apt-get is one of my personal favorites, but I also enjoy using pacman. Although I personally love any distro using RPM packaging, regardless of the package manager.
Currently writing this on my Archlinux laptop, which is my absolute favourite linux dist, one reason for that definitely being the package manager, which is Pacman. Also use Yaourt which is some really pacman-like manager for the AUR, which is just as amazing.
apt-get was also my first one I ever used but I don't really like the syntax of it,
with it having like dozens of single commands for everything instead of just different parameters. But that's just some smaller issue I have with it, it's totally fine.
Pacman for me just has the "more" perfect workflow and I'm sure it has some gimmicks that I don't even know of yet xD
Also, the combination of pacman and yaourt, with Ubuntu-like systems only having a single official one, just makes the difference for me.
It's like the biggest source of packages you can have, without all the work and trouble of having to compile the packages not available in official sources all by yourself.
If you cant find one in Pacman (pacman -S <name>), just go to yaourt (yaourt -S <name>) and let it download, compile, package and install it for you automatically. Also makes updating and removal muuuch easier.
Yeah. Use it and learn it. If you just stick to "noob" distros you'll never learn.Huh, never used Pacman + Yaourt. I've also never used anything other then apt-get, so...
I need a Linux Distro for a low end laptop, is Arch Linux a good pick for a Linux N00B like me who's only used Ubuntu based Distros and Debian?
Manjaro linuxHuh, never used Pacman + Yaourt. I've also never used anything other then apt-get, so...
I need a Linux Distro for a low end laptop, is Arch Linux a good pick for a Linux N00B like me who's only used Ubuntu based Distros and Debian?
One month ago, I hadn't use any distros other than Ubuntu and Linux Mint. You've used Debian so I guess you're more experienced than I was.Huh, never used Pacman + Yaourt. I've also never used anything other then apt-get, so...
I need a Linux Distro for a low end laptop, is Arch Linux a good pick for a Linux N00B like me who's only used Ubuntu based Distros and Debian?
One month ago, I hadn't use any distros other than Ubuntu and Linux Mint. You've used Debian so I guess you're more experienced than I was.
Before going on explaining a little about how Arch works by letting the user suit the SO to their specific needs, I'll give you an easy route. Ubuntu Mate should work fine in most low-end laptops, if you don't feel comfortable with Arch just yet, try Ubunt Mate.
Back to Arch... about running in a low end laptop, it really depends.
Arch doesn't come with a GUI or many pre-installed packages for that matter, so you have to make decisions about what you're going to use. The setup you make is going to define whether or not your Arch system will run fast on your laptop.
Let me give you a rather extreme example to make my point, I have a Raspberry PI which has a 700 MHz ARMv6 CPU and 256MB of RAM. I had Arch Linux installed and I wanted to choose a GUI. Since the RAM was a very limiting factor, I couldn't use something like Unity, KDE or Gnome. So I researched GUIs until I chose Mate which has many funcionalities and consumes about 40/50 MB of RAM, enough to have some spare RAM for other applications. I also had to choose other applications that are lightweight enough to not eat all the resources. I chose Dillo for a browser because it was the only one the PI managed to run smoothly.
Of course, you're laptop is probably much more powerful than my Raspberry PI so you wouldn't need to be as picky with applications. But you're gonna need to know what you're doing otherwise you might end up with a bloated SO that your laptop can't handle.
I am not sure. I searched google for an answer, but found no conclusive answer. Apparently if your processor is truly i386 Arch might not run on it, but I also heard that only really old computers use i386.One thing that is confusing to me is that my processor is a i386, yet there is only install media for i686 and x86_64? I know i386 and i686 are both 32 bit, but if my processor says it's i386, does that mean Arch won't run on it?
i386 - is the old 386/486 CPUS
i586 - Pentuim/Pro and 100% AMD Compatibles like K5 or Cyrix
i686 - Started with the P II and then the P III and AMD Athlon, Duron, XP
I am not sure. I searched google for an answer, but found no conclusive answer. Apparently if your processor is truly i386 Arch might not run on it, but I also heard that only really old computers use i386.
Unless your laptop is from the early 90s, I'm pretty sure it must be an i686
If I were you I would give the Arch dual iso a try, if you do please tell us the results.
EDIT: I think this might help:
So unless your CPU is older than the Pentium II, I'm pretty sure you can just install the i686 or dual iso just fine
Currently writing this on my Archlinux laptop, which is my absolute favourite linux dist, one reason for that definitely being the package manager, which is Pacman. Also use Yaourt which is some really pacman-like manager for the AUR, which is just as amazing.
apt-get was also my first one I ever used but I don't really like the syntax of it,
with it having like dozens of single commands for everything instead of just different parameters. But that's just some smaller issue I have with it, it's totally fine.
Pacman for me just has the "more" perfect workflow and I'm sure it has some gimmicks that I don't even know of yet xD
Also, the combination of pacman and yaourt, with Ubuntu-like systems only having a single official one, just makes the difference for me.
It's like the biggest source of packages you can have, without all the work and trouble of having to compile the packages not available in official sources all by yourself.
If you cant find one in Pacman (pacman -S <name>), just go to yaourt (yaourt -S <name>) and let it download, compile, package and install it for you automatically. Also makes updating and removal muuuch easier.
Well, now I know That is one nice easter egg xDDo you know about super moo powers?