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first time using linux, how screwed am I? (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Cikos@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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recently i just finished building a new pc. mostly for gaming since my only exposure to linux is steam os and i heard its uses arch with kde plasma so i try to emulate it as close as i can. however soon i realized how different it is and it requires more setup than i initially thought. i spent a whole day or two setting it up and i read now im responsible on maintaining it, what does it mean? is it just finding and testing drivers? or system update? what is the easiest way to do it? and what i getting myself into?

when i was about to install steam i found a tutorial on it with 3 - 4 pages full of text and was a bit overwhelmed, i decided just set it up using discover with flatpak, the problem is when i was about to find out how to do that i read mostly people really hate when you ask how to enable it in arch, is it really bad? should i just use konsole instead?

im not very tech savvy and at first I was really reluctant to use konsole but since i decided to use arch its inevitable that i have to use konsole and so far its not that bad, yet.

I'm just wondering for the long term, should i just change distro? or i should just powertrough arch and see where it goes.

thank you for your time.

edit:

thank you for all the kind words, support and information everyone. i decided that i'll stick with arch until it breaks and ill see either i retry arch or try different linux flavors. i never feels so excited about os since i was messing around in win 2000

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[-] HelloRoot@lemy.lol 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

when i was about to install steam i found a tutorial on it with 3 - 4 pages full of text and was a bit overwhelmed

Here is my tutorial:

  • enable multilib repo by editing pacman config
  • sudo pacman -Syu steam

It's as easy as that. Thats how I run it.

and i read now im responsible on maintaining it, what does it mean? is it just finding and testing drivers? or system update? what is the easiest way to do it? and what i getting myself into?

When I started my Linux journey, I went with Ubuntu and kept breaking it every year for a couple of years, which taught me a lot. Then eventually I hopped to Arch and I've been running the same setup since. For over 6 years now. I am very lazy, so I don't do anythjng special unless it breaks.

My setup has automatic btrfs snapshots and manual offsite backups with borg.

My workflow is:

  • every friday evening after work, I do an update and reboot.

  • If everything works, I do a borg backup. Most update fridays are like this and end here.

  • If it's broken (this year it's been 2 times so far, last year iirc 3 times) I read the journal log, find the cause, fix it by live booting an arch usb stick and chrooting into mt system and following the archlinux forum or reddit or news. (For example recently, there was a kernel bug with btrfs, someone on reddit posted a mailing list link with a command that solved it)

  • Sometimes there is an issue with an app I have, especially if it's from the AUR. Often a reinstall fixes it, otherwise I fix the PKGBUILD and let the maintainer know what was broken.

  • After it is broken, I go through all the .pacnew files and merge them (The wiki says you should do it after every update, but I'm lazy)

  • After I fixed it, I do a borg backup.

  • If it takes too long to fix or I am especially lazy, I restore a btrfs snapshot and try next week. Usually the issue is resolved by then or somebody solved it on reddit.

So yeah it's quite involved, but I got better at it with time and again, most of the time everything just works and I can enjoy weekly improvements or new features to play with.

I am a bit on the fence which advice to give you. Either keep it and run with it for a while longer or install a simpler gaming focused distro. It's up tp you really.

[-] Cikos@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

thank you for telling me your workflow. with bit of time i think i can follow your workflow as its quite simple (at least sound like it)

Here is my tutorial:

  • enable multilib repo by editing pacman config
  • sudo pacman -Syu steam

It's as easy as that. Thats how I run it.

yeah, about that. it seems i mixed wiki as tutorial and was but intimidated when i saw how to do manual terminal config for controller setup, graphic driver, and other stuffs. in my mind that just getting the base app is not enough, you need to find the specific perquisite and getting them one by one.

i decided that ill keep playing with arch until it breaks then ill see if i want to give it another go or try bazzite. i love tinkering but software tinker is a bit out of my depth

this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2025
80 points (89.2% liked)

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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