Arch Linux

What i like about it:

- Rolling forever. (survived all the hardware changes so far) 9 years of just updating.
xpander@archlinux ~ $ cat /var/log/pacman.log | grep -a -m1 filesystem
[2013-01-21 17:45] installed filesystem (2012.12-1)

- I'm in control what i choose to install.
- Super easy packaging system. Easy to create your own PKGBUILDs if theres a need for that
- Has big community, easy to search for help if there's a problem.
- Archwiki is amazing


What i don't like about it:
- Rare cases that are leading to some package conflicts (easy to solve with commands though or downgrade package)

Quoting: Arcadius-8606Raspberry Pi 4 | 8GB - Twister OS

If you don't mind me asking, how is they performance compared to Raspbian?

I ask as I have a Pi 3 and am in sudden need of a living room video chat system. Also, how did you add an SSD? Was it via USB?


Edit:

My first time experience with Manjaro continues to be positive. Once I got everything setup, it runs around 1gb or RAM which is a little high (although NextCloud's client is about 150mb, probably higher since it uses Qt libraries).

Likes: Timeshift. Very nice snapshot system. Seems a lot like snapper, but with a nicer GUI. Looks like it does rsync backups too.
It's a very polished distro, comes with your basic productivity tools and then some, but doesn't seem too bloated.


No dislikes so far, but everything is still new. Maybe if were to stretch a bit... Pacman's got an interesting command syntax, I suppose. Although I do like it can pipe to itself.


Last edited by denyasis on 16 January 2022 at 6:08 pm UTC

Timeshift is by Mint guys, in case you aren’t aware.

Quoting: denyasis

Quoting: Arcadius-8606Raspberry Pi 4 | 8GB - Twister OS

If you don't mind me asking, how is they performance compared to Raspbian?

I ask as I have a Pi 3 and am in sudden need of a living room video chat system. Also, how did you add an SSD? Was it via USB?


Edit:

My first time experience with Manjaro continues to be positive. Once I got everything setup, it runs around 1gb or RAM which is a little high (although NextCloud's client is about 150mb, probably higher since it uses Qt libraries).

Likes: Timeshift. Very nice snapshot system. Seems a lot like snapper, but with a nicer GUI. Looks like it does rsync backups too.
It's a very polished distro, comes with your basic productivity tools and then some, but doesn't seem too bloated.


No dislikes so far, but everything is still new. Maybe if were to stretch a bit... Pacman's got an interesting command syntax, I suppose. Although I do like it can pipe to itself.

Raspian for me has had issues with DRM content streaming. Twister OS handles that without tinkering.

Pi 3 and Twister OS does not work so well. I recently sold all of my Pi 3 because trying to get them to perform with TwisterOS was difficult.

SSD is by USB and it's set to boot from it first. Helps with the web browsing slow downs that occur when on SD cards.

Last edited by Mezron on 16 January 2022 at 8:06 pm UTC

I'm on Linux Mint. Have been for many years.

What I like: It simply works. No fuss. And they've removed some of the crap that has crept into Ubuntu.
No particular dislikes. Don't much care about bleeding edge tbh.

Quoting: XpanderArch Linux

What i like about it:

- Rolling forever. (survived all the hardware changes so far) 9 years of just updating.
xpander@archlinux ~ $ cat /var/log/pacman.log | grep -a -m1 filesystem
[2013-01-21 17:45] installed filesystem (2012.12-1)

You beat me by almost two years.
cat /var/log/pacman.log | grep -a -m1 filesystem
[2015-09-01 22:48] [ALPM] installed filesystem (2015.02-1)

I've also been on my Arch install for quite some time now. It has been migrated to newer hardware more than once. I haven't had to go through a major upgrade, and that was my primary motivation of switching years ago.

The benefits of Arch Linux that keep me on it:
- No major upgrades
- Having more of a say of what gets installed makes it feel more like my computer
- Don't have to wait for cool, new software versions to come down the pipe
- Nothing on my computer tells me to do anything. I decide when I want to run updates, reboot, change passwords, etc. No annoying reminders or advice. This also makes it feel more like my system
- The Arch wiki is a super valuable resource
- I can almost always find what I want in the AUR if it's not in the official repos
- Arch has been way more stable than I was led to believe before I switched. I've had to troubleshoot fewer issues than I did on some other distros that I'll just leave unmentioned for now because we're not comparing. Point is: I don't think Arch is any less stable and dependable than other distros

Couple things on my system that are annoying that may or may not be specific to Arch:
- KDE Plasma crashes and recovers here and there. It never really interrupts what I'm doing because it recovers so quickly and none of my programs shut down, but it's annoying to see. Happens 2-10 times per week I'd say
- If I reboot my computer instead of shut down and then turn on, sometimes I can't wake the computer from a USB device after it goes to sleep

Does my love of Arch mean I'd recommend it to others? Usually no. It's for a rare type of person. On the Internet, we can find those rare people all over the world and not feel alone. But people I know at work and community? Pah. No, not that many people want to put in the TLC required to turn all the knobs in Arch.

