{"slug": "arch-linux", "name": "Arch Linux", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "Lightweight, rolling-release Linux distribution with the pacman package manager and community-run AUR.", "recommenders": 36, "commenters": 79, "warners": 8, "score": 33.048, "rising": 10.13, "first": "2025-11-18", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "HN commenters like Arch Linux for its rolling-release, up-to-date packages, broad software availability through the AUR, and fast, minimal desktops they can configure exactly as they want.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 41, "neutral": 35, "compare": 4, "warn": 8}, "spark": [3, 3, 3, 3, 1, 2, 1, 3, 5, 11, 2, 4], "listed": true, "loved": ["Rolling releases", "Leaving Windows"], "caveat": "Breaking updates", "short_quote": "Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration.", "icon": true, "domain": "archlinux.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://archlinux.org", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Arch Linux"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like Arch Linux for its rolling-release, up-to-date packages,", "cites": [{"id": 793658512, "item_id": 49603657, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49603657", "by": "chedieck", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "which made me really love Arch cutting-edgeness.", "excerpt": "I remember buying a brand-new notebook in 2016, the year I switched to Linux, and ending up messaging a developer in IRC searching for a wireless card driver. Fortunately, I was so into it, that I didn't mind the 10 hours I spent trying to make it work on the first day. Three days later I switched (from Fedora) to Arch Linux, and the driver was there already, which made me really love Arch cutting-edgeness. Never lef", "context": "Linux user since 2016", "use_case": "daily laptop OS", "switched_from": "Fedora", "story": "Using a Linux Laptop in 2026"}, {"id": 789705968, "item_id": 49356623, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356623", "by": "krupan", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My solution was to finally give in and embrace a rolling release distro (I use arch, btw).", "excerpt": "Complete failure is strong words when lots and lots of Linux boxes are running just fine. I think the disconnect is mostly people that can't decide if they want a stable distro or a rolling release distro. Most everyone uses a stable distro because it's stable, but then the want some up-to-date software that isn't ore-built for their (crusty old) stable distro and they get annoyed. My solution was to finally give in ", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "rolling release OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Solo \u2013 a .so loader for static Linux binaries"}, {"id": 744074465, "item_id": 46504654, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46504654", "by": "rand846633", "date": "2026-01-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "for experimenting and development, rolling release any day.", "excerpt": "Recently had to reinstall my Linux (btw, Arch). Normally I\u2019d just dd/mirror the NVMe, but this time I decided to stop putting off the switch to Wayland and just do it \u2014 moved from i3 to sway, etc. I\u2019d been avoiding this for years. Turns out: absolutely no problem. The tooling around Wayland and adjacent programs is way more modern and functional. Great experience. Can recommend switching in 2026. For me, the unintuit", "context": "Arch Linux user", "use_case": "development and experimenting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can I start using Wayland in 2026?"}, {"id": 785036032, "item_id": 49064752, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064752", "by": "unsungNovelty", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Which is exactly why I use Arch. I've has more papercuts from point releases than arch.", "excerpt": "Which is exactly why I use Arch. I've has more papercuts from point releases than arch. My argument is not even Arch. But rolling releases.", "context": "", "use_case": "rolling-release OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}]}, {"text": " broad software availability through the AUR,", "cites": [{"id": 753564289, "item_id": 47097768, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47097768", "by": "0x38B", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The AUR, along with Arch's minimalism, is one of my favorite things about it.", "excerpt": "How is that an unacceptable thread model for a repo of packages that are optional and user-made? One that clearly says, \"DISCLAIMER: AUR packages are user produced content. Any use of the provided files is at your own risk.\" (1) The AUR, along with Arch's minimalism, is one of my favorite things about it. Instead of cloning the source repo, reading the build instructions, building, and then installing, I download a s", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Review an AUR Package"}, {"id": 751419568, "item_id": 46963723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46963723", "by": "horsawlarway", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration.", "excerpt": "Not joking, Arch. Pick Gnome/KDE/Sway as you please. Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration. Excellent software availability through AUR, excellent update times (pretty much immediate). The only downside is there's not a ton of direct commercial software packaged for it by default (ex - most companies they care give a .deb or a .rpm) but that's easily ", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Simplifying Vulkan One Subsystem at a Time"}, {"id": 737480837, "item_id": 46092552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46092552", "by": "SamDc73", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Arch? That\u2019s just a few packages, all sitting right there in the main repo or the AUR.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using it for a couple of months on my main dev machine (I don\u2019t game much). It\u2019s my first exposure to immutable systems. I love the idea, but honestly, juggling all these package managers gets annoying really fast; for now what I use is rpm-ostree (which you really shouldn\u2019t touch unless you absolutely have to), Flatpak, Homebrew (some package are mac only or mac first), and distrobox (with arch). Every now", "context": "", "use_case": "installing obscure packages", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming"}]}, {"text": " and fast, minimal desktops they can configure exactly as they want.", "cites": [{"id": 783403888, "item_id": 48962743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48962743", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-07-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "After switching from Windows 10 Pro, it felt like I got a hardware upgrade.", "excerpt": "I like how efficient Arch is, in the sense that you have nothing and now you get to pick and choose what you want. My main desktop I use for full time software development and video editing is from 2014. I've run Windows on it forever. I put Arch on it ~8 months ago. A full desktop environment I put together based on niri boots at 1.1 GB of memory. Every app I want is installed (tons of CLI tools, various GUI tools, ", "context": "full time software developer and video editor", "use_case": "desktop for development and video editing", "switched_from": "Windows 10 Pro", "story": "Reviving a 15-year-old netbook with Arch Linux"}, {"id": 791260752, "item_id": 49453797, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49453797", "by": "arendtio", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my 2013 Haswell-based Arch Linux KDE Desktop feels more responsive than my M4 MacBook", "excerpt": "Yes, even my 2013 Haswell-based Arch Linux KDE Desktop feels more responsive than my M4 MacBook. And I think the MacBook has so much more power under the hood, but somehow the animation settings or whatever are just not that good. To be completely fair, I use the Desktop via DisplayPort at 144 Hz, while the MacBook uses HDMI + USB-C, and I believe it's just at 60 Hz, which is also a factor, but I honestly think that ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 790031697, "item_id": 49376981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376981", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma", "excerpt": "I have an Asahi Linux M2 macbook that I use for work, tried MacOS for a day and just couldn't stand it compared to the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 787087715, "item_id": 49192982, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49192982", "by": "jolmg", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Archlinux with i3 and a focus on using the shell with a very light terminal (urxvt; others like gnome-terminal were too slow) and other very light apps made it very responsive.", "excerpt": "I get it. Got one. Compromises are many. Speed wise, it clears the bar for me of being able to watch Youtube on Firefox and use the controls, but yeah it's got bugs and other issues. I may be able to tolerate the speed because of how I used my netbook many years ago. Windows XP was completely useless because of how laggy the GUI was. Archlinux with i3 and a focus on using the shell with a very light terminal (urxvt; ", "context": "", "use_case": "netbook OS", "switched_from": "Windows XP", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaints are updates that occasionally