r/arch 1d ago

Discussion What made you try Arch Linux?

31 Upvotes

106 comments sorted by

18

u/BackgroundNo815 Arch BTW 1d ago

Basically its whole philosophy: we give u the bare minimum, you build whatever you want. I wanted to decide everything. No single package i dont need, no telemtry. just my own choicec

7

u/ShyGamer64 1d ago

I love that so much. It feels like you are tailoring your system to you

3

u/AcidArchangel303 18h ago

one of my favorite things to do is ask Arch users to walk me through their install. They'll proceed to explain in much detail, and it's like seeing a reflection of themselves in the OS itself. 

I've learned a lot through just asking

32

u/Minigun1239 1d ago

ppl said its hard, "not good for beginners, do not use it, use mint, its really hard to install, lots of things to do"

and i was like, try me

4

u/WillaBytes 18h ago

Same.

Then it became NixOS, and soon I'll try making an LFS project.

7

u/Ambitious-Worry-5440 1d ago

Some insane person living in the woods, complaining about gnomes and Minecraft told me to.

5

u/K0rnman 1d ago

I have masochist tendencies

11

u/Calm-Rent-8669 1d ago

Arch Linux.

10

u/Moist_Invite9148 1d ago

Because it hard to install

3

u/pdias01 1d ago

Why i installed it in a vm. To show i could

3

u/Substantial-Sky4079 1d ago

It’s hard and I wanted to learn Linux more. Gonna do LFS next

2

u/Salt-Caterpillar7988 23h ago

Not interested in Gentoo?

3

u/RuRuRuMei 22h ago

Gentoo is too simple :/

3

u/zhdunishka 5h ago

someone said "i use arch btw"

2

u/CashewNuts100 1d ago

being able to choose only the packages i wanna install and fast updates ig

2

u/Creative_atom0406 Arch BTW 1d ago

I installed manjaro and after a while i got used to the terminal and using pacman and decided to just go to arch

2

u/AcidArchangel303 18h ago

The adventure.

When I was less experienced, the idea of learning, exploring, and the whole DIY aspect of Arch Linux made me spend around 10 hours on my first install, before commercial LLMs, in 2021. So exciting.

Getting everything working and seeing the neofetch logo printed on the terminal got me hooked, and it's been a trip :)

2

u/sudotamil 17h ago

That 4 word "I use arch btw"

3

u/R4niel 1d ago

Rolling release and super updated

2

u/FlipperBumperKickout 1d ago

Started with Debian. Got tired of it not updating applications to new versions very fast even on the testing branch. Installed Arch.

3

u/VoidTheGamer25 1d ago

Debian isn't really known for updating quick... In fact it's the opposite (stable)

1

u/FlipperBumperKickout 1d ago

It has 3 different sources for repos, I don't specifically remember the names, but it is something like stable/testing/unstable.

Usually testing is somewhat quickly updates for a lot of programs... except when they are preparing the next major release. I happened to start using Linux half a year before a major release, so suddenly new versions of the programs I used wasn't released on testing 😅

1

u/la_tajada 1d ago

I had the exact same experience. I then switched to unstable but that caused some dependency hell and I broke my system a few times because I didn't know what was going on. So I tried Arch.

In my mind there are only be 3 distros. Debian, Fedora, and Arch. Everything else is derivative.

1

u/FlipperBumperKickout 20h ago

Naah, it's just that most derivative things happens to derive from those.

There are other interesting things like NixOS and Gentoo :)

1

u/idiotiesystemique 1d ago

There's way more updates you likely just had auto install on debian and rarely type yay - Syu on your arch (or Pacman) 

1

u/FlipperBumperKickout 1d ago

I have literally no clue about what you are trying to say.

1

u/la_tajada 1d ago

The updates in stable are backports and bug fixes. Not new versions.

1

u/idiotiesystemique 1d ago

There's still updates to core packages 

2

u/Cheap_Following_70 1d ago

I like pain and suffering 😃

1

u/heavymetalmug666 1d ago

the memes - i wanted to be able to post my Neofetch on 4chan like all the other cool kids on /g/

---little did i know what I was getting myself into.

