I think calling it “a page worth” is understating it somewhat, especially if you want a full install to actually use stuff. In reality, when installing at first, you’ll be finding stuff you missed for a while, like hardware video decoding.
Also, are you referring to just the direct instructions for one choice? Because to me, the point of installing manually is educating yourself on the choices, choosing one that suits you, and understanding what you’re doing to set it up. Of course, when you’re doing subsequent installs, you already know that stuff - but at that point you might just want to write an install script instead of running them manually.
The arch install from the ISO is a layered process. You can always add more, but a bootable install is not much over a page away. I do like to pick what’s best for me, but that’s not a prerequisite for first install. Do it, take notes, refine, and repeat.
I don’t have an installer or anything, but I have pretty comprehensive notes of what I like (bootctl vs grub, network-manager vs systemd-networkd and friends, and so on). But to have a system that boots and optionally has a desktop environment of your choosing is not exactly a Rubik’s cube of difficulty.
I think calling it “a page worth” is understating it somewhat, especially if you want a full install to actually use stuff. In reality, when installing at first, you’ll be finding stuff you missed for a while, like hardware video decoding.
Also, are you referring to just the direct instructions for one choice? Because to me, the point of installing manually is educating yourself on the choices, choosing one that suits you, and understanding what you’re doing to set it up. Of course, when you’re doing subsequent installs, you already know that stuff - but at that point you might just want to write an install script instead of running them manually.
I think it depends what you want out of it.
The arch install from the ISO is a layered process. You can always add more, but a bootable install is not much over a page away. I do like to pick what’s best for me, but that’s not a prerequisite for first install. Do it, take notes, refine, and repeat.
I don’t have an installer or anything, but I have pretty comprehensive notes of what I like (bootctl vs grub, network-manager vs systemd-networkd and friends, and so on). But to have a system that boots and optionally has a desktop environment of your choosing is not exactly a Rubik’s cube of difficulty.