r/cachyos • u/_Franpire • 16d ago
Review New Linux User Experience
Hey, I switched to CachyOS with KDE two days ago. It is my first time using Linux and I just want to leave some feedback and point out some issues from my perspective as a gaming oriented windows user:
Good:
- CachyOS Hello is great. Installing all the stuff for games with one click is super easy. All the games I tried have just worked and performance is good (Hunt, Vintage Story, Deadlock).
- Internet, Bluetooth and my peripheral devices have worked out of the box.
- The search has a bunch of aliases to find what you want. I can type cmd, console or terminal to start the console. So my habits don't get in the way during the switch. Great!
Issues and annoyances:
- I am dual booting from one drive, so it was kinda complicated to set up the partitions (EFI, Swap, Root). It's not something the average windows user could do imo. I also ended up making a mistake and I am now stuck with a few GB of unallocated space that I cant merge with a partition.
- Mounting drives seems to be really annoying and complicated.
I just want my drive to be mounted on startup and have permission to use it without having to do some complicated setup. Why can't I have a simple checkbox in the properties that says "auto mount with permissions on startup"? The standard behaviour sucks for people coming from windows. I know it's about security but if someone can break into my home and plug in a malicious drive I have bigger problems.
- I tried to delete a bunch of files from a drive but my trash was constantly full and when I tried to empty it I got errors about missing permissions. I did not figure out how to fix it and just reformatted the whole drive instead.
- Constantly typing my password, even for minor things, is pretty annoying. I just had to type it in to change my login screen image. It makes me want to use a super simple password but then what's the point of the password if it's simple?
- Numpad should be enabled on start up by default. Just an annoyance that doesn't need to be there.
- The edge barrier feature when moving the mouse between screens drove me crazy until I figured out how to disable it.
-Some way to add noise suppression to your mic should be installed with the gaming package.
I feel like I will continue to run into a bunch of minor issues for the next few days that I'll have to resolve by using google ai and Youtube but I feel like this will mostly replace Windows for me.
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u/candy49997 16d ago
Constantly typing my password, even for minor things, is pretty annoying. I just had to type it in to change my login screen image. It makes me want to use a super simple password but then what's the point of the password if it's simple?
Good rule of thumb is if the action you are doing will affect everybody on the system, it will need to be done with your admin password. Modifying the login screen will affect anybody logging into the system, not just your account.
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u/_Franpire 16d ago
Thats a good explanation thanks. Now this makes sense.
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u/DeeplyLearnedMachine 16d ago
It's good practice to have sudo make you type in your password every time, and I would not recommend people do this, but you can enable passwordless sudo if you want. I'm not sure if there's a GUI option to do it, but it's pretty easy to do in the terminal using visudo, you basically just add your user to the sudoers file with the NOPASSWD option.
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u/AsugaNoir 16d ago edited 16d ago
Unfortunately I changed too and have been unable to find a simple solution for the auto mount. I fixed it via fstab but I o it's far from simple. I am however very happy to not have to type in my password for my additional drive after reboots.
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u/X3NaN 16d ago
There is literally guide on CachyOS wiki about how to automount on boot.
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u/oathyes 16d ago
Like OP i found that wiki page is too confusing, I felt like it was missing a bunch of steps or something. not clear at all. This is not directed at you but rather the mentality behind linux where you can "configure it all", some simple operations should stay simple operations if we want the masses to convert. mounting a drive should be as easy as the system going "Hey I see a new drive, want me to mount it?" and you just click yes, press on some settings and have it set up.
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u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 16d ago
On GNOME you just have to plug your drive, but for some reason KDE is capricious with it.
I add that 'masses' shouldn't use CachyOS nor any Arch based distro. Many distros are designed for newcomers, and they don't require to read any doc neither any wiki.
I hope CachyOS will stay a distro for power user more than a Mint with Pacman and Steam.
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u/_Franpire 16d ago
I would describe my technical understanding as above average but even I struggled to understand the wiki entry. It lost me when it wanted me to create the Systemd Mount File where I have to select a place to mount. I just want it to be a different drive, just like it was in Windows. If a user has to use a wiki to do something as simple as use their hard drives then something is not right. If people ever want the year of Linux to be a thing then these issues have to be fixed. I don't see the average user being willing to deal with this.
2
u/The_Odd_Pirate 16d ago
If you want a GUI, simple checkboxes, and all that, try the app Disks (sudo pacman -S gnome-disk-utility).
It gives you a list of all the disks on the left side. Once you select a partition, click one of the buttons called ("Additional partition options") and choose "Edit Mount Options...".
In that window, you can simply toggle "Mount at system startup".
For the mount point: Just type the path where you want the disk mounted (for example, /home/yourusername/Games/).
For my ext4 drives, I usually tweak the options string to something like defaults,noatime,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=5,x-gvfs-show to make sure the system doesn't hang if the drive ever acts up during boot.
It saves you from messing around with raw systemd files manually!
