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Down the linux rabbit hole

·331 words·2 mins·
Assembling real linux OS experience

One way trip #

I had manjaro installed in my main SSD and for the most part is was awesome, until it wasn’t. I backed up every important config folder and my work directories in my hard drive.

Next thing, I installed Arch Linux in my hard drive (I was sceptical and hesitant) and setup bspwm polybar sxhkd and rofi to test things out. There was nothing, no frontend, it felt like a server without pages, can’t control brightness, had to setup audio, everything felt like a punch in the face, a blissful punch.

Big decision #

I installed Arch but this time in my SSD, but I took the foolish path of a script kiddie, I used the horrendous arch installer script. And the horror doesn’t end here, for some reason I installed Gnome DE.

But then I really wanted to try and setup bspwm and polybar. To try a tiling window manager as my main workflow, it was a dream, I wanted to become a wizard. I posted on reddit to help me with this predicament, particularly removing gnome and installing a window manager. I recieved a comment which simply stated to not use arch installer script, somebody asked why and the godly reply after that read

It can lead to cases where someone doesn't know how to install packages on their own
For example when switching from gnome to bspwm

And it hit hard.

Why Arch #

I reinstalled arch but this time manually. I setup all the configs for my bspwm setup and it is amazing. The joy that I got by writing a bash script for invoking a dunst notification on pressing volume keys on my keyboard was phenomenal.

You can have a look at my dotfiles from here

corner

The reason why arch exists is to customize the linux experience and to present a real do-it-yourself os. Don’t use it like windows, kids, be a real man and face the black screen of suffering.