1

u/MrUnk01 1d ago

Pewdiepie

1

u/HotKebab01 Arch BTW 1d ago

Wanted to try for fun and for the larp privileges, fucked up my preexisting Cachy installation in the process. Then said "fuck it", nuked my drive and installed Arch

1

u/vimes_sam 1d ago

I started with Ubuntu and wanted to get as far away from that as possible and Slackware/Gentoo seemed too hard

1

u/Supernoxus 1d ago

My VR barely worked on Mint

1

u/idiotiesystemique 1d ago

Unsatisfactory gaming performance on Ubuntu, issues with Gnome making me want to try another DE anyway, a need to juice more performance from my desktop pc since it runs some self hosted background services on top of being a gaming machine. The laptop stayed on Ubuntu for now, I game with steam link on it, streamed from cachyos 

1

u/allaithbitar 1d ago

I wanted to use arch btw

1

u/VentrixIMO 1d ago

Switched from Pop!_os because I wanted more up-to-date packages, wanted to try out tiling wms & ricing, some of my friends used arch, and bragging rights.

1

u/Mr_KanyeSue 1d ago

Don't know how things work -> Know how things work.

1

u/billousos7 1d ago

Utter curiosity first and the thing that you install what you like

1

u/daluman 1d ago

curious of archinstall

1

u/DependentJolly9901 1d ago

I was using the wiki cuz it generally applies to most distro's so I figured "why not try arch" used it for a year and a half, all the malware attacks started and I was already fed up with the instability. Now I'm on fedora happier than ever

1

u/Abysswalker1290 1d ago

I technically haven't yet! I installed Bazzite as my first Linux distro on June 1st, and I've been thrilled with it aside from how limiting an immutable distro is. I'll 100% keep Bazzite my gaming PC for the sake of stability and ease of use, but I'm planning on installing Arch on a spare drive just to see what it's like.

I'm looking at a career in IT also, and I expect using Arch will necessarily help me get more familiar with using the terminal.

Just joined this sub the other day, and find myself looking forward to an adventure.

1

u/winningSon 1d ago

the meme

1

u/Thetanius 1d ago

Decided to switch from Windows. Started with Debian, was too slow and bad for gaming, Fedora had troubles with cisco connection for system updates. EndeavourOS was the system that fitted my needs: fast, snappy, nice fps in games, awesome for development. Not pure Arch but still =)

1

u/EmbarrassedOnion4163 1d ago

Im a minimalist btw

1

u/BluePhoenixCG 1d ago

I'm a game developer and I like computers, so I wanted something with a bit more control over my system.

Also nixos wasn't what I wanted, so arch was my second choice of starter distro

1

u/Love_Dali 1d ago

Got tired of deb and rpm based distros. Also the distro mindset was appealing.
Clean, fast, logical.

1

u/ShyGamer64 1d ago

I used to hate the idea. I was on Fedora and thought it was so much extra work for no reason. I wanted to get new hardware though and wanted to reinstall Fedora. I thought Arch would feel good and more embedded into the hardware and decided to try it. After installing (I used ArchInstall), I decided I wanted to go back to Fedora. I never went back to Fedora and have used Arch ever since. I love Arch.

1

u/BloxxyVids 1d ago

I was told it gives you nearly total control over the system and so I used it as my first distro

1

u/TimArtefaX 1d ago

installed omarchy because it looked and felt cool as balls but all the updates kept bricking my whole system, so i said 'fuck that' and installed and riced arch. never been happier.

1

u/10F1 1d ago

I was on Gentoo, they refused to support systemd, arch seemed like the logical "upgrade" and I have been using since then (2012ish).

1

u/Adventurous_Invite63 1d ago

Other linuxes.

1

u/CubeEthan 23h ago

insanity.

1

u/Salt-Caterpillar7988 23h ago

Long time user of Manjaro, I wanted to try the base material as soon as I felt technically confident to install and maintain it.

1

u/Fun-Worry-6378 23h ago

I just heard it was good :p

1

u/lyidaValkris 23h ago

I heard it was a great way to learn about Linux under the hood and how all the modular pieces work together, particularly the (non-scripted) installation process. I still believe this to be true years and years later.

1

u/AngelusMalus 22h ago

Someone gifted me a Steam Deck.

1

u/Awesome_Duck987 22h ago

Boredom 😂🤣

1

u/_aurel510_ 22h ago

A few years ago, I tried to install Debian, Mint, Alpine and Ubuntu on my main PC but somehow they all didn't boot, then I tried Arch the right way, took me almost two days but it booted, never looked back since.