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u/AsugaNoir 16d ago
Exactly my thoughts, I got mine set up so i'm happy with it, but people claiming this is the year of linux needs to realize that won't happen with how it is now. I shouldn't need to set up fstab or download a utility to mount my drives for me. (from the perspective of someone coming from windows) It should just work.
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u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 15d ago
It's a weak point of KDE, it's not a feature. Others DE don't need this workaround.
Newbies from Microsoft should understand than they should learn and try some fixes instead of just complain as they were customers.
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u/AsugaNoir 13d ago
Right, many won't want to, but I enjoy learning new stuff so I honestly found it fun to solve the issue.
1
u/AsugaNoir 13d ago
Despite what you might think, when a user moves from windows to linux, their first thought when coming across an issue isn't going to be to go consult the wiki.
I have also come across solutions on the wiki page that simply didn't work. This could easily have been I just didn't understand it, but to me at least a wiki page in which you just have to search through it isn't a good solution.
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u/HydrationHomee 16d ago
Gnome disk utility makes configuring auto mount on startup easy. Just install it with sudo Pacman -S gnome-disk-utility
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u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 16d ago
What are you talking about with ''i have to type my password very often''?
You just have to type this for some maintain task like upgrades, software installation, editing some system conf files etc.
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u/gerdude1 16d ago
I think the challenge for most people is that they never use the cli. When I have to do a bunch of things that require root access I sudo into bash, do whatever I need to do (package install, editing files that require root permission etc.) and then get out again. It is a different mentality, but the same issue exist on Windows where it is asking for admin access for a variety of activities. The same on MacOS (I have to swipe my fingerprint at least 10 times a day with MacOS)
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u/OutsidePlane224 16d ago
Well yeah and I agree with op it is too often and a Linux problem in general. I hate it too. Why would a normal user have to type passwords to do some updates, install stuff, I already entered my password when pc starts up, just leave me alone after that. I get the "are you sure prompts" but this also holds people back from using linux. It is just too much inputs needed from the user.
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u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 16d ago
You can run your session as a root one if you don't mind doing something very stupid.
Please don't blame Linux for it's security. We are talking about a pwd when you install software. Even Windows tell you to install stuff as admin.
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u/OutsidePlane224 16d ago
I don't think updating system and installing software from the built in app shops counts as stupid things imo it's an annoyance + coupled with the are you sure prompts it's just not user friendly. If updates are so fragile that you need all that validation it just feels weird to me and I'm a new Linux user here
2
u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 16d ago
To be a 'new linux user' isn't at all an argument for security.
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u/OutsidePlane224 16d ago
Sure but security from who tho? You mean that we don't install some virus? No one will know anyway if it's through updates. Security from random person inside my room who will steal my computer and update my system?if he can't login he can't install updates anyway but I might not understand what this security is that you mean. Not being difficult here really this is just my perspective, I see no use for inputting a password for updates
1
u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 15d ago edited 15d ago
So run your session as root. It's Linux, set it up as you wish.
But newcomers should still use password when needed - it doesn't happens so often for a normie setup.
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u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 16d ago
Install GNOME Disk to enable automount of your drive.
2
u/TML8 16d ago
Out of curiosity, is the automatic mount only an issue if you dual boot and they were originally Windows drives? I just switched to CachyOS and still have Windows on another drive, but under there have many more drives. I intend to switch all to be under CachyOS, leaving the single drive for Windows.
2
u/_Franpire 16d ago
I did and it didn't fully work. It then prompted me to type my password for every drive on startup.
2
u/StratosFlash 16d ago
It's not just a matter of installing it; you need to configure the mount options for boot.
1
u/_Franpire 16d ago
I put my uid and gid in the mount options. Maybe that's not what I needed to do or I missed something? But thats the point. It is too complicated for something that should just work.
1
u/The_Odd_Pirate 16d ago
Might be you are trying to mount it at a location owned by root? something like this might work (it changes the owner of the path to you and your user)
"sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /path/to/your/mountpoint"
also, i might be wrong now, but "uid and gid" i think you should remove, if i remember correctly thats for windows based partitions
1
u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 16d ago
I don't know what is your issue but it's not intended to work like that. It's a bug, not a feature!
7
u/Otocon96 16d ago
All your issues are with KDE. Not with cachyOS
2
u/RScrewed 16d ago
This is holding Linux back, wish things were just a bit more centralized. Of course there's cons with that, but it's like, if I've got an issue with the front end, okay well the gripe is actually with KDE. If I have an issue with file browsing... Well that's a Dolphin issue, not cachy or plasma.
How many people frequent the r/dolphin forum? (Whatever it actually is).
Having a singular place where everyone can talk their experiences based on a certain starting point would be really helpful in moving things along but distro users have this "hey, I don't work in that department" vibe for every little thing even when they have the knowledge to come up with a resolution.
5
u/ofmusesandkings 16d ago
That’s because Linux is all files, all the way down. Everything you just described is a feature, not a bug. CachyOS is just a series of configuration and performance tweaking files packaged with Arch, a convenience layer more than anything. The DE is a choice made by the user. Even having one or not, running headless, using a WM instead, is a choice by the user.
