When I started with Linux I was told to take the time and install arch Linux from scratch. I took a whole Sunday for me not knowing anything. But you learn so much doing this that I still advice colleagues of mine to do it this way, if they want to learn more about Linux.
It took me a whole week of after work hours. It crashed after the first update, same with Manjaro. Only MABX and ArchCraft have been smooth experiences for me.
>I still advice colleagues of mine to do it this way, if they want to learn more about Linux. Me too. In fact, I advise them to do it even when they _don't_ want to learn more about Linux. Heck, pretty much all my communication with them is sending them the installation wiki URL. ( o.o)
I first read your comment as "When I started with Linux I was told to take the time and install Linux from Scratch." and was surprised that someone would tell a new Linux user to use that distro, as you waste your life for two weeks trying to install something that does not have a package manager, and you have to compile everything from scratch. Luckily that was not your comment lol I have tried to install LFS and I did not succeed after trying multiple times
I’m still new to Linux and tried introducing myself to it by installing Linux mint, but trying to configure my hardware was a nightmare. After I heard about arch’s rolling release, I switched over to see how bad it could be, ran arch-install and everything’s been running fine since. I’ve learned more about Linux and have actually been running it through arch, it just works
I recently moved from Win11 to Arch after a very long break from linux (last time I used it, I was running gentoo in like 2008 as desktop, then centos in 2011 for a home server). I used archinstall because I just wanted something up and running fast and already know the linux guts so I wouldn't have been learning much doing it manually. Archinstall is great.
I drink the salty tears of the fanboys who complain it's not easy enough - they just want a distro that proves they know something, and now Arch no longer gives them that XDDD. This is absolutely a win for linux and people should be happy for it.
I've tried this method half a year ago and I can confim, that it's way quicker and more user friendly than old, manual approach. With old way I was always forgetting something and was need to chroot again with the usb stick.
I don't think installing arch the old way was such a big deal (it's mostly just reading along and following isntructions, if you can build an ikea table then you can install arch). But it was very time consuming, so this is a great change. Overall I think the main problem people run into with arch is after the install. Since it's so open to new things and lets you do whatever you want, if you don't know what you're doing and you just update all the time and install random aur packages you might end up "breaking it". I prefer to run fedora or debian based stuff because they tend to have a safety net for my own stupidity, haha.
Yeah, of course once you know more its easier to plan ahead. On that regard I'm very happy that my first distro was mint because timeshift / btrfs snapshots are introduced to you on the welcome screen. But if you come straight from Windows breakage is just a couple clicks away...
I think nowadays immutability is the core of user friendliness (ChromeOS and SteamOS do it, though that alone isn't a good argument). A more stable update stream sadly doesn't protect the machine from user error. astOS is a minimal, atomically updating Arch based distro. BlendOS comes with great container management and is going declarative (like the OG NixOS but probably more beginner friendly). There's Fedora Silverblue, OpenSuse microOS (rolling) and they're adding an immutable version of their point release soon too.
The mirror selection menu allows you to only select American mirrors instead of foreign ones which IMO is highly recommended if you want faster downloads. Also, the bootloader selection only defaults to GRUB on systems that don’t have UEFI; it defaults to systemd-boot on systems that do.
I had to install on my media center yesterday. I've already installed using the guide on different machines but yesterday I really didn't fell like going through it again. The install script worked perfect and it made my day.
Archinstall is a good option if you installed the manual way 100times or just have to quickly install some machines. The problem with Arch now easier and widely available is, that beginners should be aware how you update Arch in a safe way and debug if the system breaks. There were installer even with GUI before archinstall that is not the problem. If the user is not afraid of keeping his system running Arch in my opinion is the best Linux for everyone.
I use arch linux as main distro, installed with archinstall. Works flawlessly. I used the archinstall script many times, to test various desktop environments or wm in archlinux and it's so easy
One thing is clearly stated in the FAQ: „Why would I not want to use Arch? You may not want to use Arch, if: - you do not have the ability/time/desire for a 'do-it-yourself' GNU/Linux distribution. - you require support for an architecture other than x86_64 - you take a strong stance on using a distribution which only provides free software as defined by GNU. - you believe an operating system should configure itself, run out of the box, and include a complete default set of software and desktop environment on the installation media. - you do not want a rolling release GNU/Linux distribution. - you are happy with your current OS.“ If more users would follow that advise there would be much less friction with Arch in the forums and overall discussions in my opinion.
@bigmikeobama5314 That is a bit „harsh“ in my opinion, I personally find that „rtfm“ is also taken to negatively. Arch and Gentoo have really good manuals and if you tell someone to read into them, it is just most of the time much better, complete and updated then I could someone give a short answer. Most of the time I do it so, that I link to the part they need in the wiki. If they are then willing to read they have all they need. If you want to use arch then you need to have the mentality to be open to read a documentation and to get familiar with the terminal some times and that is something even a beginner can do or learn to do. I am not that type of person that condemns someone for asking. If the same questions get asked over and over again also the answers are available and easy to find that is when I think that beginner should overthink the generell approach.
Agreed. it pains me seeing all the people on the forums trying to get help for silly things that could be found with a simple google search, looking through logs or looking up on the wiki.
I use arch and I honestly can’t stand how douchey the community is. So, I just ask chatGPT. Manjaro’s devs aren’t much better; they are so nasty to anyone who asks questions, or points out when they’re wrong.
@@robotron1236 I also was in both communities, Manjaro at the start when I switched to Arch-Base and for myself I can‘t back your experience. I had some problems with the graphics back then and found good help and solutions, but it of course depends on the people answering. The internet would be a better place if the users that ask would do more complete posts and the answers would be more polite. I also don‘t like that whole cancel culture that is unfolding more and more. 🤷♂️
DT Great video! Two thumbs up! The Archlinux script install has been out for a while and makes installing easy. I made exactly the same mistakes you did (if you didn't do it on purpose to make a point) with the partitioning and formatting the disk or disks. But I still like using my method of installing via ssh since I have several computers. Boot a Archlinux install thumb drive on the target machine to be installed, start sshd, then create passwd and copy the IP address. Then login from a second host machine into the target machine, use your text notes to copy and paste into a terminal once login for your custom install. One or more installs can be done this way. :)
I think for beginners it will still be daunting because they don't really know what each step is doing or what the choices are or why one would choose something.