break the system", "cites": [{"id": 789508416, "item_id": 49344276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49344276", "by": "TiredOfLife", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "This year updates have broken video decoding twice. Font rendering once", "excerpt": "I use arch based linux. This year updates have broken video decoding twice. Font rendering once (still not fixed without manually deleting files.). And broken the whole system due to there not being a mechanism that makes sure all QT libraries upate at the same time once or twice. That is all one system. Meanwhile 4 separate windows pcs have not had problems with updates for at least 6 years", "context": "uses an Arch-based Linux", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM"}, {"id": 757471025, "item_id": 47341939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47341939", "by": "craftkiller", "date": "2026-03-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used to live that life. After a couple failed downgrades I started exclusively using the arch rollback machine", "excerpt": "> When the new configuration finally builds, more ofen than not some component randomly stops working after reboot Good thing you're using NixOS where rolling back to a working version is as simple as a reboot, instead of Arch Linux where your options are: 1. If it's a boot issue, dig out a live USB for recovery 2. If it's a package, try rolling back piecemeal by installing old versions from /var/cache/pacman 3. Once", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I stopped using NixOS and went back to Arch Linux"}, {"id": 789522384, "item_id": 49345149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345149", "by": "bavell", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The benefits far outweigh the occasional upgrade pain IMO though.", "excerpt": "I use Arch exclusively and haven't had any of the issues you describe. That said, I do occasionally deal with quirks due to the rolling distro nature of Arch. The benefits far outweigh the occasional upgrade pain IMO though.", "context": "uses Arch exclusively", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM"}]}, {"text": " and hardware problems on some laptops, such as unreliable sleep and docks.", "cites": [{"id": 773406928, "item_id": 48337933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48337933", "by": "krschacht", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I was running Arch both times and had too many low level issues.", "excerpt": "In the last 18 months I tried a Framework twice and both times ended up returning it. I was running Arch both times and had too many low level issues. I couldn\u2019t get hibernation or sleep to work reliably. And about once a week I\u2019d get a random freeze or crash that required me to reboot and lose all the windows I had open. I spent dozens of hours with Claude chasing things down, disabling various power management feat", "context": "tried Framework laptops twice and returned them", "use_case": "laptop OS on Framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12"}, {"id": 765798513, "item_id": 47862407, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47862407", "by": "bloq66", "date": "2026-04-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Arch was almost unusable on it for me", "excerpt": "As I love the idea of modular and repairable laptop, I've got some issues with it. I have Framework 13 AMD with Fedora (as Arch was almost unusable on it for me). Connecting external hardware to it, especially dock stations and monitors - which work flawlessly with another laptops - sometimes works, sometimes not...", "context": "", "use_case": "Framework laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Framework Laptop 13 Pro"}, {"id": 798554897, "item_id": 49909681, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909681", "by": "ajd555", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "and loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to run Arch out of engineering school (that's what we used there), and loved it. But as I started working on my business, I started having less time to simply configure my OS and fight it on a few things. The breaking point for me, when I switched to Ubuntu Desktop, was not being able to connect to my two monitors via a dock (2 display ports). It simply took too much of my time to figure out all the nuances of", "context": "engineering school background", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Upgrade your desktop: Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS is now available"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Rolling releases", "summary": "Commenters value quickly updated packages and say rolling releases cause fewer papercuts than point releases.", "quotes": [{"id": 793658512, "item_id": 49603657, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49603657", "by": "chedieck", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "which made me really love Arch cutting-edgeness.", "excerpt": "I remember buying a brand-new notebook in 2016, the year I switched to Linux, and ending up messaging a developer in IRC searching for a wireless card driver. Fortunately, I was so into it, that I didn't mind the 10 hours I spent trying to make it work on the first day. Three days later I switched (from Fedora) to Arch Linux, and the driver was there already, which made me really love Arch cutting-edgeness. Never lef", "context": "Linux user since 2016", "use_case": "daily laptop OS", "switched_from": "Fedora", "story": "Using a Linux Laptop in 2026"}, {"id": 785036032, "item_id": 49064752, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064752", "by": "unsungNovelty", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Which is exactly why I use Arch. I've has more papercuts from point releases than arch.", "excerpt": "Which is exactly why I use Arch. I've has more papercuts from point releases than arch. My argument is not even Arch. But rolling releases.", "context": "", "use_case": "rolling-release OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 744074465, "item_id": 46504654, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46504654", "by": "rand846633", "date": "2026-01-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "for experimenting and development, rolling release any day.", "excerpt": "Recently had to reinstall my Linux (btw, Arch). Normally I\u2019d just dd/mirror the NVMe, but this time I decided to stop putting off the switch to Wayland and just do it \u2014 moved from i3 to sway, etc. I\u2019d been avoiding this for years. Turns out: absolutely no problem. The tooling around Wayland and adjacent programs is way more modern and functional. Great experience. Can recommend switching in 2026. For me, the unintuit", "context": "Arch Linux user", "use_case": "development and experimenting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can I start using Wayland in 2026?"}]}, {"label": "Leaving Windows", "summary": "Several switched from Windows and say they are happier with Arch.", "quotes": [{"id": 760758656, "item_id": 47547416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47547416", "by": "gregates", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Last weekend I finally started dual-booting Arch Linux as a trial. Yesterday I deleted my windows partition.", "excerpt": "I was a MS-DOS 2.0 user as a child. I have always preferred windows to OSX. I used WSL for years at companies where every other engineer had a MacBook. Last weekend I finally started dual-booting Arch Linux as a trial. Yesterday I deleted my windows partition. Too late, Microsoft.", "context": "long-time Windows user", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account"}, {"id": 748752832, "item_id": 46797052, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46797052", "by": "QuadrupleA", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been a delighted Arch user for about a year now", "excerpt": "I always like to chime in on these things that I've been a delighted Arch user for about a year now, for similar reasons. Took a lot of setup, but it's dialed now and just works. My computer belongs to me again for the first time in years. I should really do more to evangelize. It's not ok to use an OS monopoly to degrade and squeeze your users' often primary career and creative tool to your own short term ends, maki", "context": "power user", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux"}, {"id": 763404209, "item_id": 47712763, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47712763", "by": "QuadrupleA", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been very pleased with Arch and LXQt, as a developer", "excerpt": "Linux awaits! I walked a mostly non-technical family member through Linux Mint (Cinnamon) installation over the phone about a month ago and she's been happy with it. I've been very pleased with Arch and LXQt, as a developer - switched from Windows about a year ago and I think I've booted it about three times and 10 minutes total. Freedom from abusive, dishonest tech companies is becoming more and more possible. Huge ", "context": "developer", "use_case": "developer desktop", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "How Microsoft Abuses Its Users"}]}, {"label": "Speed and minimalism", "summary": "Users report responsive, low-resource desktops, even on older hardware.", "quotes": [{"id": 783403888, "item_id": 