LETTER OF THE MONTH
Arch villains
Why do you persist in suggesting that installing and using Arch-based distributions is complex and not suitable for beginners? I have been running ArcoLinux for well over a year now – it has a graphical installer, Calamares, which guides users through the entire installation process. It is particularly easy to install. No issues at all. So, perhaps it is time to lay this nonsense to rest for ever. I get the impression that unless the distro is either Debian or Ubuntu, you feel unable for some reason to offer any other distros to Linux newcomers. I have operated various distributions over the years, including Mandriva, Debian-based and Ubuntu-based distros – each had their own issues as a beginner. However, having moved from a fixed to a rolling release distro, I have had far fewer issues. The worst operating system I have ever used was Windows, and as Microsoft has made it almost impossible to upgrade my current i5-powered PC to Windows 11/12, I have almost fully migrated to GNU/Linux.
John McCulloch
Neil says…
I did wonder whether I should reword what Mayank had said about Arch, but in the big scheme of things, it seemed reasonable.
I’d say you’re conflating Arch itself with Arch-based distros. Sure, Manjaro (as an example) is a great distro, potentially for beginners, that happens to be Arch-based. However, you’d never suggest Arch itself (which is what I think he was referring to) to a beginner, just as you wouldn’t suggest Debian is for a beginner, but Ubuntu would be.
You do raise another point, however: rolling release versus point release, which someone else was asking about recently and is worth us taking a delve into.