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So many tips, let me add mine.
When installing use the archinstall the first time, unless you really want to go into the deep end and use the normal install.
I didn't read the documentation so I didn't know you weren't supposed to use sudo with yay.
-Ss can be added to pacman to search for packages. Pretty useful if you don't want to DuckDuckGo them every time.
As for applications one neat one I don't see recommended very often is xkill. You can use it to kill applications kind of like you would with the task manager in Windows. htop is probably a closer comparison to the task manager in general though.
There are a lot of Arch-based distros that are incredibly easy to install if you want a very easy setup process that doesn't involve a lot of terminal work.
i thought yay told you to not run it with sudo?
It does. It gives you this message
-> Avoid running yay as root/sudo.
I only ran Debian and Ubuntu based distros up until that point so I thought you always needed to install packages using sudo.
I am pretty sure I ignored the warning initially because the first couple packages I tried to install with sudo and yay worked.
This was a while ago.
I've been using Arch off and on for a long time, since it was horrible to install and updates did often break stuff. This is not the case now 🖖, and the Arch wiki is your friend.
Consider using btrfs with automated snapshots using yabsnap. It includes a configurable pacman hook in case something goes awry. Also just nice to have snapshots in case you accidentally delete a file or something.
Use paru, an AUR helper. Good for random things which may not be officially packaged. Expect to run into failures, and learn to diagnose them. Sometimes it's just a new dependency the packager missed. For both paru and pacman, clean the cache once in a while or automatically, or things will get out of hand.
Do the "manual" setup, at least the first time, so you have an idea what's going on. Don't forget to install essential stuff like iwd (if needed) when you do pacstrap, or else you might have to boot from live again to fix it. Once you're done, take care to follow the important post install steps, like setting up a user with sudo, a firewall, sshd, etc.
As for general setup, I've recently embraced systemd-networkd and systemd-resolved. Might be worth giving it a shot, since there is no default network manager like application. You can even convert all your wireguard client configs into networkd interfaces.
Best practice: Keep a personal log of various tweaks and things you've configured, and set up automated backups (more of general guidance).
Have fun!
Use btrfs with snapshots. Verify you know how to boot into snapshot after a failed update and repair the system. This is the most important thing and lets you experiment much more freely.
I wish I new how to easily install an AUR package manager when I first started.
Step 1: go to the AUR and choose a package manager. I recommend paru, but there are plenty of others.
Step 2: install git using pacman
sudo pacman -S git
Step 3: copy the git clone URL for paru and pull it
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru.git
Step 4: CD into the new directory
cd paru
Step 5: install paru
makepkg -si
Now when you find a package from the AUR you want, you can easily install it.
paru -S [package]
Also, when you update your system, you only need to run paru -Syu. You don't need to run both pacman -Syu and paru -Syu.
Why paru specifically?
Rust-based and actively developed
Rust based is not a feature it is a slogan. Yay is the defacto standard and also actively developed. That being said use whatever works for you and AUR.
Pacman is the only standard package manager for Arch. Arch recommends against using third party package managers, including Yay.
Is there a chance that Arch says that so they don't have to take on the responsibility of endorsing yay while also acknowledging its prevalence?
Like if Nintendo made a statement saying they recommend against third party mods or repairs that deal with joycon stick drift because they don't want to be held accountable or contacted about issues consumers run into a result of them.
My understanding is this:
It's just the principle of AUR wrappers. Yes they are very useful, but anyone and their uncle can put a package in AUR name it whatever they want as long as it's not taken. AUR wrapper makes it easier to install things without knowing much, but manually searching for something, finding it, and installing it involves conscious choices. Arch cannot be responsible for people installing malware from a software they recommended, that's why it's kept this way intensionally.
Imagine if yay/paru came with the os, or could be installed from pacman, then people would just recommend doing that to new users and then they might just install whatever and break the system a lot more.
Also, just paru is equivalent to paru -Syu
Great advice.
Btw you don't need -S to install a package, just
paru packagename
Works fine
Start from the install guide on the wiki. It'll branch out fast and just follow all the links and read. If something goes wrong, check if you missed something on the wiki. It's an amazing resource.
Also, look up your hardware on the wiki before you start.
wikiman: https://github.com/filiparag/wikimanIt doesn’t hurt to have the LTS kernel installed as a backup option (assuming you use the standard kernel as your chosen default) in case you update to a newer kernel version and a driver here or there breaks.
I had a similar issue that was resolved by swapping to the LTS kernel. Learning about using a bootable Arch USB and chrooting into your install to make repairs would be a good thing for OP to know
Make backups of your important files, or use a separate home partition. When I used arch, more than once I had a bricked install after doing updates. The last straw for me was when after updating my network completely went out. I switched to fedora and haven't had issues for 2+ years. Also, (this goes for every distro, but more so arch than others) NEVER update if you don't have at least some time in front of you in case something happens. Arch was definitely a good learning experience and it was fun at first tweaking everything, but the drawbacks in stability got a bit old after a while. The AUR is a godsend and it's the best thing ever, you should also be using an AUR helper like Yay to make your life easier.
The archinstaller script is pretty good if you're just needing a basic setup. Ive been really happy with a btrfs partion from the recommended disk layout, then using btrfs snapshots + grub bootloader to load from snapshots. You can also create a hook on pacman so that you create a snapshot when you upgrade packages.
Since you didn't mention your experience, id recommend looking at the various desktop environments so you know which one to pick during install. You can ofc change later.
And read the arch docs. They are very good and have a lot of time invested into them. If you find you don't have the patience to read them then you're probably going to want to look at a different OS. Good luck!
Install slackware instead! But if you must, yay.
Any reason you would recommend Slackware specifically?
I've watched a few Youtube videos on the history of it and the advantages of it but I don't recall much. It seemed like a lot of people who had used Slackware a long time ago simply continuing to use Slackware and people using at as a learning tool because of how user involved it is.
Would you recommend people start with Slackware itself or a Slackware-based distro?
I wish I knew then that debbie does the trick for me
Read https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_maintenance before you go your first pacman -Syu
And when people tell you that you shouldn't use aur helpers like yay to blindly install/upgrade aur packages, there's a reason for it. Read the PKGBUILDs.
Those who are (wisely) suggesting snapshots, do you guys use a different partitions for data and OS? Because if you do revert to an older snapshot after a while, you'd loose new data, too (unless you recover it from current state)?
archinstall's default btrfs layout has I think 4-5 separate subvolumes (I'm not running btrfs anymore so can't check) but at the very least I remember it has:
being separate subvolumes and mountpoints, you can just use a previous snapshot from 1 without rolling back others
Related to the snapshotting stuff, timeshift-autosnap is pretty helpful, hooks into pacman and takes a snapshot before installing/updating packages.
Personally I found btrfs and the snapshots helpful when starting to use arch, but now that I know how not to blow things up, it has been stable enough for me I just felt ext4 was easier.
Cool.