Problem with new users is fear of the terminal. In all honesty I think they'll find this less 'scary' than regular terminal commands are making it more accessible
Wow, that was an incredibly easy way to install Linux. I wish all the distributions had this way of installing. The only thing that screwed me up was forgetting about the iso file still selected as the boot device in virtualbox. After shutting down and removing it, all was well. There is a lot of stuff that needs to be installed though. Simple stuff like zip and unzip are missing and a lot of scripts depend on these utilities being there. I had to do a lot of research into configuring Alacritty and installing fonts. The newer version has a TOML config file and I just went straight to the documentation on it and learned how to configure everything but the default configuration for fonts was not to my liking so that was a must. I never had to mess with fonts in other distributions as the defaults were all great to work with. Now just to fill you in on the downside, I tried to do another install at work from memory because I thought it was so easy and neglected to select multilib and my Alacritty terminal had no visible characters in it, so the terminal was unusable! Had to Ctrl-Alt-F3 to do anything that required terminal. I didn't know how to enable the multilib from the command line, so I just did another re-install selecting mulitlib this time and then I couldn't log in! This turned out to be due to me selecting the "graphics acceleration" setting in the Virtualbox settings before booting up. My Intel video card did not like that setting and locked up the login screen when attempting to enter a password. After turning off that setting, everything started to work just like the installation that went well on my home setup.
I can understand that there might be practical reasons why going through the "full" Arch installation process might be better, but Linux becoming easier to use is a good thing. This comes across like Arch people being mad that the process is being democratized for people who don't want to bother with the entire installation process.
>Linux becoming easier to use is a good thing Heck no, it's not. Once you start bringing in the riff raff, they stink up the place with their noobness, and pretty soon you need to move to an even more exclusive/elite distro.
I mean what does an install script have anything to do with other Arch users? We all have free will, choose what you want, don't question why someone would choose a different start.
DIY distros require some level of knowledge that not everyone just selecting options in a TUI/GUI installer might have. Moreover, you get to know your installation better if you do it manually, which WILL come in handy when you have to do some troubleshooting. Archinstall is good if you are a seasoned user and know your preferences, not so much if it's your first time installing a DIY distro. If that's the case, you should face the complexity right off the bat because it pays off later on. Newbies and Arch wannabes don't have this knowledge and it only creates problems for the rest of the userbase because they don't even know the most basic steps to troubleshoot their systems, which means they often give the most bare and useless bug reports ever seen and waste countless hours of developer and community time. Arch is not a beginner distro and shouldn't be treated as such.
@@nishiko28Well....in fairness to them, I don't think it has to be a choice between DIY distros like Arch/Gentoo and attracting new users. We can do both and still gain people who are sick of Windows and Mac OS. But I agree with you that part of the problem with Linux getting taken up by "noobs" is people (not fsmoura necessarily) who think that Linux has to be a secret club that only people who compile their system from the ground up can enjoy.
When I wanted to try Arch I used the install script but it failed and I'm happy it did. I learned so much from just going through the install manually a couple of times. In the end it made me feel much more comfortable with Linux as a whole.
This is awesome. Yes, I think manually installing Linux is a good learning experience, but 15 years later I don't care about that, I just want to get the OS installed. We have the technology. I think this eliminates the need for endeavorOS for me. I could still see it useful for people who prefer a GUI to live boot from, but this is the installer I've been wanting for the longest time.
I'm glad Opensuse Tumbleweed Slow-roll was made for a laptops users and desktops that have limited bandwidth per month. I hope Arch Linux would do the same in the future. I have no cap for internet but once you start traveling other countries, you might not get good internet and so rolling release might not be a good option for some. My only wish is a slow rolling release of Arch would be great.
How did you do it? Im trying to do it but the closest i can even get is getting to the white line blinking at me on a black screen also been trying for almost 3 hours at this point but cant get any further
It's good that using Linux has become easier. It still has it's difficult moments. Now it's usable by users with a medium level of skill. People always talk about installing it, when talking about Arch, which is pretty stupid IMHO. The more interesting part of using Linux is what we do and create with it. I completed my MBA in Russia on Linux. I recorded an Indy Rock album with friends on Linux. Man team penguin needs to make some strides with music production software. Using VSTs in Linux is a nightmare and doing the one man band thing with some guitars, a bass and a drum machine program is kinda difficult. I'm impressed with the strides in gaming thanks to Valve and Proton.
I really like the arch install command because it lets me just install a super minimal install with all the basics already set up and then I just build my system from that. For me it only saves time from what I would have done anyways, and then I just add only what I want and not what is preinstalled with the more bloated profiles.
I love Arch Linux and the install script is not too hard to use. But you missed a few important points: 1. The install script doesn't automatically connect to WiFi. So you need to run iwctl and connect your WiFi before you start. This s not at all obvious and the script probably ought to run it for you. 2. You need to partition your disk. Most newbies won't know how to do this properly, although I do think that there are defaults. 3. If you're trying to create a dual-boot system with an existing Windows partition, than archinstall won't recognize it and configure grub properly. A more sophisticated installer like Endeavor has will do this for you. None of these are killers and Arch is still my distro of choice for various reasons. But I don't recommend it to new users who aren't prepared to get their hands dirty. Even with the install script there's a lot that you need to know.
I love this both for its convenience, and as a concept. I can show people who are interested in Linux how to install Arch this way, then they can get to learning Linux by using linux, and install it manually later if they so choose. It's convenient because I can have an Arch system with a full featured desktop environment like KDE up and running in less than 3 mintues, and I can do it on multiple computers back to back very quickly. Manual installation is good to know, but when you arleady know it, it's nice to have a way of doing it more efficiently when needed.
My best description on terminal experience is you feel like you're in The Matrix doing it I am getting more comfortable as I elevate my consciousness into achieving a higher goal.
Have done the normal installation in the past but used the install script for my more recent build. it is a handy time saver. nice to have the choice for the time poor.
If the goal is to delve into Linux internals and learn how it all works. Then, I would recommend Arch to anyone wishing to learn Linux at a lower level. Don't use the archinstall installation script. Do it the hard way because that is how you learn. Nobody learns anything without significant struggles. What doesn't terminate you makes you stronger. Install, rinse repeat ad nauseam. Someday you will thank yourself when you solve a really difficult Linux problem, merely because you gained insight into the way things work under the hood. Also advise a learner start with a virtual machine and later on physical hardware. VM snapshots can help you revert to a known good state. But hey, if you just want a really quick and easy Linux install, perhaps consider a non-rolling release distribution such as Linux Mint / Ubuntu / Pop_OS, etc. Especially if it's your first foray into Linux. Arch is more for the bleeding edge. Rolling releases tend to break frequently so you need to pay attention to the Arch wiki announcements and watch out for breaking changes that require manual intervention. You'll struggle far more with Arch.
Agreed. However, if the default look and feel of the DE/WM is not what you like, you might need to spend quite a lot of time and energy to understand and modify it.
Which I do every time because I want to tweak a bunch of details, e.g. file system stuff. Though archinstall looks like it gets you something pretty reasonable, but I am a bit curious how hard the manual partitioning bit is to use to get things exactly like you want it wrt. filesystems, LVM, and encryption compared to doing a manual install.
Install Arch the original way is like a test of will. If you made it, booted into desktop, you're ready for Arch, you are a willing one. I won't judge so people who use the install script to install Arch for the first time are just as willing as those who went the long way, but I can only speculate they will have to learn Arch a bit harder.
Option 2 if you like Arch is to consider Garuda as it's point and click easy to get going. It works well for Steam Emulation - running 98% of the games, including some other titles with some fiddling like World of Warships and until the latest changes, League of Legends. My only gripe is that the person in charge is busy and very very slow on updating programs in the repository and I can see it very easily becoming a dead version at any time as there is no large team of devs behind it. So it's good.. but... I'd not use it for school or work or anything that is productivity based. That said, moving back from Windows to Linux ( 21 operating systems so far in my life, Windows being only 6 of those ) was literally ripping off the band-aid on that old wound and getting the pain over with. Windows 10 bricked itself three times in a year. The data was fine but the thing was unable to finish loading due to drivers or something. Recovery did nothing. I was looking at being forced into upgrading to Windows 11 and that would require a whole new motherboard and CPU as mine didn't support their latest DRM and anti-copying technology ( simplifying it a lot) Basically $600 and a new copy for $150 as sorry, too much would be changed to keep my old license as valid... to stay current as Windows 10 was constantly dying on me. So one day in a fit of anger at the third crash and no hope of recovery, after trying to recover the machine for three days ( thank god I had my Macbook as a spare ), I went out, spent $25 on the cheapest name-brand SSD I could and dropped Linux on it. Simple, works, and run modern games on my old hardware just as fast. Yes,k a bit of a learning curve, but no worse than moving Windows versions or hopping onto any new phone or something like a Chromebook where the OS is not the same as before. It crashes maybe once a month versus every 2-3 days. Huge win and aside from League and some specific games like Genshin, it all works. My take-away is that Linux is not what it was even two years ago and with installers like this, it is really never easier to cut that umbilical cord to the evil empire and gain your freedom. And save your pocketbook at the same time.
while this DOES store passwords in plain text, that is only for the install portion just set a placeholder password and then change it once you have the os installed
The most difficult part of installing Arch is partitioning the disk and setting up file systems etc., especially if you're going to do something like LVM with volume groups and logical volumes or btrfs with multiple subvolumes. It doesn't seem like this really helps with that? Once you've go the disk partitioned, this seems like it would be pretty sweet though, would save you from the tedium of typing the other 10 or so commands.
@emmanuelrousseau7889 That has nothing to do with installing Arch, but I’ve never had a single issue with it as long as I checked the News before updating. Sometimes there will be a breaking change where you need to create a new symbolic link or something before the update.
@emmanuelrousseau7889 I don’t know exactly what you’re asking. If you’re asking what your point is related to, it’s related to maintaining Arch as opposed to installing it, which the video was about.
@emmanuelrousseau7889 "Installation" of an operating system is getting the OS installed. With most Linux distributions or Windows, this is basically the installation wizard. When people say Arch is hard to install, that's what they mean. Getting the software you want installed and integrated is similar regardless of distro. I'd argue it's easier on Arch because of the repos having more software and the AUR.
I love Arch, it's easy to use and the UI is like windows, runs windows apps easily via wine or proton runs 100% faster than windows, my only gripe is games with anticheat are still not running right.
I should have watched your video yesterday before installing Arch OMG ... I did it with the installation guide and such, took me about an hour or two doing so, with the bad being unable to get my network working properly (it's odd that network works fine in terminal, but it doesn't replicate onto the install)
I will never understand why anyone would continue to buy nvidia after switching to Linux. But archinstall is great. Just keep in mind that things like Bluetooth, TRIM support for SSDs, and printing (and Avahi/mdns for wireless printers) still need to be set up after installation, since Arch just ships everything as-is with nothing enabled by default. Which is a good thing, but it might trip new users up.
People say it's hard to install because there's no mention of the archinstall command after booting the iso, I didn't realize it existed before watching this video.
Same. Mine vms are based on arch. And manually formating and doing standard configs was annoying. Now i can use archinstall to quickly setup vm and just add browser and guest additions in 1 menu.
it's not much that arch linux is hard to install anymore, it's just that the packages you install are often not configured, or optimized by default for your workflow. You're gonna have to figure out a few things on your own, like sysctl properties, kernel parameters for your gpu, fonts for non latin characters, icons, UTF icons in your terminal, configuring GTK and QT, desktop themes, configuring pipewire, battery and power saving scripts (maybe comes with some DEs), setting up flatpak with the correct permissions, setting up network shares with SMB, getting wayland to work at all on your nvidia GPU, notifications and polkit, etc. In a normal distro, most of these would already be configured in a sensible way (even some arch-based distros like endeavour and, god forbid, manjaro).