48962743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48962743", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-07-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "After switching from Windows 10 Pro, it felt like I got a hardware upgrade.", "excerpt": "I like how efficient Arch is, in the sense that you have nothing and now you get to pick and choose what you want. My main desktop I use for full time software development and video editing is from 2014. I've run Windows on it forever. I put Arch on it ~8 months ago. A full desktop environment I put together based on niri boots at 1.1 GB of memory. Every app I want is installed (tons of CLI tools, various GUI tools, ", "context": "full time software developer and video editor", "use_case": "desktop for development and video editing", "switched_from": "Windows 10 Pro", "story": "Reviving a 15-year-old netbook with Arch Linux"}, {"id": 791260752, "item_id": 49453797, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49453797", "by": "arendtio", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my 2013 Haswell-based Arch Linux KDE Desktop feels more responsive than my M4 MacBook", "excerpt": "Yes, even my 2013 Haswell-based Arch Linux KDE Desktop feels more responsive than my M4 MacBook. And I think the MacBook has so much more power under the hood, but somehow the animation settings or whatever are just not that good. To be completely fair, I use the Desktop via DisplayPort at 144 Hz, while the MacBook uses HDMI + USB-C, and I believe it's just at 60 Hz, which is also a factor, but I honestly think that ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 737523955, "item_id": 46095247, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46095247", "by": "Zedfragg", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "switched to Arch, performance was awesome.", "excerpt": "Soooo, after having to migrate multiple college campus sites across to Windows 11 in time for the W10 drop dead date. I kinda gave up with trying to get my PC running Windows 11 without bugs and freezes. Switched to PopOS, was \"ok\", switched to Arch, performance was awesome. A few days ago I gave Bazzite a blast and now I'm currently installing it as the primary OS on my gaming rig. Other than a few small tweaks, it ", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming PC", "switched_from": "Pop!_OS", "story": "Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming"}]}, {"label": "AUR and packages", "summary": "The AUR and pacman make even obscure software easy to install.", "quotes": [{"id": 753564289, "item_id": 47097768, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47097768", "by": "0x38B", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The AUR, along with Arch's minimalism, is one of my favorite things about it.", "excerpt": "How is that an unacceptable thread model for a repo of packages that are optional and user-made? One that clearly says, \"DISCLAIMER: AUR packages are user produced content. Any use of the provided files is at your own risk.\" (1) The AUR, along with Arch's minimalism, is one of my favorite things about it. Instead of cloning the source repo, reading the build instructions, building, and then installing, I download a s", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Review an AUR Package"}, {"id": 737480837, "item_id": 46092552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46092552", "by": "SamDc73", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Arch? That\u2019s just a few packages, all sitting right there in the main repo or the AUR.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using it for a couple of months on my main dev machine (I don\u2019t game much). It\u2019s my first exposure to immutable systems. I love the idea, but honestly, juggling all these package managers gets annoying really fast; for now what I use is rpm-ostree (which you really shouldn\u2019t touch unless you absolutely have to), Flatpak, Homebrew (some package are mac only or mac first), and distrobox (with arch). Every now", "context": "", "use_case": "installing obscure packages", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming"}, {"id": 751419568, "item_id": 46963723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46963723", "by": "horsawlarway", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration.", "excerpt": "Not joking, Arch. Pick Gnome/KDE/Sway as you please. Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration. Excellent software availability through AUR, excellent update times (pretty much immediate). The only downside is there's not a ton of direct commercial software packaged for it by default (ex - most companies they care give a .deb or a .rpm) but that's easily ", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Simplifying Vulkan One Subsystem at a Time"}]}, {"label": "Flexibility", "summary": "Commenters like the control to build and tweak the system however they want.", "quotes": [{"id": 790031697, "item_id": 49376981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376981", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma", "excerpt": "I have an Asahi Linux M2 macbook that I use for work, tried MacOS for a day and just couldn't stand it compared to the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 784531217, "item_id": 49033201, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033201", "by": "austin-cheney", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have toyed around with Arch and I really believe you can accomplish almost everything with it", "excerpt": "I have toyed around with Arch and I really believe you can accomplish almost everything with it when other distros just aren\u2019t as ready or capable. I rely on Debian for my daily needs and forced it on my wife.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 770415264, "item_id": 48150954, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150954", "by": "gregates", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently switched to arch linux and it's been delightful", "excerpt": "Hate to be the one to drag AI into every conversation, but I recently switched to arch linux and it's been delightful -- largely because of Claude. I have leaned on Claude heavily to diagnose and resolve issues that I probably could have theoretically solved on my own, but which also probably would have made me switch back if I didn't have help to resolve them quickly. (Yes, I know arch linux is not what you want if ", "context": "wants all the control and responsibility", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "I love Linux, but I can't quit Windows"}]}, {"label": "AI-assisted fixes", "summary": "Some say LLM agents make Arch's issues easy to diagnose and fix.", "quotes": [{"id": 798713728, "item_id": 49919608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49919608", "by": "Sammi", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But now I love it, because the LLM can tweak every knob and fix every issue for me", "excerpt": "The more open the operating system the more LLMs can help you. This is what Arch Linux was waiting for all along. I used to be afraid of Arch, because I don't want a system that takes work because I'm already busy with work. But now I love it, because the LLM can tweak every knob and fix every issue for me, so it ends up being the OS that takes the least work to use. Get an error message? Tell the LLM and they fix it", "context": "", "use_case": "LLM-assisted system administration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini 4 Argon"}, {"id": 791671472, "item_id": 49479467, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49479467", "by": "dimgl", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Switched to Arch Linux with GNOME.", "excerpt": "Switched to Arch Linux with GNOME. Whenever an issue comes up, I have an AI agent look into it and it gets done. Worth it to get off of Windows.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Get your Windows license refund"}, {"id": 770415264, "item_id": 48150954, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150954", "by": "gregates", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently switched to arch linux and it's been delightful", "excerpt": "Hate to be the one to drag AI into every conversation, but I recently switched to arch linux and it's been delightful -- largely because of Claude. I have leaned on Claude heavily to diagnose and resolve issues that I probably could have theoretically solved on my own, but which also probably would have made me switch back if I didn't have help to resolve them quickly. (Yes, I know arch linux is not what you want if ", "context": "wants all the control and responsibility", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "I love Linux, but I can't quit Windows"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Breaking updates", "summary": "Updates have broken video decoding, fonts, or the whole system, and rollbacks are painful.", "quotes": [{"id": 789508416, "item_id": 49344276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49344276", "by": "TiredOfLife", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "This year updates have broken video decoding twice. Font rendering once", "excerpt": "I use arch based linux. This year updates have broken video decoding twice. Font rendering once (still not fixed without manually deleting files.). And broken the whole system due to there not being a mechanism that makes sure all QT libraries upate at the same time once or twice. That is all one system. Meanwhile 4 separate windows pcs have not had problems with updates for at