I used linux intermittently in the last 15 or so years, migrating from early Ubuntu versions, to Manjaro, Pop!_OS, Debian, etc. And decided to give Arch a try just recently; with all the memes around its high entry point, I was really expecting to struggle for a long time to set it up just as I want.
Disclaimer: your mileage may vary. I’ve been using some sort of unix CLI since the time I learned to pee standing (last year?), and in case of Arch this prerequisite makes the whole process a lot simpler.
Learning curve
The installation process itself was quite simple. Perhaps the most complicated part was the disk partitioning and setting up the bootloader, as I’ve never done it myself. But then again — on any other OS you kind of have to do the same, except maybe through the GUI and not CLI.
One thing you quickly learn when using Arch — is you always should consult their wiki. Actually, “consult” is an understatement; let me put it this way, on the hierarchy of usefulness: there’s reddit, then stackexchange, then random “how-to” websites, then your logic, and then there is the Arch wiki. Exactly in that order, since your logic may betray you, but not the Wiki. Jokes aside though, they’ve somehow managed to document every minute detail, with specific troubleshooting for almost any combination of hardware out there. This is incredible, and as a person who also spends a lot of time writing documentations — hats off to the devs and the community.
Once you learn how the daemons work, how pacman and AUR packages work — the rest is actually quite similar to any other OS. Except that Arch, even with a bloated DE is frigging fast and eats very little battery. I actually use CLI package installation also in Windows (winget) or MacOS (brew), so learning to use another package manager was not too steep.
Drivers
The main caveats actually come when you want specific drivers for your specific hardware. For instance, the out-of-the-box drivers for my laptop speakers were horrible, with the sound seemingly coming from someone’s redacted (never checked, perhaps it was). But that could quickly be tweaked with the “pipewire/easyeffects” with custom profiles which you may find on the web.
GPU drivers were not really that much of an issue for me (if I actually read the wiki properly). Enabling GPU acceleration in some of the apps (like Blender) required the AMD HIP toolkit installed (they have Arch support) with some minor tweaks in the Blender configs. Similarly, the camera, mic and bluetooth drivers were available as AURs or even native pacman packages.
Caveats
Caveats that come with Arch are actually shared among almost all linux distros (or more specifically — DEs). Support of Wayland, while improving gradually over the years (with a great leap forward in Plasma 6), still sucks majestically. Luckily, for many of the most popular apps (slack, zoom), there are third-party AUR packages supporting Wayland natively (I spent a lot of time looking for exactly that on Debian with no success)! All of the apps I needed I actually found with the Wayland support in AURs, but, again, your mileage may vary.
Takeaways
I’d say if you just bought a fresh out-of-store laptop with no data on it to worry about — you should definitely give Arch a try, even if you’re a beginner. Once you fail a couple of times (like I did), you’ll not only learn a lot more about the behind-the-scenes working of your own computer, but will end up having one of the fastest and efficient OS-es out there, which you will now be able to configure to your exact liking.
Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to really daily-drive Linux (and this Arch experiment is no exception). Don’t get me wrong: I love linux and the idea of having independent open-source and infinitely customizable OS. But unfortunately I professionally rely on some of the apps, that have no viable alternatives for Linux (PowerPoint, Photoshop, Illustrator, Proton Drive).
PS. “but what about GIMP, or Krita, or Inkscape, or OpenOffice, or using rsync for cloud storage, or <YOUR_FAVORITE_TOOL>?” you may ask. Trust me, I tried it all. Every last presentation, raster/vector graphics software out there. Regardless of how much I hate Adobe, their software is top tier, and until GIMP becomes the Blender of graphic design, I can’t really rely use it for most of my purposes :(
PS. “but what about GIMP, or Krita, or Inkscape, or OpenOffice, or using rsync for cloud storage, or <YOUR_FAVORITE_TOOL>?” you may ask. Trust me, I tried it all. Every last presentation, raster/vector graphics software out there. Regardless of how much I hate Adobe, their software is top tier, and until GIMP becomes the Blender of graphic design, I can’t really rely use it for most of my purposes :(
The Trust me, I tried it all. and mentioning OpenOffice in one paragraph doesn’t feel quite right. OpenOffice is obsolete. Instead there is ONLYOFFICE and LibreOffice as open source choices for Linux users, available as Flatpak, Snap and probably AppImage.
like i mentioned above in the comment, i really meant to say OnlyOffice (but i also tried Libre, and a bunch of others)
Okay. Your Arch Linux review ends with naming your favorite options which include Proton, Microsoft and Adobe. As you don’t seem to mind using closed source software, did you have a look at WPS Office (Some Linux distributions include this), SoftMaker Office (Available for Linux and Android), Zoho Office ?
