• Rooty@lemmy.world
    602·
    1 year ago

    While I dislike bloat, I also avoid distros that have been minimalized to the point of uselessness. Minimalist distros are great for old and embedded computers, but regular desktop ones should not require you to install 90% of the OS after booting it.

      • CriticalMiss@lemmy.world
        2·
        1 year ago

        Not to be “that guy” but the installation manual on the ArchWiki does say to install wireless drivers/networking software before you reboot out of the installation medium.

          • CriticalMiss@lemmy.world
            1·
            1 year ago

            Yes, most laptops usually have a page on Arch Wiki for specific quirks, however most drivers are in the kernel and do not need additional installation (Intel, Realtek and the Qualcomm one maybe Athenian) are all in the kernel, you likely just forgot software to initiate connectivity with Wi-Fi like NetworkManager.

      • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
        31·
        1 year ago

        Connecting to wifi in live environment was pretty easy. I recall all I needed to do was iwctl and it worked. Though, I do sympathize with you. This should’ve been much easier considering that it’s expected that the user is going to need to access the internet.

    • Cralex@lemm.eeEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      Same. I know a little about Linux, but if I’m installing on a laptop or something where wired internet isn’t a good option and there’s no discernible cli tools installed to help configure/fix WiFi, that’s too arcane for my blood.

    • Kogasa@programming.dev
      32·
      1 year ago

      What does “uselessness” mean to you? Arch and other minimal distros are completely functional. If anything, they require less work to set up than a typical distro if you are a competent user who intends to customize the hell out of their system. It’s not for “old and embedded computers”… there are distros for that. Arch has an explicit philosophy and target audience, and it has nothing to do with low hardware power.

  • kameecoding@lemmy.world
    231·
    1 year ago

    OP why are you so obsessed with Arch? you seem like the guy complaining about Vegans always pushing veganism while everything they post is anout veganism

  • Obsession@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    1 year ago

    Is Arch really that minimalistic? It’s been a few years for me, granted, but I recall they had no package granularity at all. No options to install headers on their own, shit like ssh-client and ssh-server only available bundled together, etc.

    • kby@feddit.de
      11·
      1 year ago

      Exactly. At times, Debian offers more package granularity than Arch, which is really the key to minimize bloat. imo one should use Arch for the bleeding-edge packages it provides, not for the rather exaggerated minimalism argument. Almost every distro can be reduced and micro-optimized to be as minimal as possible.

    • rustydrd@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      1 year ago

      I think it mostly refers to a fresh install, which is fairly slim I guess (though not THAT slim either). The package (non-)granularity is still just absurd sometimes.

    • zikk_transport2@lemmy.world
      2·
      1 year ago

      Arch is customizable, like legos. It’s neither minimalistic, neither lightweight. It gives you almost unlimited amount of legos and you build something. Bad at building - you fucked. Good at building - congrats.

      You don’t require to melt those bricks from plastic tho (gentoo) or rebuild an existing OS (Ubuntu).

      Also when you buy Arch Lego© set, you also get a great instructions on how to do it (arch wiki) + recommendations on how to order additional less-frequently used legos (AUR).

      That’s why I prefer Arch. 👌

    • Kogasa@programming.dev
      11·
      1 year ago

      By design it supports a highly minimalistic installation via the PKGBUILD system and AUR. If you stick to the official repos only, you’ll naturally have some decisions made for you by package maintainers, which may include bundling and preconfiguration. It’s still minimal by conventional standards, but maybe not if you’re an RMS type.

    • li10@feddit.ukEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      That’s the true benefit of Arch.

      Greater variety of packages, and with the latest features.

  • RovingFox@lemmy.world
    31·
    1 year ago

    First time I decided to install arch was on an old laptop and I wanted to install it over wifi. It took me 2 weeks to figure everything up.

  • MyFairJulia@lemmy.world
    2·
    1 year ago

    My crrent test install of Void Linux only uses 800 MB RAM upon booting on my GPD Win 2. 200 MB came from me using KDE.

    Booting Void Linux live on my gaming PC and then running KDE gave me 600 MB and if it stays that way after install then this is great.

    It absolutely beats Windows with 2 GB RAM usage upon booting and i’m certain that it even beats Windows’ Fast Boot.

  • Sigh_Bafanada@lemmy.world
    21·
    1 year ago

    Kind of reminds me of when people claimed that cryptocurrency X had transaction fees only costing a fraction of a cent. While this was true, 99% of people using cryptocurrencies would use a platform which had a large amount of programming to send a transaction, for which the costs would be included as a service fee on each transaction. So while the transaction fee would technically be fractions of a cent, functionally it would be tens of dollars.