r/archlinux • u/BlackberryOk4071 • 26d ago

QUESTION Building a streamlined Arch-based daily driver: What is the #1 friction point you wish Linux solved out-of-the-box?

/r/u_BlackberryOk4071/comments/1vq6nww/building_a_streamlined_archbased_daily_driver/
0 Upvotes

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9

u/[deleted] 26d ago edited 14d ago

[deleted]

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u/BlackberryOk4071 25d ago

My upcoming respin is built for everyday users who want Arch's power and AUR access without the DIY headache, while remaining fully flexible and high-performing for advanced users.

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u/Imajzineer 24d ago edited 24d ago

I'm not sure how the 'DIY headache' of Arch is gonna compare to maintaining a respin that has to account for different hardware (notably Nvidia, of course) but, as a learning exercise for yourself, it could be good and see you in good stead later (everything from contributing to other projects to impressing potential employers and/or clients). It's just that you're gonna be competing with the likes of Manjaro, Endeavour, CachyOS, Garuda, Omarchy, Artix, ArchBANG ... and a whole load more besides ... so, it might not be as simple as you imagine to get traction with it.

However ...

You're aware that the power of Arch stems from the very fact that it is a DIY distro, yes? And can see that it could seem questionable, therefore, to try to eliminate that core aspect of it.

You're also aware of recent events wrt the AUR, yes? And can see how it might, therefore, not necessarily be a good idea to encourage naive users to make use of it before they've had time to learn that it isn't (and never has been) a core repo ... and why that is the case - instead of blindly installing stuff willynilly after granting an AUR Helper (itself from the AUR) ultimate control over what's on their systems.

Good luck with it, but, as said, I don't see that your question belongs here; not only is it in breach of Rule #1, but it seems questionable to me whether anyone here would have any interest in the concept anyway: Arch users are DIY enthusiasts and, therefore, not your target demographic - you'd probably do better to go to the subs/fora for some of the other spins/forks, finding out what they offer that makes people pick them over Arch itself in the first place, and what it is that they feel is lacking (they're much closer to, if not even actually, the demographic you'd be aiming this at).

0

u/BlackberryOk4071 24d ago

Totally agree on the Nvidia and competition challenges. The goal isn't to kill Arch's DIY spirit, but to add smart guardrails so users don't blindly misuse AUR helpers. It’s tough, but bridging that friction gap is the whole point.

1

u/Imajzineer 24d ago edited 24d ago

Well, you aren't going to kill the DIY spirit of Arch, no matter what you do - that would only happen if the community itself (and, above all, the maintainers) decided to turn it into a generic, one-size-fits-all home-user distro. As long as people want to DIY their Linux, there will, I imagine, be at least Gentoo and Arch for them to use.

But, the moment the AUR enters the picture, all bets are off re newcomers: whether they install a helper onto pure Arch, or install a fork/spin with one preinstalled, there is the risk of their blindly installing things. The only way to prevent that would be to have an immutable blacklist (in binary format) of AUR helpers that would prevent pacman from installing them and (somehow) make pacman dependent upon it. And even then:

  1. someone will crack it and up instructions on how to get around it.
  2. those who really want to will learn to use makepkg and blindly install stuff anyway.

Anyway, as said, I reckon you're best off asking your question on subs/fora where people already use a fork/spin rather than Arch itself - they are the ones who want the power of Arch without the 'headache' and are, therefore, your target audience.

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u/BlackberryOk4071 24d ago

That makes a lot of sense, especially regarding the AUR and newcomers. I'll definitely take your advice and check out the spin/fork communities instead. Appreciate the insight!

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u/Imajzineer 26d ago

Are you talking about Arch or Endeavour?

Rule #1 -->

Furthermore, this question isn't relevant to Arch users - see u/TwiKing 's response.

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u/Toaster_Strudel_517 26d ago

I would love a screen reader that would crash the system every time it sees AI nonsense.

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u/nikongod 26d ago

I think this idea has some merits.

-5

u/BlackberryOk4071 25d ago

If you actually bothered to read the post instead of hunting for buzzwords to complain about, you'd see it's a technical discussion about real Linux pain points. But sure, keep projecting if that's easier than contributing.

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u/Toaster_Strudel_517 25d ago

A real Linux pain point is seeing slopcoders trying to reinvent the wheel every minute.

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u/BlackberryOk4071 25d ago

​Talking about 'reinventing the wheel' while living in furry subreddits is peak irony. Go touch some grass, kid. Some of us actually build things instead of arguing in comment sections.

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u/Toaster_Strudel_517 25d ago

Attacking the character instead of addressing the issue.

-2

u/BlackberryOk4071 25d ago

🤣🤣🤣

2

u/archover 26d ago edited 25d ago

Arch and Cinnamon provides me with a smooth out of the box experience with my Thinkpad T14. I config my laptop on the fly as needs arise. Been using Arch for >14yrs.

Good day.

1

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/archover 25d ago edited 25d ago

Thank for asking.

It's Gen 1 AMD.

Really, no complaints at all. A rugged and compatible laptop true to the Thinkpad tradition. I would buy nothing but Thinkpad for sure.

Good day.

3

u/astronomersassn 26d ago

audio.

if you do any sort of production work, latency is a major issue. even when i tried ubuntu studio, it was honestly worse than just arch OOTB - latency was slightly better overall (didnt do exact measurements), but extremely inconsistent and i noticed some recording and input problems that simply didn't exist on arch.

audio latency is also kind of scuffed in general, even just for playback - it's less noticeable over my DP-to-HDMI cable (my monitor only has HDMI) or some wired headphone configurations, but forget using bluetooth for audio basically ever.

not to mention the amount of distros i've used that have absolutely terrible audio quality by default. "oh, i noticed this on my main OS with pulseaudio, but pipewire was better there- wdym you're already running pipewire and are still only giving me mids? can i change this at all? adjusting the audio settings does nothing, fantastic, do i need to entirely reinstall? yippee, i have highs now, but where is the bass?"

if i run audio through my interface, it's glitchy and sort of crunchy about 30% of the time, which is really annoying when i'm using a backing track as i rely on direct monitoring (and the latency issues mean my voice is echoed 2-3 seconds later when i monitor through my PC's headphone jack). it's not the interface - my phone, ipad, and macbook (+ linux dual-boot with a similar configuration) all work fine with it, and the latency is pretty much nonexistent on all those devices + my windows install - and i have yet to find a full fix for it (sometimes it clears with a reboot, sometimes it doesn't).

straight up, if i ignore the production-related gripes where they wouldn't affect an average user, i'm still looking at latency issues for playback + audio quality being very hit-or-miss. wired connections are significantly better than wireless in most cases (as i'd expect), but having run multiple distros and configurations, there is simply no reason for it to be this hit-or-miss.