The original build I did for the gamer lady is rock solid. I checked in on her and the system was up to date - she did it herself. I asked her how/why and she said "Oh a red symbol appeared so I clicked on it and it showed updates. One took longer than the rest - why is that?". I explained about Nvidia updates and she was happy with that. I checked "dmesg" - pretty much silent after login/Wifi connect. This is quite unexpected given the errors and issues I saw on Ubuntu in the past.
For my migration away from Windows, I am working with the latest release, (v 23.09.03) and it seems no different to what she is using, so the rolling updates definitely work. I am about half-way through - being very careful with my software choices. I've gone down a few rabbit holes and decided to rebuild from scratch a few times - not because it was broken, but because I am learning and testing and learning more. I've found a few packages that just do things better than the choices I had made for Windows.
Pros:
* Install just works - 3 different machines (hardware), same results.
* ArcoLinux tools are very useful, helpful and just work
* Arch is the (b)leading edge - I do like that
* So many choices you can make, and I've made quite a few
* When I am migrated, the machines will do things my way - I like that
* There are videos - lots of them - all helpful... except the tiling stuff.
* Fast
* Community support is very good.
* New hardware is supported earlier on Arch - or so it seems.
Cons:
* I've been down so many rabbit holes, but gee I've learned a lot about my computer usage and workflow and what works better for me.
* Frequent updates - you don't have to, but there are advantages. It's like your mobile phone - if you don't update it, it still works, but, what are you missing...
* So much to learn - once you start. You can choose not to learn, and just use it - that's also fine. It's not something that Windows encourages, unless you cruise forums etc. Arch is a great platform on which you can learn (a lot).
* Not "company" supported. From what I have read lately, that's a actually a good thing.
I am very glad that my friend sent me down this path. In a couple of weeks, my migration away from Windows will be complete. I am very happy with the progress and results.
Erik, the author or ArcoLinux, is a talented and respect Linux ecosystem contributor, giving us very good tutorials, Sardi icons, and tweaking tools. But I don't really understand the ArcoLinux' philosophy. It says: "learning, simplicity, and beauty" on the website and during the install, yet I found it unnecessarily complicated and not very beautiful (that's subjective). As for learning, I think it conflicts with simplicity. Mint is simple: install and play. Arch is learning, teaching you how your computer works, but it's far from being simple.
Simplicity starts with choosing an iso: there are many "branches" (XS, XL, D, B), each having many variants (kernel, desktop environment, bloat, etc.) and it takes quite some efforts to sort everything out. Thankfully, the website is documented and Erik even made 2 videos explaining how to choose.
I went for ArcoLinuxB Cinnamon. What I got is a sort of Endeavour/Manjaro (a themed, easy-to-install archlinux) with access to Arco's repository and ATT (Archlinux Tweaking Tool). I couldn't change the Cinnamon's background. Right-click on the desktop, change background, add /usr/share/backgrounds/whatever, but the browse list is always empty, as if Cinnamon can't read the image files. ATT didn't help either (I couldn't find an option to change the background there).
Plymouth works but is not handled by ATT.
In the end, the only thing ATT helped was to set a sddm theme, which is really 2 commands to issue on any arch distro anyway.
I was also hoping to find plenty of wallpapers in Arco's repository but that's mainly what AUR already provides (granted, Arco added a few of their own, but most can be found on the web).
In summary, a couple of AUR packages (arco-theme, pamac, and ATT) on any arch distro would do the same for me.
I was frustrated with CachyOS as the update created a bunch of problems I won't go into here as this is about ArcoLinux, but that caused me to try Arco & "am I happy?" You bet!!! It installed rather easily off a ventoy usb after downloading onto another distro & doing the checking. I am running it off another Distro as an external drive. I have 17 external drives running off the same one. Its a great way to try out the distros *all are different, which including the main one means 18 in all off one machine". I like so many things about Arco. I just installed it 2 days ago. Normally I would wait before giving feedback, but this is such an easy to use distro (so far). All the updates went through & the usual software I install to protect & do my main surfing. I haven't put games on yet but can give feedback in the future about that later. I like that other repositories can be added. I have garuda & enjoy firedragon so it was great I got that working on Arco. As far as cons...so far, I haven't any. 2 days, what do you expect...lol!
I built a cheap system (Intel 13th gen, NVIDIA) for a lady who plays WoW. Tried Windows, her previously preferred platform and it was a bit slow and clunky.
A friend told me to try Linux on it. He said "ArcolinuXS, Lutris, Battle.net then WoW" and went on holidays (thanks, mate). I googled, found the right ISO, and using Rufus, put that on a USB stick.
On a (new) spare SSD, I ran through the install - no errors. Started it and played a little - it was quite usable even for a relative dummy like me.
The tool that welcomed me led me by the hand almost. In the software updater/installer, I found and installed Lutris.
Getting Battle.net on required some perusing of the Lutris Battle.net documentation - luckily I read the text at the beginning of the install. I followed the Lutris Arch Linux NVIDIA instructions and it worked, so on to getting WoW installed and running. Just like Windows - same old Battle.net interface - easy. Ran up WoW, she logged in, and it's fast and not clunky at all. Umm... what?
She wanted Chrome and Office, I chose Chromium and LibreOffice from the Software Installer (also has a menu entry Add/Remove Software). So easy, so fast, I'm almost ashamed that I wasn't aware of this. Her system can now run Windows or ArcoLinux. As far as I know, she has not gone into Windows since.
For me, previously, I had a play with Linux - Ubuntu - on decent hardware in about 2009. I wasn't impressed. Arco Linux is a way different thing. It's better. It works well. It's fast! It helps you learn.
I am migrating my own setup from Windows to ArcoLinux now as well. No issues so far and very easy to do. I found the ArcoLinux guy on Youtube, too. So many videos and I assume they are all helpful. The ones I watched showed other displays (Desktop environments). The desktop that came with ArcoLinuXS is fine for me.
I'm using ArcoLinuxB edition with Openbox on a Chromebook, and everything worked right out of the box. Neither Debian nor BunsenLabs (based on Debian) would play nice with my Chromebook's hardware. I had trouble with sound not working and the headphone jack not working. That was not a problem with ArcoLinux.
I wanted to stay away from a rolling release because of the tiny hard drive, but ArcoLinuxB lets you do a minimal install with only the applications you want. It's small enough but with everything I wanted. OpenBox is a great choice for memory impaired Chromebooks. I might have used Mabox, but I've always felt funny about Manjaro since the certificate comedy. What else did they miss?
The Chromebook runs as fast with ArchoLinuxB and Openbox as it did with ChromeOS. Chromebooks are like snowflakes, so your mileage may vary, but if you're looking for a distro that will run on a jailbroken Chromebook with custom firmware (thank you, Mr. Chromebox), ArchoLinuxB worked great for me. It turned an almost ready to be forgotten Chromebook into my laptop of choice.
Its basically Arch with a gui installer and an extra package system with excessive routine updates, you would be better off using Manjaro which unlike Arco has a huge user base comparable to Ubuntu. You can easily find answers for Manjaro, this is its biggest plus and its even easier to install than Arco since its a full os that comes packed with apps. Also Manjaro doesn't suffer from constant updating, their bi-weekly updates are still leagues behind Arch so your always compatible but up to date. This in turn makes Manjaro more watered down to be able to be used as the everyday distro. Unlike Arch Manjaro tests all its packages, so the updates are properly functional and won't break anything.
I am a Linux user with Ubuntu version 12.04. I tried about 20 different distributions and builds, but settled on Arco Linux as the only system for home use. It is the best experience of using Linux, Arco Linux gives an unprecedented level of use of your hardware. The major pluses are the guide and the most detailed documentation possible. I used to love Flatpak and hated Snap but now I don't like Flatpak either because of OSTree. Flatpak applications allow access to user files in $HOME and sandbox escape through X11 is trivial. Anyone who works with and learns linux will move to Arhc anyway, but Arco is a great starting point for learning all the nice things about linux. I suggest for newbies to get the XL build. And DO NOT create lots of hard disk partitions, they make no sense.
My 2nd review after the one i wrote 2023-05-02. I still believe it's the best "Arch experience" for beginners but unfortunately the miriad of updates make the system not very stable and that is a limit. I believe they should create 2 version , 1 stable with essential updates and one "beta" with frequent updates. So the PROs are : easy to install , big choice of desktop environments and software , great looks , simple and intutitive. The CONs are : updates are too frequent and they might mess up the system.
Updates frequently leave your system unusable. It's happened to me several times now. This last time I lost video from a w5100 FirePro after an update. If the update process becomes stable, it's as good or better than EndeavourOS, I had to flatbox 5 installations from two machines after normal updates this year.
I installed the B version with minimal applications on two machines. One Intel and the other an old AMD, fairly painless. It's fast and Plasma compliant, my preferred desktop. No printers, wireless or BT on either machine. When it works, it's fantastic.
Until now, I preferred Debian-based distributions, but I tried Arco and did not regret it. I was afraid of the Arch architecture, but this system is put together in such a way that you don't have to be afraid of it. I chose Deepin desktop, but you can find all window management systems. The system is very stable, the boot is very fast, all software included in the storage. I had a problem, Viber didn't start, but it's not the system's fault, I looked it up and it was solved in seconds. I think this will be my system for everyday use. The website is a little complicated and not clear, but you can find the information. There are many helpful videos.
Arcolinux just works. Easy install recommended for 'beginners'.
I recently took the opportunity to install some alternatives on my desktop.
Garuda wouldn't load with my Nvidia gpu. Endeavour couldn't load with my Nvidia gpu..did load with open drivers but I didn't enjoy needing terminal for all the music software I need. Fedora had problems with Oad software on the Gnome de.. the XFCE spin is a pared down version that gave a similar experience to Endeavour.
DAY 3 of the experiment saw me re-installing Arcolinux 23.05.04... everything worked out of the box. Rebooted perfectly with Nvidia drivers. Erik Dubois does an incredible job with this distro and has provided links to his multitude of assistive videos on Youtube. Fantastic service. I choose xfce de for my purposes. In Arco it's simple to install any and all desktops alongside each other.
9 and not 10 just because sometimes the installer fails. This simply is the perfect Arch distro; it has EVERYTHING you need for a perfect Arch installation. I was a distro hopper until i installed this; now it is my daily driver.
I opted for Cinnamon flavor, but you can install every Linux desktop. Marvelous the "B" version that literally makes you build the Arch distro you want. Good the "Big" version, too, but with one criticism; if you want to offer a "complete" distro ready to be installed and used, you should include Libreoffice in it!
The most complete "Arch experience" for beginners. Easy to install , bugs are close to zero , updates are frequent , and it already looks great the 1st time you use it. Huge choice of Desktop Environments , incredible choice of software and drivers , lets you get in touch with the Arch world keeping all the conforts of a Ubuntu distribution. Calamares is probably the best installing companion out there now and the one in ArcoLinux is just awesome and precise at the same time. I give this distro a full 10.
ArcoLinux, hmm, what to say about it. Well, it's a distro for desktops - users and gamers and developers and "fiddlers" and even older folk.
Well, it is Arch - Arch that installs and works - better than the many many distros that I have tried and used - on all my AMD and Intel hardware, excluding that Intel AX200-series wireless. Guess what, I replaced that Intel wireless.
Arco uses Calamares - one of the best installers for newbies. Some variants can also use "alis", an installer for more advanced users, developed by picodotdev, and it's the fastest Arch installer that I have used.
