Arch Linux Derivatives

Arch Linux has a reputation for being a “difficult” distribution. I’ve written previously about how that’s not really something that needs to change, smoother onboarding just isn’t a part of the Arch Linux project. The appeal of Arch is that it ships with basically no software. While the latest Ubuntu ISO is ~5.8 gigabytes, Arch’s September 2025 ISO is just ~1.4 gigabytes. In fact, if you look at the packages included as part of the base installation, you’ll find a very funny snippet to read on a website documenting a Linux distribution.

This design philosophy of build-it-yourself has lead to a number of pre-built distributions downstream that offer more than a foundation. Not to say that these are all “Arch but Easy”, I’d liken it to using cake mix. You still have to bake the rest of the cake, but you can outsource a few steps. That being said, the same pitfalls apply here. You better REALLY trust Betty Crocker if you’re letting her make fundamental decisions about your cake. And in Betty Crocker’s case, that’s a bad idea.

 Manjaro

Have ever wanted to run Arch while also being as plain as possible? Well, what Ubuntu is to Debian, Manjaro is to Arch¹. Not nearly to the same extent, Manjaro only established a company to offer enterprise support in 2019, but the project overall follows Ubuntu’s design philosophy of de-nerdifying the base OS². For the most part, they’ve been doing that well enough for someone who finds that appealing.

However, Manjaro comes with some baggage. Manjaro might not have tried to force Snaps on its users, but its Pamac utility has caused AUR outages multiple times. At the time of writing, Manjaro has been on good behavior for a good while. 3 years is probably long enough to say they’re not going to DDoS the AUR anytime soon. My main problem is just that there are better options these days if you want an easier Arch experience. The archinstall utility already provides a built-in installer that a normal person can use, and there are better distributions if all you want is a graphical installer.

 EndeavourOS

This is the “user-friendly arch” option that nearly everyone recommends, and I’m no different. I actually used to use this distro exclusively for the GUI installer because I had a very fragile ego and didn’t want a reminder that I wasn’t smart enough for vanilla Arch. Shaming myself into ricing aside, EndeavourOS is more like a loose collection of utilities with very little in the way of core modifications. In terms of project philosophy, they’re very close to upstream. They just include a few packages that 99% of end users³ will need anyway.

The most fundamental change EndeavourOS has is the use of Dracut instead of Mkinitcpio. This is a turbo-nerd topic that involves kernel modules and firmware, but in this case it’s mostly to support Nvidia hardware. The majority of the changes come in the form of links to relevant wiki pages and buttons that run shell scripts. In other words, it simplifies the user experience without trying to hide the underlying complexity. Unlike many “beginner-friendly” distros, it doesn’t even try to avoid the terminal⁴. Even if I’m not using it, I’ll always respect its approach to onboarding via education.

 Artix

For as long as I’ve used Linux, I’ve been using Systemd, whether I knew it or not. I’ve never had a reason to dislike it, but I always thought it was a red flag that seemingly anyone with an opinion on it thinks it’s the antichrist. Artix follows that pattern by being Very Opinionated. Their FAQ page is a great read, but their main criticisms come down to security and bloat⁵.

Despite this, Systemd is ubiquitous. Nearly all distros use it, so Artix has to provide replacements for the utilities every other distro gets from it. Just recently, this meant dropping support for the GNOME desktop environment. In my opinion, nothing of value was lost, but it’s a good example of how Artix necessarily loses functionality. If we can ignore all nuance for a moment, their main selling point is not offering an extremely useful piece of software. Beyond that, their reasons for doing so are even more turbo-nerdy than initramfs. For a very specific person, this is the only usable distribution and I’m happy for them. For everyone else, just go with Arch.

 Garuda

Garuda is a Hindu eagle god who acts as the mount of Vishnu and also hates all snakes everywhere forever. Garuda Linux is a distribution of Arch Linux that aims to provide a “beautiful and easy-to-use desktop experience”. Both are subjective qualities, but as long as we’re talking subjectively, Garuda has the ugliest graphical environment I’ve seen on Linux. It makes me glad I’m colorblind, I’m spared the worst of it.

Other than that, Garuda is fine. I guess. There really isn’t anything wrong with it, it’s just really hard to get past the aesthetic. Their coolest addition is the Chaotic AUR, which requires a whole explanation because the AUR is both the main advantage of using Arch Linux and the hardest part for Arch-derived distros to implement.

Side Quest: The AUR

The AUR (Arch User Repository) is an alternative app store where every app is stored in a Git repository. Any user can upload whatever they want to a repository, as long as they’re legally allowed to distribute it and it meets their submission guidelines. This sometimes includes a binary package file (.pkg.tar.zst), but often it contains only the source code and a shell script called PKGBUILD. This script describes how to compile a binary package from the source code, letting many different build systems be accessed from a single utility called makepkg.

