My Arch Linux Installation

published 2021-08-05

This is not a tutorial

This post isn't going to show you how to install Arch Linux.

If you're looking for a tutorial, I'd recommend this tutorial by DistroTube.

Why I like arch so much

Arch Linux has a pretty sharp learning curve. In order to use it (or even get it set up) you need to know your system inside and out. So why use it?

It is super efficient. You build your system from scratch, meaning you have like no bloatware aside from what you put on it.

The docs are perhaps the best docs I've ever used. The Arch Wiki have super well-written explanations for everything you could ever want to know about Linux. Even if you're not using Arch, they are an invaluable resource.

Your system is tailored to you. Since every package is installed by you, you get to put your preferred terminal emulator, window server, window manager, etc. You can also customize it however you want. For example, I have 4 kenels installed, and a cool GRUB selector screen to choose which one I want to use on boot. Sure you could do that on any Linux box, but on Arch it feels almost encouraged.

It forces you to learn so much. I'm a huge fan of learning new things, and switching to Arch felt like being plugged into the matrix. I had to learn a lot about Linux to get it working, and to use it efficiently you need to know your system inside and out. Which isn't as bad as it seems because your system is only what you install, and the Wiki can teach you everything you need to know.

Any downsides? Well as previously mentioned the learning curve is steep. The community is also a little snobbish. Other than that though, I've yet to find anything serious to complain about.

My install specifically.

Here are some of the things that I use, in case you're interested (for more info on any of them, the Arch Wiki is a good place to check). Also, my dot files can be found here.

Xorg for my window server. It does all the things I need it to and rarely complains. I hear Wayland is good too, but I've not tried it yet.
I use i3 for my window manager. Tiling managers are awesome, and I often miss them when I need to use mac or windows. Plus, key mappings are awesome, I barely ever need to use a run-dialog.
Rofi for my run dialog
I use Alacritty as my terminal emulator. It's fast, easy to configure, and hasn't given me reason to switch.
I use picom as my compositor to make nice screen effects, for example semi-transparent terminals.
I use ALSA for my sound card stuff, and PulseAudio as my sound server.
For writing code, I like Emacs (specifically Doom Emacs).
I use Firefox for general internet stuff, since it's memory-efficient and makes it easy to sync tabs between my laptop and phone.
Calibre for reading ebooks.
Texmaker for writing LaTeX documents (however I've been using Emacs more and more for that lately)

And that's pretty much it. 9 main applications to do almost all of my computing. There are probably some other things I'm forgetting, but these are what I interact with on a regular basis.

What I've learned while using Arch

I feel like I'm now a reasonably competent sysadmin when it comes to Linux, all because of arch. I know my system pretty well, and am able to do whatever I really need to within it.