Arco stole me from EndeavourOS - another great distro. There's a clue. I'd been using Endeavour since dropping Pop!_OS and after trying and being unimpressed by variants of Debian, Fedora, SUSE and so on. There was always something that just didn't work as expected (or crashed).
Pros:
Choices (loads of choices).
Stable (Arco is very stable).
Software (Arch has a massive software repository).
Layered - you can apply "the Arco way" to more than 15 distinct Arch-based distros and it works! Fast - it's generally slightly faster as well. It's tuned the right way.
Videos - over 3000. See Erik Dubios on YT. He has playlists and a local search feature.
Cons:
Choices (so... many... choices...) My solution is just get ArcoLinuXL, install using the defaults, then choose your preferred desktop using the Arch Linux Tweak Tool.
Supports Wayland (if you're brave enough to choose it), but Wayland doesn't support a lot and it breaks many things - so don't try it until you're fully Linux versed). Even then, watch the videos that Erik has created on the subject.
Definitely 10/10. "I use Arch, BTW" doesn't matter when you install and use Arco. It's so easy.
The easiest to install and most functional Arch distribution I've installed. A much better choice than Manjaro. However, the website is a total mess. Updates are extremely frequent. I installed with Cinnamon and KDE. The installation is extremely easy and allows you to install software according to your needs. You can even choose to install yay during the installation procedure. Everything works out of the box, just a few small tweaks to do with themes and opening windows with one click in KDE initially.
This distro blows my mind! I actually don't feel like it's just a distro, it's A FWEEKIN LINUX ECOSYSTEM! From gobs of education and training tools, super helpful versions with differing levels of apps, and configurability you can bank on, I have not found anything it cannot do! But don't let the sheer volume of helpfulness put you off. Just give it a spin and add to your learning or abilities as you see fit, or stay with the defaults and you will not be disappointed. It's GORGEOUS and just a PLEASURE to USE! I have been hammering it for weeks now and it won't break without doing stupid stuff. It feels both elegant to use, but faster and hotter than a fresh fukt fox in a forest fire.
If there is one disappointment: I think my gleeful, drooling distrohopping days may be over! Since Arco does everything in one spot that I used to have to do piecemeal, I just never leave!
Woah, I feel like I have been let out in Disneyland for the first time without my parents! I've been around a fug-ton of distros, but ArcoLinuxB feels like the mutherload of all of them! So. Damn. Configurable!
I've done all the things I usually set up on Debian and many other Arch distros but feel that I have only scratched the surface of Arco. I can't even begin to say how exciting having all these options and tools is! Personally it does NOT feel overwhelming, because I only care about XFCE and I like customizing distros my way anyhow. All the options just feel like being a kid in a candy store. I have NEVER seen the amount of tools that are right at my fingertips on any other distro!
It is FAST, and very beautiful with a short trip to the XFCE Eye Candy store. I am only on day one of using it, but have had no problems making it jump through the typical hoops. I will be back if there is any bad news down the road, but I will have visions of sugar-Linux dancing through my dreams tonight, over any of the other Arch derivatves I have played with. That includes all of the top arch distros that support XFCE on Distrowatch.
I do suspect that the sheer avalanche of options with Arco is why it's not higher up the rankings on Distrowatch, and I myself held off because it looked like I would have to do some thinking just to get the proper version to intall. But if you just grab the B version and begin you will be glad you did!
-Impresive quantity of variations/options that provides. For some people this could be overwhelming but for me is perfect. ArcoLinux has an iso for almost everyone, if you dig in their website: L, S, D, B (with all desktops available), Zen, Xanmod, lts, hardened, etc. There are also ALCI and CARLI.
-Documentation and Tutorials. Over 3100 videos in their YT channel, and lots of post. Being Arch based the Arch wiki is probably the best out there.
-Installation process. The modified Calamares allows to add almost anything you might need to start using Arco right away.
-Arco Tweak Tool (ATT). It's just make your life easier and adds an extra layer of customization
-It Just works. On My i5 10th gen, Nvidia GTX1650, Realtek wifi no surprises everything works. The nvidia drivers can be installed from calamares or after installation via pacman, yay or paru.
-Arco is the best Arch based distro IMO.
Cons:
-As I stated in my first point, some people may find overwhelming to have so many options.
-As usual with projects maintained by one person, Arco feels a little "weak". If the main dev drop it, it will be time to move on. I hope this doesnt happen any time soon. Thankfully there are other distros with similar approach.
Have been using this distro for at least 1 1/2 years now, it opens fast, allows to set as encrypted, not recommended for non advanced users as later installs might be problematic, it is a rolling release, so no need to reinstall like other Ubuntu type distros for example, I only installed Kde, Xfce & Cinnamon environments, it is stable, and can play around with the theming and fonts etc with Kde. Wish they would beautify more the main theme in the future. I have done some theming to change that but needs work. installed Paru for easy updates & Yay I think is also very nice along with pacman software installers. Ubuntu distros seem to be more user friendly than Arch based, recommend better Ubuntu long term distros 5 years for them. I do have Windows installed on a separate partition but find it too slow and painstaking to use, constantly upgrading gigantic nonsense pain, I have Linuxmint on another partition and do use it now and then for simple tasks or special backup maintenance when do have issues with my tinkering around. so far this is now my main distro. and use Libvirt and Virtual box for testing or learning. a powerful distro once you start running it, have been using Lts Kernel upgrades only to avoide bugs in the future. so far have a basic GPU and 32 gigs of ram which allow fairly fast use, not for video creation or games enthusiasts. the creators of Arcolinux have extensive videos for those interested in learning about linux. Which is probably why I keep it and because I have been experimenting with syncthing and use multiple desktops for learning about Linux wthin arcolinux. so will stick it for a while. for now gave it an 8 because I feel it's not an exciting theme look.
I tried most desktops of arcolinux , i install it either by arcolinux-d or by arcolinux tool , but i suffered from missing the keyboard layout for uki desktop and pantheon desktop . i tried to se keyboard layout in pantheon but the icon "keyboard" in ssystem settings is missed . i tried to set keyboard by ibus but failed even i set it but not change the language. Also for ukui desktop the setting for ukui not work at all for keyboard layout . So please add the missed package for the keyboard setting for pantheon desktop and ukui desktop , so that to be easy done same as plasma or xfce desktop. Thanks in advance for your great effort
I'm a Linux lover, but I've tried a lot of Linux distributions, various environments, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, and I'm currently using ArcoLinux D, and there I find my account, a very reliable distribution, very customizable, with XFCE, Browsing was easy and I could install all the common ones, so I put on Chrome and Brave, that worked just fine. I am currently using it with a XFCE environment and I highly recommend you to download the arcolinuxD iso rather then the other. This distribution seems less known than most, it deserves to be very popular.Many similarities with the Windows environment.
in short, for me it's the best! I recommend !
ArcoLinuxL (L means Large) is a great place to start with Linux, if you're considering moving away from Windows. You get "everything" on this version, so you can play around and see how it fits what you need.
I put ArcoLinuxL on an older machine, put copies of my normal Windows stuff - documents, spreadsheets on and they work! Microsoft has their own requirements for formats, but you can save in those formats and they work.
Browsing was easy and I could install all the common ones, so I put on Chrome and that worked just fine.
Gaming generally was good as well, but some older games can give you grief. You'll find this the case on any Linux.
Erik Dubois has done a great job. He has set up a "Linux University" to teach people about Linux, Arch being his choice. He has YouTube and 2 web sites to help you along. The key is do not rush through it.
Bottom line - if you want to move away from Windows but you don't want to think too much at the start, try ArcoLinuxL. It works and it's fast and there's a wealth of information you can refer to if you want to learn Linux as well. If you want to learn about Linux, there are other versions you can install and customise to suit yourself. Do that later, after experiencing the difference on ArcoLinuxL.
Aside from the terrible maze of a website, the distro is pretty good (arcolinuxD). It was exactly what I was looking for. You can get a minimal vanilla DE arch experience from the advanced installer but with easy install unlike vanilla arch.And I thoroughly believe it is better than endeavouros. I am currently using it with a kde environment and I highly recommend you to download the arcolinuxD iso rather then the other. I honestly think this distro is quite underrated compared to many out there.
Ended up with three desktop environments when only one was selected one during the advanced installation. There were a multitude of software packages never selected for installation.
Only Budgie was selected during the installation and installed were XFCE,Multiple Gnome sessions, and Budgie. Perhaps the installer needs more clearly defined installation parameters. The tweak tool and welcome application look promising , but the installer brought me nothing but a bloatware bomb and waste of time.
Brilliant across the board. Any minor issue is just that, trivial,and resolved rapidly. Beginner? tons of online support and information on a plethora of items from the simple to complex. Used a slew of distros across the years and none quie compares to Arco. Have installed this on many systems and applaud Mr. Dubois and crew on a true masterpiece.
Its Arch made simple, easily accessible, customisable and praiseworthy.
If one looks for a forever "keeper" distro, this one should tick that box. Defo has for me.
Want a distro that is hassle free, functional, customisable and reliable? Here you are.
High positive ratings for Erik Dubois @ArcoLinux!ArcoLinux has brought powerful renewnal to my old iMac 2014!Erik has done an awesome job with the ArcoLinux system and support through Arcolinux website and educational videos.ArcoLinux brings out the best of the ArchLinux system for the new and experienced Linux users.My Linux experience has been a learning one with growing pains mistakes included but with the help and support that Arcolinux brings it's possible to learn with a strong stable system that keeps you on the right path as you grow in Linux.No matter your Linux preferences,ArcoLinux provides choices for your level and taste.Linux is freedom!Some of the cons in my experience in ArcoLinux maybe just me,more than likely me.My only problem a was Arch Tweak Tool not loading after an update which a quick reinstall of ArcoLinux fixed the problem.I highly recommend ArcoLinux for all levels of Linux users!
Probably the longest installation ever. There are too many choices, which i kind of like, but it takes incredible time especially when you need to repeat it over and over due to Calamares crashes. It's not like OpenSuse installer, where items are prechecked. E.g. metapackage is selected, but on the next screens, the related packages are not selected. Some items are there 2-3 times.
Anyways, after all this, the installer will crash when selecting swap. Next time it will crash on partitioning. And this is a golden standard in the Linux world as decades go by. Every single distro including BSD can't handle partitions. Years old bugs are still in Calamares, for example when editing an encrypted partition, it will forget the actual filesystem and say "LUKS". Still no simple home encryption is possible, encrypted volumes can't be shrinked and so on. It's nowhere near simplicity and realtime operation of Windows. For password typing avoidage, i have to create inintram, put in on fingerprint USB, and for home drives I have to do PAM systemd tweaks to unlock after login. None of this is offered automatically. Where's secure boot? Still making excuses of M$FT?
Why do I still bother with Linux? It's getting nowhere.
i was looking for a distribution that would mirror my hdmi display...... deb fell short
Arch was perfect.
However - some were not perfect for me.
using a I7 core - GL75 leopard Laptop
Arch Garuda - i thought was great, however it had issues with video playback - it was pausing from time to time
Endeavor Arch - BUGGY...... as of 8-11-22, kept loosing my login password- go figure
Tried ARCO Plasma. Man o man, I'm truly glad i discovered it.
The monitors mirror perfectly
Install and setup straight forward
Windows open fast
Videos play as they should
icons show up in browser bookmark menu bar
Adding new software - no problem
The overall experience was very pleasing, a job well perfected,
Thank you ARCO Linux
Fantastic Distro BoysNGirls I'd give you only a 9 because I want you to stay Graceful and Humble! ;)P
Very much enjoying the find work and speed as well stability and options of this Distro. So many features and options and its just works great.