least 6 years", "context": "uses an Arch-based Linux", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM"}, {"id": 757471025, "item_id": 47341939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47341939", "by": "craftkiller", "date": "2026-03-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used to live that life. After a couple failed downgrades I started exclusively using the arch rollback machine", "excerpt": "> When the new configuration finally builds, more ofen than not some component randomly stops working after reboot Good thing you're using NixOS where rolling back to a working version is as simple as a reboot, instead of Arch Linux where your options are: 1. If it's a boot issue, dig out a live USB for recovery 2. If it's a package, try rolling back piecemeal by installing old versions from /var/cache/pacman 3. Once", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I stopped using NixOS and went back to Arch Linux"}, {"id": 754022432, "item_id": 47126402, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47126402", "by": "Dunedan", "date": "2026-02-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Arch Linux used system-provided SpiderMonkey which lacked a crucial bug fix.", "excerpt": "It crashed for you? You must be running Arch Linux. ;-) Arch Linux used system-provided SpiderMonkey which lacked a crucial bug fix. This issue should be solved by now, by Arch Linux switching back to vendored Spidermonkey. Check out https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/packaging/packages/0ad/-/issues/6 and https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/issues/8757 for details.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "0 A.D. Release 28: Boiorix"}]}, {"label": "Hardware quirks", "summary": "Some hit problems with sleep, crashes, docks and monitors on laptops such as Framework.", "quotes": [{"id": 773406928, "item_id": 48337933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48337933", "by": "krschacht", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I was running Arch both times and had too many low level issues.", "excerpt": "In the last 18 months I tried a Framework twice and both times ended up returning it. I was running Arch both times and had too many low level issues. I couldn\u2019t get hibernation or sleep to work reliably. And about once a week I\u2019d get a random freeze or crash that required me to reboot and lose all the windows I had open. I spent dozens of hours with Claude chasing things down, disabling various power management feat", "context": "tried Framework laptops twice and returned them", "use_case": "laptop OS on Framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12"}, {"id": 765798513, "item_id": 47862407, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47862407", "by": "bloq66", "date": "2026-04-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Arch was almost unusable on it for me", "excerpt": "As I love the idea of modular and repairable laptop, I've got some issues with it. I have Framework 13 AMD with Fedora (as Arch was almost unusable on it for me). Connecting external hardware to it, especially dock stations and monitors - which work flawlessly with another laptops - sometimes works, sometimes not...", "context": "", "use_case": "Framework laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Framework Laptop 13 Pro"}, {"id": 798554897, "item_id": 49909681, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909681", "by": "ajd555", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "and loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to run Arch out of engineering school (that's what we used there), and loved it. But as I started working on my business, I started having less time to simply configure my OS and fight it on a few things. The breaking point for me, when I switched to Ubuntu Desktop, was not being able to connect to my two monitors via a dock (2 display ports). It simply took too much of my time to figure out all the nuances of", "context": "engineering school background", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Upgrade your desktop: Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS is now available"}]}, {"label": "Setup time", "summary": "Configuring the system and window managers can take a lot of time.", "quotes": [{"id": 789993505, "item_id": 49374594, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49374594", "by": "bayesnet", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "burnt weeks troubleshooting and configuring different compositors/window managers on Arch", "excerpt": "> \u2026 for technical users it's a pretty noticeable step down in terms of how you may use and configure your own system It\u2019s such a frustrating experience on both ends\u2014I use macOS for most of my work because I like the hardware it ships on, but it is so annoying to not be able to, like, use a different window manager (hacky accessibility API systems notwithstanding). On the other hand I\u2019ve probably burnt weeks troublesh", "context": "", "use_case": "customized desktop setup", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 798554897, "item_id": 49909681, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909681", "by": "ajd555", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "and loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to run Arch out of engineering school (that's what we used there), and loved it. But as I started working on my business, I started having less time to simply configure my OS and fight it on a few things. The breaking point for me, when I switched to Ubuntu Desktop, was not being able to connect to my two monitors via a dock (2 display ports). It simply took too much of my time to figure out all the nuances of", "context": "engineering school background", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Upgrade your desktop: Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS is now available"}, {"id": 748752832, "item_id": 46797052, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46797052", "by": "QuadrupleA", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been a delighted Arch user for about a year now", "excerpt": "I always like to chime in on these things that I've been a delighted Arch user for about a year now, for similar reasons. Took a lot of setup, but it's dialed now and just works. My computer belongs to me again for the first time in years. I should really do more to evangelize. It's not ok to use an OS monopoly to degrade and squeeze your users' often primary career and creative tool to your own short term ends, maki", "context": "power user", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux"}]}, {"label": "Supply-chain security", "summary": "Some worry about AUR package security and rolling releases in the current security climate.", "quotes": [{"id": 786414288, "item_id": 49150893, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49150893", "by": "type4", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "compare", "quote": "is there a better alternative to Arch/AUR? I've used it for years because of the bleeding-edge packages and stability", "excerpt": "Practically, is there a better alternative to Arch/AUR? I've used it for years because of the bleeding-edge packages and stability (for me) but with the increased security incidences I don't feel safe. I don't have the time/desire to read the build files of every package I install.", "context": "long-time Arch user, no time to read build files", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pushes to arch AUR are suspendended right now."}, {"id": 776043088, "item_id": 48502693, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502693", "by": "sph", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "A rolling distro is a terrible idea in the current security climate.", "excerpt": "Be aware of false positives! I found I had two of these packages installed, clang19 and compiler-rt19, but due to my recent laziness in updating my system, mine were still the versions from July 2025 from the official repos before they had relegated them to AUR. You can check the build and install date with `pacman -Qi <package>`. I run Arch Linux in a container (within Fedora Silverblue), but my plan for the future:", "context": "runs Arch in a container on Fedora Silverblue", "use_case": "dev container", "switched_from": "", "story": "AUR Packages Compromised with Infostealer and Rootkit"}, {"id": 784657553, "item_id": 49041097, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041097", "by": "KolenCh", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "compare", "quote": "distro like Arch Linux is a great learning experience", "excerpt": "I used to distro-hop a lot and in recent years settled with RHEL. The key change over the years is how fragile the supply chain becomes, so while distro like Arch Linux is a great learning experience, I just want to put a layer of maintainers who have higher stake than others between me and the world. (RHEL has a free tier for developers limited to 16 instances.)", "context": "former distro-hopper", "use_case": "learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}]}, {"label": "Commercial software", "summary": "Vendors usually ship .deb or .rpm packages rather than Arch packages.", "quotes": [{"id": 751419568, "item_id": 46963723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46963723", "by": "horsawlarway", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration.", "excerpt": "Not joking, Arch. Pick Gnome/KDE/Sway as you please. Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration. Excellent software availability through AUR, excellent update times (pretty much immediate). The only downside is there's not a ton of direct commercial software packaged for it by default (ex - most companies they care give a .deb or a .rpm) but that's easily ", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Simplifying Vulkan One Subsystem at a Time"}]}], "who": [{"by": "scandox", "context": "Arch Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49990851", "date": "2026-10-07"}, {"by": "broodbucket", "context": "15+ year Arch user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49932745", "date": "2026-10-02"}, {"by": "ajd555", "context": "engineering school background", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909681", "date": "2026-09-30"}, {"by": "chedieck", "context": "Linux user since 2016", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49603657", "date": "2026-09-07"}, {"by": "godelski", "context": "Linux user for over a decade", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49482981", "date": "2026-08-28"}, {"by": "shevy-java", "context": "compiles software from source", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49362629", "date": "2026-08-19"}, {"by": "krupan", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356623", "date": "2026-08-18"}, {"by": "bavell", "context": "uses Arch exclusively", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345149", "date": "2026-08-18"}, {"by": "embedding-shape", "context": "Arch user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49278647", "date": "2026-08-12"}, {"by": "didriksg", "context": "former Linux user now on Mac for work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029485", "date": "2026-07-23"}, {"by": "nickjj", "context": "full time software developer and video editor", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48962743", "date": "2026-07-18"}, {"by": "dansalvato", "context": "Cr-48 Chromebook owner", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48700318", "date": "2026-06-27"}], "tags": ["for developers", "for power users", "for Windows switchers", "for tiling WM users"], "use_cases": ["desktop os", "daily os", "daily driver os", "daily desktop os", "gaming pc", "secure boot setup"], "compared": [{"slug": "windows", "name": "Windows", "co": 10, "switched_from": 9, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "nixos", "name": "NixOS", "co": 8, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 4}, {"slug": "fedora", "name": "Fedora", "co": 8, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "debian", "name": "Debian", "co": 13, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "cachyos", "name": "CachyOS", "co": 8, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 10, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ubuntu", "name": "Ubuntu", "co": 8, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "gentoo", "name": "Gentoo", "co": 10, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029345", "title": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48500447", "title": "AUR Packages Compromised with Infostealer and Rootkit", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47339204", "title": "I stopped using NixOS and went back to Arch Linux", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49499854", "title": "Omarchy: Any User Process Can Escalate to Root", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49433292", "title": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49373616", "title": "Browser De-Slop", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 4}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 6, "warn": 1, "recommend": 3}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 3, "warn": 1}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 2, "warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 8, "warn": 1, "compare": 1, "recommend": 3}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 1, "warn": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-08": {"compare": 2, "recommend": 11, "warn": 1, "neutral": 6}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 3}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804227664, "item_id": 50264229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50264229", "by": "I_am_tiberius", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Arch Linux with KDE before, and it was just an experience 10 times better.", "excerpt": "I'm currently having an M2, but I just can't imagine buying an Apple laptop again. The hardware is great, but the sofware is just unbearably bad. I used Arch Linux with KDE before, and it was just an experience 10 times better. If they would just support Linux out of the box...", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "New 14\u2011inch MacBook Pro with M6"}, {"id": 804150881, "item_id": 50259430, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50259430", "by": "cdelsolar", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "(Btw I use Arch)", "excerpt": "Yeah I use KDE as well for my desktop and it\u2019s the perfect environment. (Btw I use Arch) Still I\u2019m very tempted by the new MacBooks. I don\u2019t know of any laptop that is a tenth as good and I don\u2019t want to sit at my desk all day to use a computer.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "New 14\u2011inch MacBook Pro with M6"}, {"id": 801471745, "item_id": 50091984, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50091984", "by": "tancop", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "When I used Arch I had full secure boot set up.", "excerpt": "When I used Arch I had full secure boot set up. Making a second kernel image with the Epic required settings is not hard. I think most people will dual boot a ready made gaming distro like Garuda next to their normal one anyway because the kind of setup you need to really optimize game performance is not easy, and you can get a console/Steam Deck like experience right from boot. Even a locked down Linux is infinitely", "context": "", "use_case": "secure boot setup", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gaming on Linux without cheating"}, {"id": 801302064, "item_id": 50081379, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50081379", "by": "piratesAndSons", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "That\u2019s why I like C and Arch Linux, made by and for programmers", "excerpt": "C is the most perfect language, so simple yet so powerful. That\u2019s why I like C and Arch Linux, made by and for programmers, with no stupidity tolerated. I wish I could use Arch on mobile. That would be epic.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where has creativity in software gone?"}, {"id": 799853616, "item_id": 49990851, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49990851", "by": "scandox", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Arch Linux and generally install custom things from source", "excerpt": "I can't say if the choice is right or wrong really, these are not easy choices. I use Arch Linux and generally install custom things from source, but I'm not necessarily your ideal market!", "context": "Arch Linux user", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Penguin Mail \u2013 open-source Rust email client for Linux with AI"}, {"id": 798923921, "item_id": 49932745, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49932745", "by": "broodbucket", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "As a 15+ year Arch user", "excerpt": "Much like Arch you need to have a decent idea of what you want first. As a 15+ year Arch user I used to decry people using Manjaro or the like, now I'm using omp, so I get the appeal", "context": "15+ year Arch user", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pi 1.0"}, {"id": 798713728, "item_id": 49919608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49919608", "by": "Sammi", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But now I love it, because the LLM can tweak every knob and fix every issue for me", "excerpt": "The more open the operating system the more LLMs can help you. This is what Arch Linux was waiting for all along. I used to be afraid of Arch, because I don't want a system that takes work because I'm already busy with work. But now I love it, because the LLM can tweak every knob and fix every issue for me, so it ends up being the OS that takes the least work to use. Get an error message? Tell the LLM and they fix it", "context": "", "use_case": "LLM-assisted system administration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini 4 Argon"}, {"id": 798554897, "item_id": 49909681, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909681", "by": "ajd555", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "and loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to run Arch out of engineering school (that's what we used there), and loved it. But as I started working on my business, I started having less time to simply configure my OS and fight it on a few things. The breaking point for me, when I switched to Ubuntu Desktop, was not being able to connect to my two monitors via a dock (2 display ports). It simply took too much of my time to figure out all the nuances of", "context": "engineering school background", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Upgrade your desktop: Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS is now available"}, {"id": 793658512, "item_id": 