3mo ago

Arch Linux Powered CachyOS Updated With Propeller-Optimized Kernel

www.phoronix.com

17 comments

I've been using CachyOS for over two years and the same install/partition for over a year.
100% recommend, it’s my distro to end all distros, and I can’t imagine anything else being (for me) easier or more performance/efficient, while having the critical mass of the Arch community behind it and being relatively stable. It’s not like Manjaro, just screwing everything up with its changes and throwing away Arch's work, yet on very rare occasions the CachyOS devs fix something that breaks in vanilla arch.
I'm not even gaming on it or following all the tweaks, but it’s amazing for dev work, servers, or anything really, and configured great ootb.
- I just got a new, cheap, fanless micro computer that advertises itself as running Linux, and I spent today looking at Arch-based distros; Cachy made my short list, although I've never run it.
  Is it suitable for running a headless, fanless mini-PC that's raspy just going to be a snapclient host?
  Is there a "Server" option in the installer? Once I get this set up, it's going to be running entirely headless and without any peripherals (except the AUX out), and I'd like to strip out all of the unneeded software.
  I've installed bare Arch before, and it's a PITA I'd rather avoid; it's easier to just install Garuda or Endeavor and then uninstall X and Wayland, and everything that depends on them. I'm wondering how Cachy fares in this situation.
  Before anyone suggest I use a different, non-Arch distro for this: no. I understand pacman and yay, and I know where Arch puts files that every distro has a different opinion on locating. I'll play with other distributions and switch when I find one I like more, but this is a device I just want to set up and forget about except for periodic upgrades.
  Anyway, what are your opinions on CachyOS? I've been pretty happy with Endeavor for desktops, but I wouldn't put it on a headless server.
  
  They have a CLI installer, but honestly I’ve never installed it headless before. There is also a “barebones” image that’s closer to stock arch.
  The main tweaks I’d recommend for a minipc server are enabling the power saving mode and rcu lazy: https://wiki.cachyos.org/configuration/general_system_tweaks/#enable-rcu-lazy
  Also, if it’s somehow not already automated, be sure to select the right packages for your CPU level. For instance, if it’s older (AVX2), you want the v3 packages, but if it’s zen 4+ there are packages specifically for that.
- I've been on Bazzite for 6 months or so, and have been considering giving CachyOS a try (not that I have any reason to, Bazzite has been wonderful).
  Has anyone tried both and can speak to their similarities/differences? My (admittedly basic) understanding is that they are both immutable distros, and that Bazzite is based on Fedora while CachyOS is based on Arch. Are there other big differences?
  I started my Linux journey with EndeavourOS, so I know a bit about how to use Arch already. Does CachyOS have something similar to rpm-ostree, but for Arch? Is it already basically pre-configured for gaming out of the box like Bazzite?
  Edit: not sure why I thought CachyOS was immutable... Isn't there an immutable distro built for gaming, similar to Bazzite, but built on Arch instead of Fedora?
  
  CachyOS is not immutable. It’s basically like a more optimized and fleshed out EndeavorOS.
  Backups and rollbacks are done as they are done in vanilla Arch, and I’m not sure if there’s any analogue.
  I did use Fedora Kionite for a hot minute (which was immutable), but… found it to be too much of a hassle? I dunno, I just keep anything important on a separate drive/mount that’s easy to back up, and there was just too much fuss dealing with apps so needed, so I don’t see the point. CachyOS is preconfigured really well, so even if I had to nuke the whole partition, it would set me back like 30 minutes until I reinstall it. But if you need an immutable distro, this is not the place to look.
  CachyOS is very much focused and optimized for gaming, arguably more than any other distro. There are many performance tweaked versions of popular packages in their distros, no need to reach out to the AUR.
  
  I think you're maybe thinking of blendOS, which is immutable Arch, but it's not specifically gaming focused. Afaik, there's no gaming-focused immutable Arch distros, excepting the obvious SteamOS.
  If you really wanted to, you could install ostree on CachyOS, though I have no clue how you'd manage things like updates. PikaOS is based loosely on both CachyOS and Nobara, but it uses a Debian foundation, taking advantage of the same GitHub Actions that Bazzite uses; if one was so inclined, seems like you could roll your own immutable Arch gaming distro that way.