It’s about 3 years that I’m not using Manjaro anymore (after 8 years of usage).
I’ve choose other Arch derivative distros .
Reason why I made different choices :
Not for power users : Manjaro has forgotten user that wants a no graphical server sessions, from witch build they’re own system. The absent support of a no-gui option in the installer and a CLI install make Manjaro lacks of flexibility.
Too much ISOS : there are some good examples of Arch based out of here that offers multiple DEs /wms and multiple choices (drivers, print support, desktop environment, software etc.) in one & only Calamares installer, this is not hard to do, at the least you can just fork already existent Calamares settings by other OSes (look at what was the Arcolinux ’ calamares installer, it was superb and the best implementation of an Arch based IMHO).
Nothing different to other distros : Manjaro , except the stable/testing/unstable repos does not make the difference in anything from other Arch based, maybe something worst also (BTW , in recent years any issue using Arch by my side .
Not for alternative choices : this is personal, but I do appreciate more traditional stuff , like traditional init systems that are more light & fast, and recently, I’m very interested in the xlibre xserver developement .
Recently, I’m trying again Manjaro in a VM (for my family member’s PC) , the xfce-minimal ISO.
I’m very impressed , very well done , congratulation to @philm & team
I thought it’s a shame that Manjaro doesn’t offer the flexibility and the variety of choices I need , reported above.
I think that installation features that offers more flexibility for advanced users and different technical choices , like support for other init systems and IMHO , the xlibre server (that has the interest of many users) could be beneficial for Manjaro, bringing new users into the project and bringing back former users too
Manjaro nowadays is a distro that does not offers nothing different from other Arch based distros, does not offer nothing that can made de difference in a good way, nothing distinctive from other Arch derivatives , and this give no reasons to choose Manjaro instead of one of the others , especially for intermediate/advanced users (lots of them prefer pure Arch most of the times).
Just thinking about it 10 seconds, the kernels and video drivers management is not something Arch offers. Just for that it is good value to use Manjaro.
Did you ever have a Nvidia video card? You can switch various drivers version easily. Of course if you have AMD video card it is of no use as the drivers are in the kernel already.
//EDIT: to add more, there is a graphical frontend too for MHWD, and in both case (GUI or terminal), MHWD detects the drivers compatible with the hardware, and that for video cards, network cards, or whatever it detects and offers drivers for. Really helpful for users.
Ok, you dont like manjaro. If it is not for you, it’s ok, Manjaro is not for everyone. I like Manjaro so far, but yes, EOS or Arch are good too, or maybe Big Linux or RebornOS (another Antergos-like distro).
Manjaro was one of the first Arch derivatives. Designed to be easy Arch. In that regard it has succeeded. Your complaint should be with all that followed and really offered little else beyond that.
The branch system and the curated/delayed updates is the crucial difference. No other arch distro offers it.
Everything else - you’d be better with arch. And yes, calamares needs more work. And pamac.
My Manjaro literally takes less than 4 seconds to boot, if that’s too long then I’m perfectly okay with such a “heavy & slow” init system, and everything afterwards is quick too.
Anyone familiar with Erik Dubois’ name/work will not be disappointed with “Kiro”. kiro - Browse Files at SourceForge.net
This is essentially a continuation of “Arconet” - with the default Xfce interface and Calamares installer.
After installation (or booting as a live system), more interfaces and VMs can be added using ATT (Arclinux-tweak-tool).
Originally posted by Jonathon Fernyhough at Manjaro forum - April 19, 2019.
Manjaro doesn’t add features, and the features it does add I don’t want
I want Manjaro to add a feature which I want. I can’t do it myself but it’s really important to what I currently think is important so Manjaro should add it.
The developers are lazy because they don’t do what I want them to do, but they still find time to add features which other people ask for. That’s stupid and lazy.
Those features which other people want aren’t what I want, so they are a waste of time and completely bloat.
I hate bloat. Bloat is extra features that I don’t want. Not like the extra features which I do want because they aren’t bloat because I want them.