49603657, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49603657", "by": "chedieck", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "which made me really love Arch cutting-edgeness.", "excerpt": "I remember buying a brand-new notebook in 2016, the year I switched to Linux, and ending up messaging a developer in IRC searching for a wireless card driver. Fortunately, I was so into it, that I didn't mind the 10 hours I spent trying to make it work on the first day. Three days later I switched (from Fedora) to Arch Linux, and the driver was there already, which made me really love Arch cutting-edgeness. Never lef", "context": "Linux user since 2016", "use_case": "daily laptop OS", "switched_from": "Fedora", "story": "Using a Linux Laptop in 2026"}, {"id": 792052432, "item_id": 49503277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49503277", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-08-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have my own opinionated Arch / niri set up and there's 1155 packages installed.", "excerpt": "Yep, but pretty much every single piece of software you've installed on your system can read and write files to your home directory in a silent way without root, and that's where your most important files are on a desktop machine (API tokens, secrets, client projects, etc.). I have my own opinionated Arch / niri set up and there's 1155 packages installed. That's 1155 opportunities for a package to be compromised. Thi", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Omarchy: Any User Process Can Escalate to Root"}, {"id": 792013425, "item_id": 49500839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49500839", "by": "pacificat0r", "date": "2026-08-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "went straight back to arch. And now still on it.", "excerpt": "I got here because it was the first time I saw a tiling window manager on an Omarchy video. I was on windows my entire life, so when i saw it and how bad windows got, I decided to give it a try. A few months since I de-omarchyfied the system and went straight back to arch. And now still on it. I should have gone with something like cachyos as games are important to me, but I think at the time hyperland wasn't an opti", "context": "", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "Omarchy", "story": "Omarchy: Any User Process Can Escalate to Root"}, {"id": 791727696, "item_id": 49482981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49482981", "by": "godelski", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "/I use arch btw (and have been on it for over a decade)", "excerpt": "No laws are needed. We already have oligopolies. Don't like the buggy software? Go to the only other competitor who also has buggy software. FFS, we're living in a world where Linux has more than doubled in popularity mainly due to Microsoft actively fleecing their customers. It's crazy /I use arch btw (and have been on it for over a decade)", "context": "Linux user for over a decade", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Just the rumour of a bug is enough to find an exploit these days"}, {"id": 791671472, "item_id": 49479467, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49479467", "by": "dimgl", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Switched to Arch Linux with GNOME.", "excerpt": "Switched to Arch Linux with GNOME. Whenever an issue comes up, I have an AI agent look into it and it gets done. Worth it to get off of Windows.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Get your Windows license refund"}, {"id": 791260752, "item_id": 49453797, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49453797", "by": "arendtio", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my 2013 Haswell-based Arch Linux KDE Desktop feels more responsive than my M4 MacBook", "excerpt": "Yes, even my 2013 Haswell-based Arch Linux KDE Desktop feels more responsive than my M4 MacBook. And I think the MacBook has so much more power under the hood, but somehow the animation settings or whatever are just not that good. To be completely fair, I use the Desktop via DisplayPort at 144 Hz, while the MacBook uses HDMI + USB-C, and I believe it's just at 60 Hz, which is also a factor, but I honestly think that ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 791127393, "item_id": 49445462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49445462", "by": "bytestrix", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use arch BTW", "excerpt": "umm i think that people are using Ubuntu because of stability and community, and also people get used to of that now even if they try to use some other os they wont be comfortable, there are alooot of different better OS but for those people ubuntu is like their favorite food , I use arch BTW", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Why do you use Ubuntu?"}, {"id": 791083618, "item_id": 49442726, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49442726", "by": "gerdesj", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Wifey gets Arch", "excerpt": "IT is a bit of a journey (as is life). I started off with a ZX80 kit and some bluetac ... I've lost count of how many interfaces I've had to fenangle to get a job done. For 20 odd years I rocked Gentoo as my daily driver but my lap can't take the heat any more. Wifey gets Arch and I've settled on Ubuntu for a simple life. Embarrassingly enough, I had to get a \"child\" to explain to me how to get a wine dispenser to wo", "context": "", "use_case": "wife's OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 790245235, "item_id": 49390327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49390327", "by": "software_writer", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "introduced me to so many amazing tools like neovim, tmux, tiling window managers, Arch Linux, and countless TUIs", "excerpt": "Switching to Omarchy was one of the best decisions I made last year that improved my everyday computing experience so much, and introduced me to so many amazing tools like neovim, tmux, tiling window managers, Arch Linux, and countless TUIs.. Haven't touched my old MacBook this year at all. If you're in the market for a new laptop / operating system, I highly recommend you give it a try.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Omacom Foundation Launches with $8M"}, {"id": 790031697, "item_id": 49376981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376981", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma", "excerpt": "I have an Asahi Linux M2 macbook that I use for work, tried MacOS for a day and just couldn't stand it compared to the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 789993505, "item_id": 49374594, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49374594", "by": "bayesnet", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "burnt weeks troubleshooting and configuring different compositors/window managers on Arch", "excerpt": "> \u2026 for technical users it's a pretty noticeable step down in terms of how you may use and configure your own system It\u2019s such a frustrating experience on both ends\u2014I use macOS for most of my work because I like the hardware it ships on, but it is so annoying to not be able to, like, use a different window manager (hacky accessibility API systems notwithstanding). On the other hand I\u2019ve probably burnt weeks troublesh", "context": "", "use_case": "customized desktop setup", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 789883505, "item_id": 49367719, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49367719", "by": "kpres62", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Used Arch Linux (BTW) and security Hardened it.", "excerpt": "Worked on a side project. Basically tried to make a daily driver OS that prioritizes security and privacy. Used Arch Linux (BTW) and security Hardened it. Flash a USB, boot it, use a normal desktop. When you\u2019re ready, install it and your stuff sticks. Free and Open Source, no guarantee it's without bugs though.", "context": "", "use_case": "base for hardened OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cicada.os Graphene.os for Your Laptop"}, {"id": 789802066, "item_id": 49362629, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49362629", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arch is IMO much better than debian, by default.", "excerpt": "> Getting media to work on Linux is more complex than you may think. Not at all: ffmpeg + mpv Problem solved. > a lot less feasible for Linux distributions designed to be freely downloaded and redistributed. > [...] spent some time enabling third-party repositories to get multimedia codecs, you already know what it's like Well, this was quite easy on debian, but I abandoned being a slave to distributions. I compile f", "context": "compiles software from source", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux"}, {"id": 789705968, "item_id": 49356623, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356623", "by": "krupan", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My solution was to finally give in and embrace a rolling release distro (I use arch, btw).", "excerpt": "Complete failure is strong words when lots and lots of Linux boxes are running just fine. I think the disconnect is mostly people that can't decide if they want a stable distro or a rolling release distro. Most everyone uses a stable distro because it's stable, but then the want some up-to-date software that isn't ore-built for their (crusty old) stable distro and they get annoyed. My