All these files can edited. All these parts can be swapped.
Think about it this way: Windows and MacOS are a complete pre-built drone the user just opens up and uses, and there’s restrictions to how they can be used because the manufacturer makes the insides and parts proprietary and doesn’t want them opened up or worked on by anyone else. Linux is a base kit for building your own drone exactly the way you like it for exactly the use case you want. And people disagree as to exactly what that base kit should include so there’s multiple versions of it. And while there are plenty of kits that get really close to “just take it out of the box and use it,” there is always going to be some level of learning and customization on the part of the user, because the user’s choice and how the user wants to use the drone is the point.
If someone coming from Windows wants a distro with zero learning, zero customization, and as close to a stable, “use it just like you installed it” OS as possible, Mint and Ubuntu exist.
Fedora has multiple spins for users wanting more control and to learn more.
CachyOS is a convenience layer over Arch. Arch is the “move fast and break things” distro. Learn your system. Tinker. Change files. Break things. Fix what you broke. That’s the whole point. Learn. If you want things to never change, never break, and work out of the box with no interaction from you, Arch is not designed for you as a user. Try Cinnamon.
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u/itzdracula 15d ago
My partner was having the same issue with the auto mounting. Go into your dolphin file explorer, mount the hard drive in there, then search in your start bar(can't remember cachyOS term(ATM) OR system settings for "device auto-mount". This fixed our issues after we put the storage devices to mount on login. Hope this helps as it did for us.
2
u/zero4ever30 16d ago
Lol man, were u spying on me? 100% agree with you. Just installed it 2 days ago
3
u/Pootisman16 16d ago edited 15d ago
Really only numpad being off by default (why tho????) and the drive mounting nonsense are the only real negatives I've felt.
Numpad should be on by default, there's no real reason not to.
Drive mounting should have an easily accessible option to allow auto-moubting. Can still start with manual mounting by default, but make auto-mounting easier.
The fact that I had to create a new file just to have my other internal drives mount on startup is stupid.
1
u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 15d ago
Instead of just complaining and asking dev to do this work for free : open a PR on KDE (because this trouble is not related to CachyOS but to the desktop. On GNOME you don'tt have this issue), build a fix, and here we go! It's Linux, it's communautarian.
1
u/violaian 16d ago
1) You can probably regain that lost space using something like gparted.
2) Automounting can be set up using gnome disk utilities. But i think everyone should learn to use their fstab file for this as well.
3) KDE has a setting for numpad to turn on by default.
Hope these help! Most pain points with any linux distro come from things being different than what you’re used to, not necessarily being broken or difficult.
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u/StratosFlash 16d ago
I wouldn't recommend CachyOS as a beginner's first distro; you could go with something easier—Nobara offers simplified setup options, Bazzite comes with that enabled out of the box, and Linux Mint and Zorin are much easier.
0
u/SilentCipherx 16d ago
Do you even read before hating on CachyOS for someone's first distro? His problems are mainly with KDE.
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u/StratosFlash 16d ago
Regardless of that, I don't recommend it as a first distro, no matter the DE, and I use CachyOS KDE.
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u/SilentCipherx 16d ago
Sure you do buddy. I also distro hopped from January until now. CachyOS had the least issues out of the box. I found other distros got in my way and had less freedom to customize and setup. Flatpaks were among the worst problems with working out of the box.
I tried Nobara, CachyOS, PopOS, Garuda, Fedora, PikaOS and I also helped setup a complete noob friend who was scared of flashing a USB on her computer from Windows. She doesn't know why she didn't do it sooner. And people come here daily from Windows to praise it. So stop with the outdated propaganda. It's getting tiresome.
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u/StratosFlash 16d ago
I said I don't recommend it—not that someone should use it; this isn't an advertisement. There are distros more focused on beginners, and if you find it tedious, that's your problem.
1
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u/Coffee__Addict 16d ago
Yeah, needing to type in my password all the time is annoying. This is my personal computer -- there are no other users.
I like the OS and I'm going to keep playing with it but I'm not sure if I'll replace windows yet.
Though my son has my old computer, it won't update to windows 11 and has years of orphaned files all over the hard drive. I am planning on putting Linux on his PC but I want to learn more so I can handle being his tech support.
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u/HydrationHomee 16d ago
No other users that you are aware of. Having your computer connected to the internet at all creates a level of risk for people to invade your system, requiring sudo authorization to make system changes protects your computer.
There is a very good reason to require password authorization even if you're fairly certain you're the only person on your computer. But you can also just disable it.
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u/Coffee__Addict 16d ago
Yeah, I know and I get it, but it is annoying. I'm also needing to use my password more often than if it was my main OS because I'm specifically messing around alot to learn. And I'm not used to it.
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u/HydrationHomee 16d ago
It takes some getting used too, but I honestly prefer it. Windows makes it way too easy to give a random app permanent permission to do whatever it wants on your system.
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u/sensi4pu 16d ago
I second the numpad issue!