In general and if you don’t know the person you’re making the recommendation to, agreed. But I know several people I’d definitely recommend (and have recommended) Arch to as the first distro. Even just the installation process is so educational, it’s a worthy starting point, after some general youtube videos perhaps. If someone just wants to take Linux for a quick test drive, Arch definitely isn’t the way to go.

Although, I’ll admit I’m not sure how to describe the type of people I’d recommend it to. If their interest is less practical, and more theoretical. Or if they get really into their hobbies and like to tinker and poke at things to see what happens. Or if they just have an endless curiosity and need to understand. Surprisingly many people I know fall into these categories.

That was pretty much me when I first decided to try installing Arch… at 2am.

I love this. I’ll also probably have nightmares tonight now that I’ve been reminded of Lovecraft’s stories. XD

and if possible, keep some backups in a separate physical location. House fires or break-ins aren’t all that uncommon.

Only time I’ve had to do it so far was due to dual booting Windows and it overriding boot thingies. Apart from that it has been running more or less flawlessly for a few years now.