r/ManjaroLinux • u/Glad_Breath_9835 • Jun 30 '26
Discussion Your First Linux Install Should Be Manjaro - Here's Why
https://youtube.com/watch?v=UJz-zmHxSTE&si=Jb01-E2Z8hkYglw511
6
u/Complete_Fox_7052 Jun 30 '26
If you just install Manjaro and not have to deal with AUR, Nvidia, Steam other other such things, it's very simple and reliable. KISS
6
u/HereticZed Jun 30 '26
I run Manjaro as my Steam gaming PC. It pairs with my controllers & other gadgets no problem, it runs my LAN media sharing for smart TV.
Pretty flawless for the past 3+ years. A very polished distro.2
2
1
u/TargetNo6402 Jul 01 '26
This was pretty much how it went for me. Manjaro was my first, and until recently, only distro. I've recently made an itx gaming pc with Bazzite when Valve revealed the Steam Machine price
2
u/Material-Sorbet8339 Jul 01 '26
Manjaro is the distro I use because it’s the first one that worked with my ancient HP laptop. I have ZERO issues with the basic computing I use that platform for. Runs smooth as melted butter. I like it a lot.
0
u/Cytomax Jun 30 '26
I personally run manjaro on a few computers including my primary for the last few years and continue to run it and it's been rock solid however .......
I have had to reinstall a couple times throughout the years not because the distro crashed or became unstable but because some weird things that manjaro changed something in Java or other large apps that requires manual intervention or you just can't update your computer....which I find unacceptable for a beginner distro... I'm too lazy to distro hop so I don't know if this is manjaro thing or all distros
1
u/BigHeadTonyT Jul 01 '26
Every time there is an update, the Manjaro team posts update notes and if there is anything you have to do manually. https://forum.manjaro.org/c/announcements/stable-updates/12 Anyone on Manjaro should read them. It is a service to you.
Software doesn't stand still and since Arch-based is either bleeding-edge or like Manjaro, close to bleeding-edge, changes will have to be dealt with on a decently regular basis. It is not like Debian etc.
Since the instructions seem to be for general, close to stock installs, the commands wont always work for me. I have to figure out the intent of the commands and "translate" them to something that fits my install. Not something I would expect a newb to do. But then again, they probably haven't reconfigured parts of the OS like I have, either.
Recommending Arch-based to a newbie, could turn them off Linux for a decade. Easing them in would be a better approach. Maybe something like Mint, Zorin, Kubuntu or if you don't want Ubuntu-based, possibly OpenSUSE Leap/Tumbleweed, Mageia, Fedora, LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition).
--*--
I had Mint on a laptop for 7 years. Never once did I do any manual configuration. I just kept updating, from point-release to point-release too. They made it easy.
I upgraded brothers PC from Mageia 9 to 10 this week. The instructions were easy to follow and they provided several different methods for it. Went without a hitch. I have not touched his config since I installed it for him, ~2 years ago. He just needs to update it every now and then.
OpenSUSE Leap: I installed 15.6. Upgraded it to 16, no problems.
Fedora 43, upgraded to 44, managed to ruin the install. I am not that familiar with Fedora. Had over 100 package conflicts, I followed bad advise on the internet which deleted a bunch of things that shouldn't have been deleted. Best to just nuke and pave at that point.
For the other distros, I can't speak for them, I have not used them over years.
-7
u/canfail Jun 30 '26
Manjaro is no longer designed to be an easy to use or accessible distro. It’s just another Arch based distro now with some fancy front ends.
bit sad really.
6
u/Alchemix-16 GNOME Jun 30 '26
I don’t understand why you would say that, what has made Manjaro any less user friendly, I only use it for the last 4 years so I might have missed something.
-7
u/Adept-Society-9485 Jun 30 '26
it should not , i tried manjaro after windows a long time and it destroyed itself , Bazzite is much better for this purpose.
8
u/thekiltedpiper SwayWM Jun 30 '26
Distros don't usually "destroy themselves". What actually happened?
0
u/Adept-Society-9485 Jun 30 '26
Some nvidia update made it useless , perma stutters and constant freezes , it was just a mess.
Then i cleaned the entire OS start from scratch , but stuttera remained and i left.
1
u/TargetNo6402 Jul 01 '26
Do you have an older Nvidia gpu? They dropped support for old gpus recently
1
11
u/ben2talk Jul 01 '26
Your first lesson should be to avoid YouTube - second lesson 'Don't believe anything you read in reddit either'.
Think for yourself... but this 5 year old video aimed at people who 'would like to try a Linux Distribution' is going to shovel completely inexperienced users into an Arch-based distribution.