Jakub Neruda6d ago
I installed a #CachyOS for a friend so they can game on their old laptop and one thing really surprised me - I had to install a program (Fuse) to be able to install programs (AppImages)? For a Windows user, that's crazy 😀
Show threadDirge

@jakub_neruda That's Arch based ideology for you. Very little is done by default. "Install it only if you need it."

I'd bet Appimages are one of the least used ways to use software on Arch based systems so fuse2 understandably falls outside of the things not present by default.

The philosophy has its drawbacks(like being less beginner friendly) but on the whole I think people end up being very satisfied with the system they ultimately end up with because of how closely it suits their needs.

Mar 14 at 9:01pmWeb
Show threadJakub Neruda6d ago

@dyrge Yeah, I've heard that Arch has quite DIY reputation. It surprised me mainly because CachyOS is one of those distros cited as "the distro for windows refugees", so anything not-obvious feels counterintuitive to this rep.

Like it didn't tell me "I can't do anything with this kind of file, go install fuse first". It pretended that it launched the AppImage and then did nothing, which was super confusing.

Show threadDirge6d ago

@jakub_neruda I think Arch people can be really enthusiastic about how well their system works for them and it can affect their objectivity when recommending their distro to Windows refugees.

It CAN be exactly what someone is looking for, but that it doesn't happen overnight shouldn't be omitted from the rec. There's a road to be traveled beforehand, converting familiarity from one thing to another, and beginners would be in a much better starting position knowing the truth of that from the outset.

For instance, if the person tried to run the appimage from the terminal, the output would tell them that they needed fuse2. But I doubt many new users would think to do that because it's absolutely not a familiar behavior on Windows.

Show threadJakub Neruda6d ago

@dyrge On that note, while CachyOS in particular is less user-friendly than anything based off Ubuntu (GUI-wise), it is pretty amazing that I didn't have to open a terminal to do anything.

With regards to Arch ppl being enthusiastic, I am surprised this thread isn't flooded by ppl telling me I am an idiot for choosing CachyOS and not literally any other flavor of linux, which is exactly what happened the last time I posted something about Zorin 😀

Show threadDirge6d ago
@jakub_neruda I am also surprised. And thankful.