cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16149785
Cross-posting here for more opinions.
Gentlemen, just for context, I usually use Linux. I have been a user of Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora for a few years.
Recently, I acquired a decent graphics card (GeForce RTX 4070) and decided to uninstall my Windows and install Linux.
I saw that Pop!_OS already has an image with everything pre-configured for Nvidia. Is this pre-configuration worth it, are the games more stable on this distribution, or is it the same as manually installing Nvidia’s proprietary drivers on Manjaro?
Avoid Manjaro
Most of the Manjaro criticism is pure nonsense. It’s one of the most used distros in the Steam Survey. Anybody who’s willing to recommend Arch or Pop or Mint (who are also in the top of the Survey) but not Manjaro needs a reality check.
Just because it’s wildly used it doesn’t mean it’s the best, otherwise you’d be suggesting OP to install Windows 10.
Manjaro has several legit criticism. Maybe they’re not important to you, but they are still legit and relevant points to make. Personally, I ended up going with an Arch derivative that uses the official arch repos. Everything else you like in Manjaro can be easily installed.
Manjaro has several legit criticism.
That page is not legit criticism, it’s a bunch of nonsense. It misrepresents what Manjaro does, outright lying in some cases, it fails to understand how package updates and AUR work, it glosses over the fact that Manjaro helped the AUR infrastructure. It’s prejudiced information made out specifically to make it look bad.
It’s not nonsense, just concerns that you don’t seem to have. Which is fine, really. If Manjaro is perfect for you, keep using it. No judging here.
I personally don’t like Manjaro holding out on package updates, Arch stable branch is more than good enough for me. Everything else can be easily installed if you want to. Therefore, there’s really no reason for me personally to recommend Manjaro.
It’s not nonsense, just concerns that you don’t seem to have.
There is not one pertinent criticism in there. It’s all meaningless drivel presented as legit concerns.
Which one is a concern you share?
I personally don’t like Manjaro holding out on package updates
Then you don’t use it and that’s fine. The whole point of Manjaro is to mitigate the bleeding edge risk. There’s tons of people who see value in that. Not every distro has to do the exact same thing Arch does. There is something of value in every Arch-derived distro.
Which one is a concern you share?
My main concern is trust. How can I trust that the Manjaro team is competent when they can’t keep up with something as simple as certificates. You say they helped the AUR but they actually DDOS’d it several times due to problems in
pamacthe software store they developed. By using Manjaro, you are saying that you trust the Manjaro team more than the Arch team, since you are using their repositories. Their actions do not inspire trust on me.Arch actually has an unstable branch, that is “bleeding edge”. Most people run Arch on the stable branch, which is perfectly fine. You can run into problems, but so far I have never encountered any. Holding packages for “stability” is a neat idea but if the Firefox and Arch team deemed the new browser version to be stable, that’s good enough for me. I don’t see the Manjaro devs as having more competence to judge such things than the Arch community and the software devs.
This is a pointless discussion anyway, I’m not changing my mind and neither are you but all least now you know where I’m coming from. Cheers.
Every single large enough distro (and any organization) has at some point forgot to renew a certificate. How were you impacted by the expiration?
You say they helped the AUR but they actually DDOS’d it several times due to problems in
pamacthe software store they developed.The AUR was not originally designed to whitstand any meaningful traffic. What you call “DDOS” was simply the AUR being used by an actually popular distro, where enabling the AUR is a simple UI toggle, whose developers never imagined that the AUR doesn’t have any traffic mitigation methods.
So Manjaro went out of its way to look for contributors to sponsor an AUR CDN and several caching layers, improving things for everybody.
The second “DDOS” happened after Manjaro implemented all of the above so it couldn’t have come from Manjaro machines. All the “proof” is that whoever hit the AUR used a “pamac” user agent… which anybody can do.
I don’t see the Manjaro devs as having more competence to judge such things than the Arch community and the software devs.
Manjaro’s extra testing and vetting of Arch “stable” packages has avoided several problems so far.
This is a pointless discussion anyway, I’m not changing my mind and neither are you but all least now you know where I’m coming from. Cheers.
Yes well the difference is that I’ve used both and can explain their pros and cons and why one suits me better. I don’t just read a page called “archno” and then parrot it.
Why are you even considering Manjaro?
If gaming is the priority, then I honestly don’t think anything out there can beat Bazzite in terms of ease of use, ‘hands-off’-ness, robustness and stability.
