I am a long term Arch user. I consider to recommend CachyOS to a friend with very limited technical knowledge. I read CachyOS is suitable for Linux beginners.
But since it is based on Arch, doesn’t that mean manual user intervention is sometimes necessary like it is in Arch?
If it is, I don’t think it is suitable for a noob user.
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I could not find anything about manual intervention or about checking Arch news before updating in the Cachy wiki or anywhere else.
If you want to start them on linux, it’s probably best to go with Mint, but some beginner friendly Arch OS are Manjaro and EndeavourOS. A true beginner linux OS needs to be common and easily searched for troubleshooting purposes
Started my windows transition with a Linux Mint dual boot. Completely phased off Windows, I used mint for almost a year without using the terminal. Now I like to branch out and use the terminal quite often, but man you can not go wrong with how easy Mint is in the beginning
Is EneavourOS beginner friendly? Doesn’t it have the same problem with manual interventions than Arch?
Anything Arch based is going to have the risk of needing to have manual interventions from time to time. Hell, I had to do a manual intervention on my Windows 10 PC before.
(Windows pushed a bad update that caused some driver to fail SFC or whatever it’s called and make instant BSOD on boot.)
Yes sure. I guess it depends how often this will be the case. It is his first PC and it would be cool if he has a good experience with Linux. I don’t want him to loose to the dark side of the force if you get my drift :)
It has a better installer and out-of-the-box experience compared to Arch, but after that, they’re more or less the same. I’d only recommend it if the intended user is willing and able to learn how to maintain the system.
Yes, that is also my understanding. Thanks!
I use cachyos myself and I would suggest Zorin for an absolute beginner: https://zorin.com/os/
(I have installed it on 2 family members laptops without issue)
He wants this computer mostly for gaming and education. Zorin might not be ideal for gaming because it is based on stable Ubuntu and therefor not as up to date, if I am not mistaken.
Manual intervention is something every Linux user will likely have to do at some point, so I don’t think that should be your primary qualifier.
But yes, I think CachyOS is suitable for beginners if their goal is gaming or video production. If they just want a general use computer, EndeavorOS is much easier and more mature. They’ll be able to game on that, too, but there won’t be any gaming packages preinstalled.
Do you know what they plan to do with it?
It is actually the son of a close friend and neighbor of mine. He is 12 and gets his first PC in a few weeks. He wants it mostly for gaming, but he might want to learn more about computer later? Maybe learn programming or making music or whatever might peek his interest in the future. The good thing is I live next door and can help out if there is a problem. But on the other hand I want him to have a good first experience with Linux. I would love to have him some Arch based Linux distro if possible. But not if that means he has trouble with it all the time.
