Expert opinion on Manjaro for beginner Linux user

Non-technical Questions
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Hello There!

I’m about to switch to Manjaro from win 10. But someone said I should avoid all arch based distros. I think manjaro is the best suited distro for me, as I often dive into technical stuff a lot, like very precise tinkering of the system to my way etc etc.

I currently don’t have programming knowledge because of time constraints but I’m about to enroll in Computer Science Program at University as well, and after reading stuff about manjaro on official site, it’s probably the best distro for me, offering easy smooth experience but also that high ceiling if there is any ceiling for any project or personal quality of life stuff I wanna do in future.

I’ve always wanted to go Linux but thought my laptop which is a bit old wouldn’t be supported, but apparently it is after taking a deeper look.

Anyways as my laptop started lagging too much for no other reason than ‘win 10 bloatware’, and I also don’t like the whole vibe of windows, I’ve decided to finally go full throttle towards Linux.

I’m just few steps away, making sure that all important softwares I need are available on linux via foss alternatives. I already use most Foss like gimp and kdenlive so it’s already smooth transition.

In process of finding alternatives I’ve also found really cool softwares that aren’t even available on windows/mac and I’m excited to try them put as well. Honestly feels like linux will make my life so much easier with automations I can do, as I’m very heavy automation user on Android with custom macrodroid setup.

But I wanna get expert opinion on if that person is actually right and I should go for something like 'fedora kde or kubuntu ’ as they said, I find myself enjoying technical issues and finding solutions all the time… I will say I’m very huge on tech and coding doors are about to open.

I’d appreciate your opinion on this!
One thing is for sure, I’m not going back to windows on my primary computer ever.

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Who was this “someone” What does he use or recommend? So much depends on your use. With Manjaro and all “rolling releases” you need to keep up with the updates and pay attention to the notices. After that it’s about the same as every other distro.

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Sounds like you might like Arch itself, once you’ve learned the basics. Manjaro requires less knowledge and effort than Arch, but it’s still a rolling release and requires a little more effort and knowledge than versioned releases.

Everyone has different preferences and priorities, ultimately the only way to find out what suits you is to try a few distros. However you do need to use each one for a while to get a good impression of what they’re like.

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Long time ago Arch lacked a installer. Installation was a long list of commands and each unexpected error during installation was a pain in the ass. You needed certain knowledge to overcome these problems and to later configure the computer. It was something like this:

I think that’s the reason why Arch-based distros have such a bad reputation among beginners. These drawbacks have long since been overcome. You may not even need to visit the command line at all.

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With this attitude any distro will fit you, and I would encourage to try a few different ones to compare, enjoy your journey :slight_smile:

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Generally, absolute beginners should avoid rolling releases and arch based stuff. Xubuntu or Mint would be my first choice for absolute beginner.

That said, if you are going to do computers professionally, and respectively willing to tinker a bit and actually read wikis and tutorials and the fine manual, than manjaro is not offlimits for you. Compared with arch pure, it is noob friendlier. I mean it is suitable for an entry point in the arch world and for noobs willing to learn. Which is a rare animal these days, when everybody asks AI what to eat for breakfast…

I would still avoid arch pure or gentoo for a beginner, even for an intelligent beginner.

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Welcome to the forum.

Arch based distros are said to be more vulnerable to break, because of the rolling release principle which might push out updates that are not fully tested.

From my experience in the last 5+ years, Manjaro has always been a stable and reliable distro for me. There are caveats if you are using nvidia graphic cards, but those are applicable to every Linux distro I guess.

Since you are doing the sensible thing to check if you find all the applications you need, before switching to Linux, I guess you will be fine.

If you prefer to use the distro packages or flatpaks might make a difference, but it is easy enough to try out one and if it doesn’t work as you expect, switch to the other.

Generally speaking, if you are wary user who is adamant that the system simply has to work with the least amount of maintenance, you might think about using Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Fedora (which I have no experience with).

Manjaro does require a bit more maintenance, but since you wrote that you like to tinker with the system to make it behave the way you like it, I guess you will be fine.

I can recommend the Xfce flavour, for Xfce is more customizable than Gnome and I have run Manjaro Xfce Edition without problems.

