and you have to choose to boot into desktop mode to even mess with anything.
You say that like it’s a bad thing, but I think having the two separate modes is a fantastic setup. You get basically a console experience, smooth and straightforward and easy to use for just playing games, and you still have access to the underlying system anytime you want.
Anyone who can install windows can install Arch using something like EndeavourOS (which, for people who don’t know, is literally just Arch, using a graphical installer and some sane defaults for a desktop PC (Plasma, pipewire, Wayland, etc etc))
You don’t have to do the intimidating “boot from Arch live install medium and install everything manually” on your first run (or ever). I really only do that when I’m setting up a server. For a desktop, EndeavourOS takes a fraction of the time to get going.
If the steam deck keep growing in popularity, Arch is going to be the first linux for a lot of people.
Just because SteamOS is based on Arch now doesn’t mean that using SteamOS teaches you anything about using Linux or Arch specifically.
The SteamDeck literally obfuscates most of it and you have to choose to boot into desktop mode to even mess with anything.
You say that like it’s a bad thing, but I think having the two separate modes is a fantastic setup. You get basically a console experience, smooth and straightforward and easy to use for just playing games, and you still have access to the underlying system anytime you want.
My point wasn’t that it’s a bad thing, my point was the vast majority of SteamDeck users are never going to boot into desktop mode.
Anyone who can install windows can install Arch using something like EndeavourOS (which, for people who don’t know, is literally just Arch, using a graphical installer and some sane defaults for a desktop PC (Plasma, pipewire, Wayland, etc etc))
You don’t have to do the intimidating “boot from Arch live install medium and install everything manually” on your first run (or ever). I really only do that when I’m setting up a server. For a desktop, EndeavourOS takes a fraction of the time to get going.
Plain Arch has a super easy TUI installer now. There’s no need to manually install it anymore except in speed-run competitions.
And even then it’s atomic, IIRC.