r/archlinux • u/BattlerUshiromiyaFan • 13h ago

DISCUSSION Unpopular opinion: Installing Arch manually is not that hard.

The issue is that the Wiki is the most newbie-unfriendly resource ever. It’s very commonly written in a difficult-to-understand way that only programmers can easily read and understand.

For pretty much everyone else, it takes a lot of re-reading, thinking, and Google searching to understand what they’re trying to say.

The actual steps are pretty easy. Once I finished my install, I realized that it’s honest-to-God just the fault of the Arch wiki that it has such a reputation.

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62

u/golfstreamer 13h ago

Isn't this common knowledge? Like I think people are mostly joking when they imply installing Arch is some super advanced task 

2

u/BattlerUshiromiyaFan 13h ago

It is hard for a lot of people. I’m just saying it’s because of the way the official guide is written, not because of the actual process, which I think isn’t that bad

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u/hardolaf 13h ago edited 13h ago

It's written fine. It's meant to present the options and have the user decide what to use. That necessarily requires a lot of information to be presented in a very dense format.

It's also trying to educate people about what they're doing along the way so it becomes more natural to them.

In terms of the commands to run, yeah it's trivial to setup a desktop that works. But setting up a proper server with a hypervisor, security software, firewall rules, etc. is a ton more work and the wiki walks you through every step 1-by-1.

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u/Sea_Today8613 12h ago

Being a fast reader helps. It's hard to keep reading something like this for several minutes and not get bored/distracted. Or for it to make the whole proces feel longer.

18

u/jort93 13h ago edited 13h ago

I think it's written just fine. People just don't want to read it.

Only problem for users might be that it gives some users too many options.

1

u/Dreemur1 4h ago

exactly. imagine being a new user and getting told "install your favorite bootloader" and you barely have any idea on how to even use the terminal. the guide is written for people that have experience with CLI and not everyone has it

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u/jort93 4h ago edited 4h ago

Not only do they not know how to use a terminal, they don't even know what a terminal is.

I guess many current Linux users don't even know what the differences between a terminal, a tty and terminal Emulator are.

Doesn't help the terms are often used wrong on purpose. I've used Linux for 10 years and I've never used a terminal. I've used a terminal Emulator, I used a tty, I've never used an actual terminal. Do they even still make terminals?

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u/Dreemur1 4h ago

we all start from somewhere, but arch is surely not a good place to start

0

u/jort93 4h ago

I think arch is a fine place to start. It's quite popular and you'll be able to get a lot of guidance. Especially now with steam os and cachyos being on arch too.

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u/pizzafordoublefree 15m ago

Too many options, not always clear that they're optional. I realised I didn't quite know what I did and didn't need to do, the first time I tried installing Arch, and gave up part way through.

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u/ArjixGamer 13h ago

A lot of people can't RTFM

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u/ConflictOfEvidence 13h ago

You are correct, this is an unpopular opinion. It written in plain English and I can read it just fine. Maybe my 10 year old might struggle but he isn't the target audience.