Please always remember to backup your valuable data - this wI have no experience with KDE, but KDE isay you can easliy reinstall or switch to another DE, if you feel so inclined.

Anyway, try it out and have fun.

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For a beginner, better stay off kde. It has a lot more features, bells and whistles but is more prone to breaking. Some say it never goes out of the beta stage. So as a beginner you might want to save youself some time and pain and simplify your life. Starting with arch based distro for first linux is enough challenge. If you challenge yourself with all fancy beta stuff right at the beginning you will hate linux after a week.
Make backups, snapshots, have live usb at hand. If you choose the kde - leave themes and plugins to defaults cause these breake on update. Avoid nvidia if you have the choice. And in the initiall install, don’t start with encryption and btrfs filesystem, it is a lot more complicated to troubleshoot and NOT beginner friendly. (Actually there was a little internal discussion that “someone” changed the default in the installer without considering all implications.)
P.s. and try to avoid aur at the beginning.

Generally speaking, if you read the wiki and the tutorials in the tutorial section of the forum, this is all the education you need on manjaro. I did it at the beginning, took several days and that was it (but had ubuntu experience beforehand). More than 50% of the support topics are for stuff that is written with large font in the tutorials.

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I love Manjaro for my use, wouldn’t recommend it to a newer user outside of some fringe cases.
Even for me it’s essential to have a 2nd working install on a separate drive in case my main one breaks and I need some hours to diagnose and fix it.

If they’re the kind of person who just hits the update button…avoid.
If it’s their only machine and they rely on it for work etc….avoid.
If they don’t have a backup strategy…avoid.
If they’re not savvy enough to search for an answer and use the terminal…avoid.
If they’re not comfortable with a live usb and chroot…avoid.

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Exactly. But he wrote he wants to study computer science so he should be an exception. A rare case of a beginner with time and willing to read so he has the potential to be ok.

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Funny. I’ve been telling people to avoid all Microsoft-based OSs. Nobody listened to me. Maybe you should do the same with that “someone”.

I’ll echo the sentiment above that it sounds like Manjaro–or even Arch proper–would be no problem for you. Although Manjaro would be a good stepping stone. Linux is different enough from both Windows an dAndroid that there’s a learning curve, and Manjaro will flatten it.

In fact, you may want to have Arch as a goal, since you’re going to school for CS. Having it in your pocket already will put you ahead of the rest of the class. My local IT school (rit.edu) holds Arch in such esteem that they’re an official mirror.

Still, Manjaro first, Arch second, then try all the others.

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In my opinion.

There is no good reason for a Linux newbie not to use Manjaro.

The main difference… in my opinion… from distros like Ubuntu.

Manjaro is a rolling release, to be specific a curated rolling release. Which means the Stable version is slightly behind ‘the latest and greatest’ ™, the software being vetted in Unstable and testing, prior to final release to Stable.

Manjaro has a Monthly update cycle, and updates should be applied religiously, otherwise the software can become ‘out of sync’ and cause issues.

Other than that, I personally see no problems for a Linux newbie using Manjaro.

My partner, who has no interest in learning or understanding the technology, uses Manjaro on her 2 in 1. She purchased it pre installed, and with very few exceptions… occasional issues updating Mullvad VPN , which is in the AUR, I don’t have to do anything to support her use of the OS.

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Manjaro may break due to rolling release updates, but if you have a problem, use Timeshift and 5 minutes later the system can be alive and kicking again…

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Updates should be applied… After reading the update announcement in the forum for known problems and solutions.

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This just makes it sound as if you never loaded or used a computer running a Linux Desktop before… The ‘General’ idea is that you should use something ‘easier’ first - but this is pretty misleading in many ways. The kinds of problems I would get into when I used Debian got far knottier than any problems I got into with Manjaro… so whilst using Linux Mint might be more hands-off, there’s not a massive difference.

Linux now provides a GUI, you don’t have to write your own… but it can be fun to write short scripts (mostly easier than trying to write programs) and opening the terminal sometimes instead of trying to do everything by clicking.

