There’s never a wrong time to update Arch Linux!
No wrong times, only small periods of unfortunate times!
I think you mean there’s never a right time to update! You’re always rolling the dice!
So that’s why they’re called “rolling” releases!
/s
Never had problems with that tbh, only with NVidia. Even on testing.
I had a problem with a Intel HD4000 on arch.
aaaand thats why i like “newbie” distros like ubuntu mint fedora and such.
i want my computer to work without a hitch and without having to maintain the OS.
And I like having my software up-to-date. It sucked ass when I was on Mint and one of my favorite programs had an update and I had to wait months for it to hit the repos.
this is why i switched from elementary. really good distro, but its based on ubuntu lts. think years instead of months. big oof.
I’ve been thinking about Debian and Ultramarine Linux (fedora but with drivers and less setup)
I prefer grey knights over Ultramarines.
It’s always been bad practice to just blindly update software. That’s why we have different distros.
Ubuntu and Mint hold your hand and make it easy for newcomers. Great way to dive into Linux. I completely agree these are great for “it just works” and no fuss. I’ve not had one break on me.
Arch and Gentoo expect you to have experience and know what you’re doing. You build it up how you want it. That’s what makes these so great. But you need the experience and knowledge.
I’ve personally tried openSUSE and in my opinion it feels like a good middle ground between both ends. In the past I’ve recommended Mint to get started, openSUSE once you’ve got experience, and then Arch for when you want total control.
I’ve never really had an issue in the 7 years I’ve used Linux. I don’t use Arch BTW.
My server OSes all run Debian which can auto update reliability with automatic reboots that happen staggered overnight.
He jumped into Gentoo two days after with Arch
I tried arch once. Eventually, my computer just showed a black screen on booting. I managed to fix it by resetting my bios. That was the end of that attempt at using arch. Still want to try again, though.
Vanilla Arch?
There’s several flavors of Arch?
I’m new to Linux and use Endeavor OS. Its Arch BTW so everything I do I just look up the Arch Wiki.
Endeavour comes with KDEPlasma, or you can pick others. It also has basic applications like Firefox and media players. But nothing in the way of office etc.
I think Manjaro is similar but deviates from arch a bit.
I’ve been using Mint for a year or two now, but if/when I “upgrade” so to speak to something with more control, I plan to get EOS. Arch is a bit much for me right now and openSUSE and Manjaro borked right away when I tried them (though to be fair, so did Mint-my hardware was too snazzy and I needed to update to the latest kernel to get everything working). But the control Arch offers is tempting, and EOS with KDE would suit me nicely. The best thing about Linux IMO is that you have choices about what you run; you don’t have to use any one distro, because no one can really force you to.
My limited knowledge and time force me to certain distros. Some of my stuff only works on EOS, others only on Mint.
It’s easier to install another distro than spend another hour troubleshooting. I know “just read the wiki” but sometimes we don’t have the skills, imagine a neckbeard trying to “just have a shower, and get out the basement”.
It makes it even more tempting to move back to Windows where I can just plug and play. But I’m forcing myself not to. … Well that and Win11 isn’t supported.
And re things not working. I’ll not even a gamer with special hardware. Just use it for web browsing and citrix for WFH.
As a former arch linux guy, the solution to this is to be prepared by having a separate partition for home, and a bash script to reinstall f—ing everything again with a single command.
a bash script to reinstall f—ing everything again
Why would you ever want to do that?
First of all, almost any Arch update induced problem can be solved by downgrading the offending package to the previous version, which handily is available in
/var/cache/pacman/pkg/. This is an essential Arch troubleshooting skill.Even an unbootable system (which has only happened once in my 10 years of using Arch because I didn’t read important news) can be fixed this way, because you can always boot from the installation usb stick and then use
arch-chrootto access your installation and fix problems.Secondly, if the problem was indeed caused by an Arch update, you will just reinstall the problem if you run a reinstall script.
Honestly I only ever learnt Linux admin by troubleshooting my borked Arch updates, necessity being the mother of invention and all.
Ah my last reinstall was because of important news I didn’t read.
This is an essential Arch troubleshooting skill.
Well you see, I didn’t know that haha, I know there are better ways to deal with a “defective” arch update but to me, that was the easiest, laziest way to do it and it worked most of the time. I have to admit this was a “me” problem I’m not blaming arch it’s just that I grew tired of things breaking because I didn’t read the news before doing pacman -Syu.
I am totally ready for it, I know it’s a thing, especially since I drink the forbidden nectar that is the AUR. Yet I’ve never had this happen even once.
After breaking on my notebook for the umpteenth time, i try now void. Have to fix some of my automation scripts tho.
That’s what snapshots are for.
I don’t have time for my system to be getting borked once a week. That’s why I use Debian. My system getting borked once every 2 years isn’t that bad.
I don’t have time for my system to be borked every 2 years. That’s why I use Arch.
I have been using Arch and EOS a lot longer with no borks.
Same. I started learning Linux on a rolling release distro and it was so frustrating having things Just Work one day and then be broken the next.
Was it Manjaro? Just asking…
EOS not once failed to update properly in over a year.
Been using EOS a lot longer and always flawless.
The only problem I have had is leaving a system too long and having to remember how to get the damn keyring to refresh. That is my biggest complaint.
I used arch over 5 years in the past. Isn’t it common today checking the update news on the arch wiki before updating?
Why would you need to do that? Just use something stable.
Recovering Arch user here. I really like Bazzite!
Btrfs my beloved. Things stop working? Just load a snapshot lol.
Just don’t try plugging it into a Raspberry Pi 5.
No data loss, but won’t work without changing your kernel. The other way around is much worse though — you can use an RPi5 to make a BTRFS drive which essentially only works on RPi5s.
Can’t complain about Arch myself, but I prefer my software to not change. I’m back on Mint 22 with Plasma 5 and Wayland and I absolutely love it.
“An update can wreck your bootloader with no notice, but hey, that’s part of the fun!”
A wrecked bootloader is not a problem, but a lesson to keep a usb drive to be able to chroot.