This is the EZ way for a standard install but if you want to use an LVM and/or encrypt your drive, it quickly gets a lot more involved with quite a few more steps and the archinstall script won't give you those options
4:36 what is the difference in Minimal and Xorg? I just want to have minimum required for graphics + a window manager and have it automatically log me into the 'desktop' . No desktop environment. which should I choose ?
I know very well what the commands do. I started using FreeBSD, then SuSe, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian and some fumbling around with Antergos and Arch. It's not that I don't respect Arch. I love it. Running Endeavour OS as a daily driver. But I think a powerful installer is underestimated. I don't use Arch because I don't want to learn a specific order of commands just install an operating system. I'm a user that wants an operating system to install and work. Of course I want to understand what I'm doing. But often you need a UA-cam video or guide to do all kinds of stuff in a specific order, just installing an operating system. It's just not that interesting to me.
I thought Arch used to have TUI "installation script" decades ago before they stopped supporting and eventually removed it, leaving a completely manual CLI installation method. This installation script obviously has similarities to how the way the old one worked, but it still seems quite different. I don't use Arch so I haven't given this a try yet, but it does look like a step in the right direction. I thought it was dumb to give up and just get rid of the installation script to begin with, instead of improving it and working out the bugs and problems it did have.
The problem i always have, i put my Root partition and home partition on two separate drives. I can't ever figure out how to mount and configure those properly in the Arch setup. Setting the proper flags and mount options between both drives.
Arch used to be the faster version of a souce linux install versus slow and tedious Gentoo or lfs install. But it still had the low level install cred from the source community. Especially if you compliled your own custom kernal. Now im not sure if Arch gets this cred if this becomes default. This install reminds me of an open suse install from 1996.
The only thing I would have to make sure I do correctly is only install Arch on the correct hard drive. Mine is a duel boot and I have 3 hard drives :)
Might be worth pinning: if you’re just going to wing it remember to at least label your disk with fdisk, cfdisk, etc. otherwise the installer might run its script almost the whole way and error out
I have a hard time letting go of my old manual install of Arch. I did archinstall one time and something went wrong and it wouldn’t boot. I didn’t spend any time troubleshooting, and just went back to the manual method. Is the manual install unnecessary these days, sure. But I just find comfort in it.
Installing Arch is like learning math. It's important to understand how to do it manually so it's not 'magic'. After you understand how the sausage is made it's fine to use automatic installations.
I tried the automatic installer but it broke certain behaviors for some reason. Reinstalled it manually from scratch and everything works as it should.
wth😂, I just learned and understood how to install arch thru wiki 3 weeks ago. and learned the fastest way last sat, thru your video from 2020. now there's an easy mode 🤣🤣🤣
I've been trying for several days to get Arch installed and none of the various methods work. Gets humgup or flat out fails with keyring -sync. Even after doing pacman-key --init. I'll get a bunch of errors the so-and-so (names of people) authorizations failed and is correct, no packages installed.
i installed arch by hand knowing this was an option just to learn the system. i was able to recover it fine from accidentally bricking it. learning the system is worth it, so at least go through a manual arch install in a VM just to learn before using archinstall. if i were to install arch now id use archinstall because i already did a manual install and know the basics anyways. (ps if youre curious how i bricked it twice, first time i tried to uninstall vlc media player on kde because it wasnt working.. and i was like "yep that uninstall size seems about right" and i accidentally uninstalled some part of my DE making it just not load, the second time i was in kde settings and trying to add a boot splash just broke the system. both times i was able to go in with a live arch usb and fix the issues.)
guys if installing kde gives you errors, run "pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring && pacman -S archinstall" before running "archinstall". This should be fixed in the next release.
the arch manual installation was needed because it gatekept idiots out of arch, now with the script people who don't know a damn about arch linux or how to maintain their system or ask for help on the forums or have common sense when it comes to doing anything on their system that isn't shown in the gui. arch is a DO IT YOURSELF distribution so when you're using the archinstall script and having everything done for you then you won't understand anything when you finish installing
I'm pretty sure that your partition scheme doesn't look like the as you set it in archinstall. I would love to see how you create a complicated partition scheme because on this step archinstall most of the time fails.
When I started with Linux I was told to take the time and install arch Linux from scratch. I took a whole Sunday for me not knowing anything. But you learn so much doing this that I still advice colleagues of mine to do it this way, if they want to learn more about Linux.
It took me a whole week of after work hours. It crashed after the first update, same with Manjaro. Only MABX and ArchCraft have been smooth experiences for me.
>I still advice colleagues of mine to do it this way, if they want to learn more about Linux.
Me too. In fact, I advise them to do it even when they _don't_ want to learn more about Linux. Heck, pretty much all my communication with them is sending them the installation wiki URL. ( o.o)
@@fsmoura You're evil...
I first read your comment as "When I started with Linux I was told to take the time and install Linux from Scratch." and was surprised that someone would tell a new Linux user to use that distro, as you waste your life for two weeks trying to install something that does not have a package manager, and you have to compile everything from scratch.
Luckily that was not your comment lol
I have tried to install LFS and I did not succeed after trying multiple times
ArcoHyprland one of best
I’m still new to Linux and tried introducing myself to it by installing Linux mint, but trying to configure my hardware was a nightmare. After I heard about arch’s rolling release, I switched over to see how bad it could be, ran arch-install and everything’s been running fine since. I’ve learned more about Linux and have actually been running it through arch, it just works
I recently moved from Win11 to Arch after a very long break from linux (last time I used it, I was running gentoo in like 2008 as desktop, then centos in 2011 for a home server). I used archinstall because I just wanted something up and running fast and already know the linux guts so I wouldn't have been learning much doing it manually. Archinstall is great.
calam-arch is pretty good too. it's almost like installing manjaro, that's how easy it is.
I drink the salty tears of the fanboys who complain it's not easy enough - they just want a distro that proves they know something, and now Arch no longer gives them that XDDD. This is absolutely a win for linux and people should be happy for it.
I've tried this method half a year ago and I can confim, that it's way quicker and more user friendly than old, manual approach. With old way I was always forgetting something and was need to chroot again with the usb stick.
I don't think installing arch the old way was such a big deal (it's mostly just reading along and following isntructions, if you can build an ikea table then you can install arch). But it was very time consuming, so this is a great change.
