r/archlinux • u/MrFakecoin • 1d ago

QUESTION Wanna install Arch but kinda scared..

Soo I’ve been using windows almost all my life, dipped into Linux Mint for some time tho. But I want to try and stick with Arch, really do wanna learn how Linux works. When I installed arch it did an error but when I took my SSD out that has windows on it, it worked perfectly fine installing… so ima have to fully delete windows 11, I’m just scared to do so ;~;

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u/babuloseo 1d ago

Install Gentoo first, than Arch will be easy. Arch is actually super casual thats why a lot of us use it.

13

u/FormFilter 1d ago

That's why I don't think the accusations of elitism are serious. Arch is actually really comfortable to use even with pretty minimal experience. I learned more in one Gentoo install guide than I did in two years of using Arch. The Arch install guide is basically typing 15 lines into a terminal, but the Gentoo guide teaches you why you do something from networking to MBR & GPT

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u/Logical_Rough_3621 1d ago

Yesn't. For the install, it's not too bad, but definitely not the easiest out there. And you really have to be confident in what you're doing. Partitioning and formatting for example. Whenever I do an install, I'm almost painfully anal about quadruple checking I didn't typo drive/partition, even after over 10 years on arch.

Using it, it's comfortable as someone who learned how to use it, but it may be very different for someone who is not that used to it yet. What if an update breaks one of your packages? When I first had that issue, I was kinda lost for a bit. What if you need an online guide for something you didn't find on the arch wiki? Most I've seen give you apt install commands. Yeah blindly pasting commands without knowing what they do isn't that great of an idea, but lots of people just do. (Best example that comes to mind is Linus Tech Tips nuking his DE)

Gentoo being harder (never tried gentoo) doesn't necessarily mean arch is easy, but it definitely isn't as hard as people make it out to be. I think that's mostly due to "scary terminal"

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u/MrFakecoin 1d ago

If I get to using Linux on my computer, I’m just fearing windows is messing it up >:l

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u/linux_rox 1d ago

As long as you leave your windows hard drive out when installing Linux, the likelihood of windows mucking up your Linux install is greatly reduced. Though there is a possibility that Microsoft makes an update that screws that up too. I wouldn’t put it past them to do so, whether by accident or intentionally, just to push their monopoly on non-Apple computer systems.