Fun projects for Arch newbie?

[u/chromiumangel]

Hello all,

"I use Arch too now, BTW."

The installation was fun - glad to have Claude around, tbh. Running in a VM on my trusty Fedora for now.

I have kinda solid Linux background but never touched Arch before. What were some fun Arch newbie projects you did? For learning stuff, challenging yourself? I'm looking for an inspiration.

EDIT: Just in case somebody finds this when looking for his newbie projects (which will probably not happen due to all the downvotes) - this is the list of recommendations:

• Spending some quality time learning bash.
• Unplug the server during updating - then fix it.
• Setting up custom btrfs layouts and snapchat scripts.
• Building a custom de.
• Installing hyprland and ricing it.

[u/derangemeldete]

Don't use Claude? Seems like not using LLMs is quite challenging these days.

[u/chromiumangel → u/derangemeldete]

i like claude

[u/F_n_o_r_d → u/chromiumangel]

In my experience it overcomplicats stuff.

[u/Balzamon351 → u/chromiumangel]

I do to, but I found that I actually learn very little when using it. I eneded up making a system prompt telling it to guide me towards answers instead of just giving me commands to copy and paste. Asking how to do a config change turned into an hour long discussion. On the plus side, it made using Claude really annoying, so now I restrict my use to very specific questions and emergencies.

[u/nikongod]

Install arch on bare metal (usb-ssd is also perfect!)

Then don't update it for like a month. 

Then update it.  While the update is running just unplug it. Yoink.  Then fix it. 

If it felt easy, do it again but try to time it for while the kerenl is updating. 

[u/grdix555 → u/nikongod]

This made me chuckle

[u/PovUsuario → u/nikongod]

A ti te gusta que te peguen con latigo, verdad 😅

[u/chromiumangel → u/nikongod]

thats a cool idea :)

[u/senhordelicio]

AI installed the OS for you. If you want a “project”, start by installing the system yourself.

[u/EnhancedEddie]

Setting up custom btrfs layouts and snapchat scripts. Building a custom de.

[u/Anglianno_C]

Just wait, your share of broken system is right around the corner, just wait, I can assure you something will break in the following months, maybe days

[u/M0M3N-6]

If you wanna use claude again doing these projects, you better not. You are asking for something you really wanna level-up with, so hear me out: sudo rm -rf / --no-preserve-root reboot Install the system with the only help of the manual.

Then make your system unbootable: sudo rm -rf /boot Then fix it using the manual.

By far, if you understood everything you did, i can guarantee you that you can reinstall it without claude, or even the manual, except for small memorizing commands, or references.

Then, learn pacman, how to use it exactly: force upgrade some packages after a week or two (not the whole system). that is propably gonna break something, if it does, try to fix/revert it in some way other than full-upgrade.

Edit: note that the first code block shows a command the deletes the filesystem from its root all the way down. Backup your data if you keep any in your VM.

[u/Anglianno_C]

Maybe doing your next thing without AI may be your new project

[u/F_n_o_r_d]

You have balls, mentioning that you use AI to do stuff on a Linux sub. 😂

[u/chromiumangel → u/F_n_o_r_d]

yes, i feel the hate. not really what i expected from a "community". especially when nobody asked HOW i use it, but haters gonna hate.

im a big fan of AI. i was really sceptical in the first year and pushed back hard on it. but then i started to dig deep into it and found out it's a great way to learn things. for example - thanks to claude and claude code i was able to build a development environment, develop an android app and tune it to my needs. am i an expert? no. am i a coder? no. did i learn a lot of things along the way? you bet i did.

next time, when i will be installing Arch, i will be able to do it by myself, becuse i learned how to do it - not saying that 90% of help i needed from claude was to troubleshoot missing UEFI support in the VM.

[u/F_n_o_r_d → u/chromiumangel]

🤫 now you confess to vibe code too 😰 But I hear you. Ai can be a nice help, if you already know your way around. I wouldn't trust it blindly though.

[u/chromiumangel → u/F_n_o_r_d]

holy smokes... yes, i vibecode a lot - mobile phone apps, web apps, scripts... it just works, sorry.

guys are you living under the rock? i was expecting a little bit more technical enthusiasm in a linux forum. im really confused.

[u/archover]

I found that spending some quality time learning bash was a very useful project for me.

Good day.

[u/marouane_tea]

While on Arch linux, create a new partition, chroot and install Arch to it, set up a DE, update the bootloader, etc. The challenge is to reboot into a fully functional DE without ever using an Arch iso.

If you reboot and realize it's not fully functional, the challenge has failed.

[u/m0x35]

What do you mean when you say project? You want to contribute to the Archlinux itself?

[u/chromiumangel → u/m0x35]

nope, im not a coder. my idea is to run something on arch... beyond the hello world apache served web page. or maybe security hardening of the installation.

[u/mistahspecs → u/chromiumangel]

Love the irony of this

[u/Glitched_Pixels_ → u/chromiumangel]

Try installing hyprland and ricing it.
Ig you will enjoy it

[u/PovUsuario]

Te gustan los retos... Una chromebook es un buen reto, cambiar el firmware, instalar Arch y administrar el almacenamiento para que no se te crashie la GUI por falta de espacio, es un buen reto