Hi John, While I’m a big fan of a couple of Arch Linux variations, unfortunately I’ve had nothing but misfortune with Manjaro, and they always end with some kind of bad package that makes it unbootable thereafter. I have not tried this particular variation or respin, but again a few months ago after I saw a very favorable review of Manjaro, tried, and this time I didn’t even get a full day out of it; the first time I rebooted it was inaccessible. It’s really too bad, because it does seem to be fairly easy to install and configure. I’ve had MUCH better results with both Endeavour OS and Cachy OS. Endeavour OS is the most solid of the three; I’ve tried Endeavour OS with different desktop environments and every one I tried worked well. I’ve had very good success with Cachy OS and it’s well regarded as well. If you want the most cutting edge stuff, try Cachy OS, but Endeavour OS is pretty current. But if you ask me for my favorite among the Arch varieties, hands down, at least for me, it’s Endeavour OS; I’ve been able to retain it with no problem at all, yet you can almost always find the software you want; that’s a great combination, plus it’s attractive as well.
UPDATE: Just over the past week I’ve reinstalled Cachy OS on my every day system and after the latest change, I see why Cachy OS has risen so far on the Distro Watch favorites; it keeps improving and closing the gap on Endeavour OS and other Arch derivatives; it’s also getting easier because, like Endeavour OS, they include a Welcome, Start Up or Initialization screen, whatever you (or they) want to call it; this makes Cachy OS easy to update once it’s installed, and it’s also easy to install.
Twenty or more years ago there were NO truly easy to use Arch Linux systems for the non computer experts. Hard core Arch Linux stuff called their stuff, easy or simple because it didn’t have a lot of cruft, and that’s certainly true, but unless you had a script or memorized the details to get it going, it was daunting. I mastered my first one by finding and modifying that “script” to suit my purposes, but I never found Arch Linux to be faster or more efficient, so I saw little value in it, because there have been Debian derivatives for decades that optimize and allow more current, more efficient, yet simple setups, so both Cachy OS and Endeavour OS have greatly raised the bar on this.
I WISH I could say the same about Manjaro Linux; unfortunately time after time it has disappointed me, frequently resulting in an unbootable system that I’d have to chroot into for any potential to fix it, Uh uh, no thanks; too many other excellent distributions to bother with that these days.
To those who are brand new here or even here for a few months, once again I want to continue to welcome you; each different person brings their own questions, ideas, and experience, and I believe this is a place that endorses and greatly encourages such things!
Hearty greetings to all!
That lineup sounds legendary, from ZX Spectrum all the way to running Debian (my fav distro, and it’s drivatives). It’s always cool to see people keeping their older machines alive with Linux.
