Learning phases

We recommend you do a “lot” of clean installs.
Put your data online via online services or put them on a usb/harddisk.

You will break your system starting the learn about Linux.
That is normal.

15 minutes later you are back on a newly installed OS.

This can be an approach to cover the abundance of information provided on our websites, our forum and on Youtube.

Subscribe to Youtube and find solutions to improve your ArcoLinux experience.

   Phase 1

Try out our flagship ArcoLinuxL and select an option that is best for your hardware at boot time.
Do not select anything yet in Calamares.
ArcoLinux gives you a lot of freedom during installation time.

With freedom comes more complexity and the need for more knowledge. We can give you both.

Enjoy Xfce4 and all the free and amazing apps already on your system.
Use the time to learn how to update and maintain your system.
Use the time how to install and remove applications.
Learn the keyboard shortcuts.
Learn about aliases.
Learn about skel.

Get comfortable in a terminal.

Download the ArcoLinuxL iso. Do a clean install.

   Phase 2

After learning Xfce4 you can try out  other desktops.
Choose your next desktop and download the ArcoLinuxB iso.
You can choose desktops like Mate, Gnome, Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, Plasma, …
You can install the software you have learned in phase 1 and more from inside Calamares.
At this time we do not recommend a Tiling Window Manager (TWM) yet.
At this time we do not recommend mixing desktops yet.

However start learning the keyboard keybindings that all desktops have. You will need them in the TWMs.

Download an ArcoLinuxB iso with the desktop of your choice. Do a clean install.

   Phase 3

Now take a look at other desktops and TWMs.

Some will be new to you.
Some will not make sense to you.
Some will be just too complex (yet).

We choose a desktop:
Cwm, Fvwm3, Icewm, Jwm, Lxqt, Openbox, Ukui, …

We choose a TWM:
Awesome, Bspwm, Dwm, Hlwm, i3, Qtile, Spectrwm, Xmonad, …
The Xtended iso contains Openbox and all TWMs we have.

Download an ArcoLinuxB iso with the desktop/TWM of your choice. Do a clean install.

   Phase 4

You now have notions of many desktops and TWMs. You can easily find your way in their setting managers and/or configs.

It may be time to make things more complex.

You can use our ArcoLinux Tweak Tool (and the Calamares installer) to mix desktops and TWMS on the same pc.

You will experience that some desktops will look ‘off’. You will have to find the knowledge online to overcome that.

   Phase 5

By now you have experimented with a few desktops and/or TWMs.
You may want to stick to one particular desktop and/or maybe one TWM.
You can download the ArcoLinuxB iso of your choice or you can build the iso yourself.

At ArcoLinux you can create your own personal iso with all the packages pre-installed.
Learn how to build an iso at https://arcolinuxb.com.

Build your own ArcoLinuxB iso. Do a clean install.

   Phase 6

You know your applications, services and settings you require for each desktop or TWM.
Installing and removing applications comes easy.
Maintenance of your OS has no secrets.

Then maybe you start with the ArcoLinuxD iso.
Two options:

  1. install a bare version of ArcoLinux and run your own scripts to install desktops, apps and configs (orginal purpose of ArcoLinuxD)
  2. use the Calamares options to install desktops and applications

Download ArcoLinuxD isos. Do a clean install.

   Phase 7

Previous phase has prepared you for this one. You are comfortable in a TTY. You have ‘sufficient’ knowledge to administer your system in a terminal.

You can install Arch Linux the “Arch Way“.

Calamares is not present. You are booting up in a black screen.

It is time to type every single command to get a working OS.

Configs and settings are not present and need to be set by you.

Download the Arch Linux iso. Do a clean install.

   Phase 8

At some point you may want to learn how to create your own distribution based on Arch Linux.

At first we recommend you visit https://arcolinuxiso.com  for the Carli project.

Carli stands for Customized Arch Linux Iso.

Not only will we explain how to create an iso but also everything that is linked to it like repositories, keys, builds, Calamares, …

Follow the menu Carli and read and watch any tutorials from Carli 1 till the last one. See it as bingewatching. There is a lot of knowledge in there how to overcome ‘any issue’. You can only build the last Carli.

Secondly we recommend you visit https://alci.online.

ALCI stands for Arch Linux Calamares Installer.

Here you will find a condensed list of articles and tutorials. The only goal here is to add Calamares to the Arch Linux iso.
The website is a concise list of the minimal requirements to create an iso. Carli goes much further.