I use Artix, btw
I have to say, as much as I liked Slackware in the past few months, I wanted a little bit more up-to-date system. I was also sure that I will never ever ever install something with systemd (that's why I also chose Slackware). Let's not use cancerous stuff, if we don't have to, right?
I have to say Artix Linux looked like a natural choice. It's basically a systemd-less Arch Linux, which merged from some older Arch and Manjaro projects. I used Manjaro for a few years, so I knew I won't have a problem with using it, and I don't have to learn that much new stuff.
Artix xfce runit
I started with Artix Xfce runit version, and I sticked with it. I always loved the minimalism and flexibility of Xfce. To my surprise the distro has a nice default theme.
After battling with the nvidia card and proprietary driver, I found a simple solution.
First update the repositories:
$ sudo pacman -Syy
Then upgrade the system:
$ sudo pacman -Su
After a reboot, I installed the driver from world:
$ sudo pacman -S world/nvidia
Later I also enabled lib32 and multilib for 32-bit compatibility in
/etc/pacman.conf. This is required for installing Steam.
$ sudo pacman -S steam
For other gaming stuff:
$ sudo pacman -S wine-staging lutris dosbox
I had also some problems with logging in (I use a separate HOME partition so I can distrohopp fast), but after I deleted some files like .profile, .Xmodmap and .xinitrc, I could login.
Working with Yay
Yay, is an AUR helper. It makes installing packages from the Arch User Repository, much easier. Of course you have to prepare yourself that some things will break if you are using it, but I have rarely had problem with it, under Manjaro, so I'll continue to use it.
There are some packages we need to install to make yay work:
$ sudo pacman -S binutils make gcc pkg-config fakeroot
Then you follow DistroTube's instructions:
Do I recommend Artix?
Too soon to tell, but if you already have some experience, it can't hurt. Especially for learning to deal with other than systemd crap. Installing from the Live image is really easy and fast.
For more information, check out the Artix Linux website.
This was day 46 of #100DaysToOffload, where we write about different things on our personal blogs. Join the project or just read the blogs (we have RSS and coookiez!).