Overall I think the main problem people run into with arch is after the install. Since it's so open to new things and lets you do whatever you want, if you don't know what you're doing and you just update all the time and install random aur packages you might end up "breaking it". I prefer to run fedora or debian based stuff because they tend to have a safety net for my own stupidity, haha.
Yeah, of course once you know more its easier to plan ahead. On that regard I'm very happy that my first distro was mint because timeshift / btrfs snapshots are introduced to you on the welcome screen. But if you come straight from Windows breakage is just a couple clicks away...
I think nowadays immutability is the core of user friendliness (ChromeOS and SteamOS do it, though that alone isn't a good argument). A more stable update stream sadly doesn't protect the machine from user error. astOS is a minimal, atomically updating Arch based distro. BlendOS comes with great container management and is going declarative (like the OG NixOS but probably more beginner friendly). There's Fedora Silverblue, OpenSuse microOS (rolling) and they're adding an immutable version of their point release soon too.
Dude. I can't see the complexity
that is because you are the best !
just use nix I mean
The mirror selection menu allows you to only select American mirrors instead of foreign ones which IMO is highly recommended if you want faster downloads. Also, the bootloader selection only defaults to GRUB on systems that don’t have UEFI; it defaults to systemd-boot on systems that do.
I had to install on my media center yesterday. I've already installed using the guide on different machines but yesterday I really didn't fell like going through it again. The install script worked perfect and it made my day.
Archinstall is a good option if you installed the manual way 100times or just have to quickly install some machines. The problem with Arch now easier and widely available is, that beginners should be aware how you update Arch in a safe way and debug if the system breaks. There were installer even with GUI before archinstall that is not the problem. If the user is not afraid of keeping his system running Arch in my opinion is the best Linux for everyone.
I use arch linux as main distro, installed with archinstall. Works flawlessly. I used the archinstall script many times, to test various desktop environments or wm in archlinux and it's so easy
I like how arch is getting better for new users to linux for us. keep upo the good videos :)
One thing is clearly stated in the FAQ:
„Why would I not want to use Arch? You may not want to use Arch, if:
- you do not have the ability/time/desire for a 'do-it-yourself' GNU/Linux distribution.
- you require support for an architecture other than x86_64
- you take a strong stance on using a distribution which only provides free software as defined by GNU.
- you believe an operating system should configure itself, run out of the box, and include a complete default set of software and desktop environment on the installation media.
- you do not want a rolling release GNU/Linux distribution.
- you are happy with your current OS.“
If more users would follow that advise there would be much less friction with Arch in the forums and overall discussions in my opinion.
@bigmikeobama5314 That is a bit „harsh“ in my opinion, I personally find that „rtfm“ is also taken to negatively. Arch and Gentoo have really good manuals and if you tell someone to read into them, it is just most of the time much better, complete and updated then I could someone give a short answer. Most of the time I do it so, that I link to the part they need in the wiki. If they are then willing to read they have all they need. If you want to use arch then you need to have the mentality to be open to read a documentation and to get familiar with the terminal some times and that is something even a beginner can do or learn to do. I am not that type of person that condemns someone for asking. If the same questions get asked over and over again also the answers are available and easy to find that is when I think that beginner should overthink the generell approach.
Agreed. it pains me seeing all the people on the forums trying to get help for silly things that could be found with a simple google search, looking through logs or looking up on the wiki.
This is actually very solid advice
I use arch and I honestly can’t stand how douchey the community is. So, I just ask chatGPT. Manjaro’s devs aren’t much better; they are so nasty to anyone who asks questions, or points out when they’re wrong.
@@robotron1236 I also was in both communities, Manjaro at the start when I switched to Arch-Base and for myself I can‘t back your experience. I had some problems with the graphics back then and found good help and solutions, but it of course depends on the people answering. The internet would be a better place if the users that ask would do more complete posts and the answers would be more polite. I also don‘t like that whole cancel culture that is unfolding more and more. 🤷♂️
DT Great video! Two thumbs up! The Archlinux script install has been out for a while and makes installing easy. I made exactly the same mistakes you did (if you didn't do it on purpose to make a point) with the partitioning and formatting the disk or disks. But I still like using my method of installing via ssh since I have several computers. Boot a Archlinux install thumb drive on the target machine to be installed, start sshd, then create passwd and copy the IP address. Then login from a second host machine into the target machine, use your text notes to copy and paste into a terminal once login for your custom install. One or more installs can be done this way. :)
Mr. DT: Love your "strong and complicated" every time in all your vids!
I think for beginners it will still be daunting because they don't really know what each step is doing or what the choices are or why one would choose something.
copium
I think for beginners they shouldn't even be installing arch and should install something beginner friendly like Linux mint
Problem with new users is fear of the terminal. In all honesty I think they'll find this less 'scary' than regular terminal commands are making it more accessible
I was going to install Cachy OS. After seeing this I am going to use archinstall. Thanks DT!
honestly the best linux channel.
I have to say that I was very impressed by the install script, and it saved me (a bad typist) more than an hour.
Wow, that was an incredibly easy way to install Linux. I wish all the distributions had this way of installing. The only thing that screwed me up was forgetting about the iso file still selected as the boot device in virtualbox. After shutting down and removing it, all was well. There is a lot of stuff that needs to be installed though. Simple stuff like zip and unzip are missing and a lot of scripts depend on these utilities being there. I had to do a lot of research into configuring Alacritty and installing fonts. The newer version has a TOML config file and I just went straight to the documentation on it and learned how to configure everything but the default configuration for fonts was not to my liking so that was a must. I never had to mess with fonts in other distributions as the defaults were all great to work with.
Now just to fill you in on the downside, I tried to do another install at work from memory because I thought it was so easy and neglected to select multilib and my Alacritty terminal had no visible characters in it, so the terminal was unusable! Had to Ctrl-Alt-F3 to do anything that required terminal. I didn't know how to enable the multilib from the command line, so I just did another re-install selecting mulitlib this time and then I couldn't log in! This turned out to be due to me selecting the "graphics acceleration" setting in the Virtualbox settings before booting up. My Intel video card did not like that setting and locked up the login screen when attempting to enter a password. After turning off that setting, everything started to work just like the installation that went well on my home setup.
