from spain, antergos

I downloaded the Arch-derived Antergos (antergos-2016.10.23-x86_64.iso) and installed it in a multi-boot setup on one of my computers. The Antergos installer lets the user choose between Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE, MATE, Openbox, and Xfce desktops; I went with Openbox.

The default Openbox setup keeps things simple: right-click anywhere on the desktop to access the Openbox menu; there's a tint2 panel at the top, a dock (Plank) at the bottom center, and a basic, gray background -- boring and uninspiring, just the way Openbox-lovers like it. :)

Once installed, running Antergos is supposed to be the same as running Arch. We'll see. The Pamac GUI shows me that a handful of software packages come from the Antergos repository, which can be disabled. The other repos shown are official Arch repos:

For the most part, I'm in the "if you want Arch, install Arch" camp; you get a "cleaner" Arch system and you have a lot more control over what gets installed than you will if you go with an Arch derivative. Still, Arch derivatives (thinking of some I've run in the past, like ArchBang and Bridge Linux) can be great not only for folks who want to get a feel for what Arch is all about, but also for somewhat experienced Arch users who simply want a quick and easy Arch-based system installation.

With Antergos, you basically have to download the .iso, get it onto a flash drive, boot up, run the installer. I didn't find much good documentation at the Antergos site, but I did find a few nice guides (with screenshots) online. They're easy to find; for example: http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2016/08/an-everyday-linux-user-review-of.html

I think the Antergos site needs a nice installation guide along those lines. For post-installation documentation and help, the Arch wiki (they should provide a link to that!) and the Antergos forums should suffice.

Post-install, Antergos is ready to go "out-of-the-box" -- although some things might need to be added by the user, like maybe LibreOffice or whatever. To update the system, Antergos has the Pamac Update Manager available:

Or one can simply use pacman from the command line normally, as with Arch. Whatever the approach, the user should check the Arch homepage for important announcements before bringing in system updates.

I got rid of the Plank dock, went with a different tint2 panel setuup, edited the menu, added a few of my favorite apps (and some wallpapers!), tweaked a few other things, and came up with a desktop that works better for me:

Kinda bloated, perhaps, but quite crisp and snappy in action, as to be expected with Openbox.

Here's a link to DistroWatch's Antergos page: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=antergos