Linux again (successful Arch install!)
Still a lot of work and tweaking to be done, but we have functional internet, can mount an external hard drive and move files, and we're starting to feel like we kind of know what we're doing. Maybe.
Time to sleep!
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@LupinePariah Arch intrigued us from when we were first researching distros, but we were too nervous about rolling release. Definitely needed that time to get a foothold, get an understanding of the file system, and feel comfortable with the command line before going for Arch. Glad we went for it once we were comfortable though! It's made us appreciate everything that goes into an OS- and finally figure out partitioning. Makes way more sense now.
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@candlebrae - Indeed. I think the thing I like best, which is why I extoll its virtues so much, is that it's a rolling release. With other release methods, updates are rained down at once in a big clump which I find difficult to deal with. It's just too much, all at once. A rolling release system allows me to see verything as it happens.
I think that when things move in big clumps, you can't get such a feel for the parts of the operating system itself—you just get used to getting things in big clumps and that's that. I know that some prefer that way of doing things, but I'd rather go package by package, updating as they're updated. It allows me to think as newness is drip-fed into my environment.
You'll definitely see the parts in Arch—it's as easy there to observe them as the whole. You get a sense for how everything interacts more, such as what uses which libraries, which packages interplay, and so on.
Which DE did you settle on? I'm not sure if I asked.
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@LupinePariah We appreciate that we won't have to to a major OS upgrade every 6 months or 2 years or other interval. In our experience, those kinds of upgrades inevitably break something without us knowing why. If a rolling release update breaks something, we can roll it back and check to see what changed because we know exactly what was updated.
What we're really liking is that the only things installed are what we chose to install. We get that choice.
Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@candlebrae
❄️ yay congratulations and welcome to the arch world! also fellow xfce user yay
Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@changeling We only decided to try it this install and honestly? Loving it. It has what we liked about GNOME and gets rid of what we disliked (and the panel customization is amazing).
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@candlebrae ❄️ yeah gnome is just so bloated and inefficient and xfce lets us have everything exactly how we want which is a very simple environment, we love it
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@changeling It's proving very enjoyable and effective to use! Only annoyance is that all the settings menus could be combined into one menu, but we don't mind it too much.
We're currently enjoying messing with the genmon item in panels- that's definitely going to come in handy. Just set up a percentage display of RAM with it, doing swap and CPU next- nothing against the system monitor, but we prefer numbers over vague colored bars.
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@changeling; @candlebrae - It's true that GNOME's bloated, some swear by it—I'm not one of them, KDE is my jam as it's become quite absurdly optimised of late—but then everyone juggles their whole optimisation versus usability preferences. I'm curious, @changeling, what's your opinion on LXDE and GNOME-lites like Cinnamon and Mate?
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@LupinePariah never used them, LXDE sounds fine, is CInnamon like GNOME used to be?
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@changeling - Yep. As I understand it, Mate is a fork and direct continuation of GNOME 2, whereas Cinnamon is more like GNOME 2 in spirit.
re: Linux again (successful Arch install!)
@candlebrae - Exemplary! It makes me so happy whenever I see Linux adopted by anyone new, I know you've been on Pop for a while but dooping about with Arch shows that you've been bit by that tinker's spirit, so to speak. I'm a little envious of how new it all is for you, but it's going to be fun watching and enjoying this vicariously.