Linux Is Not a Religion

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Guess what? I use Arch btw 😂. Kinda. I got the Omarchy bug recently and migrated from vanilla Arch Linux — if you can call it that.

For context, I’ve been a serious Linux dual-booter for nearly ten years but went full-time about four years ago. I wouldn’t say I’m a Linux sage or a Penguin whisperer, but neither am I a noob. I wouldn’t recommend Arch as a first Linux flavour for someone jumping ship from Windows 10 now that it’s discontinued — that honour probably goes to Linux Mint, but it’s becoming surprisingly easy to use.

About a year and a half ago, I got myself a MacBook, and that presented the perfect opportunity to change my setup. My interest in Arch had been growing, and I felt safe enough to risk stability now that my old laptop was relegated to backup duty for the shiny new kid on the block. I booted Fedora off the HP and fired up archinstall.

For the uninitiated, archinstall is a simple automated install script for Arch Linux. It simplifies the process greatly. This reminded me of my first time installing Linux back in 2017 in the form of Kali Linux with its step-by-step Debian installer (I think that’s what it’s called?). The installation was super straightforward and didn’t take long. Heck, I even repeated it on an even older 2011 Dell Inspiron (the chunky kind). Back to the story: I was greeted with a nice, minimal KDE Plasma desktop environment and everything was rosy. It didn’t last long though — I quickly ran back to GNOME like the simpleton I am, but that wasn’t due to instability. I had covered my bases there by opting for an LTS kernel from the get-go. The switch was simply down to my preference for the clean GNOME experience and perhaps years of muscle memory.

Then the YouTube gods performed their magic trick and made me question if they have my microphone tapped. Videos of archinstall started showing up — negative ones though. I found creators (also, some bloggers and Redditors) looking down on people using install scripts like archinstall. Preaching that you must take the long, convoluted route, like it’s some rite of passage. I mean, sure, it’s okay to take the scenic route if you want to learn, but that doesn’t have to be the constitutional method of installation.

And that’s where it gets funny. The same folks who claim Arch is about freedom and the choice to tinker are the ones deciding how “real” users should install it. Isn’t that preaching water while drinking wine? If you can’t accept someone’s way of setting up their system, maybe the whole philosophy flew right by you. That’s just the epitome of Linux elitism. Not everyone needs to spend a couple of hours (exaggerated of course) partitioning drives manually just to prove a point. If anything, tools like archinstall make Arch more accessible — less of a secret cult, more of an open invitation. That should be celebrated, not mocked.

So for goodness’ sake, stop gatekeeping Arch Linux. At the end of the day, the install command doesn’t define the user — the way they use and tweak their system does.

My time with it has been amazing, and I will vehemently argue that Omarchy isn’t a distro but Arch with extra flair on top. So in a sense, I still use Arch btw 😏.

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