5 Linux distros that take a little work out of the box, but are so worth the effort

"Years ago, I actually preferred installing Linux distributions that required a bit of extra work out of the box. Why? They challenged me, and I knew that my effort would be rewarded with an operating system perfectly suited for me. Sometimes, the challenge was getting all the software necessary for me to "do my thing;" other times, it was getting the desktop environment exactly how I wanted it. Either way, that work never failed to pay off."

"First things first: The most challenging aspect of Arch Linux is the installation. Yes, some forks (such as Manjaro) do a great job of simplifying the installation process, but if you want to get the full Arch experience, you should try the real deal. However, understand that you might need to learn a new package manager right out of the gate. Because of that, I would recommend you educate yourself on pacman before you dive into Arch Linux."

"Although Arch Linux is a rolling release (which means it includes a newer Linux kernel), you might find yourself dealing with hardware issues. Many peripheral manufacturers now offer Linux drivers for their devices, but those often come only in the form of .deb, .rpm, and source, which means you very well might have to install those drivers on Arch via source. To that end, you'll also need to bone up on commands like configure and make -- other"

A prior preference existed for installing Linux distributions that required extra work out of the box because those challenges rewarded effort with a perfectly suited operating system. Challenges often involved installing required software and customizing the desktop environment to personal needs. Current preference leans toward systems that work out of the box due to reduced free time, but distributions that require extra setup remain attractive to those who enjoy tinkering. Arch Linux exemplifies such a distribution: its installation is the most challenging, it uses pacman, it is a rolling release, and hardware drivers may require compiling from source using configure and make.

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