solution was to finally give in ", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "rolling release OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Solo \u2013 a .so loader for static Linux binaries"}, {"id": 789522384, "item_id": 49345149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345149", "by": "bavell", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The benefits far outweigh the occasional upgrade pain IMO though.", "excerpt": "I use Arch exclusively and haven't had any of the issues you describe. That said, I do occasionally deal with quirks due to the rolling distro nature of Arch. The benefits far outweigh the occasional upgrade pain IMO though.", "context": "uses Arch exclusively", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM"}, {"id": 789508416, "item_id": 49344276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49344276", "by": "TiredOfLife", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "This year updates have broken video decoding twice. Font rendering once", "excerpt": "I use arch based linux. This year updates have broken video decoding twice. Font rendering once (still not fixed without manually deleting files.). And broken the whole system due to there not being a mechanism that makes sure all QT libraries upate at the same time once or twice. That is all one system. Meanwhile 4 separate windows pcs have not had problems with updates for at least 6 years", "context": "uses an Arch-based Linux", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM"}, {"id": 788458352, "item_id": 49278647, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49278647", "by": "embedding-shape", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the official Arch repositories still remains extremely important and valuable for stability.", "excerpt": "> The idea that your OS distro needs to explicitly support and package every software you could ever want to use seems crazy to me. No one is under that impression, not maintainers nor users. The idea is that every software that is common and/or popular and/or useful enough to someone who is willing to maintain it, is managed by the distribution/repository staff itself, as they're the ones who knows the distribution ", "context": "Arch user", "use_case": "daily operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "I hate packaging my software for Linux"}, {"id": 787087715, "item_id": 49192982, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49192982", "by": "jolmg", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Archlinux with i3 and a focus on using the shell with a very light terminal (urxvt; others like gnome-terminal were too slow) and other very light apps made it very responsive.", "excerpt": "I get it. Got one. Compromises are many. Speed wise, it clears the bar for me of being able to watch Youtube on Firefox and use the controls, but yeah it's got bugs and other issues. I may be able to tolerate the speed because of how I used my netbook many years ago. Windows XP was completely useless because of how laggy the GUI was. Archlinux with i3 and a focus on using the shell with a very light terminal (urxvt; ", "context": "", "use_case": "netbook OS", "switched_from": "Windows XP", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}, {"id": 786659776, "item_id": 49166236, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49166236", "by": "nvrmndmnm", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "She uses that laptop daily now and says she enjoys it over Windows by a mile.", "excerpt": "I ran a similar test and got completely different results. My girlfriend (hair stylist/artist) with zero coding background mentioned a Telegram bot idea. I asked \"Why not build it yourself?\" I gave her a Windows laptop, but she said she wanted what I have instead. So I handed her a USB stick and told her she was on her own now. Fast forward: she now runs Arch Linux with Hyprland (I use Xorg/i3 though), fully riced wi", "context": "", "use_case": "daily desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "LLMs reward expertise"}, {"id": 786414288, "item_id": 49150893, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49150893", "by": "type4", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "compare", "quote": "is there a better alternative to Arch/AUR? I've used it for years because of the bleeding-edge packages and stability", "excerpt": "Practically, is there a better alternative to Arch/AUR? I've used it for years because of the bleeding-edge packages and stability (for me) but with the increased security incidences I don't feel safe. I don't have the time/desire to read the build files of every package I install.", "context": "long-time Arch user, no time to read build files", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pushes to arch AUR are suspendended right now."}, {"id": 786113025, "item_id": 49132064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49132064", "by": "Gud", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "compare", "quote": "", "excerpt": "The problem is that there is a LOT of missing stuff in the Arch repos. I use FresBSD, where I rarely run in to this problem, that something is missing from ports. However, it is a common occurrence in Arch. Which is a shame, because it\u2019s otherwise a fine operating system.", "context": "", "use_case": "general OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arch Linux disables AUR package adoption"}, {"id": 785036032, "item_id": 49064752, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064752", "by": "unsungNovelty", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Which is exactly why I use Arch. I've has more papercuts from point releases than arch.", "excerpt": "Which is exactly why I use Arch. I've has more papercuts from point releases than arch. My argument is not even Arch. But rolling releases.", "context": "", "use_case": "rolling-release OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 784657553, "item_id": 49041097, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041097", "by": "KolenCh", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "compare", "quote": "distro like Arch Linux is a great learning experience", "excerpt": "I used to distro-hop a lot and in recent years settled with RHEL. The key change over the years is how fragile the supply chain becomes, so while distro like Arch Linux is a great learning experience, I just want to put a layer of maintainers who have higher stake than others between me and the world. (RHEL has a free tier for developers limited to 16 instances.)", "context": "former distro-hopper", "use_case": "learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 784536675, "item_id": 49033542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033542", "by": "zepearl", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I did try to use a few times Linux Arch, but I never fully liked its AUR.", "excerpt": "Gentoorian here as well, cheers. I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility and I often end up wanting to use the very latest versions of software (e.g. ZFS, kernels, etc...) without struggling as most things are available from the official central package repository. I admit that updating/upgrading the OS is a pain from the time perspective (because of the lon", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 784531217, "item_id": 49033201, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033201", "by": "austin-cheney", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have toyed around with Arch and I really believe you can accomplish almost everything with it", "excerpt": "I have toyed around with Arch and I really believe you can accomplish almost everything with it when other distros just aren\u2019t as ready or capable. I rely on Debian for my daily needs and forced it on my wife.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 784471764, "item_id": 49029485, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029485", "by": "didriksg", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "moved to Arch  in 2018. I ran it until I started in a new job.", "excerpt": "I'm actually in the opposite position. I've used Linux for 10 years until I recently had to switch to Mac due to work. I started off in Ubuntu in 2016 and moved to Arch in 2018. I ran it until I started in a new job. One thing that Linux just gets right compared to macos and windows is the package managers. Brew is nice and all, but it's nothing compared to pacman/apt. I also miss it for the window managers. Coming f", "context": "former Linux user now on Mac for work", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "Ubuntu", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 783403888, "item_id": 48962743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48962743", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-07-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "After switching from Windows 10 Pro, it felt like I got a hardware upgrade.", "excerpt": "I like how efficient Arch is, in the sense that you have nothing and now you get to pick and choose what you want. My main desktop I use for full time software development and video editing is from 2014. I've run Windows on it forever. I put Arch on it ~8 months ago. A full desktop environment I put together based on niri boots at 1.1 GB of memory. Every app I want is installed (tons of CLI tools, various GUI tools, ", "context": "full time software developer and video editor", "use_case": "desktop for development and video editing", "switched_from": "Windows 10 Pro", "story": "Reviving a 15-year-old netbook with Arch Linux"}, {"id": 783294128, "item_id": 48955883, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48955883", "by": "rmunn", "date": "2026-07-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "now that I'm actually running Arch I think I'm looking things up on the Arch wiki less often than when I was running Mint", "excerpt": "The Arch wiki is one of the best Linux-related resources out there. I used to look things up there all the time back when I was running Mint (which is basically Ubuntu under the hood). Ironically, now that I'm actually running Arch I think I'm looking things up on the Arch wiki less often than when I was running Mint.