Honestly I don't know why your not rated higher then 19th and I use and test a lot of distro's and I'd say your in TOP 5 for sure.
One suggestion can you Add Pantheon Desktop? That be great love as many versions as possible and the ability to lose and terminate the base Distro after install but that's not allowed?
Avec cette dernière version très aboutie, Arcolinux sort à mon avis la meilleure distribution Arch.
Plus rapide, plus légère et certainement la plus aboutie, cette version est devenue une distribution excellente que ce soit pour les pro comme pour ceux qui veulent aller plus loin que les distributions ou tout est installé par défaut..
Contrairement à la majorité d'entre vous j'ai opté pour la suit bureautique FreeOffice qui elle aussi est beaucoup moins lourde que LibreOffice et qui s'avère suffisante pour mon utilisation personnelle.
Les améliorations pour virtualbox comme timeshift permettent une stabilité surprenante..
I have been tinkering thoughts of moving from Mac to linux, over the last few months I had installed a few VM's and were trying them out. I finally settled with ArcoLinux. There were a few concerns on using in on bare metal but Arcolinux provided the steps and works around it. After using Arcolinux for a few months as well as testing a few more other linux Distro I am glad to have settled with ArcoLinux, there were some theeting stuff with my camera, magicmouse all this was provided in clear step by step instruction and videos.
Hats of to the Arcolinux team, I installed the ArcolinuxL version and as up and running in about 15mins. It is now my daily driver.
i still have the migration issue from MS Office, but slowly getting a hang of LibreOffice. The this about ArcoLinux is that you need to read and read a lot, this bring about the understanding of how this operating system is used. XFCE was great and their Arch Linux Tweak tool provided such immense help.
Sellting ArcoLinux was the best choice that I made.
A little buggy and a little weird, that's the vibe Arcolinux left me with.
Having chosen option B (why so many options?) I was presented with an installer, in essence, doing much the same thing as far as I could see, as the Calamares installer for pure Arch. It follows a similar trajectory in terms of choices. That's not necessarily a bad thing but when I elected not to install a games directory, for example, it installed one anyway loaded down with games I'll never use and had to uninstall. Other icons for games were present but not installed and there was no obvious option to uninstall them. It did the same thing with Development and Education, which again I don't need. Maybe this is a KDE thing, I don't know but it was annoying, nonetheless.
This is more personal comment but the default theming left me cold. The lollipop/M&M style button icons felt cluttered, garish and clunky. Thankfully most but not all of that could be expunged by changing themes. On the subject of which added themes did not always install or took forever to install.
In terms of performance similar to most other Arch derivatives I have tried. It did throw KDE wallet at my upon starting Vivaldi which I could have done without. It also installed Firefox which I specifically did not ask for and never use. Falkon had somehow made its way onto the system too.
I took a lot of time very carefully selecting what was and what was not to be installed so I'm not sure what happened here.
In short I wont be keeping Arcolinux. It just left me feeling uninspired and a but irritated. I'll go to pure Arch instead and take it from there. In short some good ideas and feels solid but my personal experience, in practise, was less than stellar.
Arco is a strange kind of distro in many ways from my point of view, and this is already noticeable from the moment you enter its website. A lot of distinct information about many different things being rubbed in your face, most of which has nothing to do with the distro itself, which will probably be irrelevant to most users who just want to know what the project is about or simply download the ISO and install it. This, by the way, is another point that is quite annoying to me, why so many different styles of ISO images when the point that differentiates them could be applied in the same one, simply by giving the option to choose through the installer? to me, it's just another way to confuse the user even more. Another peculiar point of the project is to have thousands of tutorials about the most diverse things, this calls some attention to the fact that if there was the need for all this probably the confusion when trying to use the distro is certain for many people, in several aspects. Anyway, I tried Arco for a few days but I couldn't see many differences from the original Arch, just some scripts to automate the use, a visual appeal (like Archcraft) and some project's own repositories, which mostly have that already in the AUR. I did encounter some problems when updating the system, things with the keyring and such every time a new update was needed, which was extremely annoying so I ended my attempts there.
In the last few months I found myself interested in testing some WM, instead of a complete graphical environment, but I wasn't in the mood to do the entire configuration from scratch, so, after some research I discovered that Arco had some already preconfigured, and after a few days, I decided to try them.
The problems I've had already start from the distro's website, a bunch of information thrown in your face, which makes everything so confusing that you can't even distinguish where you want to go or what you're looking for. It's nice to have tutorials and the fact that they want to pass on as much information as possible, but as long as everything is well organized and not all shuffled.
Finally, after finding the correct download, I downloaded the ISO and went to install it on one of my laptops. It was from last month, so it would probably have to do some updates, since the distro is based on Arch, which frequently updates its packages. The installation went well, through Calamares, not much different from many out there. With everything installed, I restarted the laptop and logged into the new system. At first, I didn't notice anything wrong, I went right behind to update everything. And indeed, there were packages with pending updates, so I updated them and restarted again. After that, the system just wouldn't start anymore and I didn't understand why at all. The screen was completely black, without showing any information. After a few hours trying to find the problem and not finding any solutions, I gave up.
The project guys seem pretty committed, and that's nice, but some edges still need some polishing to avoid unnecessary frustration, as was my case.
Now this is an undervalued distribution if ever there is one. I took a look because it is one of the very few with an average rating over 9.
That average is justified.
Immediately on boot from a pen drive I was presented with various video options. This was a surprise, given that I have Intel HD Graphics 630 that is usually treated as "just works", but I educated myself about modesetting and nouveau using the (excellent) tutorials and, now, have accelerated video in all cases. That is a rarity in itself.
Thereafter it is a standard Calamares installer with remarkably few choices - most choices are pre-made and are clearly good ones. There is a large choice of filesystems, though, and I chose XFS. Installation took a couple of minutes after that, with no problems.
Really, Arco is vanilla Arch in a very cleverly designed environment which adds a lot of tools without interfering with the desktop environment. Crucially - I use the KDE "B" version - KDE is vanilla. There is an unfortunate tendency to cut and shut KDE, arbitrarily removing parts or replacing them with the distribution owner's favourites, but not here. Everything is present and, thankfully, Discover is used as the graphical programme manager.
Discover has support straight off for the standard Arch repositories and a number of little-known user-maintained repositories, plus flatpak. This gives a massive library of programmes even without the AUR, which is also supported.
Over and above KDE there is well-chosen theming, including a proper black theme, and a choice of terminal and system information programmes. Conky is installed but, by default, is switched off. There is an Arco Tweak Tool with a mass of options (16 pages!) and the Arco Desktop Trasher, which I haven't tried but which appears to be unique as it allows the desktop environment to be replaced without rebuilding. As Arco supplies about 20 desktop environments, including many obscure ones, the Trasher is a great option for a secondary machine in order to try things out.
The big surprise is speed. Arco is astonishingly fast - faster than EndeavourOS - and leaves Ubuntu, Mint and even Windows 11 looking terribly sluggish. Even boot is quick - a few seconds on my desktop machine.
The only issue I found after fixing an old Arch chestnut (failed installations on first run - the fix is to update the key store before trying the first update) is that my machine won't suspend - it suspends for a few seconds then comes back. However, this is not an issue because hibernate and recover from hibernate take about four seconds each.
Overall? 10. All this is simply outstanding work by the developer.
After some time away from Arch due to trying Gentoo, I decided to install it again on a second hand Acer Aspire laptop I recently got. But I wasn't willing to go through the whole command line installation process, so I went looking for some distro based on it that had the possibility of installation through some graphical application/GUI, then I heard about Arco. After that I downloaded the ISO image from the site, put it on a bootable USB stick and tried to install it using Calamares, but I didn't have much luck. In a certain part of the installation process, the progress bar would simply freeze at some point and not go any further, and showed no error, leaving me completely unaware of what was going on. After a few more attempts, I finally succeeded in installing it (apparently), but my bluetooth headset didn't reproduce any audio and my connection would spike from time to time, using gnome at least. After some complications, I just let it go and went back to the normal Arch, which I didn't have these kinds of problems. Maybe it is a one-off thing, but it made the experience with Arco disastrous.
I am a linux user since 1998 and I have used several distros. However I consider myself as an enthusiast rather than a linux expert.
The ArcolinuxB Openbox edition was installed on a almost 20 years old MSI CR620 (i3 processor) with 4 GB ram. Installation process was straightforward and everything worked out of the box.
The distro is Very fast and responsive, using less than 500 MB memory.
I am using it as my main computer now for more than a year with no complains at all. This laptop is always running (24x7) and I never shut it down; it is always on.
My main usage is Visual Studio Code, OpenOffice, FreeCAD and some web browser (mostly Min, Firefox and Vivaldi). Occasionally it slows down but it is due my limited amount of ram and the old this laptop is. No SSD here. I just have to close some unused windows and everything is back to normality.
The software is always the latest version available. The distro is very well documented and you can look for extra information into ARCH forums.
The Openbox window manager is very well integrated with the system and it's quite easy to make personal adjustments.
I do not recommend it for those migrating from Windows but novice linux users may give it a try.
Congratulations to Erik Dubois and all team. Great work.
I don't like Arch much. There is always some niggle or papercut, or some Archoid user bragging about his system. I've had mediocre results using Endeavour. I have had fair results dealing with Manjaro. (Yes, I'm a distrohopper, even do my own podcast on the subject.) My main squeeze is Bodhi, with Mint Mate on board for when you just have to get things done.
I reviewed ArcoLinux Mate for my podcast (Distrohoppers' Digest) a couple months ago. I couldn't find anything actually wrong, no papercuts, just have to get used to the Arch way of doing package management. I have not removed it from my system, as I have most of the distros I review, and in fact have added it to every system I have except my disk-limited desktop.
If I had a tad more experience with the package manager and with getting things done, I honestly could replace Mint with this.
I did have issues with the Qt-based desktops, seems they conflict with each other in such a way that you can't run updates. But the Mate desktop is nice and solid, and I also gave a look at the UKUI desktop, which was pretty good but seems to still be not quite ready for prime time.
I honestly didn't think I would continue using Arco when I first tried it. Although I am a fan of pacman as a package manager, I have had stability/breakage issues with Arch and all variants. And honestly, the Arco website is a bit of a confusing mess of options.
However, after figuring out what I wanted (ArcoLinuxB, KDE Plasma version), I have installed it and been using it for a couple of weeks. So far, VERY good. Stability is good, updates are seamless, and after my own tweaks, Plasma boots and idles at about 435MB. Pretty incredible. Arco aside, I consider KDE Plasma to be the ONLY viable Linux desktop environment. It has reached the level of polish, performance, usability, stability, consistency, configurability, and energy-saving capabilities that leaves everything else in the dust.
I was able to add all the software I needed without issues. There are some things I can do without (what's with the endless fascination with conky, and neofetch in every new terminal window?), but that's easy enough to deal with. The ArcoLinux Tweak Tool seems interesting, although I haven't needed it.
As a 23 year Linux user who is more accustomed to the likes of Slackware (still the best), I can honestly say that Arco is an excellent distribution. I will continue to use it until I break it. ;-)
I like ArcoLinux. I want to like it a lot, but every time I do an update, it hangs up running the post-tranaction hooks. Everything grinds to a halt at that point. I wait and wait for the update to finish, and it may take a half hour or more. This never happened with Manjaro. I don't understand what's wrong. In fact, I don't think this has ever happened with any other distro I've used, and I've used a lot. Such a pity, because ArcoLinux looks great, it's very easy to install, and it runs great. But updates are a pain, and there are always a lot of updates to do with Arch. I think I might go back to Zorin, LMDE, or maybe try Ultramarine. I think we need developers to create some more user friendly Slackware friendly derivatives.
