Suggestions to Revive an Old Device
Tags: linux, archlinux
Published: 2023-02-19 08:50:44


Hello people. Lately, I remembered one of my proudest deeds. Somehow, that 'deed' gave me more pleasure than when I got a scholarship or when I ranked in the international top 10 in an Olympiad. You can call me wierd, but that delightful job was: 
> Installing Arch Linux on a practically unusable, old laptop.

## I use Arch btw


![Arch Linux logo](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/b9x4wt3c0d39dgmdqpvy.png)
You might have heard of this '[punchline](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4e9rzmIzVu3RqRYOS9Y26LqpY5JD6xejjz_fWlEZAHBQFzuwzVejFYdG3&s=10)'. This 'punchline' can actually get your face punched if you use it a lot(some people have a strong dislike apparently, and I would really like to know why), but I use it anyways. 

## Why Arch?

Well, [Arch](https://archlinux.org) (apart from giving you a sense of immense satisfaction) gives you the liberty to choose from a plethora of choices about anything in your desktop. 
It is basically like:
> Your computer. Your design. Your choices.

(*I made that thing.*)

## Getting started

Enough of Arch specific stuff.
Let's see the specific details of how to make our computer light.

The main factor in lightness is mostly the desktop environment (DE) . Keep a heavy DE and see your computer slow down or keep a light window manager(WM, it is not even a DE fully) and see yourself get frustrated despite having a fast computer. So basically, I will recommend you to choose something in between and [XFCE](https://www.xfce.org/) seems to be the Goldilocks solution.

If someone says, 'what about [systemd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemd)' or 'remove XYZ for PQR' or 'use a lightweight distro([Bodhi](https://bodhilinux.com), [Puppy](https://puppylinux.com), etc)' or something else; sure, it might be a good solution but Arch will give you a proper computer, not with some tradeoffs (except the installation).

Also, we should try to minimise background tasks (daemons) that run continuously. 

RAM is the main factor in using old devices.

## I Don't Want Arch

Well, if you have some personal grudge or mistrust against Arch, then you can consider some other options. 


### [Manjaro](https://manjaro.org) ❌:


![Manjaro logo](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zwq0dehhkonetwqtq8yh.png)

Manjaro might be well loved by the community and have lightweight variants(XFCE or the Manjaro Architect), but I don't recommend it. Manjaro has made a few huge blunders in the past such as forgetting to renew their SSL certificates numerous times.
Manjaro also had some. Also Manjaro claims to be stable by delaying the Arch packages by a week (which seems really idiotic to me). Moreover, Manjaro even caused a Denial-of-Service attack on the [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/)(Arch User Repository) due to a broken version of [pamac](https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Pamac) 😂([source](https://github.com/arindas/manjarno)). Overall, I had a pretty bad experience with Manjaro in the past and I would recommend everyone to stay away from it.

### [Linux Mint](https://linuxmint.com) ✅


![Linux Mint desktop image](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/h5ozzvwmqmaz3atvso85.jpeg)

Linux Mint is renowned to be 'lightweight' yet feature-rich. 
It comes in three editions, namely Cinnamon, XFCE and MATE.
You can choose the XFCE(or maybe MATE or Cinnamon) edition to install on your device. However, you must remember that it has Ubuntu at it's core and it has both it's pros and cons, but overall, happy journey if you use it(I have no personal experience regarding Mint).

### [EndeavourOS](https://endeavouros.com) ✅


![Endeavour OS logo](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/x2p2pkrtj650lvbyrnir.png)

Almost Arch without the hassle of installation. EndeavourOS tries to be an Arch based distro as close to Arch as possible. You can go for it.


## Installation of Arch

I will be providing a very easy to follow guide for the Arch installation in the next post. Till then, you can make some 'design choices' (Network manager, Bluetooth manager, etc) from the Arch wiki. 

## Happy revival folks!
Oh, and please let me know why people don't like 'I use Arch, btw' because I use Arch, btw.