My Experience on Switching to Arch Linux

About a year ago, I was invited to a pair coding session at the startup where I was working. The developers were receiving consultancy from a strange person. At one point, he took control of the screen sharing while reviewing some of the pull requests that had been made to our codebase. When he shared his screen, there was nothing but a black screen. Suddenly, a terminal screen appeared with his keystrokes and he quickly began examining the codebase, providing feedback on people’s code at a speed I had never seen before. He was able to jump between different files in an instant, examining the diffs that were made in different git commits.

After seeing what I saw, I thought to myself, ‘If I were able to develop and refactor code at that speed, I would save a lot of time, I could have spend more time on thinking about the actual stuff with less friction as possible. I want to have this power.’ So I have look to his CV and realized that he was knowledgeable on topics that many developers, including myself, struggle with. Influenced by this, I started asking him (he was our consultant, after all) as many questions as I could and focused on the resources he suggested and the technologies he used.

The inspiration from this hacker guy, combined with the very precious help from a friend of mine who had a strong interest in operating systems (he uses Arch in Qubes OS btw), being libre, and having control over his computer, led me to switch to Arch Linux. I have also benefited a lot from discussions on hackernews and from youtubers like Luke Smith which I also heard from the Qubes OS friend of mine.

In this post, I will first provide a brief overview of Linux and Arch Linux in particular. Then, I will discuss my reflections on the past few months, including the downsides and upsides of switching to Arch Linux. Finally, I will explain the programs that I currently use in my workflow.

What is special about Linux?

Linux is a free and open-source operating system (OS) based on the Linux kernel, a piece of software that sits between the hardware and programs that you run. Maybe you already know it but the vast majority of servers are already running in Linux. Android, the operating systems that most phones use, is also a specific fork of the Linux Opearting System. By this means, even a developer uses Windows or MacOS, it is still thought among many programmers that it is very beneficial to learn some fundamental aspects of Linux regardless.

Many developers already seem to agree on the importance of learning Linux to some extent for System Administration is out of the question. The variety of views seem to raise when it comes to use Linux on a personal computer. From the view of an average computer user, it might not matter much whether one uses Linux, Windows or MacOS but as your values and needs become more nuanced it might be more reasonable for you to switch to Linux over its alternatives.

The first aspect that comes to my mind between Linux and other well-known operating systems is that Linux is a free and open-source operating system, while Windows and Mac OS are proprietary operating systems that must be purchased. This has several implications:

• You can set up Linux on a computer with no cost except some finite amount of time where you have to spend some money in order to use MacOS or Windows.
• Since both MacOS and Windows are closed-source, we don’t know for sure what they do under the scenes. Windows, for example has a builtin keylogger. Although Apple does not have such a claim, there is nothing preventing them to do something like that.
• By being open source, linux is highly customizable and allows users to modify and tailor their environment to meet their specific needs. In contrast, Windows and Mac OS are more limited in terms of customization. So Linux is a great choice for users who want to have control over their operating system and want to modify or customize it to meet their specific needs.
• By being Open Source, the source code of Linux is checked and maintain by a HUGE group of experienced developers. This might also have some implications on its security.

Another aspect that I like to focus on its Linux’s user base. As with many products, to use a product is often not merely using it but also being part of a group. By using Linux, you also become part of a group that it contains a lot of experienced software developers, hacker-minded people. To me, this is very important because when you become part of a group, it is more likely for you to get some of the habits of the group whether whether you intended so or not. By switching to an environment where there are more experienced people you become more exposed to their content.

What is unique about Arch Linux?

Before diving into this question, I shall clarify what a linux distribution is. In essence a linux distribution is a version of the Linux operating system that is packaged with additional software and tools.

So an oversimplicated, but an intuitive formula can be given as:

DISTRIBUTION = KERNEL + SOME ADDITIONAL DEPENDENCIES

In essence, there is nothing preventing you from doing what one can do in one linux distribution in another by changing the ‘SOME ADDITIONAL DEPENDENCIES’ part of the formula above. These additional dependencies vary from package manages to init systems, and the initial softwares that come with the distribution.

If you look at the amount of possible distributions one can choose, you can be buffled. Why are there so many different linux distributions? Because, there are lots of people who have different goals when using an OS and therefore needing different dependencies. There are also lots of organizations and communities that share different perspectives of what a constitutes a good linux distro.

