15
votes
ArchLabs Linux?
Anyone here use or used ArchLabs?
I put out this Distro along with another dude and I'd love to hear any feedback.
Anyone here use or used ArchLabs?
I put out this Distro along with another dude and I'd love to hear any feedback.
You could basically call us exactly what you did in point b) :) There is only one custom app and that is our AUR helper, baph.
We have always tried to present ArchLabs so it is easy on the eye. Too many distros don't put in effort here.
Thanks for the suggestion will put it to the team.
Woooow, never thought I'd see the creator here! I tried ArchBang a while back, but I couldn't get it working reliably on my computer of the time. I'd love to give it a spin over winter break tbh, if it can accurately imitate BunsenLabs. One of the things I dislike most about BunsenLabs is the Debian base, since it's always so old, which I don't want on my desktop.
That's exactly why we started AL, I love BunsenLabs but I don't like the out of date base that is Debian. Granted ArchLabs is nothing like its inspiration distro anymore, the idea still stands.
First I've heard of it ... sad, since it seems the creator is a regular here.
Cool idea, clever logo. I've been wanting to try Arch for ever, maybe this is the push I need. I will report back if/when I check it out.
PS: Thank you for doing a Linux distro. I get the impression it is a relatively thankless job.
I recommend just taking the leap and installing vanilla Arch some time honestly! I know it seems daunting, and the first time may you may have to cry sweat and bleed your way through the install, but it taught me a lot about the command line and was very rewarding. Plus, after installing Arch once, it'll be no trouble if you ever do it again.
I know this is a truth fact, but the whole "cry sweat and bleed" part makes it easy to put off.
I'm also sore tempted to try a LFS install, with—so far—much the same results.
I am still making solid progress on my Linux-fu, just not nearly as fast as I imagine I should.
Fair enough! I suppose it's not for everyone and I totally understand your position. I was gonna say something like "It's really not that bad!" but then I remembered the first time I installed Arch it took like 12 hours and I had to stay up overnight. I will say, however, that the Arch is install process is far easier than LFS. LFS is quite literally building your own distro yourself. Arch is still just installing a pre-made distro with pre-made install tools, the difference being rather than the installer asking you how you want it installed, you tell the installer how you want it installed, more or less.
When you say you're not progressing as fast as you should, what do you mean? How long have you been using Linux and how good at using Linux would you say you are?
Thanks for message, I hadn't really had the thought to mention AL here.
I wish I could take credit for the final form that is our logo. I had made one that resembled this but the creator NixiePro took that much further.
Are all the sessions in the installer customized?
I went with Openbox because I sort of figure that's the ArchLabs flagship, and its... Interesting. Conky should be displaying on first boot, I think, but that's the only complaint I have. The install was great. Seriously, you have the best installer I've used on an Arch-based distro, and I would gladly recommend it to anybody looking for one, and it's got that nice Crunchbang feel. I'm typically the guy shouting "install the official way, you'll be better off," but your installer was nice, and actually worked first-time, which is more than I can say for most preconfigured Arch distros I've tried. Did you base it on the Anarchy installer?
EDIT: I've rewritten this comment several times, but honestly, the quality blew me away. There are only a couple of minor issues I found that I encounter in any distro anyway.
Most of the wm sessions are customised, the de's not so much.
Conky can be a fickle thing some times.
No we originally based the installer of the Architect installer. It's been completely rewritten and no longer resembles the original idea at all any more.
Thanks for the kind words.
I understand the appeal of Arch for learning purposes. If you use Linux as a tool for stuff that is not tinkering with your distribution - especially work - I fail to understand the choice.
What kind of packages you had trouble with? Do you use exoterical stuff, or require a lot of new packages? I never used a VPS myself, so I'm interested in the subject.
I've had one major issue that I had to chroot into to fix. The only one in over 2 1/2 years since my install.
In my case, the thing is, I'm very demanding when it comes to stability. I'm not talking just about major issues, but also all the little things that seem to require constant adjustments after updates. To me, those kinds of distros feel like an old house that I have to fix every other week. Those little annoyances add up to the point that I must move!
In most cases, older software have nearly zero impact on my usage. And I'd rather compile a few packages from source than use a bleeding-edge distribution that won't boot once every a year.
But that's just me.