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View Full Version : Arch Linux is awesome!


lespaul_rentals
February 6th, 2008, 01:36 PM
I had heard a lot about Arch but never tried it until the other day. Holy crap! It's everything you could want in a lightweight distro!

As far as level of technical know-how, it's somewhere between Gentoo and Slackware. You don't have to build the system from the ground up and compile every single thing like Gentoo, but you use Nano to configure networks, startup daemons, all that kind of stuff. This is my favorite way of configuring my system, and Arch encourages it. :)

The curses-based installer is brilliant. It's the best installer for any system I have ever used, whether GUI, command-line, or curses-based. It's advanced enough to let you fine-tune your system, but simple enough to get a command-line system going in about 15 minutes (that's how long it took me first install).

Pacman is great, the repositories have most of what you could want. It works well and resolves dependencies just fine.

Overall, Arch gets my thumbs up! If there are any Arch devs here, I want to thank you!

K.Mandla
February 6th, 2008, 08:19 PM
Another satisfied customer. :D

mips
February 6th, 2008, 09:47 PM
Welcome to the club!

woedend
February 6th, 2008, 10:06 PM
about time :)

finferflu
February 7th, 2008, 09:40 AM
Let's see how many of these kind of posts we get :D

Seriously, I don't understand why Arch doesn't get more popular. It's the best you can get out of Linux.

RedSquirrel
February 7th, 2008, 10:53 PM
... but you use Nano to configure networks, startup daemons, all that kind of stuff. :)

... or vi(m), of course. ;)


This is my favorite way of configuring my system, and Arch encourages it. :)

The first time I read The Arch Way (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/The_Arch_Way) I knew Arch was the distro for me.

Alex_Fingers
February 7th, 2008, 11:04 PM
I never heard of Arch before...

Can I ask - is this something I could install on a really, really old computer with about 128meg of memory ? I need something ultra slim for a friend's computer but also as robust as ubuntu. I'd rather not have to dig out an old copy of Windows 98 !!!

Tenken
February 7th, 2008, 11:07 PM
Arch is great for old computers, try using a WM or XFCE to make the most of your 128M.

christhemonkey
February 7th, 2008, 11:09 PM
I <3 arch.


Its what i use from now onwards.




Unless its on a pc with more power...

RedSquirrel
February 7th, 2008, 11:16 PM
I never heard of Arch before...

Can I ask - is this something I could install on a really, really old computer with about 128meg of memory ? I need something ultra slim for a friend's computer but also as robust as ubuntu. I'd rather not have to dig out an old copy of Windows 98 !!!
For Ubuntu, depending on the exact specs, you might try this:

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal#barebones

... or Arch, of course.

I seem to remember reading that the latest Arch ftp installer requires 160 MB RAM for the installation. If you go that route, I recommend you double-check the required RAM. There is also the core iso (which will give you all of the essentials on the CD).

K.Mandla
February 7th, 2008, 11:18 PM
I never heard of Arch before...

Can I ask - is this something I could install on a really, really old computer with about 128meg of memory ? I need something ultra slim for a friend's computer but also as robust as ubuntu. I'd rather not have to dig out an old copy of Windows 98 !!!
Yes, provided your computer is not an i586, like a K6-2 or similar processor. Arch is precompiled for 686 machines, which means anything after the Pentium Pro.