Arch Linux's Install Media Adds "Archinstall" For Quick/Easy Installations

[juxuanu]

forum is already full of people not being able to do simple things that they can do with other distros. and that same forum is full of people that slap the noobs and close their posts.

Good. You can't install it yourself means you can't maintain it.

There have always been install scripts for Arch. My point is to keep them unofficial.

[Sethox]

Good. You can't install it yourself means you can't maintain it.
There have always been install scripts for Arch. My point is to keep them unofficial.

Talk about gatekeeping users, forgetting the fact that there are different kind of scenarios where not all users are maintainers, example: family member.
Unofficial or not, making it easier for people PLUS an alternative is still better than nothing, best of both worlds even.

[TemplarGR]

forum is already full of people not being able to do simple things that they can do with other distros. and that same forum is full of people that slap the noobs and close their posts.
plus i for one would enjoy very much an easy way to install arch instead of running all over wiki on a phone and jumping from page to page to page to page to ....and having to come back from the start and so on and on....

This is not true. These days Arch manual installation is so simple even a chimpantzee with dementia can do it. Seriously. If for some reason people can't do it, there is no reason for them to use Arch, period.

[BwackNinja]

No One is forced to use this tool, it's a command available in Arch Medium for anyone who like guided installation. Still manual , full customized installation is far better option for experienced users.

That's the exact opposite concern. The normal Arch installation process introduces you to the wiki and the fact that you'll be explicitly making decisions yourself along with what it takes to do that. It's nice because it's not actively unfriendly and encourages understanding of your own system. It pushes forward an idea of empowering self-reliance with the tools to make that seem reasonable.

Being forced to install manually encourages you to be in that mindset. The fear is that the introduction of this tool will cause a greater influx of people who then have a working Arch Linux system without the self-reliance and comfort with finding information to handle common situations themselves.

[ThoreauHD]

If you look at the purpose of a distribution, this makes more sense than not. Not fond of the days of picking every package on Patrick Volkerding's hard drive manually. This will help Arch gain some traction with normies aka people that just want their shit to work.

[MuskFlyingSaucer]

nice looking and thoughtfully constructed CLI installer
is in Manjaro Architect (building your system not buildings)

i hope Arch linux will get inspired,
system requirements are no issue, you cant even run Arch linux on system not capable of showing TUI of Manjaro Architect.

[bachchain]

Talk about gatekeeping users, forgetting the fact that there are different kind of scenarios where not all users are maintainers, example: family member.
Unofficial or not, making it easier for people PLUS an alternative is still better than nothing, best of both worlds even.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Frequently_asked_questions#Why_would_I_not_want_to_use_Arch?

You may not want to use Arch, if:

• you do not have the ability/time/desire for a 'do-it-yourself' GNU/Linux distribution.
• you believe an operating system should configure itself, run out of the box, and include a complete default set of software and desktop environment on the installation media.

[r_a_trip]

This is quite a disturbance in the force. How will poseurs feel important, now that every joe, Dick and Harry can say "I use Arch, btw."

[Caffarius]

This is quite a disturbance in the force. How will poseurs feel important, now that every joe, Dick and Harry can say "I use Arch, btw."

We just have to wait until some of the selected defaults require manual update intervention. They'll be back on Ubuntu in no time.

[Nocifer]

Talk about gatekeeping users, forgetting the fact that there are different kind of scenarios where not all users are maintainers, example: family member.
Unofficial or not, making it easier for people PLUS an alternative is still better than nothing, best of both worlds even.

Presumably that non-maintainer family member would have their Arch system installed and set up by a maintainer such as yourself.

This is not true. These days Arch manual installation is so simple even a chimpantzee with dementia can do it. Seriously. If for some reason people can't do it, there is no reason for them to use Arch, period.

On the other hand, if it is already that simple to install Arch manually via the Wiki (and it really is, I agree) then there is no real reason not to have a helpful "installer" that in essence semi-automates the Wiki standard install process. The noobs will be scared off by the white text on a black screen (aka the dreaded "terminal") anyway.

That's the exact opposite concern. The normal Arch installation process introduces you to the wiki and the fact that you'll be explicitly making decisions yourself along with what it takes to do that. It's nice because it's not actively unfriendly and encourages understanding of your own system. It pushes forward an idea of empowering self-reliance with the tools to make that seem reasonable.

Being forced to install manually encourages you to be in that mindset. The fear is that the introduction of this tool will cause a greater influx of people who then have a working Arch Linux system without the self-reliance and comfort with finding information to handle common situations themselves.

I'd normally agree, but a quick visit to the forums will show you that there's already a whole bunch of people with a more or less working Arch system but without the self-reliance and comfort (and skill) with finding information to handle common situations themselves.

If you look at the purpose of a distribution, this makes more sense than not. Not fond of the days of picking every package on Patrick Volkerding's hard drive manually. This will help Arch gain some traction with normies aka people that just want their shit to work.

I agree. Sometimes all that a person really needs to push past the noob level is the assurance that there is an already working GUI they can fall back to should things go wrong. Semi-automating the installation so they can get that working GUI relatively easily, and then letting them figure out how to maintain their system, can prove very beneficial in the long term.

Also, sending them off to Manjaro is not (and should not) be a valid option for "normies" looking to get into Arch.