While distros like Ubuntu focus on being more friendly and welcoming to new users, some distros, like debian focus on stability and some like arch, focus on a certain combination of being minimal, cutting-edge and active.

Despite the fact that there is no objective metric to determine which one of these distributions is the best, they can be superior to each other given a certain context. For example, if you are working on a production server for an important application you might want to choose a linux distribution that does not give major updates regularly to become stable. If you are a new person who switches to Linux you might prefer a friendly linux distro such as Ubuntu for their user friendly community. If you are a person who only wants the programs that they use and nothing more than that, a distro which comes with less dependencies as much as possible might be a good choice for you.

To me, Arch Linux comes forward by being a modern, minimalist distribution that have a very knowledgable community. You may be already heard that Arch Linux is a cutting-edge distribution, this is to say that it adapts new updates and releases of a wide variaty of programs very quickly. In Arch Linux besides its own package manager pacman an organization called Arch User Repository is also providing a possibility for installing programs, this repository is basically very frequently maintained by Arch Linux users, the community. I think it would not be unfair to say that AUR is one of the most active Linux repository, if not the most. One of the widely known things about Arch Linux is that when installed, you dont have anything but a terminal and some of the programs you specified arch installer to download. This is related to Arch Linux being minimal. Instead of building many packages into your system by default that my contain several programs that you might need at the expense of downloading lots of programs that is certain you will not use, it just leaves to customization part on the users’ shoulders. This way you can install and focus on only what you need.

This article will not just be about my journey of switching to arch linux but also embracing its philosophy.

Some Reflections

Getting used to it

It was hard to change the environment that I used to (Windows) with another environment that almost for all the things you want to do you are the one who needs to take the responsibility of deciding how things should go. During this process, I noticed that there are lots of things that we take it granted but by itself an actual thing: Screen lockers, clipboard functionalities, power management, multimedia keys… All of these things are handled by certain processes that are running on the background. Your typical computer user might not be aware that these are actual programs that are needed to be set up but when you are building an environment on a minimalist distribution, your awareness of such things tend to increase.

Variety of Solutions

When you want to do something on Linux, there are a lot of alternative programs to let you do it. And because of this, one is left with the question “which program should one prefer first?” I must admit that I still often get stunned by this question and already lost enough time on it.

‘I am using X as a Window Server Protocol but I heard that Wayland is a newer protocol, should I switch to it?’

‘A program called pipeware for audio handling is recommended but some suggest something called pulseaudio, which one shall I use?’

‘Shall I use vim or neovim? I heard that vim is organized by one person whereas neovim is more community driven.’

Don’t get me wrong. I am not implying that these questions are meaningless. They are indeed meaningful after a point where small nuances between them start to matter.

I think the best approach here would be to just choose a tool that solves the problem without thinking too much and continuing on with what we do. It is a mistake to find the ‘best’ program for your beginners. In many cases, going with the ‘sufficient’ solution is also ‘best’ in terms of your time spent on finding a program.

Some beginner mistakes

Another mistake I see rookies do and I did is to try to do things without actually understanding them. It is not at all uncommon amongst new Linux users to break their system by copying and pasting the commands they saw on some forum. They install programs that do the same stuff, they use different package managers that configure several dependencies and configuration files which result in one manager breaking the changes made by another, and so on.

While it is understandable that people want to do things in the same way they are used to in their previous settings I think this behavior also prevents them from getting used to handling things in Linux: For example, instead of seeking programs that enable installation stuff through certain programs with GUI, it is better to learn how one’s native package manager is working through a terminal, how to build stuff from source code with makefiles and so on.

Sometimes the solutions people come up with to imitate their previous workspace are so complex that it is better to not solve the ‘problem’ in the first place. One example is from me: Since I love MSPaint, when I needed to draw things, I was running a Windows instance on QEMU and initiating MSPaint with a bash alias that I have set. This was a very bad idea as just switching to another Linux program for drawing would be just easier.

Dual Boot

Setting up a dual-boot computer with Linux and Windows may seem like a good idea for those looking to learn Linux, but I think that it can be a bad idea. A few years ago, I made the mistake of setting up Linux Mint alongside Windows.

Firstly, dual-booting increases the amount of maintenance that one has to do. Not only do you have to keep both operating systems updated and running smoothly, but you also have to know how to synchronize your files between the two systems.

