46 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
46 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
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layout: post
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title: Arch Linux is Cool
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---
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For most my computer life I have either used Windows 7 or Linux. Windows was great but once I finally decided to try Ubuntu I never went back. I tried out all sorts of Linux distros (ie. Elementary OS, Crunchbang, Linux Mint) but none of them seemed right for me. After doing some searching around and I came to the conclusion that I had to attempt the unthinkable, Arch Linux.
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# About My Computer
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*Hardware*: The PC I mainly use is a desktop that I built a few years back with a Intel Core i5, Nvidia GTX 650ti, and 8 GB of RAM.
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*Usage*: On my computer I mainly write code using a basic text-editor (i.e. atom and sublime text) and browse the web. I sometime play video games on Steam, which include Civ5 and Besiege.
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# The Dreaded Installation
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Getting Arch Linux really isn't that bad. Arch has great [documentation](https://www.archlinux.org/) and the [beginner's guide](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/beginners'_guide) makes everything very straight forward. It still took me a couple of tries to get a stable desktop environment (graphic drivers were tricky) but once I got all the basic stuff taken care of I was finally able to begin making the operating system I really wanted.
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# So Why use Arch?
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I'd be lying if I said I didn't use Arch because it makes me feel like a hacker elitist. Also seeing all the beautiful desktops on [/r/unixporn](https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn) also influenced my decision in using Arch. But, there are some legitimate reasons on why I prefer Arch over other Linux distros or any operating system for that matter:
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* The best performance
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* I choose what's installed
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* Always the latest software
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* Installing software is easy with pacman
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* Very intelligent community
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* Teaches you about how Linux works
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# Conclusion
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I really do see myself sticking with Arch for quite some time. With its rolling releases there will be no need to ever have to install any major updates and I have everything I really need in a computer. Though some things aren't perfect (ie. Steam isn't great yet) it's worth it for the gains in performance
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# What's on my PC
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Here's a short list of things I have installed on my main Arch Linux computer.
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* Gnome 3 with [arc-theme](https://github.com/horst3180/arc-theme) and the [Paper icons](https://snwh.org/paper/icons/)
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* bspwm (if I'm feeling extra hackerish)
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* [mpv](https://mpv.io/) for all forms of media (ie. music and movies)
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* Google's open source browser [chromium](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/chromium)
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* [atom-editor](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/atom-editor-bin/) for coding (should probably learn vim better)
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<br>
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*Update:* I changed some of the "What's on my PC" entries due to the input on [reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/4c4mmh/blog_post_arch_linux_is_cool/). Thanks!
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