Why you (probably) shouldn't use an Arch Linux install script

Have you been wanting to try out Arch Linux and are thinking of using the archinstall installation script? In this video, I'm going to GATEKEEP Arch Linux by telling you why you SHOULDN'T use the easy install script and why you should install Arch Linux manually instead. Trust me, I actually have good reasons to as why new users might not want to use it, I'm not just being elitist...or am I?

Background footage:

0:00 Intro
1:57 Why install Arch Linux manually?
2:59 What do you learn from installing Arch manually?
5:08 Mom, cancel my meetings, archinstall broke again
6:19 Manually installing Arch is scary!
7:36 Who Arch Linux isn't for
8:31 What about Arch distros with a GUI installer?
9:50 My recommendation

[icarius]

The next thing is: I use Arch without Archinstall btw

[goldibollocks]

Manually installing Arch cured my depression... at least for a day

No seriously, it made me feel like I had accomplished something and even though it took some time to get everything running, it didn't feel like wasted time but like actually learning something about computers/linux. Was a really positive experience!

[alangamer]

My Linux experience:
-Use archinstall
-"Wow this so much easier than internet made it seem"
-Why my audio not working
-"Go read the manual fucker"
-Fight with PulseAudio for 5 attempts
-Realize PulseAudio was working the whole time and bluez was the problem
-Fight with bluez for 3 hours
-It finally works
-Never more proud of myself

[averageweird]

Arch has become the same thing as Souls games, the same passive-agressive attitude of "it's okay if you don't like it, but if you don't like it you are inferior"

[plebisMaximus]

Yea nah. I've installed Arch both ways and the only thing manual installation taught me was that I'm in fact capable of following instructions. I learned far more fighting with Debian to get non-free repos set up. Arch isn't a specialist piece of software for the elite of the elite, it's just a bit of a cumbersome OS. With archinstall you get a functional and fine system in no time at all that anyone can use. It can break, yes, but so can any other rolling release distro and either you can fix it or you can't and will have to reinstall. The install process won't teach you to fix a fucked bootloader, learning to fix Arch is no different to learning to fix Tumbleweed or Void or whatever else. You learn because you have to after you installed a rotten update, not because you went through the obnoxious process of manually partitioning drives in cfdisk.

[jhonyortiz]

People will learn more by doing it the "wrong" way than by not doing it at all. The script isn't perfect, it doesn't teach you as much, but it makes it approachable.
No one starts by painting a mona lisa. You start by drawing apples, or coloring books. That's what the script is. Is place to start for those that maybe are too scared to even start. And the same is true for arch distros. I agree, often there is problems with them. But it's better than having people never even try arch.
Learning slowly, at your own pace is valid. You don't need to jump knees deep into building your own system. I've learned a lot by just solving problems as they come instead trying to learn all at once. I definitely think this video is well intended but very much off the mark.

[owletkami]

You don't need to use arch to learn all this stuff. Spending enough time doing projects in any system will force most users who are curious to learn these technologies

[breddie_is_rookie]

This video's narration is kinda similar to Mental Outlaw's, with innumerous 4chan-tier meme references and doing something technical that is related to the subject.

Next, we will be expecting a cooking video on how to make some Midwestern stew or something

[semyonboyk]

Maybe it's because I started my Linux journey from Gentoo, but I find installing Arch very simple, given how amazing their Wiki is. The installation process itself teaches you more than some Linux courses :D

[mopugnothee]

If you're new to linux installing a derived distro can help to have an idea on which packages to install (endeavouros install is really good for that) and if you're new to the distro, it permits to see the bigger picture of it. archinstall script is just a layer above the step by step installation guide provided by archlinux, after that you have to do everything by yourself and its amazing

[seanzhang]

But the thing is not everyone has unlimited amount of time install it manually. Some people might of just need it up and running asap.

[besnikrrustemi]

The main reason i use arch btw, is because the first time i tried it / installed it, i noticed how blazing fast my haswell laptops did run compared to distributions like ubuntu, mint, elementary etc etc.
Now i use window manager (qtile) with arch and basically my complete setup with all the software that i use gives me an install below 700 packages in total (compared to 2000+ on other distros).
No bloat, customized the way i want to and super efficient and happy with it.

[AnalyticMinded]

Here's a few other reasons not to use Manjaro: the constant f ups, the incremental bloating, inconsistent updates (the latest update came over a month after the last one and it's huge, so expect about 15 minutes of downloading and updating), not being able to update an outdated program from their repositories for weeks, etc. This week I'm saying goodbye to Manjaro on my laptop after almost 3 years. Good thing I had my desktop PC with Arch to keep me sane.

A reason not to use EOS: if you want your system setup exactly to your specifications, be prepared to uninstall a lot of unwanted/unneeded pre-packaged programs, in which case just spend the time to install vanilla Arch. Otherwise, it's a fine distro.

Lastly, yes, it's true: installing Arch is not that difficult. The first time is a little bit nerve-wracking, but it's nothing out of this world. If anything, it's just time-consuming. And you do learn some things about Linux while prepping the install. So, don't follow instructions mindlessly: make the effort to learn something about your system.

[rotteegher]

> I remember using archinstall to install archlinux because I was lazy.
> Few weeks later I got a broken system and didn't know how to fix.
> Eventually reinstalled everything the right way...
> Understood how stupid I was and that I could even easily fix my previous problem
> Installed archlinux the third time on old mac book air 2017
> Currently learning to how to do installing Gentoo with dualboot the right way because I learned from my mistakes.
> I use Arch btw

[nhefner]

I used debian and fedora based distros for many years when i first got into linux. I just recently decided to switch to Arch and I used the install script. I went the minimal install route and installed my own display manager, window manager, etc. I found the script a great middle ground for someone like me who knows a good amount about linux and just wants to get an Arch install up and running. I went through probably a dozen iterations in VMs before finalizing a setup I was happy with and I would definitely recommend doing those VM test runs before performing the final install.

[roxsonixx]

While I understand the value in following the wiki and installing manually, if you just want to compute on Arch I don't see why the script matters. Why do you care how another Arch user installed Arch?

[GHNeko]

I used Arch Install specifically to make the process easier, but I did so with the understanding that I would have to learn a lot more on my own after I got the install done. This was also testing out Nobara and realizing that I really really wanted rolling updates/releases instead of stable/LTS stuff because I was already in the mindset of fixing everything myself as I was cutting Windows cold turkey and going perma linux on my desktop.

[gwgux]

The best thing about doing the manual Arch install multiple times is that as you learn, you can start scripting it and automate how you're going to install your base system every time. This is incredibly handy if you're building different types of systems on Arch (desktops, servers, etc.) and want to ensure you start at a consistent base for all of them so you'll always know how all your systems will work every time you build them.

[lauchaufraedern]

Installing Arch on my own was a great introduction into Arch. I learned how to do some stuff like partitioning, using pacman, installing GRUB etc. throughout the installation which was helpful later. And the wiki is so well, that it shouldn't be that hard to install it manually.

[YrmiZ]

Been installing manually many times, but I love how fast this scripts does basic install.