Secondly, having the option to fall back on Windows when encountering problems can prevent one from fully immersing themselves in the Linux experience and learning how to troubleshoot and solve issues on their own. It’s similar to trying to learn how to swim while having a floatation device. It’s better to dive in and learn the Linux operating system without the crutch of Windows as a backup.

In my opinion, the only good reason for still wanting to have Windows installed on a computer is for either playing video games or for using special programs that are not available on Linux.

GUI vs Terminal

Linux users often find themselves using terminal programs because of the flexibility and power it offers for advanced users. Terminal programs, which are controlled through a command-line interface (CLI), allow users to enter commands in order to perform actions, unlike programs with a graphical user interface (GUI) which typically have a visual interface such as buttons and menus. While GUI programs have the advantage of ease of use for non-technical users and quick access to common tasks through visual cues, terminal programs offer more flexibility and can be programmed and automated through scripting, making it a preferred choice for advanced users.

Even when using GUIs, it is common to find ourselves performing repetitive tasks manually. With simple programs that are designed to perform one specific task well and are also available to use programmatically, you can use them in for loops, conditionally, and pipe the output of one program to another. This approach can be a game changer, especially for those who want to become power users. Here are a few examples of where this approach has saved me a significant amount of time:

• Recently, I had a batch of 113 weirdly rotated images, but I was able to rotate them all to the desired orientation using the following code:

    for file in *.jpg;
    do
        convert $file -rotate 90 rotated-$file;
    done
  

• I used yt-dlp to easily download youtube videos and playlists. It was one of the most comfortable downloading experiences I had.

• I used pdfcrop for cropping PDF files.

• I changed the structure of folders that have many files in them by using simple for loops alongside with mv cp rm

Not to mention how much its easier to install packages that are on AUR or Arch Repository compared to installing stuff in Windows.

Overall, I strongly believe that the power of interacting with programs through terminal can increase one’s overall productivity.

Arch Linux manuals

One caveat of using command-line interfaces (CLIs) is that it can be easy to forget the specifics of the interface. As a result, it is essential for terminal users to know how to quickly open and find the information they need in manual pages in order to effectively use CLIs.

Thankfully, most programs in Linux already have their own manuals available through the man command. When I need to use a certain utility or CLI function, all I do is open the terminal through a keybinding that I have set up and type man programname, then I can quickly scroll through the manual page using VI keybindings.

Despite the fact that I am already acquinted by heart with some of the most important flags and utilities of the programs that I use, I am also a lot better (faster) at finding the stuff I need. It is just as much important, if not more important, to be able to find the stuff you need by knowing them by heart.

Current Workflow

All of the configs for the apps below can be found from my dotfiles github repository.

Window Manager

I do not use any desktop environments. I use a tiling Window Manager (WM), a type of software that automatically arranges and resizes application windows in a non-overlapping fashion, without the need for manual dragging and resizing. The particular WM I use now is called dwm, it is one of the tools that are built by the hacker organization suckless.

Having switching to a tiling window manager, I now realize that how much of a hassle was it to manually resize, drag, and select all my application windows. Besides slowing me down, your average desktop environment also takes a lot of space with their tilebars and etc. which I might want to use for seeing more content.

dwm comes with another program called dmenu which enables you to select list of options from the menu and do whatever you want with it. Initially dwm uses dmenu to make the user easily open the programs they want to open through a certain shortcut.

I also use dwmblocks to control the contents of the info bar on the top left. I only show Volume, Battery, Memory and Date info there.

Keyboard Layout

Since I am from Turkey, I need to use Turkish characters in my daily life a lot especially when interacting with my friends. The thing is I also find English keyboard layout very productive, especially when it comes to coding and using vim. As a result, I needed a mechanism to be able to benefit from both of these functionalities. For this, I have attached a shortcut to switch between TR and US layouts.

I have also swapped the Escape key with the CapsLock key as I use the escaping functionality a lot when using VIM but do not use Caps Lock that much. It is ergonomically a lot more preferable to use the CapsLock key for the Escape functionality.

Here are my settings in .xinitrc that imply those changes:

# ~/.xinitrc

setxkbmap -option "caps:swapescape"
setxkbmap -model pc104 -layout us,tr -option grp:win_space_toggle

I am also aware that I could have used tr-alt-q layout which is basically an English keyboard layout but if you use AltGr, keys like i,o,u,g,c turns into ı,ö,ü,ğ,ç. The problem is that the only way I found was to change the keycode tables through .Xmodmap and it was buggy. I could not find a simple and clean way to implement this layout

Terminal & Shell

As terminal, I use st, so far I have not seen particular advantage of using st over other possible terminals that I could have use Alacritty or so, I just needed a terminal that is lightweight and st was one of the possibilities I could choose.

