Newbie: why so complicated to install?

[nihili]

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https://i.imgflip.com/132v0v.jpg
Please don't scream at me from behind your computer. I won't be able to hear you.

looks like an optician's advertisement: "If you can't read this, you need glasses".

[CarterCox]

Yeah I thought the same thing. Kinda hard to read, but it was the best one I could find (fun-wise). The other pictures had a fat guy that looked pretentious and douchy. Tux is just more likeable.

[masinick]

A great number of years ago (I believe it was during the Fall of 1995), I decided to try out my first version of Linux.

In order to get started, I purchased a book, and it happened to have a "starter" CD, along with fairly detailed instructions about what to do, including how to handle things that didn't work out right away. The software was an already aged version of Slackware. On one hand, by the time I started my own personal journey, all of my hardware, including the video hardware, was supported and available, but it was not all included on the version I had in hand.

No huge problem, but I'm writing all of this to provide an example and an illustration of how each of us comes from different places on our personal software journey. In my case, I was already a UNIX Senior Software Engineer, capable of compiling a kernel and creating an new UNIX system image, so I was certainly capable of locating and building any missing pieces for my first Linux system. In my case, I either knew what to do immediately, or if not, I knew how to research, locate, read, digest, and apply the information collected.

Even though such steps are pretty obvious to software engineers, even good documentation is a challenge for the total beginner to research, locate, read, digest, and apply, even if in our personal opinions, things are laid out perfectly clearly.

I completely "get it" that Arch has some of the very best available documentation. Even so, when a new user comes along, even if they appear to be incoherent to some of us, an optimal response, in my opinion, is to either ignore the request if it is "dumb", or provide a short, kindly worded reminder of where to find the latest recommended documentation.

I've not been a beginner (in software) for over 40 years, though occasionally there are new tools or features that I may research and occasionally ask a clarifying question. While I try to do my own "homework" as much as possible, I "get it" when occasionally someone else doesn't have the ability to clearly articulate exactly what they need, and instead ask something that may be obvious to others.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide is one excellent place to start.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...sked_questions contains many of the most frequently asked questions about Arch Linux.

https://lifehacker.com/5680453/build...in-the-process is old, but it provides some introductory information that may be useful to some people who may be attempting to determine if they are yet ready to read, research, dig, learn, comprehend, and ultimately install Arch Linux.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2918...ers-guide.html is not specific to Arch at all; at a high level it discusses a few of the ways for a first time beginner to Linux software to examine and choose an approach that may provide an easy first experience - one that the novice may want to consider before studying, learning, and applying the steps needed to build a highly customized, straightforward system using the Arch Linux approach.

Like all other posts, some people may wish you ignore and pass by all of this, but there may be someone at some point that may be able to read and find this information useful. Do with it as you wish.