Speaker A
Arch. A popular Linux distro that I've always wanted to like, but since I get this black box holding, I don't know, like 50%. I use Arch, by the way. Arch Linux has always been described as the best Linux
A humorous yet informative look at the Arch Linux user experience, installation, customization, and community culture.
Key Takeaways
- Arch Linux offers great customization and performance but requires patience and technical knowledge to install and maintain.
- Using Arch Linux is often seen as a mark of superior PC user skills and dedication.
- Post-installation setup is crucial to create a fully functional and personalized desktop environment.
- Community resources like the Arch Wiki, GitHub, and AI tools are invaluable for troubleshooting and configuration.
- Gaming on Arch Linux is feasible with tools like Steam and Proton, expanding its usability beyond just programming or server use.
What the video covers
- Arch Linux is praised for being lightweight, bloat-free, and visually appealing but is known for its difficult installation process.
- Installing Arch Linux is considered a badge of honor among PC users, symbolizing technical skill and dedication.
- The video walks through downloading Arch Linux, creating a bootable USB with Rufus, and the installation process using Arch install.
- Explains the basics of Linux, GNU/Linux, and the concept of distributions to provide context for Arch Linux.
- Post-installation involves setting up a desktop environment, window manager, network manager, and other essential tools.
- Customization or 'ricing' is a key part of the Arch Linux lifestyle, allowing users to personalize their desktop extensively.
- The video highlights the use of GitHub and ChatGPT as resources for finding software and configuration ideas.
- Gaming on Arch Linux is discussed, including the use of Steam, Wine, and Proton for compatibility with Windows games.
- Despite challenges, Arch Linux users gain respect and a sense of community, with the distro seen as a lifestyle choice.
- The video blends humor with practical advice, making Arch Linux approachable for both new and experienced users.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Arch Linux and its reputation
- 00:49Why Arch Linux users are respected
- 01:36Downloading Arch Linux and Rufus
- 02:33Installing Arch Linux and explaining Linux basics
- 04:01Completing installation and addressing common questions
- 04:50Setting up desktop environment and customization
- 05:42Choosing software and configuration resources
- 06:29Final setup and becoming an Arch Linux user
- 07:19Installing software with Pacman and software management
- 08:06Gaming on Arch Linux with Steam, Wine, and Proton
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
distro. It's light, [music] has no bloat, and most importantly looks sick as hell. If you ever go to Reddit and browse the Unix subreddit, yes, that's a real subreddit where people share their Linux desktops to farm some karma, you
Speaker A
will quickly find out that most of the posts feature Arch Linux. Which will make you think that Arch Linux is just a nice looking distro. But you're wrong, kind of. You see, aside from being light and having no bloat and most
Speaker A
importantly looking sick as hell distro, it's also very hard to install. So much so that a peek at the Arch Linux guide will make you appreciate every day you spent without knowing about it. This makes downloading Arch Linux like a
Speaker A
badge of honor that makes people look at you and say, "This guy spent two days sleep deprived trying to set up Arch on his PC. Respect." You see, everyone knows that having Arch Linux installed on your system makes you a better PC
Speaker A
user, a better programmer, and most importantly a better person. And that's not just in the head, which is the actual reason why its popularity has gone way up in recent years.
Speaker A
Everyone wants to be in the club of highly intelligent PC users and use that infamous, "I use Arch, by the way." That sentence got me the respect of my teachers, my peers, and my colleagues.
Speaker A
So I might as well start using it in places it doesn't belong. Sir, that will be $14.99. Since I've started using Arch Linux, I've been approached in my class two times because of it, which is two times more than usual. 10 out of 10,
Speaker A
great conversation starter. But my aura quickly fades out the moment they realize that every time I have to use a software, I need to spend at least 30 minutes trying to make it work on my machine, which usually ends up not
Speaker A
working anyway and me giving up. Arch Linux isn't just a distro, it's a lifestyle. And I want to be part of that lifestyle. So let's look up download Arch Linux, click on the first thing that appears. ISO size 1.2, click on the
Speaker A
torrent link and wait for it to download. As we are waiting, we also need the software to help us put Arch Linux on a flash drive. So I'll search for Rufus, go to download, and download the first option. Download has started.