As shell, I mostly use bash. But I understand using zsh is perfectly fine in a personal environment as well. The only possible problem that I can think of zsh is portability problem of the scripts written for it.

Text editing and programming

I use neovim for almost all my works involving text. Neovim is a fork of Vim, a highly configurable text editor that is designed to be extendible and also efficient through the maximal use of keyboard both with macros and shortcuts. It also comes with a powerful syntax highlighting engine and support for a wide range of programming languages and file formats. As a dialect of Vim, Neovim is fully compatible with Vim and uses the same configuration files and command syntax, but it includes additional functionality and improvements that are not available in the original Vim. dialect of vim.

‘Why use neovim instead of vim?’ you might ask. Right now, it does not matter to me whether I use vim or neovim since in both of these the things I want is available. I use neovim because it was my first decision to go with it and because of this I already have my files configured for neovim. The reason why I initially chose neovim over vim was because of a certain workflow video I have seen on youtube: Vim had not some the plugins that were used in the video. Later on, I thought that video was full of unnecessary stuff so I gave up on it.

Getting used to vim has significantly improved my speed and comfort when programming as its command mode is very efficient for text navigation and manipulation without even having to use mouse or moving your hand much. When my friends see me getting done stuff in VIM they sometimes refer to it as ‘black magic’, I like this a lot too. =)

I should also mention that I have started to convert some of my .odt, .docx files like diaries, logs, records to plain text just because it gives me to flexibility to be able to edit/read them through simple text editors such as vim.

Terminal Multiplexer

A terminal multiplexer is a software program that allows multiple terminal sessions to be created, accessed, and controlled from a single terminal window or console. It enables users to have multiple terminal sessions running simultaneously, switch between them, and manage them easily.

Since I use terminal for almost all the text work I do including software development, it is, thus, ergonomically important for me to have a way to manage different programs through one terminal.

I do this thorugh a program called dvtm, an alternative for tmux.

Although I can split screens in vim when doing software development, it does not give the same flexibity and ease of use the dvtm gives. There are some programs you might want to see running simultaneously through one terminal instead in addition to being able to edit/write files. You can do the latter in vim, but the former is not so trivial to achieve.

Since dvtm already solves a problem that vim splits solve, I do not use vim splits anyways.

Here is an example showcase of dvtm:

File Manager

I use ranger, considering to switch to lf but also don’t see a reason for it since I am already used to ranger.

As far as I remember the only thing I have changed in ranger is some of the priorities on which programs to use when openning files and to enable image preview mechanism.

Before getting used to ranger I was using a file manager with GUI named dolphin.

Taking Notes

I used lots of different note-taking apps such as Google Keep, Obsidian, Notion… The problem is, almost all of these apps come with features that I do not use at all, I mostly use note-taking applications as a way to remember the things that I intended to do and for this, all I need is a way to sync my files between my Phone and Computer. I used telegram for this purpose for a while, but since its purpose is not this, I then looked for some alternatives.

Meanwhile, I found gitjournal, it is a git based note taking application with a Mobile App. On my phone, I use its own application whereas on my computer, I just use the gitjournal script that I created that updates the notes by automatically running commands such as git pull git commit git push before and after opening nvim to change note files.

The script for this can be found here.

Password Management and OTP

pass and pass-otp

Also there is a very simple script called passmenu which uses dmenu to fetch the passwords from pass easily. For passphrase aplet to open, you need gtk2 or gtk3 though.

Wifi & Bluetooth

I use bluetoothctl to connect bluetooth devices and use networkmanager & nmcli to connect to the internet.

Web Browser

I just use brave like a normal human being. I like that it has a builtin adblocker. Since I like moving with vim keybindings, I have also installed an extension called vimium. This extension helps you to navigate your browser through vim keybindings.

Conclusion

Switching to Arch Linux was a challenging experience due to its steep learning curve. I had to deal with many things that I always used, but never realized that there were actual programs for those functionalities, such as clipboard, screen locks, and opening screens. It took some time to get used to it, but now I am so accustomed to using Arch Linux that I don’t even want to use Windows anymore, except for cases like playing video games (which I also don’t do it much these days).

It’s also fun to challenge yourself and succesfully get over those challenges.