OK, THIS I can work with. I previously down-rated 21.11.05 for the missing browser and difficulties with the welcome screen but 22.01.10 Version L (I assume that stands for large) has worked flawlessly for me. Installed easily on an MSI B450i with a Ryzen 5600G and several rounds of updates later it is still working great. I was able to install the Vivaldi browser and my mods for wake-on-lan and remote operation using X11VNC. All good. Suspend/Resume works well Viewing shares on my NAS works right too.
I came to this distribution after 6 years of using Manjaro. And I like the dependable packagemanagement system, and the easy way to install different desktops side-by-side.
I have earlier used Linux Mint, Kubuntu, Mandriva/Mandrake, Archbang, Sabayon, OpenSUSE and Turbo Linux, since I started using Linux back in 1998. And I really thought I was never going to turn away from Manjaro Linux. But when I first tried ArcoLinux in a Virtual box, there was no turning back. And after two weeks of testing in Virtual box, I did a hardwareinstallation. And now I've used ArcoLinux for a month.
Great, I like this distro very much! I moved from Windows and really enjoyed this distro for the last three months and I used it both for work and for other activities. I never encountered serious issues that I was not able to solve easely and quickly, and I had no problems with hardware and rivers. Efficient, solid, and easy to use, even for someone that is not a linux expert. There are tons of tutorials present on the website and they are really useful, even if the appearence of the website can be improved.
Hi, This is Srinivas Doddapaneni from India
I have been using Lubuntu for my old laptop for all most 2 years starting from 18.04 to 20.10.
It has become heavy these days and no more an agile Light weight OS.
Arco Linux is easy to ease. Team keeps it up to date , with updates released twice every day as and when there is a need to apply fixes to bugs.
Highly recommended for any Laptop or Desktop whether New or more than 14 years old.
Just fine for any Hardware vendor. Intel,Amd etc
XFCE Desktop just consumes 512MB of Dynamic RAM.
Fast and agile when it comes to processor work load.
LTS Kernel option available for people not interested in participating test packages and new kernel updates. IP Tables NFT version controls kernel packets flow using NFT
Core , Community,Extra ,multilib, Repo , xlarge,3rd party package options available.Plenty to choose from.
One suggestion to build Developer team.Please include UFW CLI version Firewall along with your ISO Image.
Update servers sometimes failing to fetch packages.Error message-Invalid Database.Failed Transaction.
After updating ARCH Linux Mirrors it becomes normal. This happens even with https secure server selection
It is not an issue to be bothered too much.
Over all an Excellent Linux Distro with power packed performance.
Latest Kernel 5.16.10.arch1-1
In fact Major IT Companies should have this OS as their promotion.
Toshiba, Soft Bank, Samsung,Sony,Lenovo,Acer,LG,Panasonic,MI,VIVO,oppo like companies should sponsor and make it default OS for their Computers.
Microsoft can also have this Linux distro as their Windows sibling as Dual boot works fine.
Great Promising Whizkid from an ace European Country (Belgium)
10 out of 10 for this Distro.
Awesome distro, really good to learn to linux in general, allows for lots of customizations and tweaking , has lots of tutorials and discord support. highly recommend
Arcolinux was created to be simple to start with, but it is designed for you to grow your Linux skills. Start off with XFCE and move on from there to pretty much any Desktop Environment or Window Manager out there. The Arco Tweak Tool makes it easy to install any DE or WM and they are configured out of the install so you can use them right away. If you don't like how it's configured you can configure it to your needs.
The main repositories are the Arch repos, plus repositories for the Arco specific programs. Since it is based on Arch this is a rolling release. Could things break, sure, but this has not happened to me yet.
If you are looking to move from an Ubuntu/Debian based distro to an Arch based distro, Arco would be a good choice. One big thing is the Arcolinux YouTube and Odysee channels. There are over 2500 videos there on how to do things.
Arco Linux was for me till now unknown. I tried this morning Manjaro KDE, but it failed. That was for me a surprise. I used it before and everything worked then perfect. Now I am flabbergasted about this failure. Arco Linux XFCE in the contrary works out of the box. Everything feels perfect and I love to use it. Keep up the good work!!
This is a surprisingly good distribution and a fun way to learn how to actually build your own. There is a dedicated community behind this and I have been running 21.11 and switched to 22.01.10 today. Very familiar and quick to setup because of the aliases that have been put in to backup the skel and it natively backs up to my local NAS.
What I like is the seamless integration of my mobile NVidia card and the sound card working straight out of the box, the wifi works and works well.
You can get this in various flavours (it takes some reading to understand what is being offered) and with a few commands you install the desktop environment you like or you can download the larger full installer and it will install the Xfce4 desktop for you by default. Arc Linux Tweak Tool is a must have.
The Plasma desktop environment is fully supported and works as usual: you can change anything.
What makes this community so special is the way they attempt to teach you how to build your own ISO. Imagine that, you can call it whatever you like and build it from GIT.
It follows the Arch Linux concepts and will be familiar for users that are curious after Manjaro or other Arch based distributions. If you come from the apt side of the equation it simply means you need to take time to read and get these skills under your belt.
The knowledge gathered from doing it this way and the thousands of videos that Erik made and is making, are a great help. There is also the learning in a more formal way but there is no diploma :-)
Thanks for the development and I have become a supporter. Bandwidth is not cheap.
This project is basically Arch linux with an installer, although it has an additional repo with some well-curated packages and nicely styled DE+WM defaults. It's basically all the functionality most people wish was included with Arch (calamares installer, paru installed out of the box for AUR). I like Arch quite a bit, but I don't always have time to set up the OS with their scripts, nor do I particularly like how much customizing I have to do with the upstream DE settings to make it not look / feel like garbage. Arco takes care of that (thank god). IMO it's basically perfect.
The only thing I don't like about it is the way they named their ISO options (ArcoL, ArcoD, etc.). A descriptive word rather than just a letter would be preferable. They have an infographic about what each channel is for that is helpful, but still leaves some questions. My recommendation, if you're doing a desktop just download whichever ISO is the heaviest, you can always opt not to install a ton of things but they'll be available if you want them. The amount of software available during the install process is somewhat daunting, but fantastically powerful and decently integrated (phenomenally compared to vanilla Arch). Has been my daily driver for a couple months and no interest in changing. Really is a great "distro".
Tried to open a text file to clone a mac address in live mode. Opened file with vim, cannot copy address from vim. Other options to open a text file? Firefox maybe? Finally I opened the file with cat command in XFCE terminal.
Seriously? Almost 50 icon themes, a program to sort hardcoded icons, GUI for Grub and Kvantum themes - and still no text editor? (except for ninja code dveloppers' tool called vim?).
Despite industrial wallpapers, it doesn't feel like a machine. More like a four-poster bed.
Plenty of features, incredibly fun and customizable Arch derivative. Inspirational. If you want more from your Manjaro distribution, give Arcolinux a try. It really has a strong personality.
I like Arch based distros with KDE Plasma desktop, I have mostly used Manjaro and more recently Garuda and EndeavorOs, but for some time now these distros started to freeze for several seconds and randomly. I thought it was a systemd problem, I tried later with Artic but it gave me quite a few errors when updating the system. Then I tried Arcolinux. It has been incredible, no problems, everything is fast and it does not give me any problem of freezing the system for seconds.
OK, no browser included, the browser choice pops up if you try to do anything but it's broken with no choices showing (that work) and then nothing else works without a browser. So, I guess it is an install only build? Really guys? I really liked the previous versions. Ugh.
Been using ArcoLinuxB on and off for a number of years now and have usually always kept on coming back to it particularly when running with the Openbox DUI. It has always been solid and reliable and you have a very good choice of applications to run with it. But have noticed ever since the implementation of Tracker3 that was installed with updates some four weeks ago, that certain applications are very slow to open just after boot up, most concerning of these is Thunar file manager and this continues to occur even after full reinstalls. I really enjoy using Arch based distro`s as you can really set them up as you require and it is always a good learning experience.
Would highly recommend to anyone migrating away from whatever flavour of Windows OS`s and or any other Linux based distro`s. Not at all difficult and a real joy to use, with very good support from the Devs and community. Give it a go, you will not be disappointed.
Visually appealing, has a smooth feel to it. Variety of DEs is great. Some MAJOR drawbacks, you can't remove the Bluetooth crud without removing what's required for internet/network connections. The application search function doesn't work, you type your search, hit enter, and it just launches whatever it wants to without an actual search. Sometime it'll launch what I was searching for, but I never get a chance to see the results. It seems to search while I type (EXTREMELY ANNOYING), but upon hitting enter to complete the search request is when it launches whatever. Needs to be fixed!
+ Erik Dubois videos on YouTube helps us a lot.
+ Concept of this distro behind really cool. It teaches you the Linux so in the end you can even build your own iso
+ Community on Forum, Discord, Telegram is really nice.
+ I like Arch based rather than Debian, Solus, OpenSUSE or Fedora. Normal arch setup is little bit hard for end user so I tried all most popular arch based distros like Garuda, Manjaro, Endeavour etc. I stayed with Arco Linux because in Garuda the setup isn't have an option to setup as EXT4. Manjaro is not using official Arch repo and staying behind and too much bloat. Endeavour is really good option too but I am not considering it out of the box.
+ Lots of download options XL, XS, XS LTS, B, D etc.
+ Arco Linux Tweak Tool and Desktop Trasher really good.
Only downside I can say the website design. It is normally good but little bit complicated so need to be change in the future... Overall I can recommend this distro to anyone. Not bloated, really fast, stable and updated.
I love this distro. I use Openbox as my daily driver, and I have used a number of the other flavors before I landed there for good. It had a learning curve for me, but well worth it. I do not mind having to learn how to setup and use something that I enjoy. I also enjoy the freedom to really make the choices on how my setup and installation goes, and the support is the best I have seen out of all the distros I have used.
Tried Manjaro, was buggy and locked up my system, then wanted to try another Arch based distro, so I tried this. Not that great, slow to respond. I’ll try another Arch based distro
I wanted to try Arco since Manjaro has been giving me a lot of errors and instability and I thought Arco would be better- unfortunately it wasn’t, package errors and crashes have been happening to me a bit.
I’m going to try Endeavor/Endeavour, I hope that will be more stable.
Probably the easiest but still versatile way of installing Arch. Stay away from the L edition unless you want everything you might ever need pre-installed.
Best Arch linux distro I've ever run. Never had so much fun as I've had in this distribution. Erik is truly amazing. His passion for teaching, the video tutorials that are available, and the quality of learning an Arch-based is superb. GREAT job guys :)
I started with arch through manjaro, but I got to arcolinux and I was very surprised: I love this distro (with Deepin desktop), it has interesting details such as Conky Zen, it is fast, stable and the best way to learn arch. It gives you the possibility to install with a zen kernel (I think Manjaro does not), and I find it very fluid. I am a distro hopper and the truth is that, with Arcolinux, it no longer makes sense to continue being so. Home Sweet Home...
excellent distro.. i moved from arch as it was sometimes difficult to get a few things to work. Since i moved, i never had any troubles and on top of that ATT is awesome!!!!
Excellent distro.
Best part is while it is minimal, Arco adds its own flair like Arco tweak tool, bash or zsh aliases, and the ton of youtube videos that are very helpful.
The installer also allows a lot of customizations.
I installed ArcolinxB Qtile edition, and its just awesome. It comes with preconfigured qtile and shortcuts and runs really well.
