Arch Linux Is a Meme, but It Shouldn’t Be

Have you probably met the memes Arch Linux, but do they do it a bad service? Arch Linux is an excellent distribution, and I have five reasons why you should look beyond these labels and see for yourself.

For those who do not know, the meme on Arch Linux is that its users like to boast, unsolicited, that they use it – are more ironic by its reputation of being unstable. The often quoted line is “i run arch, btw”. I admit that I was one of those guys. When I started using it (about 15 years ago), I was proud of the fact that I had acquired competent skills in Linux. These days, I really don’t care about the distribution I use, as long as it is Qubes, BTW. However, I think that the same Arch Linux is of bad service, because, despite its unpleasant fans, it is a large distribution.

The basic distribution is without bloating

I have always liked the idea of ​​a lean operating system. When I used Windows XP, I disabled as many graphic services and features as possible to save resources for games. After being on Linux for a year, I discovered Arch Linux, and the light approach seduced me a lot. With Arch Linux, you can choose exactly what you want on your system and ignore everything else.

I am not the only one to hate bloating. I have often heard many criticisms for Electron applications, which are packaging around the Chrome browser. Electronic applications (like Chrome) can use a gigabyte of memory just to execute, and many in the Linux community do not like these resource pigs.

It is obvious that Linux users do not like bloating. Arch Linux is a reflection of this idea, and it is therefore sure to say that one of its basic philosophies is strongly aligned with the Linux community. I personally hate the bloating and find Arch Linux an excellent choice to remedy it.

The Wiki Arch is the best Linux resource on the web

Whatever the distribution you use, you have probably found the Wiki arc an invaluable resource at some point. It takes people for a while to learn that most distributions are very similar. Although they come in different configurations, they mainly use the same technology, and therefore, with a little common sense, the Wiki Arch is applicable to most.

The Wiki Arch is deepened and approaches almost all the Linux Imaginable subjects. If you want to learn to configure something, it’s the best resource on the web. However, the gentoo Wiki is a second solid choice, and the credit must therefore also go to the Gentoo community. They complement each other well, and between them, you can usually find what you need.

There are few vast full Linux guides on the Internet, but the Wiki Arch is one. It is a testimony to the passion of the community, and such a passion provides adequate support and a clear path for a beginner. If you are a beginner, the Wiki Arch is all the training wheels you need.

The package manager is fast

It has probably been said before, but Pacman is fast – really fast. It is often only a few seconds to install a package, and I really like it. The centerpiece of a distribution is the way it manages the packages; It is often the first component with which you interact, and therefore leaves a lasting impression. While other package managers have improved a lot in recent years (Apt, DNF), Pacman remains one of the fastest, beaten only by APK (Alpine Linux).

Waiting for software to install can be a brake, and this can affect your experience with distribution. Pacman makes Arch Linux an excellent service by being one of the best.

It’s stable, despite the complaints

When I used Arch Linux (for almost a decade), he rarely broke, and I can count on the one hand the number of times he has done. For a rolling release distribution, it’s a whole feat. The rupture occurs when distribution maintainers reconfigure the central system, and this can occur on any distribution. For typical liberation models (like Fedora), this would generally occur after major upgrades; For Arch Linux, this would generally occur after normal updates (due to its rolling release model). However, I would put Fedora and Arch Linux at the same time in terms of stability, that is to say that they are both solid artists.

Arch Linux was impressive impressively when I used it, and it always surprised me how people thought differently. These thoughts are probably a remainder of the past, long before you start using it. This is no longer the case, and Arch Linux is a fairly regular ship.

The community is always useful and competent

In addition to its brilliant and useful Wiki, Arch Linux has a useful and very competent community that supports it. Generally, the best place to receive live support for Linux is on the IRC. There are many forms of communication these days (discord, matrix, etc.), and I am sure that there are prosperous communities for Linux distros on these platforms, but the IRC has been a long-standing essential, and it is difficult to deny it.

The #Archlinux channel on Libera Chat (formerly on Freenode) has always been one of the most active channels of the server. Currently, it has around 1,500 users, and a considerable part of them actively engages with the canal. When I had questions, the often rapid and competent answers helped me solve the problems that I could not have solved for myself. It is for this reason that I stayed on Arch Linux for so long. It’s been a long time since I need help with Linux, but it’s good to know that free experts’ help is there if I need it.

The Arch Linux community is passionate and very competent. Without this passion, new users would hit a brick wall fairly quickly due to the lack of useful assistance. To top this, a lean and well -tagged distribution that is stable and fast makes Arch Linux more attractive.

I recommend that anyone thinking about its next Linux distribution ignores the same Arch Linux and try it. You will gain much more knowledge of Linux by diving first the first rather than immersing your toes in the terminal. If you are concerned about its difficulty, install it first in a virtual machine. Once you are ready to make a full installation, you can start it with double start with your current distribution.

You may be interested in what makes Arch Linux different. Or, maybe you don’t want to dive into depth yet, so you may prefer a list of distros based on arcs that are easy to start. Alternatively, I mentioned that I now use Qubes, and I have already shared the reasons why Qubes is better than your distribution, which may interest you.