Artix Linux Forum

There is no challenges I can think of. It is distro with desktop so it is ready for usage.
Sometimes it is required to manually activate services after installation for init system of your choice.
This is documented on artix wiki.
If you like challenges you can go Arch way and install system manually from base iso.
This move can help to learn Linux more than years of using desktop installation.

Hello and welcome to Artix Linux!

You can install Artix in console mode or using Calamares.

However, as has already been said: read the wiki before installing and after if you encounter a possible problem

As you seem to be leaning towards dinit, you will find help on this forum in case of a problem.
I opted for xfce and openrc, because these two are well-established on Artix.

I'm a newbie myself but I decided to start with Artix rather than Arch and I don't notice it much. I think the biggest hurdle was learning the install process from the command line and what programs I needed/wanted for a functioning desktop. Artix's installation wiki is good as a reference for the changed/non systemd things however it assumes you do have an understanding of the Arch installation process and doesn't completely handhold you nor point out when you have options (like how you want to partition your drives and if you want to label them or not). I'd read the Arch installation guide and get a good feel of it. Also have it open along side the Artix wiki for reference.
https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Installation
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide

For what init system to use, my opinion as a newbie is OpenRC solely because it is the default of Gentoo, and thus both has a page on their wiki that is pretty decent and has more "googled question" presence compared to more niche init systems. Keep in mind you cannot "easily" switch between the init options so make your choice early if you hate your init or not instead of 2 years of computer use later.
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/OpenRC
https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/OpenRC

The only other thing I feel that general user would want to do is enable Arch Linux's Extra and Multilib repos so you can grab any potential missing programs (Artix is not 1:1 as it is a much smaller community) and anything you might need for AUR packages.
https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Repositories#Arch_repositories

Speaking of the AUR, it's a user maintained package repo for Arch Linux that has package build and install scripts for download. This allows built in program management with Pacman so programs are installed and removed cleanly along with their dependencies. Of course it should be stated that AUR packages may (and often times are not) maintained by the programs creators so it is your responsibility to go over the makepkg (script that Arch and Pacman use to build packages) isn't malicious. As for managing the AUR, a pacman wrapper is usually used for beginners, time lacking, lazy, etc. people to automate it into the system upgrade process. Yay is a popular one (used by beginner focusing Arch forks like Endeavour) mostly because it shares the same flags as pacman and ticks off all the comparison checkboxes on the Arch wiki. I'll link yay and some supplementary AUR articles for further reading if desired.
https://github.com/Jguer/yay
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_User_Repository
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AUR_helpers

Flatpak is alright. It's multi-distro, works like a package manager from the command line, and isn't run by Canonical like Snaps are. It's self explanatory although the Arch wiki has a thorough page on it. A nice thing about Flathub, the official Flatpak repo, is that developers can claim ownership of the packages and have it clearly defined with a checkmark which makes it a tad safer than the AUR, however if a Flatpak is unverified then I find the AUR to usually be slightly more up to date. I'll link an example of a verified Flatpak for reference.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Flatpak
https://flathub.org/apps/org.kde.krita

As for the "true Linux experience" it's whatever you want it to be. The "Linux experience" is just simply freedom of choice. I made the choice to not use base Arch as I wanted to see what a non-systemd experience was like without feeling chained to something I learned. When it had 0 effect on my computer usage, I stayed because for basic personal computing, non-systemd is just objectively better. There are other programs that are "main stays" in Linux and people have made arguments against them and provide alternatives. I have considered diving into it, but time and less obvious impact on my usage (plus laziness) make me put it off. However I have the choice and that's the important part.

Inversely, if someone prefers the comfort of the majority and wants something simpler, one could opt for EndeavourOS. It doesn't install any supplementary programs so you still set it up yourself, but it gets the hard part out of the way and it is just base Arch (no custom package repos for system and extra packages) so it has no deviations from the Arch wiki at all.

Here is something pretty cool that was done with Fedora Atomic Desktops, Bazzite. The TLDR is it's a fully setup gaming Desktop with Steam and other Linux game launchers pre-setup, Waydroid pre-setup, and Container support to get packages from other OS'es like Arch and the AUR. It probably commits what this forum would consider software sins but it is perfect to put on something like a Steam Deck or give to a video gamer friend that wants to switch from Windows but refuses to make the learning commitment.
https://bazzite.gg/

Saying Debian isn't a corporate OS and a "community" OS is silly when all these big Linux OSes have some maintainers that either work on things like Systemd, work at corporations like Microsoft, or both. When you think about it that does make sense, there is a direct interest in these corporations to help maintain the software they use on their servers. Also Red Hat literally sells "premium" Fedora to corporations. Communities instead come from the smaller forks of these big OSes. Examples being Linux Mint, EndeavourOS, and Artix Linux. By separating from the majority, these projects are forced to work together to make something usable and as a result, originally grow from those who are willing to help maintain it, and only gain a wider audience after the work is done to make it usable. The only two major Linux distros that are more tight nit despite being the base that I can think of are Arch Linux and Gentoo. The former never advertised as a corporate OS and instead a user one, bleeding edge rolling means unstable so no corporation is going to pick that up. The latter has a firm free as a in freedom stance and does not include any software that violates whatever licenses you say are off limits by default. Naturally big corporations that want everything to be EULAs mysteriously never touch Gentoo, strange isn't it?

The TL:DR is that you are thinking way too much into the "why" and not actually considering what is best for you. If you are simply lost or struggling, it's hard to learn, especially when you are currently switching OSes on your only PC that basically prevents you from doing any important business or recreational activities until it is up and running again. I would highly recommend getting a spare laptop you don't or won't often use and use that as a testing grounds for new OSes. Get a feel for it and understand the command line programs that might be different, like package management. Maybe work backwards: Start from EndeavourOS which is Arch Linux but it did the installation guide for you. Then when you get a feel for Arch, get an Arch Linux base ISO and learn both the installation process, and then the setup process after you reboot into the new system. By then, you'll be more than ready to just grab an Artix base ISO and just use it.

When writing my last post I happened to find this in the Artix wiki regarding Onion mirrors. It seems to be a work in progress page so it unfortunately doesn't say how to use an Onion mirror but Artix does have them.
https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Mirrors#Onion_Mirrors

Hey everyone. I'm a new member and was curious about discussing the learning-curve and hurdles of making the switch to Artix. For some background, I've been a Debian user for 3 years now. Before that, briefly a Ubuntu user (and before that a Windows user most of my childhood). I made the switch to Debian shortly after due to some talks about the concerns of Canonical oversight in the Ubuntu project. This was hotly debated with people giving input on both sides. Suffice to say I just decided to make the switch to Debian because I wanted to support a TRUE community driven project with no corporate oversight. Also the learning curve between Ubuntu and Debian is basically negligible. Nevertheless there's always something new to learn, and thus something new to overcome. I'm interested in a true authentic linux experience.  As I read about certain problems with Debian based and Red Hat based distros (like systemd), or other projects (like Gentoo) pointing out the advantages of compiling everything from source. I just want a operating system that's simple, no bloat, and relatively secure. What would be the challenges faced by someone who's use to running Debian making the switch to Artix? I will probably test the OS in a virtual environment first either way, just to see what I'm getting myself into. But I would be curious to hear from others out here who've took similar paths.

Thanks for you time,

Haroldtty76

I'd say most people who knows the "fdisk" commands well won't have a hard time as the drive partitioning is actually the most tedious process.

There is no challenges I can think of. It is distro with desktop so it is ready for usage.

Quote from: Haroldtty76 – on 09 September 2024, 21:49:59

Hey everyone. I'm a new member and was curious about discussing the learning-curve and hurdles of making the switch to Artix. For some background, I've been a Debian user for 3 years now. Before that, briefly a Ubuntu user (and before that a Windows user most of my childhood). I made the switch to Debian shortly after due to some talks about the concerns of Canonical oversight in the Ubuntu project. This was hotly debated with people giving input on both sides. Suffice to say I just decided to make the switch to Debian because I wanted to support a TRUE community driven project with no corporate oversight. Also the learning curve between Ubuntu and Debian is basically negligible. Nevertheless there's always something new to learn, and thus something new to overcome. I'm interested in a true authentic linux experience.  As I read about certain problems with Debian based and Red Hat based distros (like systemd), or other projects (like Gentoo) pointing out the advantages of compiling everything from source. I just want a operating system that's simple, no bloat, and relatively secure. What would be the challenges faced by someone who's use to running Debian making the switch to Artix? I will probably test the OS in a virtual environment first either way, just to see what I'm getting myself into. But I would be curious to hear from others out here who've took similar paths.

Thanks for you time,

Haroldtty76

Hi, Unfortunately, due to widespread usage of Systemd on most Linux distros, some applications are now being compiled against Systemd. So, one of the challenges of using Systemd-free distros, like Artix Linux, is that applications that depend on Systemd are not going to work, unless they are ported by someone to Artix.  As I am aware the GUI client of some commercial VPNs, like ProtonVPN and Windscribe don't work on Artix Linux, due to the fact that they depend on systemctl. See Windscribe Requires Systemd
The Gnome desktop environment also heavily depends on Systemd and is challenging to port to Systemd-free systems.
So, make sure to test all software packages that you use on an Artix Linux VM to see if they work properly or not.

Another challenge is that not all applications available in Arch repositories are present in Artix repositories. This means you might need to manually add Arch's extra repository to your "pacman.conf." Be aware that careless mixing of software packages from Arch and Artix repositories can lead to a broken installation.

Also, since you are migrating from Debian to Artix, I guess checking the following page in the Gentoo wiki can be helpful for you: OpenRC to systemd Cheatsheet

Quote from: Haroldtty76 – on 12 September 2024, 23:06:08

I'd say most people who knows the "fdisk" commands well won't have a hard time as the drive partitioning is actually the most tedious process.

You can also use cfdisk for partitioning when you are installing Artix using the base installer. It's a nice TUI application and is a lot easier to use than fdisk. Partitioning, Cfdisk

When writing my last post I happened to find this in the Artix wiki regarding Onion mirrors. It seems to be a work in progress page so it unfortunately doesn't say how to use an Onion mirror but Artix does have them.

https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Mirrors#Onion_Mirrors

A lot of the mirrors get 404's. I could be forgetting something idk, but this is as far as I've gotten.