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Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

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

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #1
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.

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #2
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.

Thanks for the timely reply. I'm delighted to hear this. Perhaps it wasn't going to be quite the hurdle I thought. I have actually installed arch linux in virt-manager and played around with it some. But I'm hesitant to say much because I didn't exactly install it the normal way, I ran the install script that simplifies the whole process. From my current understanding then, the main difference will be just how system services are executed? If I use, for example, dinit. It would be stored in a dinit.d directory instead of a systemd directory? And instead of like "systemctl enable <service>" it would be "dinitctl enable <service>" And there would obviously not be deb packages, so I would have to "make" 3rd party apps? I'm assuming flatpak would work as well?

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #3
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.

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #4
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.

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #5
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.
Thank you. I am reading the wiki today. I haven't actually decided what init to use. I just used dinit as an example, however if there's more help resources and community forums that provide advice for openrc, I would most certainly choose that one. I'm not entirely unfamiliar with runit either, as I played around with a Void Linux machine in a virtual machine as well. Rest assured, whatever I choose there will be extensive runtime inside a virtual environment first until I'm at the level of comfort I desire. I'm not exactly in a rush to switch over, I'm just interested in using a system that's systemd-free. As many critics of systemd seem to be correctly pointing out, it's pretty much becoming a standard monolith and getting harder to separate from. One of GNU/Linux's strengths in the past has been it's diversity which seems to be shrinking now.

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #6
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.
Thanks for all the resources! I'll look into the extra repos when I get that far. I may very well use OpenRC, at this juncture I really don't have a preference. I may in fact install two virtual environments first, say, for example, a OpenRC and a Dinit, just to get a better feel for which one I like better. I'll do a cursory examination of EndeavourOS, but I honestly don't need a GUI helper for the installation process. As long as the wiki provides clear cut installation instructions I should be able to follow along no problems. My view is if I can learn it the manual "hard" way first, then the other easy way is basically automatic.

Fair point about Debian and Red Hat too. I guess what I meant was I like how the Debian maintainers are still the final arbitrators and don't really have to answer to Canonical when overhauls to the system are made. And I don't mean to imply there's something inherently wrong with Canonical, I just think Ubuntu is being treated more  and more like a business. Offering paywalled services like ubuntu-pro, or using closed-sourced snap repositories by default now. I view it as, what's the point of moving to Linux if you aren't getting away from that kind of thing? Of course it's not completely useless. I think Ubuntu (or Debian) is undoubtedly the easiest transition for people who've been using Windows their whole lives. So if it serves as a opportunity to get new people's feet wet in the proverbial Linux pool then so be it.

As for my "linux user experience" all I really need is basic desktop function. I don't really play games much. Not really a gamer. I'm not a developer either. So as long as I can find something that serves basic functionality I should be fine. If I do anything that could be classified as "extracurricular" beyond basic desktopping it would be privacy enthusiast stuff.  I run tor relays, i2p routers, hyphanet nodes, monero nodes, invidious instances, etc. But none of that really matter for my local setup anyways. Although, I may eventually get interested in installing arch on a server at some point. I'll cross that bridge the day I arrive at it. One thing I do actually prefer is applying updates via onion mirrors (if Artix supports this, if not I'll use tor+https). This is fairly straightforward in Debian with the apt-transport-tor method. But Arch/Artix doesn't use this obviously. So I would like to change the default package sync to suit my needs. But I'm also highly skittish about this, as I've seen across several different (mostly Reddit) one of the more common issues with Arch is people running into syncing and repository issues. 

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #7
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

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #8
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

Thanks for the link. I'll see if I can figure it out. If all else fails I'll just post my problem in one of the troubleshooting threads to see if someone can assist me.

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #9
Good news everyone, I've successfully installed Artix Linux. Albeit in a KVM hypervisor. But this is just me getting use to it before I inevitably switch my base client over to it. I did the base install too, the manual way. I wouldn't say it was exceptionally hard to do. Step intensive perhaps, but just because there's a lot of steps doesn't mean it's hard per se. 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. Now, I actually went ahead and used luks encryption on the drive, that may in fact be the hardest part of you go this route, but I had prior experience with installing Void Linux and I wasn't tripped up by all that UUID grub crap. Suffice to say, I'm liking the experience thus far. For a init system I just went ahead and used runit. Like I said, I have prior experience with Void and that's what it used. I didn't want to get too cute and learn a whole new init system out of the gate.

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #10
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
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
Most people don't use Linux because they find it difficult to use. I find Linux easy to use but don't daily drive it because my favorite distro doesn't work well on my existing hardware. :-(

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #11
There is no challenges I can think of. It is distro with desktop so it is ready for usage.
Really?!  :)
https://forum.artixlinux.org/index.php/topic,7222.0.html
https://forum.artixlinux.org/index.php/topic,7286.0.html
Most people don't use Linux because they find it difficult to use. I find Linux easy to use but don't daily drive it because my favorite distro doesn't work well on my existing hardware. :-(

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #12
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
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


Thanks for the notice. This is basically what I''m doing now, downloading all my usual software to see if it runs fine in Artix. Haven't ran into any problems with regards to that yet.  In an effort to keep as much bloat down as possible, I'm probably not going to need any VPN apps anyways. I've noticed on system resources those apps draw a surprising amount of juice. I'm running this on old hardware so it's definitely an area I can cut back at. I've setup a couple wireguard config files with no issues so far. I did have a problem with DNS not wanting to resolve, but I downloaded openresolv and that seems to have fixed the issue. I'm also using the xec4 environment, I've never really like GNOME much anyways.

I did see in the install wiki that it specified the use of cfdisk and not fdisk. But I had both the Artix and Arch install wiki's up while I downloaded it, and I was going back and forth. I actually thought I screwed it up when I formatted the boot to FAT instead of ext4. But I guess it turned out that it doesn't matter if it's a EFI system or not. When I do the installation again I think I'll just stick to the Artix wiki and not go back and forth between the two.

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #13
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

Update on this. I think I've figured out how to use them I just haven't got it to work yet. You've got to edit your pacman.conf file (similar to the apt sources.list in Debian) and put the

 Server = http://youronionaddress.onion/artixlinux/system/os/$arch

line in the file and comment out any other mirrors you DON'T want it. Also do the same for the world and galaxy sections too. The next thing (I think) that needs to happen is telling pacman to use localhost:9050 after you've got your tor service up and running. For this I edited the XferCommand in the same conf file:

XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl --socks5-hostname localhost:9050 --location --continue-at - --fail --output %o %u

This was based on some instructions I've found in the Arch wiki on how to torify pacman. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Tor#Pacman

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working well for me. A lot of the mirrors get 404's. I could be forgetting something idk, but this is as far as I've gotten.

 

Re: Greetings everyone, I'm heavily considering a switch to Artix.

Reply #14
A lot of the mirrors get 404's. I could be forgetting something idk, but this is as far as I've gotten.
This should be harmless, according to the ArchWiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Tor#Pacman
Most people don't use Linux because they find it difficult to use. I find Linux easy to use but don't daily drive it because my favorite distro doesn't work well on my existing hardware. :-(