Getting started with Linux Arch

Techforay

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Hi
I have been working with some Linux distros and recently watched a YouTube video that talked about use arch as your distro. The reason was that it is highly customizable. It even allows you to experiment with different desktops. I tried to install and got fairly far but got to a point where i needed to edit a locale.gen file and it seamed like the command ”nano“ was not recognized. I loaded all the packages that were suggested but i noticed there were some errors. Can some one give me some insight as to what might be the problem and also some opinion on arch being a disto of choice for someone just messing around trying to learn linux
 


@Techforay
Greetings and welcome to Linux! Org.
I personally would start with something much easier to adapt to, such as Linux Mint.
You can go to https://distrowatch.com and look up Linux Mint.
Version 19.3 is the current version in use.
I came over from a Windows environment and after doodling around with several distros I found that LM was the easiest one for me to learn about Linux.
I have a spare laptop to experiment with and have about 14 different distros on it.
I use LM 19.3 on my main machine for all my necessary work and stuff I need to keep.
All the best to you in your exploration in the Wonderful World of Linux!
Once again, Welcome and enjoy your stay.

Old Geezer
Tango Charlie
 
If you want to go Arch then read their documentation first. They have some of the best. Slackware is in a similar camp.

Whatever distro you choose you'll learn. Good luck.:)
 
Hi
I have been working with some Linux distros and recently watched a YouTube video that talked about use arch as your distro. The reason was that it is highly customizable. It even allows you to experiment with different desktops. I tried to install and got fairly far but got to a point where i needed to edit a locale.gen file and it seamed like the command ”nano“ was not recognized. I loaded all the packages that were suggested but i noticed there were some errors. Can some one give me some insight as to what might be the problem and also some opinion on arch being a disto of choice for someone just messing around trying to learn linux

I use Arch as my main OS and can say that the thing I like the most is its package manager, pacman, I think's the best one out there and I tried/used a few, zypper from SUSE, IMO the second best. What were you using "nano" for? Nano is a cli text editor, it works from the command line, did you try to edit some file? If so, you need to install it first
Code:
pacman -S nano
The only reason I remember using nano for was when editing the mirrorlist file, other than that it's no needed, I think. Try reading here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide which will guide you through the whole install process. Of course, I also like the fact that I can build my system to my liking; software, desktop environment ... if you're looking for a way of building your own custom system, you might try debian netinst.iso https://www.debian.org/distrib/ unlike Arch it does provide a graphical installer which makes it easier and straightforward by following instructions, and you can experiment with it too since you can choose to install bettwen several desktop environments or none at all. Watch this video
. Another distro I've been playing with and really like is Q4OS. On first boot you get to decide whether to load the full thing; office suite, web browser, media player, mail reader ... or just a basic system with fewer apps so you can add/install your own selection which is what I did and it works like a charm. It's based on Debian and comes in two flavours; KDE and TDE, a fork of KDE 3.5 which recently released a new version https://wiki.trinitydesktop.org/Trinity_Desktop_Environment I'm using the one with KDE. You might also try with antiX which offers a core and a net .iso file so you can build the system up to your hearts content https://antixlinux.com/ You could also download the server version of any other distro and use that as the base, then install everything else. I've done that several times and most of them have a graphical installer so the porcess is fairly easy. You might want to try first using something like virtualbox and take notes of the things that worked and those that didn't. In any case, one thing's for sure; whether you succeed or fail, It's a great learning experience you'll benefit from in the future. So, if experimenting is your thing, there's a ton of options for you to choose in Linux.
 