If you’re familiar with open-source, you’ve probably heard of the practice of “compiling from source”⁶. There are claims that compiling software yourself gives you better performance or access to the source code gives you better security, but the main reason the practice endures is what makes Linux a developer’s paradise. You can customize every little thing, get under the hood and modify whatever you want. You can also receive patches significantly quicker since you don’t have to wait for a new release, but again, this is a feature for professional computer-touchers. If that’s not you, compiling from source just means updates take about a minute longer and take a solid chunk out of your battery life. The point here is: there’s no inherent advantage to the AUR’s approach of compiling software on the user’s end, it just lowers the requirements to distribute software, which finally brings us back to Garuda and its standout feature: the Chaotic AUR.

The Chaotic AUR aims to make installing from the AUR as seamless as possible. It’s technically its own binary package repository that you can configure pacman to get packages from. This is unusual because most people interact with the AUR through an AUR helper, usually yay or paru. The thing is, using an AUR helper is already pretty seamless. I don’t think most folks will notice or even care if their packages aren’t being managed by pacman directly. On top of that, a lot of AUR packages offer a version with the -bin suffix,the indicating it’s been pre-compiled. The Chaotic AUR generates -bin packages with a couple servers churning through recent AUR updates, compiling 24/7. This obviously results in a ton of duplicated effort for a very niche benefit, but if that sounds appealing, you can use it from any arch-based distro.

Putting all of this together, I struggle to find a reason to recommend Garuda, but at the same time it’s clearly found a userbase and they’re having a great time. For all I know the branding is just to keep serious people away. Honestly, you can probably find out if this distro’s for you by looking at the screenshots.

CachyOS

Conversely, CachyOS is a distro defined by deep technical changes that threaten to derail this article altogether. Thankfully because of the low-level nature of these changes, the broad strokes are all you really need to know as someone who doesn’t write kernel patches as a hobby.

So, your CPU can do a lot of things at once. If it has multiple cores it can do even more things at once. But if the number of running programs is ever more than the number of cores (which is always the case if you’re not still on DOS), the kernel has to decide how to portion out each core so that each program gets at least a little bit of CPU power. This process is done by what is called a scheduler. The way it divides CPU time is very complicated, but every millisecond the CPU is interrupted by the kernel to check if there’s a hardware signal it has to think about first. This is why your mouse moves even when your CPU is completely slammed, the kernel forces processing your hardware inputs to take priority over everything else.

CachyOS implements a custom scheduler that aims to increase responsiveness by prioritizing certain programs via a “burstiness” metric. Basically, if a process won’t take a lot of CPU power to complete, it gets to go first. This on its own would be niche and unremarkable, but CachyOS has gained an unusual amount of popularity in a very short time. DistroWatch, a website that reports on Linux distributions⁷, has had CachyOS at the top of its trending page for all of 2025. This is just one source, and a heavily biased on at that, but it’s worth mentioning. It’s still a rock-solid distro, don’t get me wrong, just a bit overhyped.

 SteamOS

Believe it or not, SteamOS wasn’t always Arch-based! Back before the Steam Deck and Proton, SteamOS was a Debian-based distribution meant mostly for streaming games from a Windows PC. The move to Arch was primarily to avoid Debian’s slow release pace. Funny, you’d think that’d be a perfect fit for Valve.

The biggest difference between modern SteamOS and a standard Arch install with matching packages is the immutable file system. Nothing outside of the home directory can be modified by the user, not even with root privileges. SteamOS, despite the freedom it gives you, is still built like a console operating system. When the OS is only designed to run on a single hardware configuration, it makes sense to standardize installations as much as possible for better support. As the name would imply, everything is built around Steam. That’s where you update your system, change settings, and manage your files. It’s honestly impressive the level of control it gives you within a controller-focused interface. Overall, SteamOS does a really good job giving consumers who want it to just work what they want while also giving nerds room to mess around.

Conclusion or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Terminal

Arch’s small but sturdy foundation makes it an attractive option for many use cases, and while some of those use cases warrant a distinct distribution, you can get 99% of their functionality with an archinstall script. I’d still recommend that option for most people, but CachyOS and EndeavourOS offer convenience in a non-intrusive way, so they’re the go-to for people who are adamantly opposed to terminal usage. The thing is, as much as I get how people should be able to use computers how they want, at a certain point that attitude becomes a problem. The command line isn’t as scary as it sounds, you won’t die if you learn how to use ls and cd. Just try to be a little more curious about the tools you use and you’ll have a good time. At least with Linux you don’t have a multi-billion dollar corporation working to de-skill their userbase into compliant consumers dependent on a chatbot for everything.

Sorry for the soapbox-ing, grandmas still on Windows 7 aren’t the problem, I’m just frustrated by people’s unwillingness to learn new things. Bottom line, all of these are good options, just try to get comfortable with not knowing everything from the get-go.

Signing off, Wheelsbot

Things only get better once you accept they can be different.