If you haven’t checked out CachyOS yet, it might be time. This Arch-based distro has been climbing fast, now ranking higher than Debian on DistroWatch! No, it’s not just hype.
CachyOS leans into performance. It’s optimized for modern CPUs (think x86-64-v4, AMD znver4), uses AutoFDO and PGO across packages, and ships with its own tuned kernel. That alone sets it apart from most Arch spins.
Gamers will appreciate the out-of-the-box support for new GPUs like RDNA4 and RTX 50 series, plus tools like zink-run and NTSYNC integration. Even devices like the ASUS ROG Ally are getting love.
It’s user-friendly too. Calamares installer, multiple DEs (KDE, GNOME, Xfce), and helpful tools like a Kernel Manager and GUI Package Installer make it approachable without feeling bloated.
It’s still early life but looks extremely positive! Overall, CachyOS is shaping up to be one of the more polished, performance-focused Arch-based distros out there.
Anyone running it? Curious how it holds up long-term for daily use and updates.
Yeah I have it and recently it’s been working out better than Endeavour OS.
Why I say that is twofold:
1] Cachy OS also has a few more of the applications I have been testing
2] Cachy OS works with my multi boot system configuration
EOS used to work with my setup fine.
I replaced it while I was testing other systems. When I attempted to reinstall Endeavour OS, the boot loader failed to find it. I put Kali Linux in that slot and it fits.
Too bad; I really don’t need to install Kali; if I need it I can use the USB Flash Drive. Unfortunately right now that’s the only way I can use Endeavour OS.
Cachy hadn’t had any failures; other than my boot loader struggling to locate it, Endeavour OS has always been reliable too.
Well installed it and left it to the defaults, it loads KDE Plasma (version 6 I think) and it’s very laggy. It could be I’m using Gnome Boxes for the VM but still, I installed Win 10 on the same VM and it’s faster than catchy is. Maybe it’s KDE IDK
I wasn’t that impressed with it but that’s life in the big city
This week I ran into some problems when I use the most recent available CachyOS kernel. Prior to this, it’s been an effortless experience; more than likely the more stable kernel would be a safer place to be if using CachyOS right now.
I was just about to try it instead of Pop_OS COSMIC Epoch but the performance issues is making me think twice . I’ve known about CachyOS for a while now, but haven’t found a good opportunity to switch yet and having NTSYNC is probably one of the best reasons as I do believe Proton now has NTSYNC support for kernels 6.14 and above.
I wouldn’t get too bothered by these issues.
I have Cachy OS on another system and when I updated it recently it had already fixed the one “bad” kernel build, but just to be SAFE I added a long term support kernel in addition to the cutting edge kernel so now if I encounter a future issue I have a backup plus I can still test the cutting edge stuff.
This is a very good situation; frankly doing the stuff I do it’s probably wise to keep a stable backup handy. I have that now, plus the most recent time I attempted to use my previous Cachy OS flash drive image, the image itself combined with the network indicated that I had to acquire a newer image, which I did.
Bottom line is that this is one of the best setups for those who want to try out a cutting edge Arch Linux setup.
The other really good one I like is Endeavour OS. I had some recent difficulties there too; again they were probably self imposed and I am generally quite impressed with and favorable towards Endeavour OS too.
Distro buffs should be familiar with both of them; there’s a lot of value added goodness on top of Arch Linux with both of them.
It may have been my eyes, but Cachy OS has gotten plenty of good press (high ranking on DistroWatch for one thing), and for good reasons; like Endeavour OS, it does a very good job of providing very current software, yet it retains a generally usable, and often surprisingly stable ability to offer current, yet usable software; it deserves the attention and the rise in popularity, and if they are able to sustain this appealing blend of current, usable software it has a strong future and an increasingly well known name.
I might be wrong sorry if I am. The numbers on distrowatch is just page hits per day. Meaning that many people search and visit their homepage not actual install base?
Yes this is correct. I believe they explain it on their website somewhere. Will have a look later.
But basically it gauges interest, not actual downloads. So that can often be skewed when there’s new distro. But it’s still very useful and unique service they provide.
I’m sorry for being vague but there was that youtube clip about how Linux usage went up percentage wise, not corporate desk installs but actual users (I guess telemetry is a double edge blade)
So yes I will rejoice for their popularity only becuase it spreads the message to try Linux.
I get that. However I wonder how those numbers affect lets say the DDOS attack on Arch. Obviously the hit count didn’t affect their standings on distrowatch. So I guess what I’m trying to say is hit counts is like that silly thing from the 90’s when we get excited “oh one person viewed my geocities free home[age ridden with ads” sorry I;ve not slept much. Immersing myself in VM and there’s this cool thing called C++. I’ll get to Rust sometime mumble grumble. Good day all
That’s not how it works. It has no access to count visits on Arch Linux websites. So “DDoS attack on Arch” has nothing to do with DistroWatch.
Also, DistroWatch ranks distros by unique-IP page hits on its own site pages. They apply a one-hit-per-IP-per-day filter. It’s not full proof so it’s more like a light-hearted interest metric among its visitors, not an official popularity measure, so treat and enjoy it accordingly.
Glad to hear because I was a little (lot) annoyed when I’m staring at my screen with a dot dot dot trying to install Arch heheh. Metrics aside of course I know Arch and thus Cachy is popular. Sorry if I come off sounding snooty, I just don’t go hurrah over count numbers. I’m more likely to be happy if and when I bump into someone in real life and “oh you use linux?!” That’s my counter tick up. Good day all
I continue to see a flood of YouTube videos, Reddit discussions, and buzz around this distro being outstanding. It’s been too sustained to be just hype.
Well it’s a thoroughly good experience. It takes away the issues of arch’s instability by allowing you to roll back the entire kernel via BTRFS. It has optimised kernel builds, custom schedulers, and support for software that is recompiled to be optimised (for instance x86_64-v3.)
It does have the one or two issues where the keyrings can become temporarily out of sync but it’s easily resolvable.
. I’ve known about CachyOS for a while now, but haven’t found a good opportunity to switch yet and having NTSYNC is probably one of the best reasons as I do believe Proton now has NTSYNC support for kernels 6.14 and above.
