Arch Linux is a popular option for Linux users who want more control over their operating system.
While many experienced users customize the Arch Linux experience to provide some of the best user experiences (in terms of its UI), it could be challenging for new Linux users.
If you are not aware of the specifics about Arch Linux, you might want to read out Ubuntu vs Arch Linux comparison article.
However, some Arch-based distros aim to offer a more accessible experience without taking the control away.
XeroLinux is one of the options that we recently came across.
XeroLinux:
XeroLinux is a personal project by Steve, aka TechXero to offer an “eye-candy” version of Arch Linux.
Note that this is a passion project and not a mainstream distro backed by a big team of contributors (yet). You should try it on a VM or a test machine before replacing it on your primary system.
Here, we feature XeroLinux with a quick review for its pleasant out-of-the-box experience and a few more exciting things.
Ease of installation
XeroLinux uses Calamares installer to let you easily install the Linux distribution without needing to rely on the terminal or the guided arch installer.
While the installation experience is similar to popular Linux distros, you get the ability to select graphics drivers, specific Linux kernels, and tools as you proceed.
Latte dockwhich you can customize and tweak as you like.
Kvantum Manager that can help you install external themes.
If that wasn’t enough, the developer also makes a few Rice/Themes and Grub themes available that you can find listed on the official site or the GitHub repo.
In other words, there are some scripts made available by the developer that can help you get a makeover but do note that it is better to customize things yourself so that nothing else breaks.
Desktop Environment Options
The primary edition features KDE, but you also have another XFCE variant if you want to give it a try.
The XFCE edition is tailored for older systems (or if you need to save up system resources).
It did offer a GNOME edition initially, but it dropped support for it due to issues with extensions breaking, with every update. You want to go through our KDE Plasma vs GNOME article to know the differences if you’re might curious about the desktop environments.
performance
Considering it features the latest available Linux Kernel 5.16, it should work fine with a variety of hardware configurations.
However, I haven’t tested it on bare metal. As per my experience with it as a virtual machine, it worked well without any peculiar issues.
Here’s what the resource usage looks like on its KDE edition: