oof i wish it was that easy. that's the simple version of what i spent the last 2 weeks doing. On Windows I'd consider myself a power user. I get a lot of work done, quickly, and besides that I would say I'm pretty tech literate over all. But arch is just ridiculously difficult to understand how to use unless you're already very familiar with linux. I feel like any wrong move i make is gonna break my setup. i got my comptia A+ , which while very basic, definitely goes to show I'm not some random luddite
I installed Linux mint on a trusty old thinkpad. Used it probably 5 times over the course of a year. Then installed arch on a newer T480s I received from work. I am a complete novice. It is literally that easy. You download the arch installer, follow the wiki on the 2 or 3 commands needed for internet, then type archinstall. Thats it. You literally dont even have to install anything else, especially if you choose desktop instead of minimal like I did. I have no idea what anyone is talking about it being difficult. Its easy.
Not that I remember finding any rules, so that's mostly just messing around; technically you can quickly setup your own mirrors in LAN, although I don't remember if that was done. Stuff was mostly about knowing what to type and blindly pre-typing next commands while previous are still in action