how easy is it to install arch? (no anarchy/archinstall)
With archinstall? Ridiculously easy.
I’d just look up each of the options it gives you so you can decide what you want or what works best, but as long as you have an internet connection you can just choose your options and away you go.
If you only have wifi, add another 5-8 minutes of learning how to connect to your access point with iw
Since nobody else said it: make sure you have backups of any data you don’t want to lose. It’s really easy to accidentally partition any connected drive and wipe your data on it. (Learned it the hard way, but at least I had backups.)
yeah, i figured.
If you have reading comprehension of, at least, an 8th-grader, you’ll do just fine. The instructions are all there
at most, an 8th-grader
Phew, looks like my 6th grade education is finally paying off!
As a very long time Arch user I wouldn’t say “easy” like everyone else seems to. I absolutely would not suggest it for a first distro for someone, which is what I would classify as the “easy” level.
But if you’re comfortable with using Linux, the terminal, and being able to follow written documentation you’ll be able to do it just fine maybe with a little frustration the first time. If you’re installing to a laptop, make sure to look up your model on the wiki first.
There is no such thing as easy or hard.
Give it a try, fuck it up, and give it a try again. Try not to fuck it up in the same way as the first time. Repeat until it works - it will work eventually.
It took me about 6 hours and 3 disk re-formats my first time. I was particularly bad at it. I barely knew what a disk was, nevermind a partition.
Actually I’m still not sure what a partition is.
You’ll do fine :)
Easy or not depends vary wildly. But the usual task is
- partition the drive
- format the drive
- mount the drive
- install the base system
That is the bare minimum, but we need to do more configuration to be able to boot. Hence the next task is configuring the following
- fstab
- timezone, hostname, and networking
- boot loader (I just use the EFI directly nowadays)
That is it. Everything else is usually work specific. Like, if you wanted arch to be a server, you usually didn’t install a GUI. For workstation and gaming, you need more steps but it will vary depending on hardware. The archwiki covers a good deal of hardware from laptop to desktop and their quirks.
Endeavour os done.
In general, I would say it’s not hard, but it’s not easy.
When I did it, I had some moderate Linux experience but I was by no means an expert. I did a few practice runs on a VM and made myself a runbook before I completed the install on my real computer. This allowed me to get a real sense for what I was doing and what each step did, exactly. When I ran into differences on my actual computer, the time I spent researching and doing it on the VM helped me to overcome any confusion and complete the install successfully. The wiki has all the information you need.
So, from beginning to end, I spent a weekend on it, including the few dry runs I did on the VM and configuring my system after the actual install was complete. If you’re not already quite familiar with Linux, I think it’s wise to do it this way because you build in time to learn, as opposed to just getting a working system as quickly as possible.
The wiki holds your hand through it so it’s pretty easy.
It’s easy if you have a second computer or phone or something and can read and plan first.
It’s hard if you want to just click click click through.
It’ll depend a lot on your experience. I can just install Arch without reading the wiki at all in about 5 minutes for something fairly vanilla. If you’re comfortable with Linux then following the wiki won’t be too hard, took me maybe 2-3 hours on my first install before I had my DE and everything all set up (12 years ago). If you’ve never used Linux before and take the deep dive then it could take hours and days depending on how fast you can absorb all that information.
“Easy” is very subjective, there’s stuff that’s so dumbed down for the sake of “easy” that it makes my life harder when I need to do more complex stuff. I know people for whom linear algebra in 11 dimensions is easy for them to do and solve. Easy is relative to your own personal experience level and what you’re trying to accomplish.
Install it in a VM as a test run, you’ll see by yourself.
It’s not to bad as others are saying. Real question is to why you don’t want to use the installer?
They are quite good. I just used one for a Gentoo install because I have better things to do with my time. Can I do it for the millionth time sure by hand sure but what’s the point? End result is more consistent than me as a human doing it by hand
I always manage to forget the locale or NetworkManager or set a password for root etc… Unless you have a hyper-specific partitioning scheme or system config these work great
You always forget to set a password for root?
Exactly. archinstall is pretty nice, and if you want the frustration of dealing with random errors, it’s still there. But it’s straightforward (but keep the docs handy since you’ll likely need them).
i can do it on about 15 minutes without the wiki for a fairly basic install
and then about 30 minutes to set up sway how i want, install common software i like, etc
but for a more complex setup it will take longer and i will need to check the wiki
I can do it with my eyes closed. And using the number shortcuts to navigate through the menus.
Practice in a VM and see for yourself! I did that, set everything up, and ultimately decided it was more system admin detail than I wanted to take on. But as far as ease goes, it’s not especially hard, there’s just not much in the way of hand-holding or preset configs, and you’ll likely find there’s a lot of preinstalled drivers and things you take for granted.
