On Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:54:21 +0530, mike cloaked <mike.cloaked@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
...
So all in all this seems to me very much in the spirit of "The Arch
Way" and was not too much of a learning curve. Yes for someone
inexperienced in using linux this would take a whole lot longer.
However I believe that it was useful going through the process of
doing an install manually - and there is enough information on the
arch wiki to provide everything I needed to get the system up and
running - which is I believe what many others are likely to be doing
as well?
...
i'm very new to arch and have installed it only twice: once via the aif
script (if that's the name), and once without.
yes, the first time went a bit faster, since the install script took some
decisions for me that otherwise i would have had to research, but very
soon afterwards i had to read up on all those things anyway.
the second time around didn't take that much longer (since i was a little
familiar with arch by then), but if my first time had been without the
script, it would have taken a bit longer.
IMO that's a good thing though. as far as i understand, arch isn't meant
for complete linux newbees, or people who just want to use the distro,
without understanding hardly anything about how it works.
i've been using openSUSE earlier, and to me it appears they (oS) are
trying too much for a compromise: suitable for all types of users, geeks
as well as those without any technical inclination or understanding.
this leads to a lot of unnecessary complexity, for both types of users. i
don't believe every linux user should be forced to become a 'geek' -- but
there's plenty of distros that focus on the non-geek market already.
they're much further away from the 'bleeding edge,' but for somebody w/o
technical interest or inclination, that shouldn't matter too much.
on the other hand, arch is the first distro i experience that's pretty
darn close to current development, while delivering a very stable system
for only a little bit investment of time & energy to understand how things
work.
i don't have any vote or voice in this, but i'm perfectly happy with the
way arch is right now, with or without a rudimentary install script. for
those who just want to use their system, there's other distros, or arch
derived ones that (are supposed to) make life easier. (no idea if or how
that works.)
openSUSE would be a good choice for those who find arch too demanding,
since it allows one to run a standard (non-bleeding-edge) system without
knowing much, or, after getting used to it, add other repositories from
OBS (open build service) to spice things up.
for those who are sure they want to undertand at least the basics and take
some trouble to get more up-to-date programs & libraries, arch makes life
easier by purposely not providing all the hand-holding that others are
famous for.
--
phani.