Performance wise I find it better than manjaro, and definitely a seamless experience installng and maintaining it.
This is excellent but its not the perfect system. While it gives may options for users to configure the settings to their liking, it does have its bugs. They are not many or often, but they do happen. One is trying to use the ISO on an older laptop... An Inspiron 1525 from around 2008. It freezes in the same place unless I use the option for the installation that's not default. Ive never had an issue with installing before, but has is an issue with this particular computer for some reason. I can't understand why all these upgrades and suddenly has issues installing after all this time.
Amazing. Some minor hiccups like the Bluetooth daemon not starting for me, so I started it.
It's light and my laptop with a Ryzen 3 that absolutely CHOKED on Windows 10 was reborn after some distrohopping. Ditch Manjaro if you're aiming for something arch-based. XFCE ftw.
Downloaded and installed today on an old Core-i5. First problem was Cinnamon would not start after installing to disk. Had to reinstall with Gnome, a distant 2nd place desktop for me. ArcoLinux identifies itself as Arch (unlike Artix) which is good for installing software with a prerequisite list. If (when) they fix the Cinnamon installation I'd up the score (maybe all the way?)
As far as I am concerned it is probably the best distro I have used so far. I have quite a long experience with distros and a previous life in Unix.But here they offer you an interesting experience : you can without any computer background enjoy an OS or learn more about Arch at your own pace and fine tune your system to your taste .
I started playing with ArcoLinux this January and since then I must say it is one of the best distros I ever used. The last version offers very customizable installer which gives freedom to everyone. On the other hand, there is a risk that newbies may be lost a little bit. Anyway, I really like the ArcoLinux for its variability of the destop environments and windows managers and for endless tweaking in Xfce DE.
Great job! And thank you!
This distro is my first experience in Arch world which works well without issues (I tried other ones with different issues).
I downloaded ArcoLinuxB and installation process is easy but very detailed and custumizable. You can choose what you want to install or not.
It looks also fast and reliable up to now.
Forum help is fast and decisive.
Very satisfied!
I can not install any desktop from Arcolinuxd version 21.05.9 ....the calemara installer is jammed during the installation and failed to install !! Why there are fault in the iso? on version 21.03.11 there was no problem at all but this version can not be installed !!
Smooth, complete, customisable, reliable, easy to install and use... My days of distro hopping stopped when I discovered Arco and I've never looked back... This one gets an easy 10...
Most highly recommended.
The OS in general is great, but the backend support when one has problems that they can't resolve themselves leaves more the a bit to be desired. Top this off with the lack of any tools in the live USB install key and I cannot recommend this to anyone.
I just like this distro. Its simply stunning and installs fast via GUI. Would have been a 10/10, however I noticed something peculiar.
My monitors are connected, 2 x display port and 1 x hdmi, whenever sleep initiates, the display arrangement gets all messy and the screens "break", for lack of a better word. Backgrounds switch from 1080 to 600, display 1 becomes display 3 etc etc. Sure it takes 2 seconds to mend it all, but would be nice not to have that issue.
Otherwise all is fine in Arcoland... Awesome is awesome, but I assume its still getting tested??? Like the videos dev puts up on youttube, very helpful and the community on discord is also top notch.
Simply put would and will recommend to anyone, n00b or not, to try this baby out!!!
Два года использования без каких либо серьезных проблем. Это отличный дистрибутив как для новичков так и для опытных пользователей! Огромный выбор DE, WM, легкость, гибкость, стабильность! В данный момент установленные DE & WM - Gnome, Xfce, Awesome, Openbox, Bspwm, i3-gaps, Spectrwm. И все они уживаются на одной системе без проблем!
I tried it out today and it broken within an hour. This distro suffers from trying to do too much. I first encountered problems as soon as I started experimenting and tried to install another environment through the "tweaks" tool. After the install began, I tried to look around at other features, but no window would launch! I rebooted and this time upgraded all the packages via Pamac, but Pamac got stuck on the last package. I had to kill the program. I then rebooted again. However, now I couldn't even log in!!!! It prompted me to enter my password, which wasn't accepted. At this point, I gave up and don't see myself trying again.
I still don't get what they're trying to accomplish with the phase a b c thing... it's very confusing. I strongly recommend keeping it simpler. The more code, the more bugs
I am on latest arco gnome edition and i am here to stay
pros - everything runing out of the box
conkyzen is fantastic tool for lazy people (like me) who does not wont to bother to manually set up conky scripts
arcotweaks is another tool to setup some system parameters in gui
not bloated at all with unnecessary software, pretty close to vanilla arch
con - you need to know your way of rolling systems, so not for complete beginners
but its pretty close to become one
IMHO as a very long time Xfce user, I have to say that this is (next to Sparky-rolling), the best Xfce rolling Linux system, and, of course, the best Arch flavour Linux. I'm used to use stable releases (mainly Mint and MXLinux), but I'm impressed with this rolling distribution. I will use it for a long time to check its stability as time goes by. For the moment ArcoLinux deserves 9/10 (it could be 10 if the repositories would have more soft). Kudos to the Arco team.
Fast, fast. Best of the best. Arco is fantastic. I tried Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Opensuse, Garuda, EndeavourOS, Manjaro, Mx linux, Fedora, Kali, Pop os, macOS and windows xp, 7 and 10. But arco linux is the clear winner. Stable distro i use with KDE, super.
Extremely pleased with arcoliux. Daily driver since 1.5 yeas. If there was ani ssue i got very prompt and fiendly support on discord server like within 5 min. Arcolinux runs like a charm There is the option off getting into diverse Window Managers since they are easily exchanged and the configs are just awesome. plus it stays very very close to arch its motherdistro. so archwiki always helpful. I learned more through watching eric dubois videos than with any other distro so far. it encourages to experiment ad is geat all in all. Thumbs up to the developers.
Never found the will to try Arch, until I discovered ArcoLinuxD… goodbye every other distro.
After running “sudo pacman -Syuu” for the first time and seeing the XFCE desktop after a reboot, I was instantly sold. It makes my Toshiba Satellite L750D feel like a new machine. No bloatware, more speed, everything just as I want it. My goodness, whoever helped make this, thank you so much!
I have been using arcolinux plasma for some time now and so far all updates have worked perfectly, no need to read forums or warnings. Before I was a Manjaro user and every now and then I had some crash in the updates. The loading time in arcolinux is much faster than in manjaro. Arcolinux is basically arch
I installed ArcoLinux XFCE. The installation went smoothly and without any problems. ArcoLinux runs stable and quickly. Everything works perfectly. ArcoLinux XFCE recognized my hardware and brings all drivers with it.
Just installed AcroLinux Plasma 2 days ago and I simply can't believe the stability over Manjaro, Garuda, and EdeavourOS. Average boot time of the 3 from the time I hit enter on the Grub screen is about 25 seconds where as with Acro it's 12 seconds. Acro is a bit of a learning curver compared to the other 3, but easily and quickly learned. My only regret is not finding Acro sooner. There were a couple of things out of the gate I've gotten use to already having preinstalled once on the desktop, but Acro has others that more than makes up for it. I would recommend Acro to anyone that's looking for a fast, stable Arch Plasma OS. Typically any Linux distro I've tried there are usually a half dozen to a dozen problems that have to be addressed right out of the gate. With Acro the only issue I've run into is with the cursor panel under System Settings locking up System Settings. Because of this being the only issue I got Acro setup faster than any other distro. I'd honestly give it more than 10 if I could.
The original build I did for the gamer lady is rock solid. I checked in on her and the system was up to date - she did it herself. I asked her how/why and she said "Oh a red symbol appeared so I clicked on it and it showed updates. One took longer than the rest - why is that?". I explained about Nvidia updates and she was happy with that. I checked "dmesg" - pretty much silent after login/Wifi connect. This is quite unexpected given the errors and issues I saw on Ubuntu in the past.
For my migration away from Windows, I am working with the latest release, (v 23.09.03) and it seems no different to what she is using, so the rolling updates definitely work. I am about half-way through - being very careful with my software choices. I've gone down a few rabbit holes and decided to rebuild from scratch a few times - not because it was broken, but because I am learning and testing and learning more. I've found a few packages that just do things better than the choices I had made for Windows.
Pros:
* Install just works - 3 different machines (hardware), same results.
* ArcoLinux tools are very useful, helpful and just work
* Arch is the (b)leading edge - I do like that
* So many choices you can make, and I've made quite a few
* When I am migrated, the machines will do things my way - I like that
* There are videos - lots of them - all helpful... except the tiling stuff.
* Fast
* Community support is very good.
* New hardware is supported earlier on Arch - or so it seems.
Cons:
* I've been down so many rabbit holes, but gee I've learned a lot about my computer usage and workflow and what works better for me.
* Frequent updates - you don't have to, but there are advantages. It's like your mobile phone - if you don't update it, it still works, but, what are you missing...
* So much to learn - once you start. You can choose not to learn, and just use it - that's also fine. It's not something that Windows encourages, unless you cruise forums etc. Arch is a great platform on which you can learn (a lot).
* Not "company" supported. From what I have read lately, that's a actually a good thing.
I am very glad that my friend sent me down this path. In a couple of weeks, my migration away from Windows will be complete. I am very happy with the progress and results.
Erik, the author or ArcoLinux, is a talented and respect Linux ecosystem contributor, giving us very good tutorials, Sardi icons, and tweaking tools. But I don't really understand the ArcoLinux' philosophy. It says: "learning, simplicity, and beauty" on the website and during the install, yet I found it unnecessarily complicated and not very beautiful (that's subjective). As for learning, I think it conflicts with simplicity. Mint is simple: install and play. Arch is learning, teaching you how your computer works, but it's far from being simple.
Simplicity starts with choosing an iso: there are many "branches" (XS, XL, D, B), each having many variants (kernel, desktop environment, bloat, etc.) and it takes quite some efforts to sort everything out. Thankfully, the website is documented and Erik even made 2 videos explaining how to choose.
I went for ArcoLinuxB Cinnamon. What I got is a sort of Endeavour/Manjaro (a themed, easy-to-install archlinux) with access to Arco's repository and ATT (Archlinux Tweaking Tool). I couldn't change the Cinnamon's background. Right-click on the desktop, change background, add /usr/share/backgrounds/whatever, but the browse list is always empty, as if Cinnamon can't read the image files. ATT didn't help either (I couldn't find an option to change the background there).
Plymouth works but is not handled by ATT.
In the end, the only thing ATT helped was to set a sddm theme, which is really 2 commands to issue on any arch distro anyway.
I was also hoping to find plenty of wallpapers in Arco's repository but that's mainly what AUR already provides (granted, Arco added a few of their own, but most can be found on the web).
In summary, a couple of AUR packages (arco-theme, pamac, and ATT) on any arch distro would do the same for me.
I was frustrated with CachyOS as the update created a bunch of problems I won't go into here as this is about ArcoLinux, but that caused me to try Arco & "am I happy?" You bet!!! It installed rather easily off a ventoy usb after downloading onto another distro & doing the checking. I am running it off another Distro as an external drive. I have 17 external drives running off the same one. Its a great way to try out the distros *all are different, which including the main one means 18 in all off one machine". I like so many things about Arco. I just installed it 2 days ago. Normally I would wait before giving feedback, but this is such an easy to use distro (so far). All the updates went through & the usual software I install to protect & do my main surfing. I haven't put games on yet but can give feedback in the future about that later. I like that other repositories can be added. I have garuda & enjoy firedragon so it was great I got that working on Arco. As far as cons...so far, I haven't any. 2 days, what do you expect...lol!
