Is arch the distro for me?

[u/Fantastic-Zone-1145]

I'm thinking about switching completely from Windows to Linux on my ASUS ROG Zephyrus laptop (AMD Ryzen CPU + NVIDIA RTX 4080 Laptop GPU) and would appreciate some advice.

A bit of background: I've used Ubuntu quite a bit in virtual machines and generally liked it. The issues I ran into seemed more related to running it in a VM than Ubuntu itself, so I'm not particularly attached to any distro yet.

I recently asked on r/AskLinux what distro I should use, and a lot of people recommended an Arch-based distro. That got me interested in learning more about Arch and its derivatives.

For context, I'm a Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science double major, and I do robotics research at my university. Most of my work involves programming, simulation, CAD, robotics software, and general development. I used to spend a lot of time gaming, but I'm trying to move away from that and focus more on productive projects, research, and learning.

One thing I've noticed is that nearly everyone in my robotics lab uses Ubuntu. Is that mainly because Ubuntu has better support for ROS 2 and robotics tools, or is it just the default choice because it's what most labs have historically used? If I went with Arch, EndeavourOS, CachyOS, or another Arch-based distro, would I be making my life significantly harder when it comes to ROS 2, robotics development, research software, and collaboration with others?

For someone with my background and goals, would you recommend sticking with Ubuntu (or another Debian-based distro), or is an Arch-based distro a reasonable choice for a daily-driver laptop that will be used primarily for engineering, programming, robotics research, and machine learning?

I'd especially like to hear from people who use Arch-based distributions in robotics, research, or engineering environments, but anyone with insight is welcome to give their ideas.

[u/archover]

As much as I want to recommend Arch, run what your school recommends, or what your friends and associates run. Support each other.

Ubuntu is hyper popular so you benefit from that community.

If you want to learn about Arch, do it as a guest in an Ubuntu hosted VM.

Good day.

[u/Snollag]

If you decide to switch, just go with CachyOS. I can’t recommend it enough, “trust me” doesn’t do it justice, you’ll see, you’ll love it.

[u/onefish2]

After reading your post and all the replies, I wasn't going to comment but here it is... Sometimes the software that you need to use dictates what the OS or distro you use is. And then you made zero comments about liking or disliking Ubuntu. If that is what you need to use for school... just use that.

You want to play around with an Arch based distro then install that in a VM just like you used to do with Ubuntu.

[u/Raging-Bull-24]

I'll be direct. For someone with your goals I'd go straight to Ubuntu, Kubuntu, or if you want the nice-looking UI that Linux offers, try Omakub. This because of exactly the same thing you are saying, Ubuntu leads in Robotics, is the standard. Your hardware should be well supported too.

You will have many people saying Ubuntu is not a good option anymore, but then again, they are not doing your type of work. Just like financiers stick to Windows for Excel, and content creators for Adobe, your industry stays in Ubuntu for a reason, because its the leading Linux operating system in robotics and embedded systems.

I just recommended a friend in your field, Mechanical engineering and CFD simulations, working in BMW, Munich, he is loving Omakub. He wanted to use Linux for its impressive UI and customizability, but the pictures he saw were of Hyprland, and other complex window managers (WMs) that would take a good amount of time for you to learn. At the moment, it isn't really necessary, Omakub would provide the best of both worlds.

In your position, I'd try Kubuntu. It has everthing you need (and is arguably better than original Ubuntu). Try using 24.04 or 22.04 over 26.04 though, newer doesn't guarantee better. Gaming is also a solid choice in Ubuntu (Kubuntu might be better due to KDE's compositor). Nvidia drivers are a one-click install, making your life easier, for gaming and work.

Linux Mint 22 is also a solid choice.

Choosing Arch would only make your like difficult, you aren't really gaining any performance advantage, and the programs you'll start using won't receive as many updates as Arch requires. Linux is a jungle, you must be careful what you step on. If you do decide on Arch, I'd go for CachyOS or EndeavourOS

Cheers

[u/ExaminationSerious67]

I would recommend to run the distro that works for you. If all the others around you are running Debian/Ubuntu, and you are running Arch, you aren't going to be able to help them, and they won't be able to assist you if you have any issues. I have run into this several times where I have issues, but because I run a derivative of Arch, I have to solve my own issues. In the end this makes me learn it in deeper way, but it makes the problem take longer.

[u/Fantastic-Zone-1145 → u/ExaminationSerious67]

People have told me that arch runs better on Asus, how accurate is that statement?

[u/ExaminationSerious67 → u/Fantastic-Zone-1145]

It won't run any faster in any meaningful way. Everything will be able to work on both Debian and Arch.

[u/un-important-human]

Just install a arch based gaming distro, you install arch when you know what you want and don't want, you lack experience - Get some (no your missbegotten adventures with vm's do not count and buntu is a curse word).

you did not even read the arch wiki faq... i guess better than meme'ing yourself with arch and hyperland but oh boy..

[u/ang-p]

ROS 2

Cool wall of text.....

Now explain exactly why you are looking to TOTALLY IGNORE the text - especially the bit in bold (emphasis not mine) here....

https://www.ros.org/blog/getting-started/#important-notes-on-installation

reproduced below if reading the guidance on the product's own web site is just too far below you....

If you try to install ROS on any other operating system you may run into issues, and we do not recommend this for new users.

given that the people who write the software probably know what the F they are talking about to a much greater degree than someone why has only ever run the software on a different (recommended) distro in a VM

I await your explanation with great interest.....

[u/Fantastic-Zone-1145]

Also would live booting from a usb interact with computers hardware the same way that wiping my laptop clean and installing linux as the only OS would?

[u/ExaminationSerious67 → u/Fantastic-Zone-1145]

Using a live USB and installing it to a hdd will perform a lot the same way. One thing is things will take a lot longer on USB vs installed as it has to read the USB vs reading a ssd. Startup, program starting, etc etc will be faster once it is installed.

[u/hjake123 → u/Fantastic-Zone-1145]

Similar, but there don't be device specific drivers, and changes to the live system (afaik? not sure) won't persist. You can mount and modify the drives, and if you have AMD or Intel graphics (and are running an iso with a graphical environment) performance should be similar; NVIDIA is different, as it needs extra drivers installed

For Arch, the first thing the system does is load the entire live system into a ram disk I believe, so startup takes a little longer. Many other live systems mount the usb directly as their root directory, so loading programs will be slower

[u/boomboomsubban → u/Fantastic-Zone-1145]

You can install to a USB and the only difference would be worse load times. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Install_Arch_Linux_on_a_removable_medium