As for The GIMP (People have complained about its project name, but developers refused any changes) : From what I read Krita and Inkscape seem more promising. Krita has David Revoy as open source advocate, vocal on Mastodon : https://www.davidrevoy.com
I used WPS, it was worse than Libre from the usability, plus quite bloated with all sorts of stuff (luckily, I don’t have to pay for the Office, and will never actually do that willingly). Haven’t used the other two, however, will have a look, thanks!
Both GIMP and Krita are very nice and decent, just not powerful enough for many things I need photoshop for. Inkscape is actually much closer to Illustrator (not as powerful, but still), so that might be the only one with the “getting used to it” issue.
Actually, one other thing I should have mentioned, is that I also transited from using Premiere Pro to Kdenlive (and sometimes even Blender for very light video editing). Kdenlive is an amazing success story for KDE, hope that happens to Krita as well.
PS. The name GIMP sounds amazing! Love it, they should never change it )
Actually, one other thing I should have mentioned, is that I also transited from using Premiere Pro to Kdenlive (and sometimes even Blender for very light video editing). Kdenlive is an amazing success story for KDE, hope that happens to Krita as well.
Awesome.
OpenOffice released a new version last December.
https://openoffice.apache.org/blog/announcing-apache-openoffice-4-1-15.html
Nobody should use OpenOffice. It is just an an ancient version of LibreOffice at this point.
The name OpenOffice is much better. Many people every year probably get pulled into OpenOffice without realizing what it is. I hate that Apache is just sitting on that codes and pretending it is still active.
Some people say that OnlyOffice has the best Microsoft Office interoperability. If LibreOffice is not good enough, maybe give OnlyOffice a try.
Apache, please just stop whatever you are doing. Rewrite your webserver in Rust or something.
This haha
OpenOffice is dead since years, Libreoffice is what is used today :D
Btw Inkscape is said to be quite good. GIMP 3.0 will have color profiles and nondestructive filters.
I used Libreoffice Impress instead of Powerpoint recently.
- you will need to learn the core concepts new, master slides etc.
- once you have your own templates, presentations will be very nice
- you dont get AI bullshit templates so more manual work but more authentic presentations
- same for hunting down icons, stock images etc.
- for collaborating OnlyOffice is used, integrated into Nextcloud. OnlyOffice has a Desktop Client, but I dont see the reason, Libreoffice is more feature complete.
sorry, i really meant OnlyOffice. though i tried LibreOffice as well, you can see my breakdown in this post
Honestly I recommend to anyone who can do some html and css to try Animotion or some other reveal.js based framework. I can’t look at PowerPoint and derivatives anymore.
Edit: actual link, but check the other tool too! https://animotion.pages.dev/
Https://animotion.dev for anyone curious. I just checked it out myself and holy… This is awesome!
Nice write up! Though… the sound coning seemingly from someone’s … someone’s what exactly?
You don’t want to know.
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arse!
Ah yes, I expected as mich but was hoping for something more… intricate?
from someone’s … posterior? … latter end? … tuchus? arse is a bit more descriptive, eh?
Tuchus? It is 5AM here and I already learned a new word, thank you kind internet stranger!
I am really curious to see what happens with GIMP when they finally release 3.0 ( before May hopefully ).
3.0 will introduce CMYK, non-destructive editing, and other pro-level features. So it will be interesting to see if more people suddenly find that it is a viable Photoshop alternative.
Even more interesting potentially is that nee features can actually ship. It has literally been years now that new ideas get lost in dev versions that nobody uses. Going forward, improvements can be added to stable releases that people will actually use. It could be a game changer for the project.
I very much hope so too!!! i made myself to drift away from the Fusion 360 (they just took it a step further by moving a lot of stuff to the cloud) towards the FreeCad, and am enjoying its capabilities ever since. hope the same happens to GIMP. and it’s not about getting used to it after Photoshop, it just really lacks some of the basic functionality i absolutely need.
Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to really daily-drive Linux (and this Arch experiment is no exception). Don’t get me wrong: I love linux and the idea of having independent open-source and infinitely customizable OS. But unfortunately I professionally rely on some of the apps, that have no viable alternatives for Linux (PowerPoint, Photoshop, Illustrator, Proton Drive).
There are viable alternatives for Linux as you mentioned. But non are going to just be drop-in replacements for those tools. There are a lot of graphics design tools out there now that are just as powerful as Photoshop for what most people need. But the big issue is they are different in just enough ways that it can be a challenge to switch to them once you are used to the way Photoshop and the other windows only tools work. This is just something you are going to have to get over if you want to try Linux longer term.
But it can be far too much to switch all at once and with a completely new OS as well. So don’t. Instead start using these tools and alternative on your Windows install now. Start trying out different ones (there are a lot, both open and closed source), and giving each a decent attempt to use. Start out with smaller side projects so you don’t interrupt your main workflows and slowly over time start learning and getting used to the different way these other tools work. If you make some effort to do that while on Windows then the next time you try out Linux they wont seem as bad. But if you keep sticking with Windows only software on Windows you are going to find the same issue every time you try to switch.
agree, yes, especially the ProtonDrive configured through rsync: i really need it to be reliable, since i often travel and absolutely need my documents synced automatically with my PC. even in the early versions of ProtonDrive windows/mac app, it was often not syncing, and i would find myself on the road need to download a few gigs worth of slides and pdfs.