I built a cheap system (Intel 13th gen, NVIDIA) for a lady who plays WoW. Tried Windows, her previously preferred platform and it was a bit slow and clunky.
A friend told me to try Linux on it. He said "ArcolinuXS, Lutris, Battle.net then WoW" and went on holidays (thanks, mate). I googled, found the right ISO, and using Rufus, put that on a USB stick.
On a (new) spare SSD, I ran through the install - no errors. Started it and played a little - it was quite usable even for a relative dummy like me.
The tool that welcomed me led me by the hand almost. In the software updater/installer, I found and installed Lutris.
Getting Battle.net on required some perusing of the Lutris Battle.net documentation - luckily I read the text at the beginning of the install. I followed the Lutris Arch Linux NVIDIA instructions and it worked, so on to getting WoW installed and running. Just like Windows - same old Battle.net interface - easy. Ran up WoW, she logged in, and it's fast and not clunky at all. Umm... what?
She wanted Chrome and Office, I chose Chromium and LibreOffice from the Software Installer (also has a menu entry Add/Remove Software). So easy, so fast, I'm almost ashamed that I wasn't aware of this. Her system can now run Windows or ArcoLinux. As far as I know, she has not gone into Windows since.
For me, previously, I had a play with Linux - Ubuntu - on decent hardware in about 2009. I wasn't impressed. Arco Linux is a way different thing. It's better. It works well. It's fast! It helps you learn.
I am migrating my own setup from Windows to ArcoLinux now as well. No issues so far and very easy to do. I found the ArcoLinux guy on Youtube, too. So many videos and I assume they are all helpful. The ones I watched showed other displays (Desktop environments). The desktop that came with ArcoLinuXS is fine for me.
I'm using ArcoLinuxB edition with Openbox on a Chromebook, and everything worked right out of the box. Neither Debian nor BunsenLabs (based on Debian) would play nice with my Chromebook's hardware. I had trouble with sound not working and the headphone jack not working. That was not a problem with ArcoLinux.
I wanted to stay away from a rolling release because of the tiny hard drive, but ArcoLinuxB lets you do a minimal install with only the applications you want. It's small enough but with everything I wanted. OpenBox is a great choice for memory impaired Chromebooks. I might have used Mabox, but I've always felt funny about Manjaro since the certificate comedy. What else did they miss?
The Chromebook runs as fast with ArchoLinuxB and Openbox as it did with ChromeOS. Chromebooks are like snowflakes, so your mileage may vary, but if you're looking for a distro that will run on a jailbroken Chromebook with custom firmware (thank you, Mr. Chromebox), ArchoLinuxB worked great for me. It turned an almost ready to be forgotten Chromebook into my laptop of choice.
Its basically Arch with a gui installer and an extra package system with excessive routine updates, you would be better off using Manjaro which unlike Arco has a huge user base comparable to Ubuntu. You can easily find answers for Manjaro, this is its biggest plus and its even easier to install than Arco since its a full os that comes packed with apps. Also Manjaro doesn't suffer from constant updating, their bi-weekly updates are still leagues behind Arch so your always compatible but up to date. This in turn makes Manjaro more watered down to be able to be used as the everyday distro. Unlike Arch Manjaro tests all its packages, so the updates are properly functional and won't break anything.
I am a Linux user with Ubuntu version 12.04. I tried about 20 different distributions and builds, but settled on Arco Linux as the only system for home use. It is the best experience of using Linux, Arco Linux gives an unprecedented level of use of your hardware. The major pluses are the guide and the most detailed documentation possible. I used to love Flatpak and hated Snap but now I don't like Flatpak either because of OSTree. Flatpak applications allow access to user files in $HOME and sandbox escape through X11 is trivial. Anyone who works with and learns linux will move to Arhc anyway, but Arco is a great starting point for learning all the nice things about linux. I suggest for newbies to get the XL build. And DO NOT create lots of hard disk partitions, they make no sense.
My 2nd review after the one i wrote 2023-05-02. I still believe it's the best "Arch experience" for beginners but unfortunately the miriad of updates make the system not very stable and that is a limit. I believe they should create 2 version , 1 stable with essential updates and one "beta" with frequent updates. So the PROs are : easy to install , big choice of desktop environments and software , great looks , simple and intutitive. The CONs are : updates are too frequent and they might mess up the system.
Updates frequently leave your system unusable. It's happened to me several times now. This last time I lost video from a w5100 FirePro after an update. If the update process becomes stable, it's as good or better than EndeavourOS, I had to flatbox 5 installations from two machines after normal updates this year.
I installed the B version with minimal applications on two machines. One Intel and the other an old AMD, fairly painless. It's fast and Plasma compliant, my preferred desktop. No printers, wireless or BT on either machine. When it works, it's fantastic.
Until now, I preferred Debian-based distributions, but I tried Arco and did not regret it. I was afraid of the Arch architecture, but this system is put together in such a way that you don't have to be afraid of it. I chose Deepin desktop, but you can find all window management systems. The system is very stable, the boot is very fast, all software included in the storage. I had a problem, Viber didn't start, but it's not the system's fault, I looked it up and it was solved in seconds. I think this will be my system for everyday use. The website is a little complicated and not clear, but you can find the information. There are many helpful videos.
Arcolinux just works. Easy install recommended for 'beginners'.
I recently took the opportunity to install some alternatives on my desktop.
Garuda wouldn't load with my Nvidia gpu. Endeavour couldn't load with my Nvidia gpu..did load with open drivers but I didn't enjoy needing terminal for all the music software I need. Fedora had problems with Oad software on the Gnome de.. the XFCE spin is a pared down version that gave a similar experience to Endeavour.
DAY 3 of the experiment saw me re-installing Arcolinux 23.05.04... everything worked out of the box. Rebooted perfectly with Nvidia drivers. Erik Dubois does an incredible job with this distro and has provided links to his multitude of assistive videos on Youtube. Fantastic service. I choose xfce de for my purposes. In Arco it's simple to install any and all desktops alongside each other.
9 and not 10 just because sometimes the installer fails. This simply is the perfect Arch distro; it has EVERYTHING you need for a perfect Arch installation. I was a distro hopper until i installed this; now it is my daily driver.
I opted for Cinnamon flavor, but you can install every Linux desktop. Marvelous the "B" version that literally makes you build the Arch distro you want. Good the "Big" version, too, but with one criticism; if you want to offer a "complete" distro ready to be installed and used, you should include Libreoffice in it!
The most complete "Arch experience" for beginners. Easy to install , bugs are close to zero , updates are frequent , and it already looks great the 1st time you use it. Huge choice of Desktop Environments , incredible choice of software and drivers , lets you get in touch with the Arch world keeping all the conforts of a Ubuntu distribution. Calamares is probably the best installing companion out there now and the one in ArcoLinux is just awesome and precise at the same time. I give this distro a full 10.
ArcoLinux, hmm, what to say about it. Well, it's a distro for desktops - users and gamers and developers and "fiddlers" and even older folk.
Well, it is Arch - Arch that installs and works - better than the many many distros that I have tried and used - on all my AMD and Intel hardware, excluding that Intel AX200-series wireless. Guess what, I replaced that Intel wireless.
Arco uses Calamares - one of the best installers for newbies. Some variants can also use "alis", an installer for more advanced users, developed by picodotdev, and it's the fastest Arch installer that I have used.
Arco stole me from EndeavourOS - another great distro. There's a clue. I'd been using Endeavour since dropping Pop!_OS and after trying and being unimpressed by variants of Debian, Fedora, SUSE and so on. There was always something that just didn't work as expected (or crashed).
Pros:
Choices (loads of choices).
Stable (Arco is very stable).
Software (Arch has a massive software repository).
Layered - you can apply "the Arco way" to more than 15 distinct Arch-based distros and it works! Fast - it's generally slightly faster as well. It's tuned the right way.
Videos - over 3000. See Erik Dubios on YT. He has playlists and a local search feature.
Cons:
Choices (so... many... choices...) My solution is just get ArcoLinuXL, install using the defaults, then choose your preferred desktop using the Arch Linux Tweak Tool.
Supports Wayland (if you're brave enough to choose it), but Wayland doesn't support a lot and it breaks many things - so don't try it until you're fully Linux versed). Even then, watch the videos that Erik has created on the subject.
Definitely 10/10. "I use Arch, BTW" doesn't matter when you install and use Arco. It's so easy.
The easiest to install and most functional Arch distribution I've installed. A much better choice than Manjaro. However, the website is a total mess. Updates are extremely frequent. I installed with Cinnamon and KDE. The installation is extremely easy and allows you to install software according to your needs. You can even choose to install yay during the installation procedure. Everything works out of the box, just a few small tweaks to do with themes and opening windows with one click in KDE initially.
This distro blows my mind! I actually don't feel like it's just a distro, it's A FWEEKIN LINUX ECOSYSTEM! From gobs of education and training tools, super helpful versions with differing levels of apps, and configurability you can bank on, I have not found anything it cannot do! But don't let the sheer volume of helpfulness put you off. Just give it a spin and add to your learning or abilities as you see fit, or stay with the defaults and you will not be disappointed. It's GORGEOUS and just a PLEASURE to USE! I have been hammering it for weeks now and it won't break without doing stupid stuff. It feels both elegant to use, but faster and hotter than a fresh fukt fox in a forest fire.
If there is one disappointment: I think my gleeful, drooling distrohopping days may be over! Since Arco does everything in one spot that I used to have to do piecemeal, I just never leave!
Woah, I feel like I have been let out in Disneyland for the first time without my parents! I've been around a fug-ton of distros, but ArcoLinuxB feels like the mutherload of all of them! So. Damn. Configurable!
I've done all the things I usually set up on Debian and many other Arch distros but feel that I have only scratched the surface of Arco. I can't even begin to say how exciting having all these options and tools is! Personally it does NOT feel overwhelming, because I only care about XFCE and I like customizing distros my way anyhow. All the options just feel like being a kid in a candy store. I have NEVER seen the amount of tools that are right at my fingertips on any other distro!
It is FAST, and very beautiful with a short trip to the XFCE Eye Candy store. I am only on day one of using it, but have had no problems making it jump through the typical hoops. I will be back if there is any bad news down the road, but I will have visions of sugar-Linux dancing through my dreams tonight, over any of the other Arch derivatves I have played with. That includes all of the top arch distros that support XFCE on Distrowatch.
I do suspect that the sheer avalanche of options with Arco is why it's not higher up the rankings on Distrowatch, and I myself held off because it looked like I would have to do some thinking just to get the proper version to intall. But if you just grab the B version and begin you will be glad you did!
-Impresive quantity of variations/options that provides. For some people this could be overwhelming but for me is perfect. ArcoLinux has an iso for almost everyone, if you dig in their website: L, S, D, B (with all desktops available), Zen, Xanmod, lts, hardened, etc. There are also ALCI and CARLI.
-Documentation and Tutorials. Over 3100 videos in their YT channel, and lots of post. Being Arch based the Arch wiki is probably the best out there.
-Installation process. The modified Calamares allows to add almost anything you might need to start using Arco right away.
-Arco Tweak Tool (ATT). It's just make your life easier and adds an extra layer of customization
-It Just works. On My i5 10th gen, Nvidia GTX1650, Realtek wifi no surprises everything works. The nvidia drivers can be installed from calamares or after installation via pacman, yay or paru.
-Arco is the best Arch based distro IMO.
Cons:
-As I stated in my first point, some people may find overwhelming to have so many options.
-As usual with projects maintained by one person, Arco feels a little "weak". If the main dev drop it, it will be time to move on. I hope this doesnt happen any time soon. Thankfully there are other distros with similar approach.
