Why Arch Linux?

[Krishnakant Mane]

Hello all.
Just re opening this thread for another reason.
I have downloaded the talking arch 10.05 based version.
I was reading this thread and what struck me was the packaging system.
The major problem with other distros like Ubuntu or fedora is that the 
package versions are tightly integrated with the distro version.
For example putting libre office on Ubuntu 10.04 was real pain.
What I want to know from experienced users like chuk who actually 
mentioned this fact of having all the upstreem packages in the repos is 
that, can I have things like postgresql 8.4, gnome 2.8 + orca 2.91.92 
and Libre office in the latest talking arch?
I am thinking of downloading the needed software packages with 
dependences  and creating a local repository.
Basically my organisation has a 8 mbps line and I will take every thing 
down from there and then at my home will do an offline package setup.

I have the wiki page on offline package installation in my book marks so 
that will come handy.
In addition, will the netinstaller version of talking arch be sufficient 
if I do maintain such a local repo of packages?
Happy hacking.
Krishnakant.


On 24/04/11 16:08, 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)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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