You kind of have to have guardrails though. Especially with the recent migration from Windows 11 to Linux, a lot of gamers, mostly younger and/or inexperienced users, are being recommended Arch via CatchyOS. And a lot of the advice they get involve enabling the AUR and getting their required software from there. Some of the troubleshooting documentation also provides instructions using the AUR. It may not come with Arch, but it sounds to me like it’s pretty indispensable.
On the other hand, you have people saying that Arch isn’t for new users. That you have to be careful when using AUR and how dangerous it is. You have to know what you’re doing.
So then why is it recommended so much? I feel like every other comment when people are asking questions on which Linux flavour to use the answer is always “just use Arch/just use X variant of Arch”. And when I talk about using another distro like Debian, people on Linux communities get really critical and ask “this distro sucks, why don’t you just use Arch/Catchy/X variant?”
So which is it? Is it for everyone or not? Is it safe to use or not? Should anybody be using it or not?
The comments are really conflicting with each other here.
And honestly if we’re going to recommend Arch/Catchy/Whatever to new Linux adopters, there ought to be guardrails. Or don’t recommend Arch. And DON’T recommend using AUR. Try other workarounds instead of taking the easy AUR solution. You don’t simply give a loaded gun to someone who wants to do target practice without any precautions or anything to prevent them from hurting themselves or others. Maybe recommend an air-soft gun with some eye-protection goggles instead for target practice initially and let them learn the basics of firearm manipulation using that before moving on to the real deal.
Yes. I agree. It’s also much more stable so you don’t spend time troubleshooting. And there’s tons of support and even 3rd party packages available for peripherals and hardware.
The AUR is not indispensable for Arch, and it is not recommended. The Arch Wiki itself says so, and it even recommends against AUR helpers, because it makes the AUR feel like any other official repo. Some Arch based distros do include AUR helpers by default, and that’s on them.
Arch isn’t even that recommended, and it’s only mentioned above other distros in the gaming sphere because it usually has the freshest drivers and innovations due to being bleeding edge. It is also easy to install and easy to use, and for almost any issue you can consult the Arch Wiki or the Arch Forums.
Either way, we should never limit user freedom in the name of making it “safer” for any user, and we shouldn’t be installing guardrails that limit what you can do with your OS. That’s the difference between Windows/Mac and Linux. Linux allows freedom, while the others limit it. The “guardrails” are already there, in the Arch Wiki, as a pretty visible warning. If a user doesn’t read the recommendations from the official wiki, that’s on them.
As an aside, your gun analogy is not valid. A gun is a dangerous tool with which a user can hurt themselves, but also other people. Allowing freedom on a Linux distro is just a way of allowing the user to shoot themselves in the foot (like it has always been possible, one way or another, in every Linux distro). But it doesn’t allow the user to hurt others. Let’s not do these comparisons.
You kind of have to have guardrails though. Especially with the recent migration from Windows 11 to Linux, a lot of gamers, mostly younger and/or inexperienced users, are being recommended Arch via CatchyOS. And a lot of the advice they get involve enabling the AUR and getting their required software from there. Some of the troubleshooting documentation also provides instructions using the AUR. It may not come with Arch, but it sounds to me like it’s pretty indispensable.
On the other hand, you have people saying that Arch isn’t for new users. That you have to be careful when using AUR and how dangerous it is. You have to know what you’re doing.
So then why is it recommended so much? I feel like every other comment when people are asking questions on which Linux flavour to use the answer is always “just use Arch/just use X variant of Arch”. And when I talk about using another distro like Debian, people on Linux communities get really critical and ask “this distro sucks, why don’t you just use Arch/Catchy/X variant?”
So which is it? Is it for everyone or not? Is it safe to use or not? Should anybody be using it or not?
The comments are really conflicting with each other here.
And honestly if we’re going to recommend Arch/Catchy/Whatever to new Linux adopters, there ought to be guardrails. Or don’t recommend Arch. And DON’T recommend using AUR. Try other workarounds instead of taking the easy AUR solution. You don’t simply give a loaded gun to someone who wants to do target practice without any precautions or anything to prevent them from hurting themselves or others. Maybe recommend an air-soft gun with some eye-protection goggles instead for target practice initially and let them learn the basics of firearm manipulation using that before moving on to the real deal.
@ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace @black0ut Debian is beginner friendly and it has distros even more beginner friendly, so IMO people should start with that.
Yes. I agree. It’s also much more stable so you don’t spend time troubleshooting. And there’s tons of support and even 3rd party packages available for peripherals and hardware.
That’s what I personally recommend.
The AUR is not indispensable for Arch, and it is not recommended. The Arch Wiki itself says so, and it even recommends against AUR helpers, because it makes the AUR feel like any other official repo. Some Arch based distros do include AUR helpers by default, and that’s on them.
Arch isn’t even that recommended, and it’s only mentioned above other distros in the gaming sphere because it usually has the freshest drivers and innovations due to being bleeding edge. It is also easy to install and easy to use, and for almost any issue you can consult the Arch Wiki or the Arch Forums.
Either way, we should never limit user freedom in the name of making it “safer” for any user, and we shouldn’t be installing guardrails that limit what you can do with your OS. That’s the difference between Windows/Mac and Linux. Linux allows freedom, while the others limit it. The “guardrails” are already there, in the Arch Wiki, as a pretty visible warning. If a user doesn’t read the recommendations from the official wiki, that’s on them.
As an aside, your gun analogy is not valid. A gun is a dangerous tool with which a user can hurt themselves, but also other people. Allowing freedom on a Linux distro is just a way of allowing the user to shoot themselves in the foot (like it has always been possible, one way or another, in every Linux distro). But it doesn’t allow the user to hurt others. Let’s not do these comparisons.