Speaker A
Now that we downloaded both Rufus and Arch Linux, I'll go and open up Rufus, plug my flash drive in, damn, get in, locate my flash drive and Arch Linux, then we hit start and wait. After it
Speaker A
finishes, turn off the computer, then turn it on again. All right, welcome to Arch Linux. Now that we are in the terminal, we can finally start installing Arch Linux by typing Arch install. Yeah, no damn Arch install.
Speaker A
English 100%. What does that even mean? Mirrors, mirror region, I don't know, let's go with France, why not? Disk configuration, partitioning, use the best effort, and choose the hard drive that you want to install Arch in. Make sure to choose the right one because if
Speaker A
you don't, file system, let's go with BTRFS, I'll go with yes, use compression, and we're done. User account, add the user, username Isaac, and the password. Should Isaac be a superuser? Yes. Profile type, minimal, audio, pipewire, network configuration,
Speaker A
copy ISO, [music] additional packages, get, hotel, trip, and install. Now as we are waiting for it to finish installing, I bet some of you might be confused on what we are doing and what Arch Linux actually is.
Speaker A
So let's go back to the basics. Windows is an operating system that runs on PCs.
Speaker A
macOS runs on Apple PCs, and Android works on phones. Linux is an operating system that runs on mostly everything, even your Chinese washing machine.
Speaker A
Most Linux users either use it to set up servers or because they have a lot of free time on their hands, aka the unemployed. But why Linux? You see, Linux gives you the freedom to do whatever you want on your system. Unlike
Speaker A
the other operating systems that don't like it when you dabble on their files. They also won't let you delete some of the files in your system. Some of them make sense and some don't. In simpler terms, big company bad, puts bloat on
Speaker A
your PC, and tells you to deal with it. However, Linux lets you do whatever you want. Want to delete the system files?
Speaker A
Be my guest. I trust you, my guy. Trust my G. Now you can't really use Linux directly because it's actually a kernel.
Speaker A
And actually it runs with GNU, so it's an operating system. That's why we call it GNU/Linux. Shut the hell up. You're right, but shut your damn ass up.
Speaker A
Anyway, you need to have a Linux distro. Think of it as a package that has the Linux kernel and GNU tools plus additional software, libraries, and tools so it can be usable. Every distro has its different uses. Some are for
Speaker A
overthinkers, some are for daily use, and some are for 13-year-old wannabe hackers. Now this is a really simplified version of how things work. You can even say it's bloat free. Ah, Arch Linux is ready. After Arch Linux got installed, I
Speaker A
remove my flash drive and reboot. And we have just installed Arch Linux successfully. But now you probably have two questions. One, [music] that was easy, I don't know why people say it's hard. Two, why do I have only the
Speaker A
terminal? Where's the other stuff? Well, first of all, we use Arch install which does everything for you. You should use the Arch wiki and do everything manually. But I'd rather sudo rm myself than do that. Second of all, now we are
Speaker A
going to do the... Like I said before, Arch Linux is fully customizable. So after installing Arch, we need to set up the desktop system from the ground up. That means setting up a file manager, a display manager, a
Speaker A
desktop environment, why isn't Hyperland working, an AUR helper, a firewall, a network manager, or you can just steal everything from other people, or choose the desktop option instead of mini. Man, I'm trying so bad to make it look hard.
Speaker A
How can you flex my smartness now? I'll just go ahead and choose Hyper Hyperland because I don't know, it looks cool.
Speaker A
Follow the simple instructions on how to install it, and done. Look at how good and smooth it looks. But we are not finished yet. Now we can go to the most fun and important part of Arch Linux.
Speaker A
Ricing. Ricing is the process of customizing your desktop to make it look the way you want it. It can be by doing something major like changing the window manager or the explorer, or by doing something small and simple. Just change
Speaker A
your wallpaper, congratulations, now you are a certified ricer. Now, technically you start ricing from when you choose your window manager and stuff in the post-installation, but don't worry, you can still be a ricer. I also found out that there are ricing competitions where
Speaker A
people try to make the best rice they can. Listen, I'm not that unemployed. You know what? Damn these people. I want to make my own Arch Linux configuration from the ground up. I want to make something of my own. I want to show my
Speaker A
creation to the world. I want to have something in my life. I want to be someone. I want to be a real ricer.