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Linux Mint", "story": "Learning a few things about running SQLite"}, {"id": 782152049, "item_id": 48884503, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48884503", "by": "Gud", "date": "2026-07-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arch Linux for superior software and hardware support", "excerpt": "I don't understand the constant (almost always unsubstantiated) criticism of the *BSDs from many Linux advocates. Personally I evaluate each OS by it's merit, and I've concluded that OpenBSD, FreeBSD and some Linux distributions(I use arch btw) are solid operating systems. On the server I prefer FreeBSD because of it's amazing flexibility, and stable yet evolutionary base system and in my opinion, superior init syste", "context": "", "use_case": "client desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Theo de Raadt: \"You've been smoking something mind altering\" (2007)"}, {"id": 780106802, "item_id": 48756675, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48756675", "by": "unsungNovelty", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am still invested in Archlinux forums.", "excerpt": "Forums are communities which are curated. If it has a good owner, it will nurture good discussions. Because they have to adhere to rules. Or be banned. There was a tech magazine forum in India which was crazy cool. Learned a lot from it. But most forums go through a learning process. Way too many great discussions and it gets popular. And then some new/old idiots will start pushing the lines which will lead to over m", "context": "", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "Manjaro Linux", "story": "Bring Back Crappy Forums"}, {"id": 779849696, "item_id": 48740606, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48740606", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Nowadays I run Arch Linux, it's been 12 days since a reboot.", "excerpt": "I've been keeping my desktop machines running 24/7 for ~25 years. I only reboot when necessary. I remember having around 280 days of uptime on Windows 7 when it went end of life. Having a UPS helps a lot to protect against short power outages or blips. Nowadays I run Arch Linux, it's been 12 days since a reboot. Not trying to break records, I reboot to apply kernel updates when it's convenient. Since I use tmux and h", "context": "runs desktops 24/7 for 25 years", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows 7", "story": "Have You Restarted Your Computer This Week?"}, {"id": 779556337, "item_id": 48722271, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48722271", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The same hardware I had back then works beautifully with Arch today.", "excerpt": "If anyone is looking for a niri based opinionated set of configuration on top of CachyOS (or vanilla Arch) I put together: https://github.com/nickjj/dotfriedrice The goal is after installing the official ISO, you can get a developer focused desktop environment up and running in ~10 minutes with 1 command. It's quite configurable so you can change around anything you want ahead of time or after you install it. I use i", "context": "moved from Windows last year", "use_case": "daily desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 773406928, "item_id": 48337933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48337933", "by": "krschacht", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I was running Arch both times and had too many low level issues.", "excerpt": "In the last 18 months I tried a Framework twice and both times ended up returning it. I was running Arch both times and had too many low level issues. I couldn\u2019t get hibernation or sleep to work reliably. And about once a week I\u2019d get a random freeze or crash that required me to reboot and lose all the windows I had open. I spent dozens of hours with Claude chasing things down, disabling various power management feat", "context": "tried Framework laptops twice and returned them", "use_case": "laptop OS on Framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12"}, {"id": 765798513, "item_id": 47862407, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47862407", "by": "bloq66", "date": "2026-04-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Arch was almost unusable on it for me", "excerpt": "As I love the idea of modular and repairable laptop, I've got some issues with it. I have Framework 13 AMD with Fedora (as Arch was almost unusable on it for me). Connecting external hardware to it, especially dock stations and monitors - which work flawlessly with another laptops - sometimes works, sometimes not...", "context": "", "use_case": "Framework laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Framework Laptop 13 Pro"}, {"id": 757471025, "item_id": 47341939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47341939", "by": "craftkiller", "date": "2026-03-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used to live that life. After a couple failed downgrades I started exclusively using the arch rollback machine", "excerpt": "> When the new configuration finally builds, more ofen than not some component randomly stops working after reboot Good thing you're using NixOS where rolling back to a working version is as simple as a reboot, instead of Arch Linux where your options are: 1. If it's a boot issue, dig out a live USB for recovery 2. If it's a package, try rolling back piecemeal by installing old versions from /var/cache/pacman 3. Once", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I stopped using NixOS and went back to Arch Linux"}, {"id": 753564289, "item_id": 47097768, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47097768", "by": "0x38B", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The AUR, along with Arch's minimalism, is one of my favorite things about it.", "excerpt": "How is that an unacceptable thread model for a repo of packages that are optional and user-made? One that clearly says, \"DISCLAIMER: AUR packages are user produced content. Any use of the provided files is at your own risk.\" (1) The AUR, along with Arch's minimalism, is one of my favorite things about it. Instead of cloning the source repo, reading the build instructions, building, and then installing, I download a s", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Review an AUR Package"}, {"id": 751419568, "item_id": 46963723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46963723", "by": "horsawlarway", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration.", "excerpt": "Not joking, Arch. Pick Gnome/KDE/Sway as you please. Arch is a wonderful daily driver distro for folks who can deal with even a small amount of configuration. Excellent software availability through AUR, excellent update times (pretty much immediate). The only downside is there's not a ton of direct commercial software packaged for it by default (ex - most companies they care give a .deb or a .rpm) but that's easily ", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Simplifying Vulkan One Subsystem at a Time"}, {"id": 744074465, "item_id": 46504654, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46504654", "by": "rand846633", "date": "2026-01-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "for experimenting and development, rolling release any day.", "excerpt": "Recently had to reinstall my Linux (btw, Arch). Normally I\u2019d just dd/mirror the NVMe, but this time I decided to stop putting off the switch to Wayland and just do it \u2014 moved from i3 to sway, etc. I\u2019d been avoiding this for years. Turns out: absolutely no problem. The tooling around Wayland and adjacent programs is way more modern and functional. Great experience. Can recommend switching in 2026. For me, the unintuit", "context": "Arch Linux user", "use_case": "development and experimenting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can I start using Wayland in 2026?"}, {"id": 737480837, "item_id": 46092552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46092552", "by": "SamDc73", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Arch? That\u2019s just a few packages, all sitting right there in the main repo or the AUR.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using it for a couple of months on my main dev machine (I don\u2019t game much). It\u2019s my first exposure to immutable systems. I love the idea, but honestly, juggling all these package managers gets annoying really fast; for now what I use is rpm-ostree (which you really shouldn\u2019t touch unless you absolutely have to), Flatpak, Homebrew (some package are mac only or mac first), and distrobox (with arch). Every now", "context": "", "use_case": "installing obscure packages", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming"}]}