Well DT you inspired me to install Arch
I can understand that there might be practical reasons why going through the "full" Arch installation process might be better, but Linux becoming easier to use is a good thing. This comes across like Arch people being mad that the process is being democratized for people who don't want to bother with the entire installation process.
>Linux becoming easier to use is a good thing
Heck no, it's not. Once you start bringing in the riff raff, they stink up the place with their noobness, and pretty soon you need to move to an even more exclusive/elite distro.
I mean what does an install script have anything to do with other Arch users? We all have free will, choose what you want, don't question why someone would choose a different start.
DIY distros require some level of knowledge that not everyone just selecting options in a TUI/GUI installer might have. Moreover, you get to know your installation better if you do it manually, which WILL come in handy when you have to do some troubleshooting.
Archinstall is good if you are a seasoned user and know your preferences, not so much if it's your first time installing a DIY distro. If that's the case, you should face the complexity right off the bat because it pays off later on.
Newbies and Arch wannabes don't have this knowledge and it only creates problems for the rest of the userbase because they don't even know the most basic steps to troubleshoot their systems, which means they often give the most bare and useless bug reports ever seen and waste countless hours of developer and community time. Arch is not a beginner distro and shouldn't be treated as such.
@fsmoura i take it you want linux to stay under 4% market share forever
@@nishiko28Well....in fairness to them, I don't think it has to be a choice between DIY distros like Arch/Gentoo and attracting new users. We can do both and still gain people who are sick of Windows and Mac OS.
But I agree with you that part of the problem with Linux getting taken up by "noobs" is people (not fsmoura necessarily) who think that Linux has to be a secret club that only people who compile their system from the ground up can enjoy.
When I wanted to try Arch I used the install script but it failed and I'm happy it did. I learned so much from just going through the install manually a couple of times. In the end it made me feel much more comfortable with Linux as a whole.
I love Arch and your contents.
It has gotten better. I honestly love using it.
This is awesome. Yes, I think manually installing Linux is a good learning experience, but 15 years later I don't care about that, I just want to get the OS installed. We have the technology.
I think this eliminates the need for endeavorOS for me. I could still see it useful for people who prefer a GUI to live boot from, but this is the installer I've been wanting for the longest time.
I'm glad Opensuse Tumbleweed Slow-roll was made for a laptops users and desktops that have limited bandwidth per month. I hope Arch Linux would do the same in the future. I have no cap for internet but once you start traveling other countries, you might not get good internet and so rolling release might not be a good option for some. My only wish is a slow rolling release of Arch would be great.
I have installed it and that was easy like a piece og cake . amazing video DT :)
How did you do it? Im trying to do it but the closest i can even get is getting to the white line blinking at me on a black screen also been trying for almost 3 hours at this point but cant get any further
@@deathdrop you did maybe something wrong. for me worked very easy
@@manee427 i dont think so but i also have no idea if i did it right
Got into serious trouble with my current install so I have to re-install Arch again ... But seeing this I'm kind of looking forward to it XD
It's good that using Linux has become easier. It still has it's difficult moments. Now it's usable by users with a medium level of skill. People always talk about installing it, when talking about Arch, which is pretty stupid IMHO. The more interesting part of using Linux is what we do and create with it. I completed my MBA in Russia on Linux. I recorded an Indy Rock album with friends on Linux. Man team penguin needs to make some strides with music production software. Using VSTs in Linux is a nightmare and doing the one man band thing with some guitars, a bass and a drum machine program is kinda difficult. I'm impressed with the strides in gaming thanks to Valve and Proton.
I really like the arch install command because it lets me just install a super minimal install with all the basics already set up and then I just build my system from that. For me it only saves time from what I would have done anyways, and then I just add only what I want and not what is preinstalled with the more bloated profiles.
I love Arch Linux and the install script is not too hard to use. But you missed a few important points:
1. The install script doesn't automatically connect to WiFi. So you need to run iwctl and connect your WiFi before you start. This s not at all obvious and the script probably ought to run it for you.
2. You need to partition your disk. Most newbies won't know how to do this properly, although I do think that there are defaults.
3. If you're trying to create a dual-boot system with an existing Windows partition, than archinstall won't recognize it and configure grub properly. A more sophisticated installer like Endeavor has will do this for you.
None of these are killers and Arch is still my distro of choice for various reasons. But I don't recommend it to new users who aren't prepared to get their hands dirty. Even with the install script there's a lot that you need to know.
I have done way too many manual installs in my life. I am kinda done with it personally. I like archinstall for a quick install.
I love this both for its convenience, and as a concept. I can show people who are interested in Linux how to install Arch this way, then they can get to learning Linux by using linux, and install it manually later if they so choose. It's convenient because I can have an Arch system with a full featured desktop environment like KDE up and running in less than 3 mintues, and I can do it on multiple computers back to back very quickly. Manual installation is good to know, but when you arleady know it, it's nice to have a way of doing it more efficiently when needed.
Very nice,enjoy all your videos,thanks D.T.
My best description on terminal experience is you feel like you're in The Matrix doing it I am getting more comfortable as I elevate my consciousness into achieving a higher goal.
Have done the normal installation in the past but used the install script for my more recent build. it is a handy time saver. nice to have the choice for the time poor.
This is tempting me to try out Arch. I had settled on Debian 12 and would hate to have to switch over to another distro if I liked it better.
If the goal is to delve into Linux internals and learn how it all works. Then, I would recommend Arch to anyone wishing to learn Linux at a lower level. Don't use the archinstall installation script. Do it the hard way because that is how you learn. Nobody learns anything without significant struggles. What doesn't terminate you makes you stronger. Install, rinse repeat ad nauseam. Someday you will thank yourself when you solve a really difficult Linux problem, merely because you gained insight into the way things work under the hood. Also advise a learner start with a virtual machine and later on physical hardware. VM snapshots can help you revert to a known good state.