Speaker A
Well, for that we need to ask a simple question. What the hell do I need in my configuration? I mean, I need a window manager and a network manager and stuff.
Speaker A
But what else is there? What do I need to install? And the answer for that is whatever the hell you need. If you want, you can use the system as is, a terminal. But if you are a human being,
Speaker A
you probably want more. So the best way to look up what you need is GitHub. The answer [music] is always GitHub. If you look up this awesome Linux ricing, you will find a list of everything that you probably need to have a working,
Speaker A
sanity-keeping system. There are different types of stuff to choose from. Usually they are all good, but you can always try them all and see what you like. And if you don't like GitHub for some reason, you can always [music] ask
Speaker A
ChatGPT, I don't know. Also
Speaker A
Trust me. Anyways, setup complete. You finally did it. You installed the best operating system on your PC, and you finally became superior to any other PC user. That's something to be proud of.
Speaker A
So pat yourself on the back because not only you deserve it, but because no one will pat your back. All your friends already left you. So let's talk about the Arch Linux user experience. I'm not going to talk about the desktop
Speaker A
environment and stuff because it's different based on what you choose. But what I'll say is is that Arch Linux is [ __ ] annoying with its updates. Every time I open my PC, I get bombarded by updates. And that's because Arch Linux
Speaker A
has weekly updates. So you need to update your system from time to time because if you don't, stuff might stop working properly. Just make sure to update it whenever you have time.
Speaker A
Anyway, let's go straight to installing software. In Arch Linux, the way you download and install software [music] is by either using a package manager called Pacman for official repos, or an AUR helper like yay or paru for user-submitted build scripts. You simply
Speaker A
type sudo Pacman negative S, the software name, and you're done. Which makes downloading software in Arch easier than Windows. So the downloading browser meme is actually propaganda. You can also download Pacseek so you can see the software you want if you don't know
Speaker A
its proper name or something. Why do they call this distro hard again? Make sure when you use an AUR helper that the source is trusted because everything here is mostly made by the community and some of them might be bad [music]
Speaker A
people. So be careful when you install something. I'm serious, be careful. You can also find download extensions that runs on Arch. See, sometimes when you try to download something from the official website, you will see that they support Linux. But let's be honest, most
Speaker A
of the time they just say that so they can slap the penguin logo on their side.
Speaker A
And when they say Linux, they usually mean Ubuntu because you'll only find a Ubuntu download. But if you look hard enough, aka use Pacseek, you'll usually find it posted by someone who made it work for Arch. I don't know how or who
Speaker A
that person is. He could be a serial killer for all I know, Arch Linux except for the known ones.
Speaker A
And even if you find something that doesn't support Linux, you can still make it work using Wine, which is a compatibility layer that allows you to run Windows application on Linux. It works by translating Windows system calls into equivalent Linux system
Speaker A
calls, allowing Windows application to run natively on Linux without needing a full Windows OS. That's why it's a virtual machine. Even though most software works on Arch, that doesn't mean they work properly. It's usually because you didn't download the right
Speaker A
driver, but sometimes even when you do, it still doesn't work anyway. Like the worst experience I had with a software was with DaVinci Resolve. I spent two weeks trying to make it work. First it didn't even want to open and showed me
Speaker A
an error. And then after I downloaded, I don't know how many drivers, it worked.
Speaker A
But now when I put stuff in the timeline, it shows nothing. I have searched for a solution and it seems that it's a problem with the GPU. They say it should work if you have an Nvidia GPU and I'm running an integrated GPU,
Speaker A
Intel IDP. Come on. I've also seen some people say it works if you have the paid version, but I don't have the money for that, so no. So the last thing that I did is I went to the DaVinci Resolve
Speaker A
website and found out what the minimum requirements [music] are. So your honor, Arch Linux is not the father of this problem. But in general, most software that I actually use works fine. If you have a somewhat good computer, you will
Speaker A
have fewer problems. Anyway, now for the most important thing. Now for gaming, I mean, yeah, it's 2026. [music] You can game on Linux. Obviously, I didn't play all the video games that are on the market, so I can't say all games work.
