Guide to configuring Arch Linux like Manjaro with Cinnamon desktop?
I’m planning to switch from Manjaro to pure Arch, but I really like the easy setup Manjaro provides. Are there any guides, wikis, or personal tips to replicate that setup on a fresh Arch install? Looking for something that covers the essential packages, configurations, and tweaks to get a similar out‑of‑the‑box feel. Thanks in advance!
Pure Arch isn't going to give you what you want. EndeavourOS is probably a better option. Nice installer, a relatively kind and helpful community on their forums, and you can use the Arch wiki to fill in the gaps.
https://endeavouros.com/
This or one of the other "Arch but easier" distros like CachyOS or Garuda Linux. I've been running Garuda happily for about 4 years now, and recently put CachyOS on my laptop to play with it and so far it's been great too.
I'll second this. I left Manjaro for EndeavourOS a few weeks ago and, so far at least, the experience has been flawless.
But why? Sorry if that is a vague question. Of it ain't broke...
Manjaro breaks all the time...
I am not aware of any guides, but I know that in order to get the terminal to look like Manjaro's, you will need to install the zsh shell with the powerlevel10k theme and zsh-syntax-highlighting. I believe they also use either zsh-autocomplete or zsh-autosuggestions.
At least, this was how it was configured back when I used Manjaro several years ago.
This one is great
Really great guide! That site has lots of useful tips. They're kept very current and there's no paywall or ads either.
For your Arch with Cinnamon install, I also recommend this guide.
I mean, you don't necessarily need a fresh Arch install; I'd wager you could just switch to Arch in place by editing your /etc/pacman.conf and /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist to Arch repos. You'd probably need to keep a Manjaro section at the bottom of pacman.conf to avoid breaking too many things at first. Is this a good idea? Probably not, but it'd be fun to try.
Can't you remove the specific Manjaro packages/configurations? I did this when I installed EndeavourOS, I removed ever endeavour-specific package and my "about system" shows "Arch" instead of "Endeavour" now.
I believe that this way you don't have to lose any files.
Iirc manjaro changes the package management to not be rolling release, I think you would have to add back in the base arch repos and risk versioning issues.
ooh, I see. Seems too complicated.
For the memes: RTFM