But hey, if you just want a really quick and easy Linux install, perhaps consider a non-rolling release distribution such as Linux Mint / Ubuntu / Pop_OS, etc. Especially if it's your first foray into Linux. Arch is more for the bleeding edge. Rolling releases tend to break frequently so you need to pay attention to the Arch wiki announcements and watch out for breaking changes that require manual intervention. You'll struggle far more with Arch.
partially agree, still the btrfs partioning the way i wanted it, required a lot of trial error
Agreed. However, if the default look and feel of the DE/WM is not what you like, you might need to spend quite a lot of time and energy to understand and modify it.
Hey DT, hope to see an OpenSuse Tumbleweed review soon. The last one you did was 6 years ago 🤯
here cuz of that thumbnail xD
Before having watched the video: nothing is stopping you from doing it the hard way
Which I do every time because I want to tweak a bunch of details, e.g. file system stuff. Though archinstall looks like it gets you something pretty reasonable, but I am a bit curious how hard the manual partitioning bit is to use to get things exactly like you want it wrt. filesystems, LVM, and encryption compared to doing a manual install.
Time.
Install Arch the original way is like a test of will. If you made it, booted into desktop, you're ready for Arch, you are a willing one.
I won't judge so people who use the install script to install Arch for the first time are just as willing as those who went the long way, but I can only speculate they will have to learn Arch a bit harder.
ive done both and id say installer is fine but you shouldn't use arch as your first linux anyway
"two threads of my 24 threads thread ripper" unbeatable!
Option 2 if you like Arch is to consider Garuda as it's point and click easy to get going. It works well for Steam Emulation - running 98% of the games, including some other titles with some fiddling like World of Warships and until the latest changes, League of Legends.
My only gripe is that the person in charge is busy and very very slow on updating programs in the repository and I can see it very easily becoming a dead version at any time as there is no large team of devs behind it. So it's good.. but... I'd not use it for school or work or anything that is productivity based.
That said, moving back from Windows to Linux ( 21 operating systems so far in my life, Windows being only 6 of those ) was literally ripping off the band-aid on that old wound and getting the pain over with. Windows 10 bricked itself three times in a year. The data was fine but the thing was unable to finish loading due to drivers or something. Recovery did nothing. I was looking at being forced into upgrading to Windows 11 and that would require a whole new motherboard and CPU as mine didn't support their latest DRM and anti-copying technology ( simplifying it a lot) Basically $600 and a new copy for $150 as sorry, too much would be changed to keep my old license as valid... to stay current as Windows 10 was constantly dying on me.
So one day in a fit of anger at the third crash and no hope of recovery, after trying to recover the machine for three days ( thank god I had my Macbook as a spare ), I went out, spent $25 on the cheapest name-brand SSD I could and dropped Linux on it.
Simple, works, and run modern games on my old hardware just as fast. Yes,k a bit of a learning curve, but no worse than moving Windows versions or hopping onto any new phone or something like a Chromebook where the OS is not the same as before.
It crashes maybe once a month versus every 2-3 days. Huge win and aside from League and some specific games like Genshin, it all works.
My take-away is that Linux is not what it was even two years ago and with installers like this, it is really never easier to cut that umbilical cord to the evil empire and gain your freedom. And save your pocketbook at the same time.
while this DOES store passwords in plain text, that is only for the install portion
just set a placeholder password and then change it once you have the os installed
Arch install is very nice, easy ,but also gives you a choice to manually change staff.
Easy! Well... every distro out there do a standard installation. But can you do an easy full disk encryption install?
W video bro, It worked for me
The most difficult part of installing Arch is partitioning the disk and setting up file systems etc., especially if you're going to do something like LVM with volume groups and logical volumes or btrfs with multiple subvolumes. It doesn't seem like this really helps with that? Once you've go the disk partitioned, this seems like it would be pretty sweet though, would save you from the tedium of typing the other 10 or so commands.
@emmanuelrousseau7889 That has nothing to do with installing Arch, but I’ve never had a single issue with it as long as I checked the News before updating. Sometimes there will be a breaking change where you need to create a new symbolic link or something before the update.
@emmanuelrousseau7889 I don’t know exactly what you’re asking.
If you’re asking what your point is related to, it’s related to maintaining Arch as opposed to installing it, which the video was about.
@emmanuelrousseau7889 "Installation" of an operating system is getting the OS installed. With most Linux distributions or Windows, this is basically the installation wizard.
When people say Arch is hard to install, that's what they mean. Getting the software you want installed and integrated is similar regardless of distro. I'd argue it's easier on Arch because of the repos having more software and the AUR.
I feel good to see u energetic
I love Arch, it's easy to use and the UI is like windows, runs windows apps easily via wine or proton runs 100% faster than windows, my only gripe is games with anticheat are still not running right.
This video is interesting and informative. Thank you.
You're welcome, Mr. Artificial Intelligence person.
@@terrydaktyllus1320 Mr!!! WTF???
@@esra_erimez AI generated avatar also.
I should have watched your video yesterday before installing Arch OMG ... I did it with the installation guide and such, took me about an hour or two doing so, with the bad being unable to get my network working properly (it's odd that network works fine in terminal, but it doesn't replicate onto the install)
I will never understand why anyone would continue to buy nvidia after switching to Linux. But archinstall is great. Just keep in mind that things like Bluetooth, TRIM support for SSDs, and printing (and Avahi/mdns for wireless printers) still need to be set up after installation, since Arch just ships everything as-is with nothing enabled by default. Which is a good thing, but it might trip new users up.
Hey DT, what we're you thinking in your mind when you took photo for the thumbnail in your video? Might have been hilarious!
I've no idea what I'm doing in the terminal, but it makes me feel like a decker, so let me pretend and feel the excitement!
Im an Arch user for 4 years now and its great to see someone who isn't terminally online gatekeeping arch, by saying it is difficult ☠️
People say it's hard to install because there's no mention of the archinstall command after booting the iso, I didn't realize it existed before watching this video.
Same. Mine vms are based on arch. And manually formating and doing standard configs was annoying. Now i can use archinstall to quickly setup vm and just add browser and guest additions in 1 menu.