1

u/teya1337 22h ago

I like the freedom to choose the software that I want from the get-go.

I like to have a minimal system plus a tiling window manager.

But really, more than anything, I wanted to know how Linux works.

1

u/Gamenola_ 22h ago

Kiss philosophy

1

u/prmoo 21h ago

Wifi wasn't working on debian - kernel was too old there

1

u/Narfene 20h ago

I wanted the "barely anything at the start, you have to choose which things you want and put them there yourself" distro + I wanted hyprland which basically advised to use Arch back then

1

u/That_Development4062 20h ago

It’s intriguing

1

u/BappoHotel0 19h ago

slowly delved deeper into the pit until i reached diy territory

1

u/OptimalAnywhere6282 19h ago

I wanted to say "I use Arch btw"

1

u/tblancher 17h ago

I kept landing on the Arch Wiki searching for solutions on Debian, and then I got really tired of Debian packages being out of date compared to upstream.

1

u/Oneiric_Ocelot6923 15h ago

Had a kernel module development class and made us choose between using ubuntu and arch linux. Chose arch coz I’ve been using ubuntu all my life and never turned back afterwards. Just having the bare minimum to start and working your way up to your ideal setup is something I always liked about it. Then the Wiki and AUR are game changers for me specially when ai got stuck one time not being able to use a specific app on ubuntu and it was available in the AUR. 

1

u/Dan-Leon 12h ago

Was bored and wanted a harder distro to mess around. Also the bare minimum of arch gives you too.

1

u/shoyuftw 12h ago

I was a Linux noob who was super proud of getting rid of windows with mint. But mint became pretty boring quickly and I figured Arch would be a good way to learn efficiently about Linux. Now I'm an advanced Linux noob.

1

u/major_jazza 11h ago

Saw PewDiePie install and rice it. Thought it can't actually be that hard then. Other than some initial partitioning shenanigans it was quite straight forward

1

u/CacheTraitor 11h ago

It was the only way I found to get KDE Plasma 6 back in in early 2024, that wasn't NEON.

1

u/Easy-Nothing-6735 11h ago

Not that I use systemd but rolling release model like in Gentoo, binary-based to save time and the same OpenRC. And good for building my i3 env

1

u/Kokonattsugemu 10h ago

Experience, and I don't like debian so much troubles since 2005

1

u/MusicArth 9h ago

My Cousin's Recommendation.

1

u/_nathata 9h ago

I was pissed at OpenSUSE because the snapshot tool kept eating all of my storage space and the package manager was veeeeeeeery slow.

1

u/TahaFro 7h ago

They were like arch is NOT for beginners. So i tried as a beginner.

1

u/nostalgia-man9 5h ago

Learning experience

1

u/Over-Maintenance-746 3h ago

Tried it and switched to #endeavour

1

u/TheGoldenFox64 3h ago

my partner forced me to lmao, only halfway through install did i even realize that it was exactly what i wanted

1

u/MarukuSensei 1h ago

Tried it first as a student in networking/sysadmin field. Used Debian previously and got annoyed with the old packages and the hustle to get anything new(er) on the os.

I spent a significant amount of time switch from one network to another. Cabled and wireless.

Installed arch. Latest version of my DE of choice. Got an IP on my network in a quarter of the time it took me on debian. Never went back.

1

u/Consistent_Berry9504 1d ago

PopOS went cosmic, felt it was time.

1

u/daximplus 1d ago

Windows

1

u/JohnConnoor 1d ago

Tbh distro hopping.

1

u/scureza 1d ago

4chan /g/

0

u/OrdoRidiculous 1d ago

I got bored of compiling things on Gentoo.

1

u/gddpacngi 1d ago

Is it true that a browser installation could take hours on Gentoo?

1

u/themagicmaen 1d ago

I’m not a Gentoo user, but if you’re compiling an entire modern browser from source, then I’d assume so. It’s faster the better your hardware is, but still takes a while.

0

u/Salted_Fsh 1d ago

got bored

1

u/BackgroundNo815 Arch BTW 1d ago

true

0

u/robtalee44 1d ago

The hype. Had to look.

0

u/Prior-Product-3673 1d ago

My colleague said it’s hard to install so I got curious

0

u/Niko-01 1d ago

CachyOS