Have been using this distro for at least 1 1/2 years now, it opens fast, allows to set as encrypted, not recommended for non advanced users as later installs might be problematic, it is a rolling release, so no need to reinstall like other Ubuntu type distros for example, I only installed Kde, Xfce & Cinnamon environments, it is stable, and can play around with the theming and fonts etc with Kde. Wish they would beautify more the main theme in the future. I have done some theming to change that but needs work. installed Paru for easy updates & Yay I think is also very nice along with pacman software installers. Ubuntu distros seem to be more user friendly than Arch based, recommend better Ubuntu long term distros 5 years for them. I do have Windows installed on a separate partition but find it too slow and painstaking to use, constantly upgrading gigantic nonsense pain, I have Linuxmint on another partition and do use it now and then for simple tasks or special backup maintenance when do have issues with my tinkering around. so far this is now my main distro. and use Libvirt and Virtual box for testing or learning. a powerful distro once you start running it, have been using Lts Kernel upgrades only to avoide bugs in the future. so far have a basic GPU and 32 gigs of ram which allow fairly fast use, not for video creation or games enthusiasts. the creators of Arcolinux have extensive videos for those interested in learning about linux. Which is probably why I keep it and because I have been experimenting with syncthing and use multiple desktops for learning about Linux wthin arcolinux. so will stick it for a while. for now gave it an 8 because I feel it's not an exciting theme look.
I tried most desktops of arcolinux , i install it either by arcolinux-d or by arcolinux tool , but i suffered from missing the keyboard layout for uki desktop and pantheon desktop . i tried to se keyboard layout in pantheon but the icon "keyboard" in ssystem settings is missed . i tried to set keyboard by ibus but failed even i set it but not change the language. Also for ukui desktop the setting for ukui not work at all for keyboard layout . So please add the missed package for the keyboard setting for pantheon desktop and ukui desktop , so that to be easy done same as plasma or xfce desktop. Thanks in advance for your great effort
I'm a Linux lover, but I've tried a lot of Linux distributions, various environments, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, and I'm currently using ArcoLinux D, and there I find my account, a very reliable distribution, very customizable, with XFCE, Browsing was easy and I could install all the common ones, so I put on Chrome and Brave, that worked just fine. I am currently using it with a XFCE environment and I highly recommend you to download the arcolinuxD iso rather then the other. This distribution seems less known than most, it deserves to be very popular.Many similarities with the Windows environment.
in short, for me it's the best! I recommend !
ArcoLinuxL (L means Large) is a great place to start with Linux, if you're considering moving away from Windows. You get "everything" on this version, so you can play around and see how it fits what you need.
I put ArcoLinuxL on an older machine, put copies of my normal Windows stuff - documents, spreadsheets on and they work! Microsoft has their own requirements for formats, but you can save in those formats and they work.
Browsing was easy and I could install all the common ones, so I put on Chrome and that worked just fine.
Gaming generally was good as well, but some older games can give you grief. You'll find this the case on any Linux.
Erik Dubois has done a great job. He has set up a "Linux University" to teach people about Linux, Arch being his choice. He has YouTube and 2 web sites to help you along. The key is do not rush through it.
Bottom line - if you want to move away from Windows but you don't want to think too much at the start, try ArcoLinuxL. It works and it's fast and there's a wealth of information you can refer to if you want to learn Linux as well. If you want to learn about Linux, there are other versions you can install and customise to suit yourself. Do that later, after experiencing the difference on ArcoLinuxL.
Aside from the terrible maze of a website, the distro is pretty good (arcolinuxD). It was exactly what I was looking for. You can get a minimal vanilla DE arch experience from the advanced installer but with easy install unlike vanilla arch.And I thoroughly believe it is better than endeavouros. I am currently using it with a kde environment and I highly recommend you to download the arcolinuxD iso rather then the other. I honestly think this distro is quite underrated compared to many out there.
Brilliant across the board. Any minor issue is just that, trivial,and resolved rapidly. Beginner? tons of online support and information on a plethora of items from the simple to complex. Used a slew of distros across the years and none quie compares to Arco. Have installed this on many systems and applaud Mr. Dubois and crew on a true masterpiece.
Its Arch made simple, easily accessible, customisable and praiseworthy.
If one looks for a forever "keeper" distro, this one should tick that box. Defo has for me.
Want a distro that is hassle free, functional, customisable and reliable? Here you are.
Ended up with three desktop environments when only one was selected one during the advanced installation. There were a multitude of software packages never selected for installation.
Only Budgie was selected during the installation and installed were XFCE,Multiple Gnome sessions, and Budgie. Perhaps the installer needs more clearly defined installation parameters. The tweak tool and welcome application look promising , but the installer brought me nothing but a bloatware bomb and waste of time.
High positive ratings for Erik Dubois @ArcoLinux!ArcoLinux has brought powerful renewnal to my old iMac 2014!Erik has done an awesome job with the ArcoLinux system and support through Arcolinux website and educational videos.ArcoLinux brings out the best of the ArchLinux system for the new and experienced Linux users.My Linux experience has been a learning one with growing pains mistakes included but with the help and support that Arcolinux brings it's possible to learn with a strong stable system that keeps you on the right path as you grow in Linux.No matter your Linux preferences,ArcoLinux provides choices for your level and taste.Linux is freedom!Some of the cons in my experience in ArcoLinux maybe just me,more than likely me.My only problem a was Arch Tweak Tool not loading after an update which a quick reinstall of ArcoLinux fixed the problem.I highly recommend ArcoLinux for all levels of Linux users!
Probably the longest installation ever. There are too many choices, which i kind of like, but it takes incredible time especially when you need to repeat it over and over due to Calamares crashes. It's not like OpenSuse installer, where items are prechecked. E.g. metapackage is selected, but on the next screens, the related packages are not selected. Some items are there 2-3 times.
Anyways, after all this, the installer will crash when selecting swap. Next time it will crash on partitioning. And this is a golden standard in the Linux world as decades go by. Every single distro including BSD can't handle partitions. Years old bugs are still in Calamares, for example when editing an encrypted partition, it will forget the actual filesystem and say "LUKS". Still no simple home encryption is possible, encrypted volumes can't be shrinked and so on. It's nowhere near simplicity and realtime operation of Windows. For password typing avoidage, i have to create inintram, put in on fingerprint USB, and for home drives I have to do PAM systemd tweaks to unlock after login. None of this is offered automatically. Where's secure boot? Still making excuses of M$FT?
Why do I still bother with Linux? It's getting nowhere.
i was looking for a distribution that would mirror my hdmi display...... deb fell short
Arch was perfect.
However - some were not perfect for me.
using a I7 core - GL75 leopard Laptop
Arch Garuda - i thought was great, however it had issues with video playback - it was pausing from time to time
Endeavor Arch - BUGGY...... as of 8-11-22, kept loosing my login password- go figure
Tried ARCO Plasma. Man o man, I'm truly glad i discovered it.
The monitors mirror perfectly
Install and setup straight forward
Windows open fast
Videos play as they should
icons show up in browser bookmark menu bar
Adding new software - no problem
The overall experience was very pleasing, a job well perfected,
Thank you ARCO Linux
Fantastic Distro BoysNGirls I'd give you only a 9 because I want you to stay Graceful and Humble! ;)P
Very much enjoying the find work and speed as well stability and options of this Distro. So many features and options and its just works great.
Honestly I don't know why your not rated higher then 19th and I use and test a lot of distro's and I'd say your in TOP 5 for sure.
One suggestion can you Add Pantheon Desktop? That be great love as many versions as possible and the ability to lose and terminate the base Distro after install but that's not allowed?
Avec cette dernière version très aboutie, Arcolinux sort à mon avis la meilleure distribution Arch.
Plus rapide, plus légère et certainement la plus aboutie, cette version est devenue une distribution excellente que ce soit pour les pro comme pour ceux qui veulent aller plus loin que les distributions ou tout est installé par défaut..
Contrairement à la majorité d'entre vous j'ai opté pour la suit bureautique FreeOffice qui elle aussi est beaucoup moins lourde que LibreOffice et qui s'avère suffisante pour mon utilisation personnelle.
Les améliorations pour virtualbox comme timeshift permettent une stabilité surprenante..
I have been tinkering thoughts of moving from Mac to linux, over the last few months I had installed a few VM's and were trying them out. I finally settled with ArcoLinux. There were a few concerns on using in on bare metal but Arcolinux provided the steps and works around it. After using Arcolinux for a few months as well as testing a few more other linux Distro I am glad to have settled with ArcoLinux, there were some theeting stuff with my camera, magicmouse all this was provided in clear step by step instruction and videos.
Hats of to the Arcolinux team, I installed the ArcolinuxL version and as up and running in about 15mins. It is now my daily driver.
i still have the migration issue from MS Office, but slowly getting a hang of LibreOffice. The this about ArcoLinux is that you need to read and read a lot, this bring about the understanding of how this operating system is used. XFCE was great and their Arch Linux Tweak tool provided such immense help.
Sellting ArcoLinux was the best choice that I made.
A little buggy and a little weird, that's the vibe Arcolinux left me with.
Having chosen option B (why so many options?) I was presented with an installer, in essence, doing much the same thing as far as I could see, as the Calamares installer for pure Arch. It follows a similar trajectory in terms of choices. That's not necessarily a bad thing but when I elected not to install a games directory, for example, it installed one anyway loaded down with games I'll never use and had to uninstall. Other icons for games were present but not installed and there was no obvious option to uninstall them. It did the same thing with Development and Education, which again I don't need. Maybe this is a KDE thing, I don't know but it was annoying, nonetheless.
This is more personal comment but the default theming left me cold. The lollipop/M&M style button icons felt cluttered, garish and clunky. Thankfully most but not all of that could be expunged by changing themes. On the subject of which added themes did not always install or took forever to install.
In terms of performance similar to most other Arch derivatives I have tried. It did throw KDE wallet at my upon starting Vivaldi which I could have done without. It also installed Firefox which I specifically did not ask for and never use. Falkon had somehow made its way onto the system too.
I took a lot of time very carefully selecting what was and what was not to be installed so I'm not sure what happened here.
In short I wont be keeping Arcolinux. It just left me feeling uninspired and a but irritated. I'll go to pure Arch instead and take it from there. In short some good ideas and feels solid but my personal experience, in practise, was less than stellar.
Arco is a strange kind of distro in many ways from my point of view, and this is already noticeable from the moment you enter its website. A lot of distinct information about many different things being rubbed in your face, most of which has nothing to do with the distro itself, which will probably be irrelevant to most users who just want to know what the project is about or simply download the ISO and install it. This, by the way, is another point that is quite annoying to me, why so many different styles of ISO images when the point that differentiates them could be applied in the same one, simply by giving the option to choose through the installer? to me, it's just another way to confuse the user even more. Another peculiar point of the project is to have thousands of tutorials about the most diverse things, this calls some attention to the fact that if there was the need for all this probably the confusion when trying to use the distro is certain for many people, in several aspects. Anyway, I tried Arco for a few days but I couldn't see many differences from the original Arch, just some scripts to automate the use, a visual appeal (like Archcraft) and some project's own repositories, which mostly have that already in the AUR. I did encounter some problems when updating the system, things with the keyring and such every time a new update was needed, which was extremely annoying so I ended my attempts there.
In the last few months I found myself interested in testing some WM, instead of a complete graphical environment, but I wasn't in the mood to do the entire configuration from scratch, so, after some research I discovered that Arco had some already preconfigured, and after a few days, I decided to try them.
