” ArchLinux quotes itself as being ‘an i686-optimized linux
distribution targeted at competent linux users.’ Part of its
philosophy is that by not providing you with lots of configuration
utilities, you are forced to ‘learn the ropes’ and you will benefit
from the additional knowledge acquired. A sensible approach you may
think, and is fine for experienced and/or fearless techies. You
know that this isn’t going to be the distro to recommend to your
mother! But, I wouldn’t say ArchLinux is elitist as some readers
may fear. Sure, you will be frowned upon (to put it mildly) if you
ask questions in the forums that are blatantly answered in the main
documentation. However, expecting users to actually edit the
appropriate config files manually isn’t a bad thing in my
opinion…”