Speaker A
The games I tried are on fire. The only games that I know of that will not work are games that have cheat engines on them, like Valorant because the cheat stuff works on a kernel level. But who plays Valorant anyway? If the fanboys
Speaker A
can't play Valorant, then how are they on Arch Linux? In Arch Linux, you have two popular ways to play games. Steam, which has Linux support [music] and has been improving it for a while now for other people to
Speaker A
enjoy. Thanks, Gabe. And that's thanks to SteamOS, the operating system that runs the Steam [music] Deck, which uses Linux and a fork of Wine that is called Proton, made by Valve to be more gaming-oriented. And from the sources I
Speaker A
checked, it seems that most games on Steam work. can use Lutris, which lets you run other launchers and emulators.
Speaker A
It even has Wine and Proton. So, even the games that don't work will be forced to work now. Just don't be an idiot like me and download the stuff that they tell you to install.
Speaker A
Also, if your game still doesn't want to work, probably because you didn't download, you guessed it, a [ __ ] driver.
Speaker A
All you have to do is open the driver.exe using Wine and you are good to go.
Speaker A
Now, I'm not going to show you how to use Steam because [music] I can't be bothered to sign in. And I'm also not going to tell you how to use Lutris later. This video has taken enough time from me, okay? Now, the most important
Speaker A
question in your mind that you're probably thinking is whether using Linux [music] will reduce performance while gaming.
Speaker A
Now, I can't really say much about this because I didn't test it properly myself but based on other people's benchmarks, it seems like surprisingly, you either get nearly the same performance as Windows or sometimes even get better performance
Speaker A
on Linux. Okay, when you're on Windows games on Linux through Wine, there's usually a little overhead because Wine has to translate Windows system calls into Linux ones. And when it comes to graphics, then Wine often translates DirectX into OpenGL, which can add
Speaker A
bottlenecks and slow things down. That's where Proton comes in. Proton converts DirectX into Vulkan instead.
Speaker A
And Vulkan is way more efficient with less overhead and better GPU utilization. That means many games actually run closer to Windows speed and in some cases even better than Windows because [music] DirectX itself can be a bottleneck.
Speaker A
But that's not all. Arch Linux also matters to gaming. Unlike Windows, Arch Linux is super lightweight and bloat-free.
Speaker A
running the operating system doesn't take up tons of background resources. That means your games have more CPU and RAM to actually use, giving them more performance to All these titles are some of the games that run better on Linux.
Speaker A
Minecraft because Java runs better on Linux. Factorio because of Linux optimizations that they put in.
Speaker A
GTA IV, Crysis, Fallout: New Vegas, Saints Row 2, Borderlands 2, and many more all because of Proton. Is that [ __ ] uranium?
Speaker A
Yeah, nothing will happen when you use nuclear. Oh [ __ ] sum it up. Gaming, yes. Wait a minute, these are Linux problems, not Arch Linux. To be honest, I lost the plot. I don't know what the [ __ ] I'm doing.
Speaker A
This is the section where I tell you to go and remove Windows and download Arch Linux.
Speaker A
But to be honest, I still run mainly Windows for some reason. My experience with Arch was entirely on my cheap HP Core i5 8th gen laptop.
Speaker A
And so, I've been thinking about why I'm still using Windows and why don't I install Arch. And to be honest, it's probably just a fear of missing out at this point.
Speaker A
Yes, I had some problems, but first of all, they weren't that many and I had to cherry-pick them.
Speaker A
Second of all, all my problems were because I didn't have a graphics card. So, here's my advice. My advice is that you get a hard drive and install Arch in it and experiment with it.
Speaker A
Download stuff, games, and have a feel for it. And maybe you will like it and it will become the best decision you've ever made.
Speaker A
Just don't test Arch Linux on a virtual machine, it really sucks. I know I didn't go in depth [music] on some topics, but trust me.
Speaker A
Beauty of Arch Linux is the sense of adventure and problem solving. And also, if I made this video more in depth on how to set up your system, this video would become a tutorial, which defeats the whole purpose of Arch
Speaker A
Linux. One must imagine an Arch Linux user with a girlfriend. WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?
Speaker A
Is there something missing? Must more blood be shed?
Topics:Arch LinuxLinux installationLinux customizationricingLinux gamingLinux communityLinux tutorialGNU/LinuxLinux desktopLinux user experience
