Linux users tend to become fan boys of their favorite flavor of Linux. [[Ubuntu]], [[w:OpenSUSE|OpenSUSE]] and [[Fedora]] tend to lead the distributions lists ([http://www.distrowatch.com/ Distro Watch]), because of their ease of installation and use. The other type of distribution targets users who desire a highly customized and fine-tuned system, an example of which would be [[Gentoo]]. While both extremes have their pros and cons in terms of customizability and ease of use, neither group targets users who desire easily customized systems that expose the lower-level workings of Linux. Arch Linux fills this void with a distribution that uses the bare-bones approach of Gentoo, but without requiring every package be compiled from source. It also shies away from GUI-based configuration tools in favor of directly editing text files, although GUI-based configuration tools do exist. This makes Arch an excellent distribution for older or low-end hardware. Although the installation lacks the glitz of Ubuntu or OpenSUSE, it still detects nearly all modern hardware and automatically installs drivers. [[Mirrors|Virginia Tech's mirroring]] of the Arch repositories also benefits VT Arch users, because it ensures fast installs and updates.

You can find documentation and mirrors of Arch Linux on their homepage at [http://www.archlinux.org/ http://www.archlinux.org], although using their local the mirror at [http://mirror.cs.vt.edu/pub/ArchLinux/iso /latest/ Virginia Tech]would be much faster. The ftpnetwork-based installation is recommended as itinstalls the most up-to-date version of Arch with all the updates. BeDuring installation, besure to remove the default mirror if you choose to install Arch Linux,as because it caps upload speedsis rate-limited. Following their [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide "Beginners Beginner's Guide"]

PC. Because Arch Linux uses a commandline-line based installation, it is

a copy of the [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide "Beginners Beginner's Guide"].<br == Criticism ==Until Pacman 4, Arch did not support package signing [https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/5331]. As a result of this, an insecure mirror (including any mirrors upstream of the one you are synching from) or a untrusted connection (such as a man in the middle attack between you and the mirror, or any hops between mirrors) could result in your system's security being compromised. There has been some work towards adding package signing functionality to Arch [http://projects.archlinux.org/users/allan/pacman.git/log/?h=gpg], however there have been claims that the developers are not concerned with the security implications and are reluctant to accept improvements from outside of the core team [http://igurublog.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/archs-dirty-little-notso-secret/>].

== Arch Linux at Virginia Tech ==[[Arch Tablet FunctionalityCategory:Software]] - Configuring your tablet PC [http://www.eng.vt.edu/academics/comp_require.php required] by the Engineering Department.[[Category:Linux distributionsDistributions]]