I came across a lengthy interview with the Arch Linux team, and having been using the distribution for the last several months, I thought I would write about my experiences and what makes it great for me.
As those of you who have been reading this blog for a while already know, Kubuntu was previously my distribution of choice. To me, it was the perfect KDE distro and gave me the best that KDE had to offer with each release.
Unfortunately, an itch grew within me that Kubuntu couldn’t scratch. I was tired of waiting for the next Kubuntu release in order to enjoy the latest versions of my favorite software packages. (Firefox, Thunderbird, KDE, etc). Of course, with Linux there is always a way to get the latest software despite the distribution itself holding it for the next release (compiling it yourself, using a third party repository, etc) but having to wait for the next release of the distribution to have my favorite programs started making less and less sense to me. Even Windows users can freely download the latest Firefox build and easily install it anytime, so why can’t I?
I realized that the type of distribution model Kubuntu uses is just not compatible with people like me that want the latest stable software packages at all times. With Kubuntu not being a rolling distribution, it basically expects you to use the same versions of all software packages until the next release comes out in its six month cycle, or you’re forced to use unsupported repositories and risk breaking things. For a lot of people this is fine, but for me, no thank you.
As much as I loved Kubuntu, I was willing to cope with and accept its release policy. However, when the overall quality of the Kubuntu distribution plummeted into a cold and dank abyss, with fewer and fewer redeeming qualities remaining, it was then that it was time for a change, and for me, the change was Arch.
Is Arch Linux for everyone? Absolutely not, but it is for me. With Arch I get the latest stable packages, and I don’t have to wait for the next animal-named release in order to have the latest KDE or Firefox. In fact, when KDE puts out it’s latest maintenance release, I don’t even have to install a third party repository. I just upgrade my sources with Pacman, and there it is; the latest kernel, KDE, Firefox, and whatever else is on my system.
Arch Linux doesn’t require knowledge of the command line, but it does require an interest in learning it. Since Arch is for users that want greater control over their systems, it will at times rely on you to fix things manually. (If you are waiting for the developers to push a bug fix edit to a package to fix your problem, don’t bother, applications are mostly compiled as-is). This is not a bad thing though, the distribution aims to keep the software packages as the developers originally intended them, for better or for worse. For me, I like not having an Ubuntu logo slapped around all over the place.
When it comes to the community, the Arch Linux community is much smaller than that of Ubuntu. This does not mean that you will have a harder time getting help. Instead, it means that your question won’t end up on the third page of the forums within an hour. My experience with the Arch community has been very rewarding, to the point where I have had actual Arch developers comment on my blog to help me out when I was facing a barricade. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying any particular community or distribution is bad by any means, it’s just that Arch has a really good group of people helping out.
With Arch, hardware support for me has been mostly good, with a few exceptions. For one, I had to change the wireless card on my laptop to one that was supported by the Linux kernel directly so I could avoid having to compile a kernel module every time the kernel updated. Also on my laptop suspend doesn’t work. Neither situation is the fault of Arch developers, but a certain network card company not providing an open source driver and a bug in the Linux kernel itself respectively. For the most part, I have had really good results.
Arch Linux has become a very dear friend to me. With a community of both users AND developers that want to help, a rolling release model that isn’t broken at every turn, and a system that is something I set up from scratch using the exceptional documentation, Arch is a winner. Sure, it’s not for everyone, but other distributions could learn a thing or two from Arch. Arch rocks!
Jeremy is a Certified IT Technician that blogs at ITNewsToday.com in his spare time. He has over ten years of industry experience, and studies the IT industry every single day. Jeremy has become an open source enthusiast over time and is studying for his Linux+ certification. He lives in Waterford MI with his wife Krystal and son Alan.
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I cant agree with you more. Those are the exact reasons my family and I left Kubuntu. Each release came out with more and more issues and, for me, the performance started getting really bad.
On, Arch, I can have all the eye candy installed for KDE4 and still play Wow, or Quake4 without having to suspend anything.
Also, building packages, including the kernel, is not mind numbing and is rather enjoyable.
Good article and I hope it makes it into someones hand at Kubuntu and they take note. I still have hopes for it, but there needs to be a TON of changes.
Joe
I moved to Arch Linux for many of the same reasons. KDEmod on Arch actually changed my mind about KDE as a desktop environment (I’d had issues with KDE being terribly slow previously). I much prefer the rolling release model as well. I was also getting fed up being unable to remove the annoying stuff in Ubuntu and really customize everything (try running Compiz as a standalone WM on Ubuntu and you find out very quickly. Arch definitely isn’t for everyone, but its for me. I had some hardware issues as well and I can’t get full 3d acceleration out of my ATI graphics card without downgrading the x server, but I’m pleased with it.
