After how much playing around did you try Archlinux?

[Majorix]

Archlinux is considered to be a somewhat advanced distro. So not many noobs/newbs want to use it. Like in the case with Gentoo.

So my question to you is, after how much time with Linux did you decide to try Arch?

My story goes like this: I became a Linux user in this summer mainly. I played around mainly with Ubuntu and tried to become familiar with way things work with Linux. Two weeks ago, one day, -I think I was crazy-, I decided to install Arch.

Since then I am testing it out on my experimenting PC.

So give me a pat on the back: I am probably one of the youngest (if you were born the day you started using Linux that is) Arch users.

How was it in your case?

[notanatheist]

I started back in the RedHat 7.0 beta days. Grew through a couple versions of that and Mandrake. Moved to Slackware for a while which I still have a love for. Never got into BSD. Played with a few other distros in between before going to primarily Gentoo. Started with Ubuntu @ 5.10 but never liked it for my desktop. I still use Ubuntu on my laptop (or new laptop this week) but stick to using Arch on the desktop. This is my second time back to Arch after doing Gentoo in between and giving Ubuntu another chance on the desktop.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with Arch although nothing is perfect. I have a tendency to build packages from scratch which isn't always convenient on Debian based systems. Arch is fast enough for my needs without getting in the way as Ubuntu seems to do. The primary reason for Ubuntu on the laptop is the "it just works" part. The user base is huge and finding answers is typically quick.

That be all,
Mr O.

[hyperair]

Well I had Arch on a virtual machine for some time, but ran out of space and took it out. Since I just got a new hard disk maybe I'll try dual booting with Arch someday.

[finferflu]

I didn't even know much about Arch until last summer. I had read around it was a distro for developers. What a off-the-mark review. So I had thought I wouldn't have had a use for it. Then I asked around these forums for a fast and lightweight KDE distro, and I was pointed to KdeMod. That happened after about a year I spent with Linux (VectorLinux --> Knoppix --> Ubuntu --> Arch).

[Rumor]

My own Linux adventure started with Ubuntu 5.10 in November 2005. I spent a lot of time learning and reading numerous reviews and articles about different distros.

At some point, I came across this interview: http://www.osnews.com/story/10142 and my curiosity was piqued.

I did my first successful install of 0.72 "Gimmick" in June / July 2006 and was immediately hooked by pacman and the whole rolling release philosophy.

Shortly after that was the time where every time Ubuntu had an update to the restricted headers that my nVidia drivers would not be recognized and my X would break. After being frustrated by an upgrade to Ubuntu 7.04, I decided to stop dual booting and went exclusively with Arch.

[Lord Illidan]

Hmm, I've been using Linux for about 5 years, and exclusively for the last year. I tried Arch last winter, and I am now back on it again.

That said, it's not as hard as gentoo, which I tried before. But it's fast, and I don't need to compile the kernel or anything to make it work on my hardware. Yet.

[manmower]

Around 2001 or 2002, I installed Vector Linux on an old Pentium 200 MHz machine. But installing it was pretty much the only thing I ever did, never gave it another look. Then in 2003 tried Gentoo. Took me a week or so to get tired of all the waiting for stuff to compile. So much so that I went back to using Windows exclusively until 2006. Then I gave Ubuntu Dapper a shot, which managed to piss me off in even less than a week. I then messed around with about ten distros in the following days before settling on Arch. I've used it for more than a year now, and I'm not afraid to say that everything I learned about GNU/Linux, I learned through Arch. So I don't think starting with Arch requires any background knowledge whatsoever. The will to learn is more than sufficient.

[justin whitaker]

I'm going to have to try Arch, aren't I? :)

[drcranium]

Started with a distro my school makes(BULinux) in September, then tried ubuntu. Tried that for a month, then went through pretty much every distro. Tried Arch in November. And here I am.

[justin whitaker]

You all are enablers.

:lolflag:

[Rumor]

You all are enablers.


Um, you misspelled 'enlightened' :razz:

[Sunflower1970]

Tried it a couple of weeks ago. Got it installed, but have had trouble connecting to the 'net. The desktop computer I'm testing it on has a wireless connection only. Makes it a bit more difficult to get it up and running....I'll try it again at some point...(once I get Debian Lenny up and running with only the wireless connection...)

[K.Mandla]

I think it was about eight months after I started in with Ubuntu full time that I tried my first Arch installation. In retrospect I still had a lot of learning to do (who doesn't, except maybe Linus?) and that wasn't nearly enough time to be fiddling with Arch. But it was an important experience.

[kpkeerthi]

I used linux (ubuntu) for about 18 months before I tried Arch. Now I'm hooked to Arch. Both my laptop and desktop are running Arch and only Arch. I love the speed.

[cprofitt]

I ran Ubuntu for about 4 weeks (here and there - not as main OS), I then went to Debian which is on my work laptop (4 months now) and I am now playing with Arch on my test machine -- it was very easy to setup and get the items I wanted functioning... I am not really sure I like KDE -- I think I like Gnome better.

[Rumor]

I ran Ubuntu for about 4 weeks (here and there - not as main OS), I then went to Debian which is on my work laptop (4 months now) and I am now playing with Arch on my test machine -- it was very easy to setup and get the items I wanted functioning... I am not really sure I like KDE -- I think I like Gnome better.

I'm using Gnome on three of the desktops I have running Arch. I use fluxbox on two other slower desktops and my laptop.

I find Gnome to be very responsive in Arch.

[notanatheist]

If you are on Arch try e17-cvs. Fluxbox is my normal desktop window manager but e17 is proving to be quite slick without causing any performance penalties that I can see.

[mivo]

After a few month, though I didn't experience Arch as overly difficult. It really requires mostly one skill: to be able to read (the wiki, the comments, the forum).I run it on my other box (32-bit), and had it for a while on my main workstation (64-bit), but switched the latter back to Ubuntu because of better, less tedious 64-bit support (Java Web Start, Flash, MPlayer) and better 32-bit support for a 64-bit systems (could not get Quake Wars to work, for instance). Arch is great, though. :)

[Tenken]

I used Ubuntu for about a year before deciding to try another distro, I stumbled upon Arch somewhere and now run Arch+Openbox on my laptop and Ubuntu on my desktop.