mintCast 239 – A Friendly Look at Arch
239]
News:
- Linux Mint 18 codenamed “Sarah” (blog.linuxmint.com)
- New features in Linux Mint 17.3 Xfce (linuxmint.com)
- AT&T chooses Ubuntu Linux instead of Microsoft Windows (betanews.com)
- Google’s creepy plan to kill the password (engadget.com)
Main Topic:
- A friendly look at Arch Linux!
- “You’ve reached the website for Arch Linux, a lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.”
Tips & Websites:
- Arch Linux (http://www.archlinux.org/)
- How to change boot splash screen on Ubuntu or Linux Mint (xmodulo.com) “Question: On my desktop, I want to change the initial splash screen which is shown during boot time. How can I customize boot splash screen on [Ubuntu, Linux Mint]?”
Pre-Show Music:
- “Yesterday’s Conversation” by Angus Wallace
- “The Red Stone” by Ground & Leaves
Podcast Announcements:
- SCALE 14x – January 21-24, 2016 (Pasadena, CA, USA)
- Greater London LUG Meet up – January 28, 2016 (near Waterloo station)
- linux.conf.au 2016 – February 1-5, 2016 (Geelong, Victoria, Australia)
- Linux Conferences 2016 (events.linuxfoundation.org/)
More Information:
Hosts: Rob, Scott, Joe and Isaac
Live Stream every other Sunday 2:00 p.m.(Central): mintcast.org/livestream
Contact Us:
- Forum: forums.linuxmint.com (rarely)
- Email: [email protected]
- Twitter: @mintCast @3dbeef @txhawkins @JoeRessington @stupidcoder @Linux_Mint
- IRC: irc.spotchat.org – #mintcast
- Google+: mintCast
More Linux Mint info: website, blog, forums, community
Credits:
Podcast Entry and exit music provided by Mark Blasco (podcastthemes.com). Podcast bumpers provided by Oscar.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Ha ha! Not listened yet but it looks like you’ve ruined my first prediction of 2016 right away 🙂
Had a lot of fun listening to you guys! Arch seems a bit out of my scope but I am learning! Enjoying the info!
Hello MintCast Team,
Excellent show as usual. I noticed that you were lamenting the fact that there is nothing really exciting to talk about since Mint moved to their new release model. So let me suggest that you start looking at Linux application availability or rather the lack there of.
As I prowl around the web there is one thing that I have noticed about Linux users. They are absolutely obsessed with new themes, icon sets, wobbly windows and the likes and as well as spinning there own distros with the same lame software; save the GIMP and LibreOffice. Fact of the matter is that no one is really writing truly unique and innovative software for Linux. If they spent as much effort in writing more games, productivity software, etc. the community would be much better off.
Should you choose to take up this endeavor let me start by making a recommendation of a piece of software for you to review. The tool is called Cameyo and its is Free Application Virtualization package for Linux, Mac and Windows. The function is self explanatory but what it does not tell you is that this tool will allow you to virtualise Windows apps to run under WINE in Linux. We need alternatives method to get good software for Liux and tools like this may fill the GAP.
Here is the link to the tool: http://www.cameyo.com/virtual-apps-for-personal
Keep up the good work.
Use architect Linux installer to easily install Arch. Losers
It seemed Rob was pushing really hard to make the takeaway that Arch is a teaching tool. It can serve well enough in this respect, but really Arch should be described as a distribution that has a large repository of packages that closely follow upstream and that largely leaves configuration to the user. In my experience, Arch is pretty stable, with most instability coming either from bugs in the software itself (if there’s a bug in the latest LibreOffice, you will have that bug on Arch; a slower moving distro like Mint has the luxury of looking back over the last year or so of LibreOffice releases and picking out the most stable one to use) or user error in the software configuration (configuration that other distros might have included in the package itself, since they are less committed to tracking the upstream source as closely as possible like Arch does).
