Why i love Manjaro Linux And You Should Too!
7 Reasons Why I Use Manjaro Linux And You Should Too Last updated October 28, 2017 By John Paul 101 Comments
Share 1.1kShare Tweet 31Pin 0Share Everyone who uses Linux has heard of the big names like Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, and Mint. Few people know about smaller distros like Manjaro. Those people don’t know what they are missing. The article will explain ‘why I use Manjaro and you should too’.
I’ve always been interested in computers and the early history of computers. A couple years ago, I bought an older HP tower to learn about Linux. Now, I’m on my second Linux laptop. I’ve tried quite a few distros, including several Ubuntu flavors, Linux Mint, Fedora, OpenSUSE, and Debian. I installed Manjaro three years ago and haven’t looked back.
Reasons why Manjaro Linux is a great Linux distribution
Here are the top reasons why I use Manjaro Linux and why you should too.
No wonder there are plenty of jokes around installing Arch Linux, like this one:
Manjaro takes all of the hassle out of installing Arch. Like most distros, all you have to do is download the ISO file, write it to a thumb drive, and install it. The Calamares installer gives you a smooth experience similar to Ubuntu’s Ubiquity installer.
Suggested read 7 Reasons Why I Love Debian
Every time I wanted to install a piece of software that was not in the offIcial Ubuntu repos, I had to link a new PPA to my system via the terminal. Once it was linked and I had run sudo apt-get update, then the program was available for installation.
While adding the PPA doesn’t take a lot of time, it is a pain. When I upgraded from one version of Linux Mint to another I has a hell of a time getting the PPA I used switched over. If you use a lot of PPAs, it can quickly become a rat’s nest.
Then there’s the security aspect. There have been several times in the past when people have gotten a hold of old and unused PPAs and used them to push out malware.
Since Manjaro uses Arch as a base instead of Ubuntu, it doesn’t support PPAs. Instead, you have access to the Arch User Repository. for more info, read on.
Just because Manjaro doesn’t have PPAs, don’t think that it lacks in software. The Manjaro team maintains a large software repository. Beyond that, Manjaro users also have access to the Arch User Repository. The AUR is made up of user created scripts to install applications not packaged for Arch (or in this case Manjaro). Quite a few of the applications in the AUR were either originally packaged for Ubuntu or are pulled directly from Github. The scripts in the AUR then modify the .deb files, so that they can be installed on Manjaro.
There are downsides to using the AUR. Sometimes the dependencies required by and AUR packages conflict with something already installed. You can also run into broken and out-of-date packages. But I’ve had very few problems, so far.
Latest and Greatest without Killing Your System One of the problems that Arch users often have, because it is a rolling release, is a new package will be released and it will break their system. The Manjaro team works to avoid that by testing new packages before making them available to users. While this might make Manjaro slightly less than bleeding edge, it also ensures that you’ll get new packages a lot sooner than distros with scheduled releases like Ubuntu and Fedora. I think that makes Manjaro a good choice to be a production machine because you have a reduced risk of downtime.
Switching Kernels is Easy Switching kernel in Manjaro Linux
In order to switch kernels on most distros, you have to use some terminal wizardry. Manjaro has a nice little application that allows you to install as many kernels as you want. This is handy if you have an older laptop and it doesn’t like a new kernel. In my case, I have an HP laptop that slows way down when you use a kernel newer than 4.4. and switching kernels was just a couple of clicks away.
Do you use Manjaro? If so, let me know about your experiences at my email adress [email protected] If you found this article interesting, please share on social media.