@foone In case it might help, I recorded the terminal session of my own installation process, which I played back and commentated on stream, and published as an indexed video here: https://miblo.net/sysadmin/sysadmin001/
Maybe you could quickly scan through the timestamps for something you might've missed?
@foone Got to be better than the OS/2 Warp installation manual, which I think was written by Steve Jackson.
"If you are installing from floppies, turn to page 92. If you have a VGA graphics card, turn to page 5. If you want to charge down the corridor and attack the orc with your PC/AT keyboard, turn to page 169."
@darkling IBM always had an interesting approach to manuals.
Like, I've got a set of the original IBM PC manuals, and they're in a bunch of binders but they don't put the pages IN the binders. they are separate. They expect you to take the pages and put them in the binders, and then when you buy official hardware, it doesn't come with a separate manual... it just comes with pages they expect you to add to the binder
installing old-style linux (LFS, slackware, arch) is like defusing a bomb.
it's very tense, the instructions are incomplete, and you know that if you fail... at least it's not your problem anymore
someone (maybe gravislizard?) once said that the problem with Linux is that it's for people who love computers.
as in, macOS and Windows are for people who want to get things done with their computers, but Linux is designed for people who love the computers themselves, and enjoy Doing Computer Things.
The computers are the point, they're not just the means to an end, they are the end in themselves.
I looked up how to get the package versions I need and the only result is a reddit post that suggests I check out 519 git repos and roll them back to the right revisions and then compile them all manually.
you know you can just tell people to fuck off on the internet, right? there aren't swear police around. you don't need to crouch your hatred in "pretty language" like "check out 519 git packages and roll them back and build them manually"
@foone honestly i feel like i could use "go check out 519 git packages and roll them back and build them manually, you bellend" as a substitute for "fuck off" but it'd be very very wordy. hmm.
@foone I have at least one arch system that even hates itself. Power went out while it was updating and it's just in a state of thinking its 1 year old packages are all up to date. I think it got stuck in a time warp and I'm hoping that if I try to fix it, it'll open a portal to 1995 and I can go to Radio Shack and buy cool stuff
@foone I used Slackware 7 to make a home internet router once I got a DSL connection. Back then with LILO, the instructions were pretty good, and using FTP or HTTP it was fine.
Jump to today, the ELILO (uefi version) or GRUB is a pain, and if you don’t have X windows installed and need to use a command line program, so many sites use Let’s Encrypt certs which isn’t supported by Slackware yet (at least at v15, can’t say about current). Figuring how to install certs was a joy (not)
@FurryBeta yeah, that's basically while I installed it back then. I needed a home router, but needed a basic router, and had plenty of computers and time but no money. thus, slackware in an AMD k6 with two ethernet cards and a hub
@foone The real question is, why did you try it in the first place?
I do like to complain about Windows and macOS a lot, but mostly because other people make me use them.
I doubt anyone forces you to use Arch, so why bother? There are so many other systems to pick from, many with a reputation of being easy to use.
Arch is good at one thing, that's customizability. Customizability comes at a price. If you don't need that or are not willing to pay the price, why bother?
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