Here’s an easy Program I’ll write for you:

  1. Backup: This was the main reason I added a secondary 500GB drive to my then 320GB system. It paid off when the 320GB drive started clacking loudly :wink: and also meant I had all my personal files, and a bunch of other ‘Resources’ (like my wallpapers) ready for a fresh install… Thankfully, the price of 4TB is quite ridiculous (just picked up a 4TB WD 5400 RPM drive - maybe it’ll last over 10 years like the last one).
  2. Use snapshots (Timeshift gets you started there) so that you can wipe your system, then install and restore it by plugging in a USB. Whoops… nearly forgot a step:
  3. Have a Ventoy USB, then you can boot from USB and choose an ISO to continue.
    5. Hope you didn’t forget to copy a fresh iso the the USB :wink: you can choose Torrents on most download pages.

Subscribing to RSS feeds for the update announcements would also rate fairly highly.

I can’t advise about Fedora - I didn’t like it, but I only tried it for 20 minutes a long time ago. I also didn’t like KDE Plasma at that time, but now I love it best… so everything I know is archaic and outdated.

I also never learned anything useful from reddit, and 95% of Youtube is useless, dramatic clickbait.

Otherwise, just dig in - if it gets too much you can boot your Linux Mint ISO and install that, then restore what you need from your backup (hopefully by now you’ll have a bit more than 2TB for storage). At least then you’ll have a more grounded position (having used, tried and experienced) to evaluate how they work for you.

My Plasma desktop has been pretty stable now for over 8 years (I forgot now) though I did have a few days downtime when my hardware went Pffffft - an acrid smoke column rising from the PSU… but it was revived (same settings/system with a few adjustments for the new hardware) and lives on.

  • :light_bulb:If it ain’t broke, you ain’t trying hard enough!
  • :light_bulb:If you’re scared of breaking it, GoTo 1. and start again :wink:

:vulcan_salute:

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Hey Thankyou everyone for all these useful, but very diverse opinions :sweat_smile: as expected from linux community!
All of your guys comments give me reassurance for going in with manjaro. And yes I have learned about Timeshift earlier too, trust me I have done research of what I’m getting myself into, I’ll be using that for sure. I do keep all my important data at 3 different locations even when I used Windows so it’s already a habit.

I do like regular update cycle, actually I love it not just like it, I do read manuals and descriptions and update logs for every single software, I have a habit of not doing any update on auto-update and actually checking what it brings or fixes and that also gives me good idea about what new softwares and now I guess the OS itself is bringing, essentially my knowledge of the system is up to date.

Key points I learned here is have other distros ready which I will very much do for sure! I’m not discouraged by failures, and hey If my experience gets too hard, I know I’ll get manjaro installed on different device and tackle the challenge, as of now I’ll go ahead with this one, and I can do my important work on my phone in an emergency case, usually within an hour the system will be ready to use as I expect, if I encounter any problem.

I also keep my exe files on a flash drive, as used windows till now, I do voluntary work and that is very helpful to go between devices, so I’ll be keeping whatever executable offline installable program files and choose softwares that have such files and less require internet access for installation, just as another security or say backup measure.

As for some that said I like arch itself, yes I am very impressed by what it seems to offer, but not to bit more than I can chew, I’ll see arch on a secondary system when I’ll get another system and most importantly more experience with manjaro + actual programming knowledge from university, I know I’ll learn most programming from outside, university is like a small box, I never like to be limited in any box, hence liking what linux has to offer. I’m just thinking why haven’t I switched to linux already… but hey after all I am doing it,

I know not to blame linux or manjaro or hate it when it doesn’t work out… Neither am I gonna discourage anyone else to go arch if my experience would be not so great… I’m used to steep learning curves, I have that learning habit… I tackled blender, GIMP, KDEnLive, and many other programs, although Manjaro is whole new beast, I know how to properly do research and read documentations and I think I’m ready to level up SO… Let’s go!

I already feel part of the community! Thanks All!!

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Hey thanks for your advise!
I have used Kali and one other earlier on Virtual machine, I am not really afraid of using terminal, as long as I do research first and know what I am doing.

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And that could be seen as correct as all Linux distribution has their pros and cons.

I am no expert - just a long time user (computers runs in my family) - and Arch based system is as stable as the user makes it.

Manjaro Linux can be rock solid - or it can break at every update - you are the system administrator - it is your responsibility.