Unrelated - I love that picture. I want it as a wallpaper but it’s way too square. Do you have some source where I could get a higher definition, wider and/or taller version?
It’s definitely AI, so the original is probably square too
unfortunately, it’s a product of imagination of an overpowered progenitor of our future overlords, otherwise known as GPT-4. and apparently, it still does not want to produce 16x10 images (that is, unless you give it a sacrifice in the form of monthly subscriptions). but feel free to use the image for whatever purposes )
As far as I know, you can use ChatGPT without a subscription, but still paid. I found https://nano-gpt.com/get-started the other day where you pay with cryptocurrency per request, I guess someone behind the scenes is paying the subscription and is offering this as a service. The model behind can be chosen. So in case you have some lying around, you can just use that, or if there’s more interest from others, give me the prompt and I’ll pay for it, still have Nano around.
I’ve been using some sort of unix CLI since the time I learned to pee standing (last year?)
Well, if you’re a woman that’s a huge thing, pee standing!
If you’re a man, pee sitting (at home/friends home), please… It makes cleaning very, very simpler and the bathroom doesn’t smell like public restroom
i experimentally found that peeing standing (handstanding to be precise) is the ultimate way, so i learned how to do that (like i said, was last year)
Excellent work - I currently run Endeavour on a PC and laptop. This article has almost made me brave enough to try a bare bones build of Arch on the laptop :-)
Try donating projects you would like to use. If your adobe subscription amount is going to gimp and inkscape, you are buying yourself into the future of freedom. If you buy adobe, you will limit yourself more and more.
How much do you think I earn to afford paying for Office or Adobe? :) i’ve never paid for any of those, even though I’ve been using Adobe since CS5.
As for donating: i agree, for now i sometimes help in contributing to the codebase in a bit smaller apps i actually can fix things in.
Same for me. Arch is great and I’m happy with it, but I need MS Office (I know about Libre Office, but there are files that are made in MS Office and I have to work with them) and at least CorelDraw (at least until SVG spec allows tab characters in text objects) to fully work in Linux. Until then, I have to use Windows :-(
Have you tried OnlyOffice? Their main selling point is compatibility with all of the Microsoft Office formats, so maybe that would suit your use case.
I’m not sure how it can be even remotely compatible without the fields support? It’s not even possible to have something as basic as current chapter name (heading) in page header/footer. This is essential. Also, LibreOffice has this.
Isn’t LibreOffice able to open and export to MS files?
It is. But it’s not 100% identical.
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Where would one find custom Pipewire profiles for specific speakers and would those work for an unwashed Mint peasant like me? I have external speakers for my PC but the sound has room for improvement. I tried tweaking with Easyeffects but that is not really that easy if you have no idea about sound engineering.
in my case it was kinda easy, since they were actually linked in the Arch wiki directly!!! but, yes, i guess in general it might be an issue. maybe look for keywords such as “easyeffects profile <YOUR SPEAKERS>” or something along these lines. you can also play around a little with the app to find the settings that work for you.
I have a windows VM to use Affinity (Photo, Publisher, and Designer), a Pro level suite that will be fine for most work, and is pay once, not subscription.
I use office online, as a PWA.
I very rarely have to boot into Windows.
What do you actually use as a VM backend? VirtualBox limits the VRam you can allocate, and other options (vmware) I’m not even sure work with linux.
I never really understood the desire for Arch
Edit: more like the desires of Arch people
- Community-driven distro
- Bleeding edge software
- Rolling release instead of point release
- Amazing software availability
- Highly customizable
- Documentation and community support
There are other distros with the same points, they’re not unique, save for the wiki. A lot of users of other distros refer to the Arch wiki. The AUR is much celebrated but I personally found it annoying having to carefully vet every package and having moved to another distro I don’t miss it.
I think the main reason to choose Arch is it’s for tinkerers/hobbyists. Its community is very enthusiastic which is always nice, though many can become a bit obnoxious on forums.
I suppose it can’t be to bad as it seems to be pretty popular
You trade a little system stability for bleeding-edge package access.
It seems to be geared toward people who want to constantly maintain there system. I’m surprised at the number of people who like to tinker and often break the OS they daily drive. I use Linux because it protects my freedom and is low maintenance.
I guess the benefit of Linux is freedom of choice
As a casual Linux user this confirms exactly what I always thought about Arch: there are significant benefits that I would appreciate but I cannot afford the time and energy investment.
If I didn’t have a job, I would absolutely make it happen. But in the limited time available to me I just have too many other things I’d rather be doing
Then just use endeavour os. It’s basically Arch but with a preset configuration already decided for you.
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