Why does Manjaro include stuff which I don’t want? Why won’t Manjaro include what I want instead of what other people want?
Why can’t Manjaro be made into what I want, and also what everyone else at the same time wants because they also want what I want (apart from the people who don’t want because they are noob and hate privacy)?
I keep asking for someone else to do something for me over and over and over again and yet they still haven’t done what I want them to. This means Manjaro is terrible and shouldn’t be used by anyone, ever. I never liked Manjaro anyway because it’s made by script kiddies, but I’m doing this because I want Manjaro to be popular because if it did what I wanted then it would be more popular and more people would want to use it because everyone wants the same thing that I want.
It just shows that because you don’t do what I want that you don’t know what you’re doing and I’m never going to recommend Manjaro to anyone.
But if you did do just this one thing which I want then Manjaro would be the best.
Oh, that’s not true at all.
I really like Manjaro, I used it from 2014 to 2022 , the same installation, without reinstalling the system ; I hope you guys and @philm did not misunderstood my words.
I’m just saying: Manjaro is currently focused on a specific target, that’s the Linux average user.
I’d like Manjaro to be a distro that can make happy multiple target users: the newbie one, the advanced one, the wayland enjoyer, the xlibre enjoyer, people who like systemd , people who like traditional inits, full DE fans, windows managers fans, bloat fans , minimalism fans etc.
This can be done, without many efforts, because distro like Arco, Endeavour, Artix, already did a part of the job , just fork the best part of each one of them and include that stuff in what Manjaro already did in those years.
I think that targeting multiple users cases could be extremely beneficial for Manjaro, and , in general for every distro.
I think this would be extremely good , for community, developers and users .
Manjaro is based on systemd - I not seeing that change at any point.
This is one of the reasons why Artix Linux exist, as is a breakout from Manjaro focusing on traditional init.
I have very fond memories of maintaining the Openbox Edition and the derivatives LXDE and LXQt - I got an insane experience and insight into the inner workings of Manjaro and Arch Linux based systems.
It is a standing fact that you cannot please everyone…
Adding all kinds of fancy stuff to the installer only creates more code, more code increase the maintenance burden, if the maintenance is not kept up, reputation decreases faster than you can say Manjaro Linux.
That is why the tools are freely available.
One of the reasons there is so many guides in the Tutorials section offering insight into the customising process, is because there is no limitation to what you can do.
I am very excited about the opportunities Manjaro’s tools provide and both I and many others have passed that knowledge on to the community.
What does this mean?
And I dont get the point at your criticism against a specific usertype as a target.
There are a lot of distros for every need, whith or without support for special needs and you can chose whichever you want or need.
And now you are complainig at the makers of the little (sorry) distro you used for years, because they do not solve your urge for a one-for-all-distribution, which no one yet achieved to built.
I dont get it.
That’s not a question easily answered. The internet is rife with discussions against or in favor of systemd. I was once in the anti-systemd camp myself, until I started looking into how it works and what it can do.
There are still things I don’t like about it — e.g. systemd-homed, which is a solution to a problem that didn’t exist yet — but given that systemd is modular, you don’t have to use all of its individual components if you don’t want to.
Personally, I think it’s progress, and I like the fact that it serves as a userspace supervisor, keeping all your background processes in check. And unlike most other init systems — barring one or two — it also supports the kernel’s cgroups framework.
Well, to be fair, there was also a lot of politics involved with that decision, just as with the debate over systemd itself. Also, the fact that its main developer is well known as an arrogant narcissist — not to mention that he’s currently working for Microsoft — sure hasn’t helped matters.
I don’t know why either. I’ve never liked Fedora, and on top of that, its Plasma edition is quite horrible.
Yes, absolutely. It’s a distribution for people who either are experienced with GNU/Linux, or at the very least interested enough to develop a degree of experience.
It is not a distribution for people with a consumerist attitude who only want a kitchen sink appliance. There are other distributions catering to such audiences.