I use Arch as my main OS and can say that the thing I like the most is its package manager, pacman, I think's the best one out there and I tried/used a few, zypper from SUSE, IMO the second best. What were you using "nano" for? Nano is a cli text editor, it works from the command line, did you try to edit some file? If so, you need to install it first
Code:
pacman -S nano
The only reason I remember using nano for was when editing the mirrorlist file, other than that it's no needed, I think. Try reading here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide which will guide you through the whole install process. Of course, I also like the fact that I can build my system to my liking; software, desktop environment ... if you're looking for a way of building your own custom system, you might try debian netinst.iso https://www.debian.org/distrib/ unlike Arch it does provide a graphical installer which makes it easier and straightforward by following instructions, and you can experiment with it too since you can choose to install bettwen several desktop environments or none at all. Watch this video
. Another distro I've been playing with and really like is Q4OS. On first boot you get to decide whether to load the full thing; office suite, web browser, media player, mail reader ... or just a basic system with fewer apps so you can add/install your own selection which is what I did and it works like a charm. It's based on Debian and comes in two flavours; KDE and TDE, a fork of KDE 3.5 which recently released a new version https://wiki.trinitydesktop.org/Trinity_Desktop_Environment I'm using the one with KDE. You might also try with antiX which offers a core and a net .iso file so you can build the system up to your hearts content https://antixlinux.com/ You could also download the server version of any other distro and use that as the base, then install everything else. I've done that several times and most of them have a graphical installer so the porcess is fairly easy. You might want to try first using something like virtualbox and take notes of the things that worked and those that didn't. In any case, one thing's for sure; whether you succeed or fail, It's a great learning experience you'll benefit from in the future. So, if experimenting is your thing, there's a ton of options for you to choose in Linux.
I am very appreciative of this response. I did figure out how to get nano to work and yes it was to edit the mirror list file. I have followed the installation process to a tee from a YouTube video and everything looks like it works just fine but in the end it wont boot. I am trying to install it on a older surface pro. I have installed other distros on the same hardware and they work just fine. I will try the options that you mentioned. I really like linux and have used it to build my first web site with HTML and CSS. I am just going into Java script. All the distros will do this but i love the thought of customizing my own system. You have given me some excellent suggestions and i really appreciate it. I will respond back and let you know if i get something to boot.
 
I have followed the installation process to a tee from a YouTube video and everything looks like it works just fine but in the end it wont boot. I am trying to install it on a older surface pro. I
And was this youtube video specifically on installing Arch on a surface pro or just installing Arch? There's an article in the Arch wiki on it https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Microsoft_Surface_Pro_3#Installation You might try that and see if it helps solving your issue.
 
I am very appreciative of this response. I did figure out how to get nano to work and yes it was to edit the mirror list file. I have followed the installation process to a tee from a YouTube video and everything looks like it works just fine but in the end it wont boot. I am trying to install it on a older surface pro. I have installed other distros on the same hardware and they work just fine. I will try the options that you mentioned. I really like linux and have used it to build my first web site with HTML and CSS. I am just going into Java script. All the distros will do this but i love the thought of customizing my own system. You have given me some excellent suggestions and i really appreciate it. I will respond back and let you know if i get something to boot.
Your biggest mistake is following an installation from Youtube Video.
You need to follow the instructions from the Arch Wiki Installation Guide.

you will also need the text editor to edit your hosts/hostname

I prefer to use vim as the editor.
 
I just installed arch on a kvm VM. I've xorg and plasma running. Will have to spend more time playing with it. Even konsole and nano had to be installed separately. :)
 
The installation guide on the website is too vague
Install instructions are on the Arch.iso, can't remember exactly but I think it's something like install.txt. They're not vague but rather aimed at people who know and understand exactly what they're doing. When I first installed Arch I too felt a bit frustrated because of that same reason and at that time install process was much more "laborious" than it is nowadays which are IMHO quite straightforward and easier to follow.
 
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I use buildaur as my aur helper.
didn't know this exist. As aur is compiled. I'm just wondering if yay and buildaur cleanly remove the package if we decide to. Or is that more dependent on the aur build scripts?
 
Finally managed to set up my host OS as arch with bluetooth audio and a guest OS arch running on KVM, libvirt and virt-manager

Next to set up the host for pcie passthrough for my windows 10 guest (for playing windows games)

I had all of these running under Manjaro but decided to change to host OS to arch because Manjaro seems to have a bit of bloat to me. Went from Manjaro -> EndeavourOS -> Arch .... Can't go any further back can I? :p

Any further back and I'd have to compile the OS like Gentoo.
 
:cool:Well done man - love to hear peoples stories of growth in their linux journey.
 

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