I have been everywhere - Linux wise - more than a decade ago I discovered Arch Linux and around 2016, I found Manjaro - in 2017 I was invited to the team, I have been there ever since as a Manjaro LInux user.

If you are going to rely on scientific applications be aware that they are often sensitive to the rapid release cycle of their python dependencies.

If you intend to run AI applications Nvidia is often the goto GPU - but poses significant challenges with LInux.

Even AMD GPU need special attention when configuring local AI engines.

This will pose yet another challenge, as such programs tend to rely on stable fixed point release cycles - such those provided by Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu Linux and others.

If you have the option - it is often wiser to have a stable system you use in class - and another for private use.

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“Someone” has no place in this conversation unless they can support their opinions and provide verifiable data/proof explaining how/why they came to that conclusion.

Then you will likely feel “at home” with Manjaro, depending on the type of “tinkering” you speak of. If you mean customisation – theming, gadgetry, etc – no Linux distribution is created foremost with that in mind.

As opposed to Arch, Manjaro is curated which allows most of the real tinkering to be largely ignored; for example, Arch doesn’t pre-install a GUI – with Manjaro you have a choice of three Official editions by default, plus user-contributed Community editions are available.

I really don’t know where the idea that “programming knowledge” is needed to use Linux came from. As a user, all you need is that “tinkering” spirit you seem to have, and a willingness to research and learn.

While coding might generally be advantageous when developing software, this assumption is otherwise as much a phallacy as it would be for Windows or MacOS.

We wish you well with that.

A quick tip: Learn all you can about using binary notation; for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing in binary; commit it all to memory, as it will likely be part of your exam(s).

Later, you will probably never use the knowledge again, but you must know it. :man_shrugging:

On a fully supported laptop, Manjaro will likely serve you well; however, laptops are not all equal, and there is always the potential for problems.

I suggest a full desktop system (wherever possible) but Linux on a supported laptop can certainly have it’s advantages.

A fair choice. Though multi-booting Linux and Windows is also an option, albeit not a supported scenario; I personally use Debian, FreeBSD, Manjaro and Windows as multi-boot, and have for many years without issue.

This just makes good sense. :wink:

It’s possibly gratifying for some here to be called “experts”, but the fact is that we are (mostly) Manjaro users frequenting this forum. Even those who might consider themselves to be expert to some degree are always learning something new.

That’s the beauty of Linux – there’s always something to learn, and many ways to achieve the same goal – no matter which distribution you happen to choose.

Manjaro is a so-called “rolling release” distribution which is constantly being updated and “poked at”; other “point release” distributions may not be as current, in some respects.

Though it might feel somewhat heavy on a laptop, I would suggest Debian (or Debian-based) for entry-level solid reliability, given the intention to use it through University.

Otherise, if you have the aptitude and a willingness to learn and deal with issues as they may arise, I strongly recommend Manjaro in its place.

Ultimately it’s your informed choice;

Never allow “Someone” to dissuade you from it.

Regards.

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There’s an eternal war between distros for some people, so you can hear all sorts of things about any distro. Manjaro seems to gather a bit more unwarranted hate as it is close to Arch, but being an “easier” distro. I’ve tried out Red Hat, Ubuntu and Arch in addition, and I find rolling release to be my thing (play a lot of games) and Manjaro being quite laid back to use. I haven’t really had any major issues with it. Not saying I haven’t had any issues with it, but they’ve mostly been solved by finding a more obscure driver or similar things. Arch is more of an educational hobby for me.

Heh, come to think of it, I’m pretty sure my older kids (8– and 10–year olds) have used Manjaro more than Windows. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: You do need to come to terms with some different ways of doing things compared to Windows, but if you have any motivation, it’s not really that big of a thing.

While I admit I wasn’t new to CLI, having started with MS-DOS 3.2, I do say, that once you get your system up and running, it’s just a system. The amount of “mandatory” things to do in a terminal isn’t that large, though you will occasionally run into them, so it’s good to learn the basics. I often use the CLI for convenience (I love Yakuake), it’s just much faster and efficient for some things, but barring that I think it’s been some 5 months since I’ve had to do anything on the terminal.

Other stuff was covered pretty well in the other comments, I think.

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