Majaro (or other Arch-based distro) experiences

[Jason]

I'm wondering if anyone has used Manjaro (or any other Arch-based distro) for a while, as in at least a month and their experiences with it. Heck, even anyone that has used Arch itself for more than a month.

And I'm also curious what DE (Desktop Environment) you have used with it and how that is working out.

Mostly, I want to know how stable Arch or the Arch-based distro is with the constant updates and any downsides including any packages that you couldn't find for it.

[buster]

I tried Manjaro for awhile. Seemed OK until one day it wasn't. Suspect updates that are not filtered would be less likely to break things.

[fox]

I had both on laptops at different times. Arch was more recent. I had it for about a year on my xps. I didn't use it for much, but I revisited it regularly to keep it up to date, and I also used unofficial repos to get certain apps installed on it. I was using the Gnome desktop. Surprisingly, it never went bad on me, not even temporarily. The reason I removed it is that it was really just a test of concept; I have no intention of relying on a rolling release distro.

I also had Manjaro installed on another laptop for about 6 months, but this was at least 5 years ago. I was using the XFCE desktop. This one once went unbootable after an update. I can't remember whether I fixed it and ditched it afterwards, or just ditched it when it went unbootable. Kind of surprising that Manjaro would have a problem and Arch not, given that the former is more conservative with updates. But I emphasize that this was a long time ago, and I'm sure that Manjaro has improved a lot since then.

If I had to choose between them now, I would choose Manjaro, not only because it is more conservative, but also, it is one of the most nicely designed distros, aesthetically, that I have ever seen.

[buster]

"surprising that Manjaro would have a problem and Arch not"

Arch I think has a big following and history. Many workers. Manjaro has probably a much smaller crew. By 'simplifying' and 'gathering' the updates they may introduce unforeseen irregularities.

I would think if someone wants Arch, he or she should take the trouble to install it and get the look wanted. (But it's easy for me to tell other people what to do.)

[Jason]

"surprising that Manjaro would have a problem and Arch not"

Arch I think has a big following and history. Many workers. Manjaro has probably a much smaller crew. By 'simplifying' and 'gathering' the updates they may introduce unforeseen irregularities.

I was thinking that, too. They're adding another step and while that would seem like a good idea to check updates, they may introduce issues with package conflicts because they pass one update and not the other. Manjaro is beautiful, though, even the Xfce version.

I was thinking of going whole hog Arch. It's not much work to get a basic setup but I don't what it'd be like to set up an entire desktop environment the way I like it.

I also was looking at Endeavour, which you mentioned previously, Buster. I was watching a video about and read an article and apparently it uses the packages directly from Arch.

I'm also thinking maybe I'm worrying too much about stability as I use Timeshift regularly. And if it's available for Arch, I can just keep using it and roll things back if something breaks. It's incredibly easy to do.