You’re going to break things. Then you’ll fix things. Then your break them again. Then you’ll realize there was an easier way to fix that last issue. It’s a fun learning experience.

i knew a fair amount about linux cli since ive used ubuntu and debian for servers for like 15 years so i was someone knowledgeable but when i decided to wipe away windows on my desktops i picked linuz mint because it was ubuntu based but also it was recommended for beginners. for the most part it works great, i can use steam and heroic. i cant get warcraft classic working but i just need to dig in more.

the one problem i had was when i first started and it wouldnt boot up but i just command line restored using timeshift and it fixed it and i havent had a problem since.

i havent once had issues with drivers or anything. i even installed it on an old computer for my dads church who mostly use it for powerpoint (now libreoffice) and projecting. they know nothing about computers and theyve been fine. i do want to enable auto updates for them though so they dont have to do that.

when i was about to install steam i found a tutorial on it with 3 - 4 pages full of text and was a bit overwhelmed

Here is my tutorial:

• enable multilib repo by editing pacman config
• sudo pacman -Syu steam

It's as easy as that. Thats how I run it.

and i read now im responsible on maintaining it, what does it mean? is it just finding and testing drivers? or system update? what is the easiest way to do it? and what i getting myself into?

When I started my Linux journey, I went with Ubuntu and kept breaking it every year for a couple of years, which taught me a lot. Then eventually I hopped to Arch and I've been running the same setup since. For over 6 years now. I am very lazy, so I don't do anythjng special unless it breaks.

My setup has automatic btrfs snapshots and manual offsite backups with borg.

My workflow is:

• every friday evening after work, I do an update and reboot.

• If everything works, I do a borg backup. Most update fridays are like this and end here.

• If it's broken (this year it's been 2 times so far, last year iirc 3 times) I read the journal log, find the cause, fix it by live booting an arch usb stick and chrooting into mt system and following the archlinux forum or reddit or news. (For example recently, there was a kernel bug with btrfs, someone on reddit posted a mailing list link with a command that solved it)

• Sometimes there is an issue with an app I have, especially if it's from the AUR. Often a reinstall fixes it, otherwise I fix the PKGBUILD and let the maintainer know what was broken.

• After it is broken, I go through all the .pacnew files and merge them (The wiki says you should do it after every update, but I'm lazy)

• After I fixed it, I do a borg backup.

• If it takes too long to fix or I am especially lazy, I restore a btrfs snapshot and try next week. Usually the issue is resolved by then or somebody solved it on reddit.

So yeah it's quite involved, but I got better at it with time and again, most of the time everything just works and I can enjoy weekly improvements or new features to play with.

I am a bit on the fence which advice to give you. Either keep it and run with it for a while longer or install a simpler gaming focused distro. It's up tp you really.

You haven't provided a lot of detail on what your current setup looks like. If you use a gaming-focused distro like Cachy or Bazzite they should essentially work "out of the box." Bazzite is also very difficult to break since the immutability makes for very effective guard rails for new users.

If you went with Arch right off the bat, you did take on quite a lot for a new user, but - and I do genuinely mean this - there is no better way to learn the ins and outs of Linux than jumping into the Arch deep end. Even if you choose to switch to a lower-maintenance distro, your effort with Arch is never wasted.

Want a very low maintenance gaming distro with almost no setup? Bazzite.
Want a more hands-on gaming centric distro like SteamOS? CachyOS.
Want a more stable all-around distro that also works great for gaming? Fedora.

Avoid Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu. You will see Mint recommended often, but I personally only recommend it for older hardware that you are trying to revitalize. There are better options.

A new version of Debian just released, and there is no more rock solid distro than Debian. Add KDE Plasma and you will have a very low maintenance, pleasantly familiar, extremely reliable system.

Arch is very high-maintenance. Try Debian 13, it just came out this week. Ubuntu is okay but it has a lot of crapware compared to Debian. If your Wi-Fi and GPU work on Debian you do not need Ubuntu.

I'm an experienced Linux desktop user of about 15 years and I switched from Arch to Debian and I don't miss Arch. If you need bleeding-edge software you can use a combo of Nix, language package managers, and building from source. Arch doesn't add much plus I frequently ran the wrong pacman command and soft-locked myself out of the OS. Debian doesn't do that to me.

I'm guessing the reasons Valve chose Arch are mostly related to ability to build and maintain a distro based on it. On SteamOS, Valve is responsible for the system working. On plain Arch, a lot of that is on you.

So maybe stay if you want to take the challenge and learn. You already installed it so thet's something. Or switch to a normal distro if you'd rather not bother.

For flatpak, it's a package format for distributing "apps", that works on about any distro out there. Most of the time it's fine, but steam is an exception. Don't use flatpak steam, the sandboxing breaks it.

sudo pacman -Syu

And done, usually. Lol

Yes, you're screwed.

You're mega extra screwed.

They know where you live.

They're coming for you.

Hide.

Welcome to Linux where you maintain your own os.. You are literally the owner of this ship you want to destroy your system to ahead you want to do whatever cause windows pissed you off go ahead.. evening can be fixed usually.. try all the distros till you like some and use those.

How does it feel to be in control and not have to listen to the Man ?

Once your computer's working to your satisfaction, pretty much all you'll need to do is alias sudo packman -Syu and try to remember to run that every so often. The arch Linux wiki is second to none, and if you stick with the distro you should find it all feels very familiar in no time.