Thank you for this!
it's not much that arch linux is hard to install anymore, it's just that the packages you install are often not configured, or optimized by default for your workflow. You're gonna have to figure out a few things on your own, like sysctl properties, kernel parameters for your gpu, fonts for non latin characters, icons, UTF icons in your terminal, configuring GTK and QT, desktop themes, configuring pipewire, battery and power saving scripts (maybe comes with some DEs), setting up flatpak with the correct permissions, setting up network shares with SMB, getting wayland to work at all on your nvidia GPU, notifications and polkit, etc. In a normal distro, most of these would already be configured in a sensible way (even some arch-based distros like endeavour and, god forbid, manjaro).
This is the EZ way for a standard install but if you want to use an LVM and/or encrypt your drive, it quickly gets a lot more involved with quite a few more steps and the archinstall script won't give you those options
I cannot express how much pain this video saved me from
Very useful. Thanks
Good stuff, thanks dude, :)
I wish I installed arch many years ago.
Did the new install replace the old one?
No you can still install the manual way
4:36
what is the difference in Minimal and Xorg?
I just want to have minimum required for graphics + a window manager and have it automatically log me into the 'desktop' . No desktop environment. which should I choose ?
Arch SHOULD use Calamares, but I guess that's ArcoLinux. Thank GOD for Erik.
I know very well what the commands do. I started using FreeBSD, then SuSe, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian and some fumbling around with Antergos and Arch. It's not that I don't respect Arch. I love it. Running Endeavour OS as a daily driver.
But I think a powerful installer is underestimated. I don't use Arch because I don't want to learn a specific order of commands just install an operating system. I'm a user that wants an operating system to install and work. Of course I want to understand what I'm doing. But often you need a UA-cam video or guide to do all kinds of stuff in a specific order, just installing an operating system. It's just not that interesting to me.
honestly, even for a n00b it isn't that bad... once you have done a few times, it becomes second nature! EVEN WITHOUT THE NEW INSTALLER!
After the install i noticed way too much packages are missing. I cant find apple devices, printer or synology nas
Arch now includes time zones US/... it has US/Central US/Eastern etc. I prefer using actual time zone names them rather than using the city names.
I thought Arch used to have TUI "installation script" decades ago before they stopped supporting and eventually removed it, leaving a completely manual CLI installation method. This installation script obviously has similarities to how the way the old one worked, but it still seems quite different. I don't use Arch so I haven't given this a try yet, but it does look like a step in the right direction. I thought it was dumb to give up and just get rid of the installation script to begin with, instead of improving it and working out the bugs and problems it did have.
The problem i always have, i put my Root partition and home partition on two separate drives. I can't ever figure out how to mount and configure those properly in the Arch setup. Setting the proper flags and mount options between both drives.
Arch used to be the faster version of a souce linux install versus slow and tedious Gentoo or lfs install. But it still had the low level install cred from the source community. Especially if you compliled your own custom kernal. Now im not sure if Arch gets this cred if this becomes default. This install reminds me of an open suse install from 1996.
The only thing I would have to make sure I do correctly is only install Arch on the correct hard drive. Mine is a duel boot and I have 3 hard drives :)
Might be worth pinning: if you’re just going to wing it remember to at least label your disk with fdisk, cfdisk, etc. otherwise the installer might run its script almost the whole way and error out
I have a hard time letting go of my old manual install of Arch. I did archinstall one time and something went wrong and it wouldn’t boot. I didn’t spend any time troubleshooting, and just went back to the manual method.
Is the manual install unnecessary these days, sure. But I just find comfort in it.
I love it. And I use Arch, btw.
Hey Quick Question, Does it matter when you install the DE?? I Seen it done this way and I seen it done By installing when Chrooting into the System
Installing Arch is like learning math. It's important to understand how to do it manually so it's not 'magic'. After you understand how the sausage is made it's fine to use automatic installations.
So now it's like debian?
... but with current instead of ancient sw
I would like to like Debian, but it is so f-ing outdated.
I'm stuck on archinstall as I am using a wireless laptop and it's not connected to the internet... How do I connect to the internet
I tried the automatic installer but it broke certain behaviors for some reason. Reinstalled it manually from scratch and everything works as it should.
I always said if you want to really learn Linux go trough entire Linux code and after a thorough study install LFS for better experience...
wth😂, I just learned and understood how to install arch thru wiki 3 weeks ago. and learned the fastest way last sat, thru your video from 2020. now there's an easy mode 🤣🤣🤣
I just can't imagine taking a photo of yourself for the thumbnail looking like this and not dying a little bit inside.
Thank you
I've been trying for several days to get Arch installed and none of the various methods work. Gets humgup or flat out fails with keyring -sync. Even after doing pacman-key --init. I'll get a bunch of errors the so-and-so (names of people) authorizations failed and is correct, no packages installed.
What Virtual Machine did you use for this, and is it available for Windows?
i installed arch by hand knowing this was an option just to learn the system. i was able to recover it fine from accidentally bricking it. learning the system is worth it, so at least go through a manual arch install in a VM just to learn before using archinstall. if i were to install arch now id use archinstall because i already did a manual install and know the basics anyways.
(ps if youre curious how i bricked it twice, first time i tried to uninstall vlc media player on kde because it wasnt working.. and i was like "yep that uninstall size seems about right" and i accidentally uninstalled some part of my DE making it just not load, the second time i was in kde settings and trying to add a boot splash just broke the system. both times i was able to go in with a live arch usb and fix the issues.)
🔥🔥🔥
guys if installing kde gives you errors, run "pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring && pacman -S archinstall" before running "archinstall". This should be fixed in the next release.
That install script is pretty cool
I just use EndeavorOS at this point. Its got a GUI installer.
You should do qtile next time you show archinstall on a video! :)
the arch manual installation was needed because it gatekept idiots out of arch, now with the script people who don't know a damn about arch linux or how to maintain their system or ask for help on the forums or have common sense when it comes to doing anything on their system that isn't shown in the gui.
arch is a DO IT YOURSELF distribution so when you're using the archinstall script and having everything done for you then you won't understand anything when you finish installing
I'm pretty sure that your partition scheme doesn't look like the as you set it in archinstall. I would love to see how you create a complicated partition scheme because on this step archinstall most of the time fails.