Yesterday, I decided to take a step forward in my Linux journey. But, because I like to complicate things for myself, I didn't just want to install Arch; I wanted to try Hyprland as my window manager.
My goal? To see if I could squeeze more performance out of my modest setup (i5 2400, GT 1030, H61 motherboard) compared to my daily driver, Linux Mint.
Here is how it went, from the surprisingly fast install to the 10-hour debugging nightmare.
The "Easy" Part
I installed the base Arch system in less than an hour. It was fast and clean. I thought, "Where's the difficulty in Arch?", especially after seeing so many people claim that even with archinstall, it was very hard.
But as the saying goes, not everything is sunshine and rainbows.
The Nvidia Nightmare
The trouble started the moment I tried to change the screen resolution. The installed Nvidia driver simply refused to detect my GT 1030.
I spent the next 10 hours troubleshooting.
Initially, I had opted for the Zen Kernel because I wanted every ounce of performance. I suspected the driver version (the latest 590 series) was the culprit, but the AI assistant I was using insisted it was still supported. I trusted it. Big mistake.
Deep into the early hours of the morning, I finally did my own digging. It turned out the support for my card on that specific driver version was dropped (or at least completely broken for my setup). But here was the catch: The Zen Kernel didn't want to play nice with the older drivers I needed.
I thought, "Who on earth wouldn't run a legacy driver on the standard kernel?"
So, I bit the bullet. I formatted the machine. Again. And again. By the 6th or 7th reformat (which I did every time I needed to change something like the kernel or the graphics driver), I finally listened to reason (and the documentation): Use the LTS Kernel.
Magically, it worked. The LTS Kernel accepted the older driver, and I finally had a display with the correct resolution.
The Hyprland Experience
Once I was in, Hyprland was... interesting. It forces you to rethink how you use a computer.
- Keyboard First: The idea of doing everything via keyboard is cool, but losing classic shortcuts like Alt+Tab or standard minimize functions felt jarring and, at times, a bit buggy.
- Aesthetic: It’s built for people who want to distance themselves from traditional desktop metaphors. I don't think that strict separation is necessary, but I respect the philosophy.
The Verdict: Performance & Usability
I fired up Roblox (through Sober) to test gaming performance in my favorite experiences. The result? About the same as Linux Mint.
I didn't expect a magical FPS boost, but I was hoping for a 400-500MB RAM reduction or some extra FPS. The RAM and Video usage didn't drop significantly enough to change my gaming experience. (Sometimes I even got lower FPS in games that usually run smoothly).
Final Thoughts
Arch Linux is fascinating. It feels incredibly free, and I understand why the community loves it. I didn't end up living in the terminal as much as I feared—it was surprisingly user-friendly once configured.
Will I switch? Probably, in the future. But for now, the "optimization" didn't outweigh the comfort of my current setup. Maybe next time, I’ll try a lightweight customized XFCE instead of a tiling window manager to see if that hits the sweet spot for my i5 2400.
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