining what a computer can do for you to include the rich powers of open source software, so that when you have a problem that computers are very good at, you recognize that there’s an obvious solution on Linux that Windows doesn’t have.

        • Vashtea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I get your point, but for your specific example windows powertools gave my .stl files thumbnails if that is what you are referring to.

      • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
        2·
        1 year ago

        You joke, but I was there, 3000 years ago… and DOS, Windows and Lotus 1-2-3 courses sold like hot cakes. Yeah, people had to learn Windows until a critical mass of people knew it so knowledge would self propagate.

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
    461·
    1 year ago

    You fell for the meme lol.

    Arch is great if you want very high levels of customization without having to get into compiling and coding, like with Gentoo or NixOS.

    I think of it as the distro equivalent to custom keyboard kit, you get all the parts and can swap them out as much as you want. But you’re not designing and fabricating your own circuit board and microcontroller, writing your own custom firmware, getting a custom case modeled and fabricated, etc.

    There’s a reason “I use Arch, BTW” Is a meme.

  • h_ramus@lemm.ee
    36·
    1 year ago

    Didn’t bother going through the hoops and installed EndeavourOS which is arch-based with some additional default applications.

    For me, the best thing of Arch isn’t the distribution but the Arch wiki. An impressive piece of documentation.

      • Ooops@feddit.org
        6·
        1 year ago

        Which btw is the reason many people ended up with Archlinux… after the x-th time looking up some configuration issues on another distro and landing there.

    • seaQueue@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      The Arch build system is just as impressive IMO. I’ve written Debian and redhat packages for at least two decades and Arch packaging is just so much easier to handle. The associated tooling for creating and managing build chroots is excellent as well.

      • Jeena@piefed.jeena.net
        2·
        1 year ago

        That’s the main reason my software is in the AUR but nowhere else. I tried to make a deb package and failed so many times so I just gave up.

  • verdigris@lemmy.ml
    311·
    1 year ago

    The meme is mostly a relic from the days when installing Arch was a very involved and mostly manual process – it wasn’t to the level of LFS, but you had to configure most of the base system, and it would leave you with a pretty bare-bones setup (no GUI by default, etc). So it was a pretty big hurdle and successfully installing it did give you a bit of nerd cred, though even then the “arch BTW” meme was tongue in cheek.

    These days it’s just one of the most well-supported rolling release distros, and it’s got automated installers and GUI spins just like any popular distro. The two biggest assets are the AUR and the wiki.

    NixOS does kind of feel like the spiritual successor in terms of effort to set up, and in that immutable OSes are kind of the next big thing, like rolling release was fairly unconventional when Arch was taking off.

    • olympicyes@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      1 year ago

      I use Ubuntu but the Arch wiki is top notch and has helped me solved a lot of problems, especially technical issues like VFIO. I think you’re right that Arch love largely started as a meme to celebrate getting it installed, kind of like the jokes about being unable to exit VIM.

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    301·
    1 year ago

    Most distros are very similar - it’s mostly the same software just using a different package manager.

    This is why “which distro should I use” is the most annoying question in this community.

    • ayaya@lemdro.idEnglish
      101·
      1 year ago

      There is a pretty big difference in terms of usability between Arch and everything else because of the rolling release model and the AUR. Lots of things you would have to manually install from a git repo or track down a PPA for can be installed like a normal package.

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        So what you’re saying is that the package manager is very different?

        My point stands - once things are installed your “Linux Experience” is pretty similar.

        NOTE: I’ve used words like “most” and “similar” and “pretty”. Do not ignore these words. They have meaning.

        • folaht@lemmy.ml
          1·
          1 year ago

          I would say it’s not very different, just one league above all the others that I’ve come across.

          The three things that stand out in my opinion is how much their package manager can query packages, it’s rolling release and the number of packages they have in the AUR.

          It makes Arch the most complete and up to date Linux distro,
          with the exception of a user friendly forum,
          that doesn’t look like the nazi soup kitchen from Seinfeld,
          and an installer.

            • folaht@lemmy.ml
              1·
              1 year ago

              I use Manjaro and little bit of Artix.
              If I would recommend anything, it’s either EndeavourOS or Manjaro.
              They’re Arch-based and friendlier.

              I stopped using Arch because I got banned from their forum for changing my username.

    • lobut@lemmy.ca
      7·
      1 year ago

      It is definitely annoying but I think it’s understandable from people that are coming in from the outside.

  • rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee
    27·
    1 year ago

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

    Well, do you already have a personality that isn’t based on Arch? If you do, get rid of it.

  • oo1@lemmings.worldEnglish
    271·
    1 year ago

    I think you might be missing the part where memes are not real. aur is useful. arch wiki is useful.

