Manual arch install was one of the best experiences I had on Linux so far. You learn so much (even more when you try to compare file systems for example to find the best one for you) from the wiki. I don’t know if I’ll be switching from it haha. I’m in the same boat as you, wanting to learn it more and more, hell I’m reading How Linux Works book haha. CLI file management is nice, but I still go back to GUI a lot cos it’s easier to drag and drop to another window instead of figuring out the path to copy to. Not gonna use it just for the sake of it lol Unless someone has tips. I’m all ears :)
Arch is pretty painless on the long run, almost everything is available when you combine AUR and official. I’ve had some package manager issues after not using my laptop for like 6 months but I believe it more a lack for arch knowledge rather than a problem for intermediate / advanced user.
What was frustrating, like in every single imperative distro it that I feel like the system isn’t clean anymore after a while and I end up reinstalling or hoping for another distro.
What I found to daily drive everything rock solid but in a funny way is NixOS, which is declarative. If you have some time and curiosity I would recommend checking how it works. No more distro hoping / installs for me
I frequently switch between audio outputs (headset for calls and focused gaming, speakers for other use). I installed an audio switcher applet to make changing that easier and faster. But cosmic is perfect for me other than that.
Tldr and tealdeer in the arch repo are both helpful, but Ill do you one better since someone already beat me to it. I found fish shell’s tab completion with either tool to be immensely helpful if you’re not trying to stay stock standard. But if you’re working on a lot of remote machines you don’t own stick with bash/zsh.
There’s some easy to find fuzzy search and linting for for history plugins that mean if you found it once you can do it again in whichever shell.
Its mostly familiarity, but i don’t think I could function without fzf.
I don’t like Gnome but Dash to Panel at least makes it usable for me. As for tweaks, I always move KDE’s taskbar to the top of the screen rather than bottom.
I’m not sure that I’d call vanilla GNOME (or any modern DE) unusable for me, but Tiling Assistant is really great. I’m looking forward to GNOME’s upcoming tiling changes so I no longer have to rely on an extension to give me quarter tiling.
Dash to Dock is also nice, though I don’t necessarily mind having to hit Super to see my dock.
I’m also looking for general tips and advice for beginners if anyone has some to share.
The only thing that is stopping a Windows user from becoming a Linux user is the package manager – learn how to use it in the cli. Then the "rest’ should be an obvious, flat curve (which “package” goes for video card, audio, etcetc).
Windows’s package managers are MS only (ish). msiexec is a bit of a convoluted pain compared to apt, yum, pacman or even portage.
When you update a Linux box, everything is updated not just the OS. That is not the case on Windows where each browser, pdf viewer etc has its own updater service or not.
I’ve been doing IT software monkeying for several decades for many companies, some of which you will have heard of. Trust me: the Windows model is not the best. It certainly should not be a reason to fear Linux.
Most distros have a “Politely notify that some updates are available, would you mind awfully if I install them?” … cracks on in the background and then suggests a reboot only if the kernel was updated.
Proton is the compatibility layer that allows Seam games developed for Windows to run under Linux. Some games, unfortunately, may have problems that cause you to be left out.
What are the best resources out there? Arch Wiki without a doubt
Doubt! The Gentoo Handbook is one of the best, if not the best documentation out there. It’s especially useful for beginners because it doesn’t just offer code snippets to copy/paste, but explains background knowledge and how things work.
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