Why Arch Linux?

[Herzog]

Why isn't Ubuntu, or the version for the blind, Vinux more suitable?
have then not been considered, or found unsuitable?
Will Herzog

On 4/24/2011 6:38 AM, Chuck Hallenbeck wrote:
> Hi Cheryl,
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 10:42:30PM -0500, Cheryl Homiak wrote:
>> >  I was just interested to know what the reasons were for adopting
> Arch. I've been a debian user for a long time, with brief forays into
> fedora and ubuntu and gentoo so I don't know if I'll really switch one
> or both of my linux machines but I'd like to hear what people find
> compelling about this distribution.
>
> My own experience is narrower than yours: I went from Slackware to
> Debian to Arch, and have not implemented any GUI support here. Here are
> my main reasons:
>
> 1. It is simple, assuming a moderately skilled user.
>
> 2. The package manager and archiving methods are impressively designed,
> and easy to use.
>
> 3. The package maintainers perform minimal tinkering with upstream
> material, primarily just packaging those materials, not second-guessing
> developers.  The result is that upstream innovations often appear in
> the arch archives very early.
>
> 4. The concept of "rolling release" eliminates two issues that were
> problematic for me in my earlier experience with Linux, i.e.:
>
> 4-A.  The concern that I might be using somewhat older versions of some
> applications than might be available, e.g. in unstable rather than
> testing, or experimental rather than unstable, etc.
>
> 4-B. The nightmare of performaing a major upgrade when a new official
> release is announced. I give no examples of such problems, other than
> to say that they drove me from Slackware to Debian, and then from
> Debian to Arch. I perform a very simple upgrade procedure once a day or
> maybe every other day, and in two years have had only minor issues a
> couple of times, issues that were cleared up very quickly, often within
> hours.
>
> 5. You mentioned consulting the arch wiki, and that's useful for Linux
> users in general, but even more useful for archers in particular of
> course. There are also active mailing lists for users and developers,
> and a growing community of blind users, thanks largely to Chris
> Brannon's modifications to the standard installation iso and his
> dedicated support.
>
> One caution: Arch Linux does not support as broad an array of hardware
> as do other distributions. If you do not use an i686 or an x86-64
> system, look elsewhere.
>
> The above are only my own personal opinions, and I hope they don't
> provoke a distro war, it's not my intention. I learned a lot from my
> years in Slackware and in Debian, and those experiences undoubtedly
> helped me be comfortable with arch linux.
>
> Chuck
>
>
>
>
>> >  
>> >  -- 
>> >  Cheryl
>> >  
>> >  May the words of my mouth
>> >  and the meditation of my heart
>> >  be acceptable to You, Lord,
>> >  my rock and my Redeemer.
>> >  (Psalm 19:14 HCSB)
>> >  
>> >  
>> >  
>> >  
>> >  
>> >  _______________________________________________
>> >  Blinux-list mailing list
>> >  Blinux-list at redhat.com
>> >  https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> -- Chuck in Hudson. My website is hallenbeck.ftml.net, my Jabber ID is 
> chuckh1 at jabber.org _______________________________________________ 
> Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list at redhat.com 
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