My experience with Arch has been very bad. I have attempted to install it 5 times on four different computers over the last couple years but have never been able to get past a command prompt. Not one time have I ever been able to get even a login. I installed my first version of linux in 1996 and have been a regular user. This is the only version of linux I have not been able to install and I have used just about all of them.
Just so you know, the command line is where the install brings you. You install xorg and any related window manager/desktop environment packages yourself. If you are expecting to be brought to a desktop manager login screen, you will be disappointed.
You can try http://chakra-project.org/ if Arch install is a problem for you(it takes a long time and you have to read the documentation). In case of problems use #archlinux chanel in freenode. For ATI cards on kernel 2.6.31 KMS is enabed by default and it can cause problems and it must be disabled.
Chakra is pretty cool. I prefer to install by hand though, the thing I like most about Arch is that I install only the things I need and want.
I guess you followed the following tut?
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide
I know the philosophy of Arch is to keep it as basic as possible, but a simple install script to get the system up-to X level would greatly help the adoption rate. I am sure most Arch systems out there are X (+ Gnome, KDE) enabled?
You can easily write a script to install all the necessary stuff. I am probably going to write an article about that, but it won’t be completely distro-specific.
Which kind of machines did you use (graphic card, architecture etc.) ?
I installed Arch on many machines and thousands of others did successfully.
Did you ask in the community for a solution for your problems ?
When installing X (including the correct graphic driver), this usually did not work out of the box for me. For keyboard and mouse working in X, evdev or xorg.conf have to be configured and HAL policies have to be set for the keymaps. But this is described nicely in details in the installation guide and wiki.
After using Arch for about two years, it is still the distro of my choise. I still check other distros from time to time, e.g. Ubuntu, as there are some interesting innovations like Upstart and deviceKit. But the flexibility, simplicity of its build-up and the rolling release is unbeatable.
Yes, Arch rocks !!!
My primary machine has a M57SLI-S4 motherboard, AMD Athlon X2 6400+, 6GB RAM, and a Nvidia Geforce 9800GT video card. My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1545 that came with Ubuntu preinstalled. The wireless card it came with required a hack to make it work (Broadcom).
My reply and questions were adresses to “jwhibdon” and his problems
.
It’s a bit rich blaming “a certain network card company”. Who was it that purchased this Linux-unfriendly hardware? Aren’t you rewarding them for being unfriendly?
Absolutely not. The laptop in question was purchased with Ubuntu preinstalled. It’s not my fault Dell included a wireless card that was unfriendly with Linux. I did the right thing and changed the network card to one that is supported natively.
For the exact same reasons, I started using sidux. It’ a rolling release distro also, basically Debian sid, but with it’s own artwork, kernel and a few extra packages.
It’s very nice, and worth a try. Specially for those used to *buntu, as also has debian packages, and the config files are basically the same.
However, I’m a bit of a distro hopper, and have also tried other distros in the mean time (in the laptop, while my desktop remains sidux). I used Arch a while ago also, but had a few problems with it. But I’ll probably try again, specially after KDE 4.4 goes final…
Sidux rocks. If I wasn’t using Arch I would probably be using Sidux. I completely agree with you, it’s an amazing distribution.
i got it the first time around but the hal thing kept turning me off. 3rd time i installed it i pushed forward and kept going till i got hal working and have used it ever since. its been nearly a year now and i love it. its like freebsd in many ways but has support for more video cards and flash player. the ability to customize is unparalled and best part was choosing a name for my custom install
I too am frustrated with kubuntu´s 6 month snapshot release cycle…. I have to jump thru hoops to have the latest KDE, the latest Kernel, etc etc…
However i prefer the Debian way and I am a bit reluctant to switch to another packaging scheme and different config file locations etc etc…
I have my eye on Sidux, its debian based, desktop oriented and seems really nice: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=sidux has anyone tried it?
I have tried it, but only very briefly. From my one or two day trial of it I was very impressed.
I’ll just stick with Linux Mint as my choice of distro. Arch looks pretty cool, though.
Of recently I have been using gentoo. I cannot get KDE to work due to a problem with Akonadi and so KDE crashes right after I see the KDE splash/boot screen. I now have a gentoo installation without KDE working right.
Even after several daily updates the problem still persists. I asked around on the IRC forums about what the deal is with this Akonadi problem of mine and no one persisted in their answers.
I provided loads of screen dumps and still nothing……
I guess I should move to Arch but I personally prefer compiling my apps due to the fact that I use a relatively old system.
One thing that I can say about Gentoo is that you really learn Linux.
Kubuntu’s upgrade leaving me without wireless connectivity on my laptop was the last straw. I am a happy arch user. It took some time to get it just the way I want it. Without all the bloatware I boot onto KDE using only 115MB RAM !
The package manager is really fast. Since KDE 4.x is developing really fast and improving a lot with each release I didnt want to wait either. with Arch i can get updates within a day or 2.
same reasons why i left debian for arch, and i’ve never looked back. i love arch linux!