I'm thinking about switching from Debian to Arch, particularly Garuda because it's optimized for gaming right from the start. I'm excited to dive deeper into the system and enjoy a more hands-on experience, but I have some questions. What should I be cautious about when transitioning to Arch? What regular maintenance should I expect to perform? I'm curious about the practical aspects of the "hands-on" approach. Any good practices or tips would be appreciated!
4 Answers
Don't forget to regularly back up your system and try things out in a virtual machine before risking them on your main setup! The Arch wiki is a treasure trove of information, so make sure to check out their system maintenance guidelines. One thing to note is the package cache—keep an eye on it to avoid running out of disk space!
Be aware that while most of the Arch wiki applies to Garuda, the Arch forums won't help with Arch-based distros. Stick to Garuda's community if you need help. Also, check the PACNEW files from time to time to sync up your configuration files. It's easy to overlook but really important to keep things tidy!
Cachy is a solid alternative if you're considering options. Just remember to refer to Garuda as what it is—not just Arch Linux—to avoid any confusion!
Definitely check the Arch homepage for any known issues before running `sudo pacman -Syu`. It's a good practice to stay updated on their news, and trust me, it saves you from big headaches later on! You might also want to install the Informant tool; it checks for any updates on news articles while you're updating your packages, which is super handy since we often forget to check manually.
I didn't even know about Informant! Sounds like a must-have for Arch users—thanks for the tip!
Good call on the backups! I also heard that you can automate cleaning the package cache, which sounds super useful.