Honorable mentions include: Nobara and Pop!_OS.
Why are you even considering Manjaro?
Because it’s an excellent distribution which is also in the top of the Steam Survey (alongside Arch, Ubuntu, Mint and PopOS) (and Flatpak, and Steam Deck’s SteamOS).
It’s a rolling distro but mitigates the risks of bleeding edge with a curated stable branch, offers LTS kernels going back to 4.19 but you can choose LTS or newer versions or RT patches, it does not force you to switch kernel version if you don’t want to, has visual management tools for packages, kernel management and driver installation, does a great job installing drivers during install, comes with extra safety features (update rollback built-in if you use BTRFS for root), Steam works great, you can use AUR and Flatpak etc.
I wanted to know from OP why they’re considering Manjaro.
Because it’s an excellent distribution which is also in the top of the Steam Survey (alongside Arch, Ubuntu, Mint and PopOS) (and Flatpak, and Steam Deck’s SteamOS).
I’d argue it’s to Arch what Ubuntu is to Debian. Do with that whatever you will.
Btw, ProtonDB’s numbers show that Manjaro is losing lots of ground over the years. I won’t deny that the negativity around it plays a significant role in this. However, to me, if it’s already installed on your device, your experience with it is simply more important than whatever’s said about it. Therefore, I’d argue that Manjaro’s ever decreasing market share has to be linked to users being ever so upset of its vision, direction and mishaps.
It’s a rolling distro but mitigates the risks of bleeding edge with a curated stable branch, offers LTS kernels going back to 4.19 but you can choose LTS or newer versions or RT patches, it does not force you to switch kernel version if you don’t want to, has visual management tools for packages, kernel management and driver installation, does a great job installing drivers during install, comes with extra safety features (update rollback built-in if you use BTRFS for root), Steam works great, you can use AUR and Flatpak etc.
All of that is cool and all, but trust is what it’s all about. And honestly, I think someone should get a diagnose for Stockholm syndrome if they’re still putting up with Manjaro after all it has done.
Manjaro has been nothing but perfect to me, starting with doing everything perfectly when I first tried its live ISO (recognized all hardware, played everything, saw everything on the LAN, connected to everything etc.) and in the years I’ve been using it.
I’m glad to hear that it has been working out for ya.
But, you see, I don’t dismiss the fact that you and others like you are still using and enjoying Manjaro. In fact, as I just stated already, I’m happy for y’all. However, why do you dismiss/belie/behave like an ostrich that burry their head in the sand when so many others voice their concerns?
How do I bury my head? I’m the one who’s been using it for years and speak from experience. Do you use it? What are your problems with it?
I will make my case clear of what I meant earlier:
Me:
- Doesn’t understand by everything that has already been mentioned under this post why one is considering Manjaro.
- But, I am glad to hear that it has been working lovely for some people.
- Doesn’t accuse those who’ve enjoyed using Manjaro for lying, being not genuine or misrepresenting reality.
You:
- Argue why Manjaro should be considered.
- Mention how your experiences don’t quite align to the ones others are experiencing.
- Your reception to concerns:
That page is not legit criticism, it’s a bunch of nonsense. It misrepresents what Manjaro does, outright lying in some cases, it fails to understand how package updates and AUR work, it glosses over the fact that Manjaro helped the AUR infrastructure. It’s prejudiced information made out specifically to make it look bad.
There is not one pertinent criticism in there. It’s all meaningless drivel presented as legit concerns.
I suppose I don’t need to spell it out for ya. How about, instead of taking the subject to other places, you address the following elephant in the room:
All of that is cool and all, but trust is what it’s all about.
- Do you aknowledge that trust is the end all be all for considering a distro?
- Do you outright deny every single thing mentioned in the infamous Manjarno?
- If so, are you aware of any place where (with facts) a rebuttal (or something similar) can be found?
- If not, could you write up one yourself? So that we may benefit from that as a community.
I like for the truth to prevail. And for injustice to be stopped. If Manjaro is actually accused of crimes they’ve not committed and if (therefore) misinformation is spread, then I’d desire that the world is ridden of that fake news.
If you like Gnome go for Pop!_OS.
It usually doesn’t matter which distribution you use for gaming. Most of major ones are perfectly fitted for gaming. I am using openSUSE Tumbleweed and there is no difference to e.g. Arch or Ubuntu when it comes to gaming.
