There are three distros derived from Arch that try to do very different things:
Endeavour is Arch with a friendly installer. That’s it. It will install faster but then you’ll be using Arch, and that’s not a good idea for a beginner.
Garuda is also Arch but with a few more helpful tools and apps. Same reasoning as above.
Manjaro uses Arch packages as an upstream source (like Ubuntu vs Debian) but does things to them to make it stable. Which, unfortunately, makes a certain kind of Arch fan foam at the mouth and you’ve probably already been linked to “manjarno” and similar idiocy. So you’d have to deal with that.
But seriously, I have mixed feelings recommending Manjaro to a beginner. The distro itself is super-stable and easy to use because you basically have to do nothing. I have non-computer savvy family members on Manjaro without admin privileges and it works perfectly.
But the trick is that doing nothing part. You have to leave it alone and not modify the way it works, and beginners often feel the need to tinker with the system… Not only that but it’s hard as a beginner to figure out online what’s generic Arch advice and what’s Manjaro-specific and which of that can be applied safely on Manjaro and which is an Arch-ism that will ruin your install.
If you’re set on trying Manjaro I can offer a list of recommendations to give you an idea of how to navigate the dos and donts.
There are three distros derived from Arch that try to do very different things:
But seriously, I have mixed feelings recommending Manjaro to a beginner. The distro itself is super-stable and easy to use because you basically have to do nothing. I have non-computer savvy family members on Manjaro without admin privileges and it works perfectly.
But the trick is that doing nothing part. You have to leave it alone and not modify the way it works, and beginners often feel the need to tinker with the system… Not only that but it’s hard as a beginner to figure out online what’s generic Arch advice and what’s Manjaro-specific and which of that can be applied safely on Manjaro and which is an Arch-ism that will ruin your install.
If you’re set on trying Manjaro I can offer a list of recommendations to give you an idea of how to navigate the dos and donts.