From: catwheezel@operamail.com   
      
   On 2012-05-26, Adam  wrote:   
   > Whiskers wrote:   
   >> On 2012-05-25, Adam  wrote:   
      
   [...]   
      
   >> I'm getting along fairly well with Arch Linux.  I wouldn't have dared   
   >> try it without having a few years of Mandr[ake|iva] experience, and a   
   >> lot of help from the associated newsgroups, already under my belt; even   
   >> so, the learning curve is pretty steep.  Its main attraction is that   
   >> it's a 'rolling release' distro, so there's (theoretically) never a need   
   >> to install a new version of the whole system; upgrading is happening   
   >> continuously.   
   >   
   > Thanks, Whiskers!  I hadn't even considered that one, although I know   
   > it's in Distrowatch's "top ten".  Which newsgroups associated with it   
   > are helpful?   
      
   None specifically; alt.os.linux would probably be the place to start   
   discussing it if a sufficient number of Arch users could be convinced to   
   take part.  There are useful web forums, and mailing lists, and a very   
   comprehensive wiki; I haven't actually needed to post any questions yet   
   (which shows how good Mandr* and its newsgroups have been as a learning   
   environment, as well as how good the Arch documentation is).   
      
   > Also, do you mind if I ask why you chose Arch after   
   > several years with Mandr*?   
      
   I got fed up with reinstalling the whole system every 6 or 12 months and   
   then finding all the things that meant I had to change my way of doing   
   things.  A rolling release cycle means that only one or two significant   
   things need re-learning at any one time; the downside is that something   
   or other is likely to break at any time.  (A recent kernel upgrade led   
   to complete system lock-up at random intervals; pretty scary - but I   
   began to learn about things like chroot after booting into the   
   installation media to get a stable kernel running, so in the long term   
   probably a useful experience).   
      
   I also like the way the original installation is a bare minimum from   
   which a useful system can be built by installing only the stuff you   
   actually want.  The Wiki is a superb resource for beginners installing   
   and maintaining a system.   
      
   Configuration is entirely by editing text files, which is an excellent   
   way of learning about Linux basics.   
      
   If you don't like the official binary package from the main repos, there   
   are 'community' packages which may have the compile options you prefer,   
   and if not you can create your own "PKGBUILD" script to customise your   
   build from source - even development versions from eg "git" - and still   
   have the package managed by the normal package manager ("pacman").  So   
   you could probably build everything locally, if you really wanted to   
   emulate Gentoo et al.   
      
   > In fact, that's a good general question.  For anyone reading this who's   
   > not using Mandriva/Mageia/PCLinuxOS, why did you choose the distro   
   > you're using?  What are the strengths and weak points you've found as   
   > you've used it?  Thanks in advance!   
   >   
   > Adam   
      
   Could be interesting  :))   
      
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   -- ^^^^^^^^^^   
   --  Whiskers   
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