I am using Linux from past 5 yrs and have tried numerous distros. But I kind of stick to Fedora only. My professor and several Linux Geeks recommend me to install 'Arch Linux' to get better control of the system.

But after reading installation guide, I don't feel comfortable. To be honest, from past 5 yrs, I have used my system as just a normal desktop. For Multimedia and little Programming. I troubleshoot it on the way by getting help in forums etc. At this point I feel that, I haven't learned enough as I should have.

I would really love to go deep inside core of Linux. Could somebody help me to find my path. I know I am asking for too much, but just a little help will do.

[Edit:] I want to learn Linux Internals, For now I am ok with any Distro,

Thanks again!

-Mangat

Hi,

I would say if you are not comfortable with the idea to install it, I guess it is not a good idea to use it.
You might painfully install it sucessfully and after all you may be in a mess when something will break (and it will probably happen).

I think the best idea is to go for a derivative.
It will help you to get familiar with the Arch way.
You can go for :
- Chakra -> KDE -> I don't know it well
- Arch Bang -> Openbox -> stable
- CinnArch -> Cinnamon (GTK3) -> quite young
Others can be found here:
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?os...&status=Active

Regards

@shefla
Thanks for your help. I may have asked my Question in a wrong way. The reason I want to install Arch Linux is that I will decide which components to install. I want to become that capable where I could fix my system whenever something breaks. I certainly have done something wrong in the last 5 yrs. I don't want to waste my coming yrs.

So, My question is - "How to move ahead from now, So that I don't miss my destination?"

-Mangat

You can try Gentoo too. It give you even more control than Arch, but the package manager is a little better than Pacman + AUR. I suggest that because it can easily be install _from_ fedora. So you use your fedora while installing it and once it is stable and ready, you reboot on it. You just have to do the paritionning with something like GParted, skip most of the install guide until the chroot part and go from there. It can also be done with arch or debian/ubuntu, but the Gentoo guide is built with chrooting in mind, so it is a little more user friendly.

But then again, if you are not really to dig deeper and enjoy more responsibilities to get access to more flexibility, then it isn't a good idea to even try. To use Arch or Gentoo, you have to be willing to learn how Linux really work or you wont last long.

Exactly, I want to learn how Linux works, For now I am ok with any Distro, I just want to be capable to handle my system. Then I will use Arch or Gentoo, may be years later. The thing is - I want to learn

Then go ahead and try Gentoo. Make yourself a partition at the end of your disk, open a terminal in fedora and start. If your computer is fast enough, at worst you will lose a couple of hours and learn some things.

you should be aware that instead of learning how linux works, you will probably end up learning the ways of a particular distro. and, there is nothing wrong with that, since "all roads lead to rome", and so you will also be learning about linux. i think there are other reasons to choose a particular distro. e.g. if you are intending to work with linux professionally, you might consider learning a distro which you are likely to encounter in the workplace.

I would disagree with that one. If I had not decided to go with the hardest and geekiest distro a decade ago, I don't think I would be a system engineer right now. Sometime, going deep for the sake of it is better than digging for the sake of finding a job. There is a big difference between learning for fun and learning for work. Even waste of time projects, like building or configuring something the way you want it to be, no matter how unusable it become can be more educative than following a tutorial or a book. In the end, I don't regret all the "guerrilla learning" approach I always followed for technologies.

Currently I am not working, So I have time to hack and tweak my system. During my job I would probably have 1 stable distro same as workplace and 1 partition fixed for all tweaking and learning.

I think after some time, It would be better to own a cheap system, for all these experiments. As one may not want to play with the system which one is using professionally. This way we could learn and build on one and be safe and stable on other.

Arch "can" be fun. It also can be a PAIN in the "bleep"
it can have a very tiny foot print OR extremely bloated

basically it is WHAT YOU MAKE IT

It also is very "manual" as in YOU have to install and configure EVERYTHING

This ALSO makes for a GREAT learning experience
IF you have the patience for it .

so some advice

install ubuntu,mint,or OpenSUSE or even Fedora
one of the mainstream distros
get some experience wit hthat distro

AND WHILE you are doing that
STUDY -- yes as in a class
and do some more studying of the VERY extensive Arch wiki
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page

read and reread the "install guide" and "Beginners' Guide"

If your not comfortable, then why do it? Just because some linux users like arch doesnt make it the best for your use (or learning).

Slackware. One of the source distros like Sorcerer, Lunar Linux are also options. Even debain is pretty good for that sort of thing.

You'll see breakage with Arch, Gentoo and other source based distros. Even after fxing breakage a few times you wont be able to fix everything.

Arch is lovely for what it is, but installing arch to learn is going to be fustrating for most users.

Maybe you'd be better off making a LFS (linux from scratch) install. Its something I'd never use for normal desktop tasks. For learning how things fit together its good.

Easier is just to get a 2nd HDD. When you are playing/learning, connect the 2nd HDD and disconnect your main HDD. When you've had enough, shut down, disconnect the 2nd HDD, hook the main one back up.

1 system, multiboot, with no risk to your normal/stable OS.

I would neither go for a second system nor a second harddisk. If your CPU has support for hardware virtualization just go for a virtual machine, install Arch, Slackware, Gentoo or one of the other source based distros in it and make a snapshot.
Then fiddle with the system in any way you want. If you come to a point where you can't fix it, just revert to the snapshot.

Valid, and you've got a point. I still like to use OSes 'normally' not in VMs. But I'm not a big VM user and I've got more HDDs than sense in some ways.

Fedora is much more employable and widely-used than Arch; I'd say you have made a good selection.

Your best bet is to go on the Arch forum and post questions there. Like yourself I have tried a number of distributions over the years, and I considered Arch (and may yet install it in the future). I had considered Arch when I was having some issues with Vector (which I'm currently using), but I solved those issues so I'm still using Vector.

Anyway, when attempting the Arch install, I ran into some issue with getting connected to the internet, but I did get an answer on the Arch forum for this. People are quite helpful there. So, I'd say go ahead, but search the Arch site for instructions. The install guide and the beginners installation guide are good.