If you’re just starting out with Linux and if you were to ask any long time Linux user if you should give Arch Linux a try, you should expect some raised eyebrows, at the very least.
The answers should range anywhere from “Arch Linux is definitely not a distro you can jump head first into as there’s a lot of trial and error involved, not to mention it will most probably test your patience,” to “If you want a user-friendly and simple OS, stay clear of Arch-based distros.”
It might come as a surprise that one of the most stylish, most user and beginner-friendly Linux distro out there is indeed Arch-based. The OS in question is called Garuda Linux, and it’s probably the most hyped-up Linux distribution to have come in the last few years.
The question now is: does Garuda live up to all this hype? To answer this, we’ll take a look at Garuda Linux’s features, as well as discuss some of its pros and cons.
One of the best things about Garuda is that it it comes in a wide range of flavors/editions. You have the Dr460nized edition (Garuda Dragonized), a beautiful and stylish KDE-based Plasma desktop that offers a very macOSesque experience, the GNOME edition which is focsed on simplicity and ease of use, the Cinnamon edition that’s all about flexibility and speed, and the Xfce edition that’s fast and low on system resources without many drawbacks.
The list continues with the MATE edition that provides an attractive desktop environment, the LXQT-Kwin edition that is also geared towards performance and low system resources, the Wayfire edition, the Sway edition, the i3WM edition, and Qtile edition.
The really advanced users who like as little bloat as possible and are not afraid to get their hands dirty with the Terminal can choose between the Garuda Linux KDE Lite, and the Garuda Linux KDE-Git editions.
Interestingly enough, what makes Garuda really special is not the fact that it is Arch-based, nor the fact that it only uses one extra repository on top of Arch, nor the fact that it looks outstandingly stylish and modern.
What makes Garuda special is a combination of everything mentioned above, and some very unique GUI tools for most common (and not so common) tasks.
For starters, Garuda features the Calamares installer which makes everything faster, easier, and a lot less time-consuming. The B-tree file system (BTRFS), despite its age, is introduced to address a series of drawbacks of most Linux file systems such as checksums and snapshots.
BTRFS is a modern, Copy-on-Write (CoW) filesystem that’s highly focused on system repair and easy system administration.
This is a good time to mentioned that Garuda is a rolling-release distro. This means that you’ll always get the latest software updates, without all the the usually involved extra hassle. Timeshift is also present, and it’s here to ensure that your system won’t ever break after an upgrade.
Of course, you can access the latest 5 snapshot of your system directly from GRUB. The Snapper tool provides you with enhanced control when it comes to creating system restore points.
Garuda also features the Linux-zed kernel. It’s a modern and very responsive Linux kernel that’s heavily optimized for gaming and multimedia.
The Garuda Assistant is probably the best GUI tool of the bunch. It makes the OS’ administrative tasks mere point and click procedures. The Assistant with the help of the Settings manager work hand in hand to provide you with all the firepower needed to accurately manage your system.
Everything from changing the audio server, virtualization options, tweaking firewall settings, setting up printers to changing shells, activating DNS, and installing gaming-related apps and elements can be done via simple mouse clicks.
The Pamac package manager, inherited from Manjaro, is a graphical package manager for Pamac and is a great alternative to command line package manager with the same name. Garuda also uses Chaotic-AUR, one of the biggest, if not the biggest repositories with precompiled software (emulators, kernels, games, themes, and well other 2500 other packages).
The Garuda Gamer is another masterpiece, and it’s one of the reasons why Garuda is probably the best distro for gamers. It includes all the gaming-related packages a gamer needs such as Proton-GE and Wine, as well as other nice gaming related software, emulators, and drivers.
Last but not least, there’s FireDragon, the OS’ default browser. The browser is a LibreWolf fork, and it features ehanced KDE integration, a small and useful privacy-oriented tools and addons.
As with all software and OSes, Garuda Linux can’t possibly fill every use case possible. While Garuda Linux (especially the Dragonized version which is remarkably lavish when it comes to aesthetics) is one of most modern-looking Linux distros out there there, it’s not perfect and, in turn, it won’t be to everyone’s taste.
Nevertheless, the passion from the developers side is quite obvious, and the general community response and consensus is nothing short of amazing. What Garuda Linux manages to do right, it does so without robbing users of the essentials.
Garuda has the magic feeling of Arch and it undoubtedly does what it says on the box. It has amazing GUI tools, user-friendly wizards, a preconfigured desktop environment (but it also allows you to extensively tweak the whole experience), and a ton of editions/flavors.
It also still retains some aspects that people love about Arch such as the massive and unrivaled package set offered by AUR, and arguably the most readily tweakable and extensible system. The performance is also on point, even though we will admit that Garuda will probably eat up more RAM than any other Linux distro you’ve tried before.
Of course, everyone has the right to an opinion and one could argue that the “defaults” are not right and there’s a lot of bloat. With so many packages available, there’s absolutely no way to make everyone happy, and, of course, decisions have to be made. If you’re a beginner user, you’ll feel blessed, and if you really hate “bloat” and you want a bare-bones OS you can either remove the packages and make it your own, or your can opt for the Garuda editions that are aimed at advanced users such as Garuda Linux KDE lite and Garuda Linux KDE-Git.
Does Garuda live up to all this hype? The answer is definitely “YES!” If you’re an intermediate or beginner Linux user and you’re tired of distro hopping, or you’re a gamer, or you want the most stylish Linux OS, then there’s very little chance Garuda Linux will disappoint.