The problems I've had already start from the distro's website, a bunch of information thrown in your face, which makes everything so confusing that you can't even distinguish where you want to go or what you're looking for. It's nice to have tutorials and the fact that they want to pass on as much information as possible, but as long as everything is well organized and not all shuffled.
Finally, after finding the correct download, I downloaded the ISO and went to install it on one of my laptops. It was from last month, so it would probably have to do some updates, since the distro is based on Arch, which frequently updates its packages. The installation went well, through Calamares, not much different from many out there. With everything installed, I restarted the laptop and logged into the new system. At first, I didn't notice anything wrong, I went right behind to update everything. And indeed, there were packages with pending updates, so I updated them and restarted again. After that, the system just wouldn't start anymore and I didn't understand why at all. The screen was completely black, without showing any information. After a few hours trying to find the problem and not finding any solutions, I gave up.
The project guys seem pretty committed, and that's nice, but some edges still need some polishing to avoid unnecessary frustration, as was my case.
After some time away from Arch due to trying Gentoo, I decided to install it again on a second hand Acer Aspire laptop I recently got. But I wasn't willing to go through the whole command line installation process, so I went looking for some distro based on it that had the possibility of installation through some graphical application/GUI, then I heard about Arco. After that I downloaded the ISO image from the site, put it on a bootable USB stick and tried to install it using Calamares, but I didn't have much luck. In a certain part of the installation process, the progress bar would simply freeze at some point and not go any further, and showed no error, leaving me completely unaware of what was going on. After a few more attempts, I finally succeeded in installing it (apparently), but my bluetooth headset didn't reproduce any audio and my connection would spike from time to time, using gnome at least. After some complications, I just let it go and went back to the normal Arch, which I didn't have these kinds of problems. Maybe it is a one-off thing, but it made the experience with Arco disastrous.
Now this is an undervalued distribution if ever there is one. I took a look because it is one of the very few with an average rating over 9.
That average is justified.
Immediately on boot from a pen drive I was presented with various video options. This was a surprise, given that I have Intel HD Graphics 630 that is usually treated as "just works", but I educated myself about modesetting and nouveau using the (excellent) tutorials and, now, have accelerated video in all cases. That is a rarity in itself.
Thereafter it is a standard Calamares installer with remarkably few choices - most choices are pre-made and are clearly good ones. There is a large choice of filesystems, though, and I chose XFS. Installation took a couple of minutes after that, with no problems.
Really, Arco is vanilla Arch in a very cleverly designed environment which adds a lot of tools without interfering with the desktop environment. Crucially - I use the KDE "B" version - KDE is vanilla. There is an unfortunate tendency to cut and shut KDE, arbitrarily removing parts or replacing them with the distribution owner's favourites, but not here. Everything is present and, thankfully, Discover is used as the graphical programme manager.
Discover has support straight off for the standard Arch repositories and a number of little-known user-maintained repositories, plus flatpak. This gives a massive library of programmes even without the AUR, which is also supported.
Over and above KDE there is well-chosen theming, including a proper black theme, and a choice of terminal and system information programmes. Conky is installed but, by default, is switched off. There is an Arco Tweak Tool with a mass of options (16 pages!) and the Arco Desktop Trasher, which I haven't tried but which appears to be unique as it allows the desktop environment to be replaced without rebuilding. As Arco supplies about 20 desktop environments, including many obscure ones, the Trasher is a great option for a secondary machine in order to try things out.
The big surprise is speed. Arco is astonishingly fast - faster than EndeavourOS - and leaves Ubuntu, Mint and even Windows 11 looking terribly sluggish. Even boot is quick - a few seconds on my desktop machine.
The only issue I found after fixing an old Arch chestnut (failed installations on first run - the fix is to update the key store before trying the first update) is that my machine won't suspend - it suspends for a few seconds then comes back. However, this is not an issue because hibernate and recover from hibernate take about four seconds each.
Overall? 10. All this is simply outstanding work by the developer.
I am a linux user since 1998 and I have used several distros. However I consider myself as an enthusiast rather than a linux expert.
The ArcolinuxB Openbox edition was installed on a almost 20 years old MSI CR620 (i3 processor) with 4 GB ram. Installation process was straightforward and everything worked out of the box.
The distro is Very fast and responsive, using less than 500 MB memory.
I am using it as my main computer now for more than a year with no complains at all. This laptop is always running (24x7) and I never shut it down; it is always on.
My main usage is Visual Studio Code, OpenOffice, FreeCAD and some web browser (mostly Min, Firefox and Vivaldi). Occasionally it slows down but it is due my limited amount of ram and the old this laptop is. No SSD here. I just have to close some unused windows and everything is back to normality.
The software is always the latest version available. The distro is very well documented and you can look for extra information into ARCH forums.
The Openbox window manager is very well integrated with the system and it's quite easy to make personal adjustments.
I do not recommend it for those migrating from Windows but novice linux users may give it a try.
Congratulations to Erik Dubois and all team. Great work.
I don't like Arch much. There is always some niggle or papercut, or some Archoid user bragging about his system. I've had mediocre results using Endeavour. I have had fair results dealing with Manjaro. (Yes, I'm a distrohopper, even do my own podcast on the subject.) My main squeeze is Bodhi, with Mint Mate on board for when you just have to get things done.
I reviewed ArcoLinux Mate for my podcast (Distrohoppers' Digest) a couple months ago. I couldn't find anything actually wrong, no papercuts, just have to get used to the Arch way of doing package management. I have not removed it from my system, as I have most of the distros I review, and in fact have added it to every system I have except my disk-limited desktop.
If I had a tad more experience with the package manager and with getting things done, I honestly could replace Mint with this.
I did have issues with the Qt-based desktops, seems they conflict with each other in such a way that you can't run updates. But the Mate desktop is nice and solid, and I also gave a look at the UKUI desktop, which was pretty good but seems to still be not quite ready for prime time.
I honestly didn't think I would continue using Arco when I first tried it. Although I am a fan of pacman as a package manager, I have had stability/breakage issues with Arch and all variants. And honestly, the Arco website is a bit of a confusing mess of options.
However, after figuring out what I wanted (ArcoLinuxB, KDE Plasma version), I have installed it and been using it for a couple of weeks. So far, VERY good. Stability is good, updates are seamless, and after my own tweaks, Plasma boots and idles at about 435MB. Pretty incredible. Arco aside, I consider KDE Plasma to be the ONLY viable Linux desktop environment. It has reached the level of polish, performance, usability, stability, consistency, configurability, and energy-saving capabilities that leaves everything else in the dust.
I was able to add all the software I needed without issues. There are some things I can do without (what's with the endless fascination with conky, and neofetch in every new terminal window?), but that's easy enough to deal with. The ArcoLinux Tweak Tool seems interesting, although I haven't needed it.
As a 23 year Linux user who is more accustomed to the likes of Slackware (still the best), I can honestly say that Arco is an excellent distribution. I will continue to use it until I break it. ;-)
I like ArcoLinux. I want to like it a lot, but every time I do an update, it hangs up running the post-tranaction hooks. Everything grinds to a halt at that point. I wait and wait for the update to finish, and it may take a half hour or more. This never happened with Manjaro. I don't understand what's wrong. In fact, I don't think this has ever happened with any other distro I've used, and I've used a lot. Such a pity, because ArcoLinux looks great, it's very easy to install, and it runs great. But updates are a pain, and there are always a lot of updates to do with Arch. I think I might go back to Zorin, LMDE, or maybe try Ultramarine. I think we need developers to create some more user friendly Slackware friendly derivatives.
OK, THIS I can work with. I previously down-rated 21.11.05 for the missing browser and difficulties with the welcome screen but 22.01.10 Version L (I assume that stands for large) has worked flawlessly for me. Installed easily on an MSI B450i with a Ryzen 5600G and several rounds of updates later it is still working great. I was able to install the Vivaldi browser and my mods for wake-on-lan and remote operation using X11VNC. All good. Suspend/Resume works well Viewing shares on my NAS works right too.
Great, I like this distro very much! I moved from Windows and really enjoyed this distro for the last three months and I used it both for work and for other activities. I never encountered serious issues that I was not able to solve easely and quickly, and I had no problems with hardware and rivers. Efficient, solid, and easy to use, even for someone that is not a linux expert. There are tons of tutorials present on the website and they are really useful, even if the appearence of the website can be improved.
I came to this distribution after 6 years of using Manjaro. And I like the dependable packagemanagement system, and the easy way to install different desktops side-by-side.
I have earlier used Linux Mint, Kubuntu, Mandriva/Mandrake, Archbang, Sabayon, OpenSUSE and Turbo Linux, since I started using Linux back in 1998. And I really thought I was never going to turn away from Manjaro Linux. But when I first tried ArcoLinux in a Virtual box, there was no turning back. And after two weeks of testing in Virtual box, I did a hardwareinstallation. And now I've used ArcoLinux for a month.
Hi, This is Srinivas Doddapaneni from India
I have been using Lubuntu for my old laptop for all most 2 years starting from 18.04 to 20.10.
It has become heavy these days and no more an agile Light weight OS.
Arco Linux is easy to ease. Team keeps it up to date , with updates released twice every day as and when there is a need to apply fixes to bugs.
Highly recommended for any Laptop or Desktop whether New or more than 14 years old.
Just fine for any Hardware vendor. Intel,Amd etc
XFCE Desktop just consumes 512MB of Dynamic RAM.
Fast and agile when it comes to processor work load.
LTS Kernel option available for people not interested in participating test packages and new kernel updates. IP Tables NFT version controls kernel packets flow using NFT
Core , Community,Extra ,multilib, Repo , xlarge,3rd party package options available.Plenty to choose from.
One suggestion to build Developer team.Please include UFW CLI version Firewall along with your ISO Image.
Update servers sometimes failing to fetch packages.Error message-Invalid Database.Failed Transaction.
After updating ARCH Linux Mirrors it becomes normal. This happens even with https secure server selection
It is not an issue to be bothered too much.
Over all an Excellent Linux Distro with power packed performance.
Latest Kernel 5.16.10.arch1-1
In fact Major IT Companies should have this OS as their promotion.
Toshiba, Soft Bank, Samsung,Sony,Lenovo,Acer,LG,Panasonic,MI,VIVO,oppo like companies should sponsor and make it default OS for their Computers.
Microsoft can also have this Linux distro as their Windows sibling as Dual boot works fine.
Great Promising Whizkid from an ace European Country (Belgium)
10 out of 10 for this Distro.
Awesome distro, really good to learn to linux in general, allows for lots of customizations and tweaking , has lots of tutorials and discord support. highly recommend
Arcolinux was created to be simple to start with, but it is designed for you to grow your Linux skills. Start off with XFCE and move on from there to pretty much any Desktop Environment or Window Manager out there. The Arco Tweak Tool makes it easy to install any DE or WM and they are configured out of the install so you can use them right away. If you don't like how it's configured you can configure it to your needs.
The main repositories are the Arch repos, plus repositories for the Arco specific programs. Since it is based on Arch this is a rolling release. Could things break, sure, but this has not happened to me yet.
If you are looking to move from an Ubuntu/Debian based distro to an Arch based distro, Arco would be a good choice. One big thing is the Arcolinux YouTube and Odysee channels. There are over 2500 videos there on how to do things.
Arco Linux was for me till now unknown. I tried this morning Manjaro KDE, but it failed. That was for me a surprise. I used it before and everything worked then perfect. Now I am flabbergasted about this failure. Arco Linux XFCE in the contrary works out of the box. Everything feels perfect and I love to use it. Keep up the good work!!
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