  • matcha_addict@lemy.lolEnglish
    232·
    1 year ago

    The thrilling thing about arch is you get to put together your own user land applications, especially things that could form your desktop environment, audio stuff, etc.

    I agree it is not that complicated. If you want more thrill, here is what I recommend:

    gentoo Linux

    has the option to compile everything from source. This isn’t just for bragging rights. This resolves a whole class of software breakages that can happen on other distros (especially when using old or less common applications).

    • It gives you the option (emphasis on optional) to use openRC, an alternative to systemd.
    • patch any software super easily, working nicely with the system
    • customize compile flags on a global level
    • have package manager manage software that isn’t available in repos, or easily write a package script for it (technically AUR can do this, but gentoo more powerful)
    • works like a charm with heavily customized setups, such as musl, or less common architectures like arm or risc-V

    NixOS

    Takes it a step beyond gentoo and uses a functional, lazy approach in package management. Every package is fully reproducible, has a kind of isolated environment. Your entire setup is reproducible and declared with a single file.

    ---- below this line is torture. Not recommended

    slackware

    Idk how it works exactly, but package management looks like a manual pain

    Linux from scratch

    A book where you create your Linux installation from scratch, compiling every single component until you reach a working system

    Notable mentions

    • Alpine Linux: uses musl and busybox by default. Extremely lightweight. Some things will not work, but you get the thrill of running a couple MB distro
    • void Linux: ok I’m tired of writing so I will not explain that one
      • matcha_addict@lemy.lolEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        It has a lot more support than you think. As a gentoo user, I am jealous of nixos often seeing more support than gentoo, when gentoo is older and seemingly easier to support. But nix seems to have a bigger hype nowadays.

        • Laser@feddit.org
          2·
          1 year ago

          Gentoo, while source-based and having an interesting approach with USE flags, does not come with NixOS’ strengths.

          I’d even say that Gentoo’s packaging might be better in some aspects than that of nixpkgs, which does feature options that you can change via overrides but generally isn’t as modular as Gentoo’s system. But the mistake a lot of people – and I’d say you as well – make is that they look at the wrong parts for comparison, and don’t understand what makes NixOS so powerful. It’s not the sheer amount of packages or how they’re built, but rather the module system, the declarative nature and the option for rollbacks at the “package manager” level. Yes, these features come with increased complexity. However, I recommend not to look into what people have published in GitHub as their configurations, as these are rather general and as such more complicated than one needs for casual use.

    • superkret@feddit.org
      2·
      1 year ago

      Slackware avoids the issue of package management completely.
      You just install the entire repository up front, which resolves all dependencies.
      If you need software that isn’t in the repo, you can install it any way you like from wherever you like, there’s no real package manager that gets in the way. Usually you compile it with Sbopkg, a helper script very similar to Arch’s AUR helpers. It comes with rudimentary dependency resolution in the form of queue files, which just list what needs to be installed in the correct order for any given source package, and then does it for you.
      A more modern approach I follow is to use Flatpaks.

    • PureTryOut@lemmy.kde.social
      21·
      1 year ago

      Alpine Linux: uses musl and busybox by default. Extremely lightweight. Some things will not work

      I use it daily, which things won’t work? Honestly it’s “just a distribution”, you’ll have the same experience with it as OP has with Arch.

      • matcha_addict@lemy.lolEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Bunch of random small things gave me issues. Sdkman (kinda like a Java version manager) and transmission on arm64 on wireguard would not work either.

        • PureTryOut@lemmy.kde.social
          1·
          1 year ago

          I ran transmission and WireGuard for ages before I recently switched my server over to x86, worked fine?

          Idk about Sdkman though, I don’t do Java development, but if it’s written in Java itself I fail to understand why it wouldn’t work 🤔

          • matcha_addict@lemy.lolEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            My setup was really weird. I was running it under a network namespace. Maybe that’s why? The app would run like normal, but it would not successfully create any connections. I replicated the same setup on glibc and it worked.

      • matcha_addict@lemy.lolEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I agree, I organized the post wrong. Void should’ve been up, but it’s also a notable mention that I can’t write a lot about since I did not do too much with it.

    • bastion@feddit.nl
      1·
      1 year ago

      For some reason I really love how you ran out of steam on this post. Take my upvote, and may you make many whole-enough-assed posts in the future.

  • golden_zealot@lemmy.mlEnglish
    211·
    1 year ago

    People like Arch because to many it feels more truly like your system than other distributions.

    It isn’t that Arch is in some way more customizable than other distros, rather it’s that if there is a package on your Arch system, its probably there because it was your choice to put it there in the first place, and so the system can feel more representative of you given it only contains the things you want or need and nothing more from the get go.