I don’t know what Joe’s issue was with Antergos, but I agree with the person in IRC that it is the beginner installer for Arch. It has an actual installer (unlike Arch itself) which includes setting up GNOME. It sets up pacman to point to the official Arch repos, so when the installer finishes you really have an Arch system just with more packages than the official Arch “installer” includes. Manjaro uses its own repositories, so it is only Arch-like and not Arch (since besides the installer the repostories are the key component that defines a distro; I also don’t like the Linux from Scratch comparison for this — it doesn’t have repos).
I wish Isaac luck with his Broadcom card. I try to buy only computers with Intel cards to avoid those issues.
After hearing you guys describe the pain it was to install Arch Linux, I’ve decided not to bother installing it from scratch in my lifetime. I’m quite happy with a modern installer that comes with Linux Mint. I’m not going back to the Stone Age, thanks.
Hello Mint-Casters!
I used to be a serial wipe and reinstall guy but thanks to the rolling release model of arch and the fine grain control I have over my operating system and what gets installed I still have installations from 2007 happily rolling along with Archlinux.
However Archlinux is not the right distribution for everyone!
If you want to use your computer where you just want stuff to work auto-magically, Archlinux may most likely not be for you.
This idea of Mint and Ubuntu to just work out of the box was never true for me and was the thing that bricked my systems after an update more often than I care to admit. That’s how and when I stumbled over Archlinux – not expecting much or more of the same but I found my match there and then.
But that’s just me. You have to decide that for yourself. Archlinux is not just a better distribution. After all It’s just one among many.
The power that free software gives _you_ is the power for you to choose and decide what is right and good _for you_.
Keep up the great work,
Stefan.
Some great thoughts on Arch itself. Especially the part of using Arch as a “rite of passage” kind of thing. It is silly. But a Distro as great as Arch should not exclude newer Linux users in my opinion. Thats where Antergos comes in and where i have to disagree with you guys. It is leaps and bounds more polished and styled than Manjaro and even more important, it sits on top of the Arch repos and does not do its own thing. Yes, the installer used to be a bit buggy at times, but not any more. Any linux noob can install it (not saying that any Linux noob should) and is rewarded with a stable system with a ton of up to date software. Coming from Mint you can even use Cinnamon which integrates very nicely.
Best wishes for 2016 to all of you.
Loved this episode, even though there are those that make a mountain out of a molehill. I mean really? You get upset over a code name? I would hate to imagine what else you get all worked up about. Also I happen to love wobbly windows and am having trouble getting them to work on my sony vaio for some reason
Hey Guys!
Love MintCast. Have listened to every single episode. And love Arch!
I’m an online applications developer working in PHP and MySQL. And I work at a university that is a Microsoft shop.
For me, I needed a cutting edge version of Linux that delivered the latest version of a Microsoft Office compatible suite while providing me a programming environment on my desktop. Thus began my long process of distro hopping, always avoiding Arch because it didn’t have a live distro to offer for testing.
Finally I bit the bullet, installed Arch and haven’t looked back.
When I’m salvaging someone’s parents or grandparents or a friend’s computer that is riddled with viruses but only surf the net and check their email, I always install Mint and have never been disappointed.
But when it comes to working in Linux, Arch is the distro for me.
Honestly, it is not a “rite of passage”. Nor is it for experts. All you have to be able to do is read … the “Beginner’s Guide” that is and not the “Installation Guide”.
Once you make the flip, running and maintaining Arch is not that difficult. I don’t find it any more difficult than blowing out my machine every year or so and starting from scratch.
Sure. There are moments. But when those moments arrive, you have the Arch Wiki! Hands down the most informative repository of information on all-things-Linux that exists in the known computer universe. How many times have you been looking for the solution to a problem and found yourself on the Arch Wiki?. There’s a reason for that. Because Arch users see it all before anyone else does.
Agreed the “Installation Guide” is misleading and getting a Broadcom chip working on almost any Linux distribution is a challenge. But if you can get past those 2 obstacles, Arch really isn’t as painful and difficult to use as claimed by some in this broadcast.
My 2 cents. Keep up the good work, guys!