Quoting: 14- The Arch wiki is a super valuable resource

I've never been on Arch, but I've used the Arch wiki more times than I remember to troubleshoot and learn about whatever distro I happen to be running.

And right now I'm running two distros, both of them KDE Plasma 5. I'm running Solus KDE on Louisa, my gaming laptop, and Kubuntu 21.10 on Marianne, my main living room desktop. (I'd be running Solus on both but I couldn't get it installed on my main box --- I think there's something screwy with my bios/efi thingy).

And listen, Kubuntu really doesn't feel like an Ubuntu flavor to me. Seriously. Everything Ubuntu, post-Unity-7 has felt, well --- the only word that comes to mind is oafish,. Everything's felt like a mis-timed automobile with sooty spark plugs or worn rings or both. But KDE/Plasma 5 feels like a perfectly-tuned, forged in Detroit, I-can't-drive-fifty-five, Muscle Car, all iron and steel and chrome and mother. fucking. powerful. Mad Max would use KDE.

Ok, I may have gotten a little overly enthusiastic in my description there. I have a hyperbole problem. I'll just add that on Solus, KDE is all of the above with a bag of chips. And an airfoil.


Last edited by Nanobang on 21 January 2022 at 2:03 pm UTC

Debian Stable on all of my machines. Yep, it doesn't have the latest drivers, but nor do I have the latest videocard. And if I need something fresh, I can always switch to testing (been there) or even unstable.

What I like about it:
- 100% FOSS by default, you can explicitly install some binary packages afterwards, like Wi-Fi and Nvidia drivers
- Works great with Flatpak, I have lots of those packages and zero appimages or manually installed ones
- Huge selection of packages in repos
- Stable as hell, never had it break on updates
- Mostly compatible with those numerous "how to do X on Ubuntu" articles
- You can pull some packages from testing or unstable if you know what you're doing and have backups

What I would improve about it:
- Not everyone would agree, but I think packaging Firefox non-ESR releases would be good
- Implement modern documentation for newbies specifically, like a step by step guide to install Nvidia drivers from non-free repos, also using only GUI as an option
- Install and enable a couple of GNOME extensions by default to not scare people off
- Alternative bug reporting system for people not being used to filling out email templates in a terminal
- Add an option to easily search (by name) and install some obscure LibreOffice language pack via a simple GUI app

Actually, all these wishlist points are why I do not install Debian on my friends' and family's PCs, they all use Mint or Ubuntu.

Quoting: omicron-bWhat I would improve about it:
- Not everyone would agree, but I think packaging Firefox non-ESR releases would be good
- Implement modern documentation for newbies specifically, like a step by step guide to install Nvidia drivers from non-free repos, also using only GUI as an option
- Install and enable a couple of GNOME extensions by default to not scare people off
- Alternative bug reporting system for people not being used to filling out email templates in a terminal
- Add an option to easily search (by name) and install some obscure LibreOffice language pack via a simple GUI app

Actually, all these wishlist points are why I do not install Debian on my friends' and family's PCs, they all use Mint or Ubuntu.

Debian has a graphical bug reporting application under reportbug-gtk. And I agree install guidance would be an improvement for bringing in fresh meat. When I was first starting out, I must have bought and tried a dozen different wifi PCI cards before I finally realized that just because Debian installer says there is no firmware available for the card, does not mean that the libre firmware has not been loaded and working.

Distro: Linux Mint Cinnamon

What I like:
- apt
- Cinnamon

The main reason I switch distros has always been either the package manager/packages ( eg. being unable to install software because of outdated dependencies in the package manager ) or the desktop environment - I dont react well to changes in my desktop environment :P

What I don't like:

- Cinnamon

Yeah as nice as it is to have a desktop environment that keeps it's visual style and doesn't embrace "new fangled trends" it's also frustrating when they apply the same ideology to the underlying tech and refuses to embrace wayland, pipewire, latest kernel etc.

Which become even more frustrating when more and more google queries ends with 'only possible with wayland/pipewire/etc'