Why I Won't Be Using Omarchy

[music] So, I have had many people over the course of the last few months ask me to do a review of Omari. Now, if you're not familiar with Omari, basically what it is is a flavored version of Arch Linux. You install Arch, whatever way you want to do that, and then you run a script which basically gives you Omari, which is a rice and a workflow kind of allin-one. has a whole bunch of applications associated with it. It has a hyperland I believe rice associated with it. All this stuff, right? And people have found this to be a very interesting thing because it looks nice. It seems to be a very wellthoughtout, very opinionated way of doing Arch Linux and Hyperland and all the things that go along with it. And if you've trolled the YouTube Linux ecosystem out there, you'll know that basically every Linux YouTuber has made a video about Omarie and even some non Linux YouTubers have picked this thing up and used it and a lot of them like it. Some people have not cared for how opinionated it is. Some people have en enjoyed that aspect of it. But I haven't made a video until now and I have no actual interest in doing a video. And I wanted to talk kind of talk about why because I first off I'm quite tired of those questions being asked of me. But also I I think that this is one of the things that I'm starting to feel very strongly about is that I am just done recommending other people's workflows to you. Okay? I can't recommend my own workflow to you guys. That's my workflow. You have your own workflow. And basically what Omari is is someone else's workflow on top of Arch Linux. They've done all of the work. They've created the key bindings and installed the applications and all this stuff. That's what you get by running the script. It's a development environment for the developer who wrote and did all of that configuration. It's not going to suit you. Now, it doesn't mean that you can't change it. Of course, that's Linux. You can change whatever you want. And maybe there's something for using that as a starting point towards your own ecosystem, your own workflow, if you will. Maybe that's something that you can do and something that you will do. But I can't recommend that to anybody anymore because I don't feel that way. For me personally, the best workflows are ones that you build yourself because they are tailored to the way you want to do things. If I were to go use someone else's workflow or their version of Linux in terms of their, you know, apps and their key bindings and stuff, I would just drive myself mad. It's It'd be like taking It'd be like going and borrowing someone else's keyboard. Leave it to Matt to make a a keyboard metaphor, but it'd be like going to It'd be like me going to Drew's house, buying his keyboard, and finding out he uses the Workman keyboard layout. I don't know Workman at all. Now, I'm I doubt that Drew actually does that, but let's just say I would be absolutely lost. I'd have to learn how to do all that stuff. It would completely change the way I used my computer. It's the same thing where you go using an Omari or you use a install script to install Arch Linux or Gen 2 or Open Soua or whatever it is, you are following someone else's workflow. Now, as I see her talking about this, it makes me think, well, Matt, isn't that what all dros are? Is just a template that someone has built for other people in their own image. And that's somewhat true. So, if you go and install Auntu, you're going to get Canonicle's way of doing Linux, right? Their way of doing Gnome, their extensions and stuff like that. That's absolutely true. But there is a slight difference I feel between an actual dro like iuntu and something that builds on top of another dro. Now I I know that when you hear me say that you're like Matt isn't de Auntu based on Debian. Yes that's true but Ubuntu has done so much more work in terms of actually making an their own dro that it is actually its own thing. really is as far away from as far away from Debian as Arch is away from Gentu. Like they're just not the same thing. Yeah, they use the same package manager. They still have some of the same repositories, but Ubuntu is its own thing. And we know that because you know they have snaps in there and their own release cycle and all the stuff that goes along with being a DRO. Whereas with something like Omari, Omari is just an install script for some config files. That's basically what it is from my understanding. And that's different than what Iuntu is. A and basically the way I always see this and the way that I'm talking about this is that it just feels like you're taking someone else's workflow and trying to make it your own. And that's okay if that's as long as you're aware of that's what you're doing. But I can't recommend you do it. And that's the reason why I'm not interested in trying Omari. It just feels pointless to me. And I'm not saying Omari is pointless. I'm just saying me recommending it is pointless. If that workflow happens to suit you, go use it. If that workflow doesn't suit you, and it probably doesn't, make your own. Because one of the things that I've learned through using Linux for the last near 10 years now I know for the people who have been around Linux for like 40 years now you know it's not that long but for me 10 years is a I think I can start kind of boasting the fact that I've been around for about 10 years. For me one of the things that I've learned is that I learn better by building my own stuff. And that's one of the reasons why I've started to do a little bit more development work and all this stuff. I feel better about the things that I use when I've built it myself. Now, that doesn't mean I don't use things built by other people. I still use OBS and I still use Audacity and I still use Vivaldi and all these things, right? We're all going to do that. But from a a racing perspective, if we will, a a workflow perspective, I want to build those things up myself. I want to have my key bindings, not someone else's. I want to have my bar and my the modules in my bar the way that I want them, not someone else's. Now, I I will still look lustfully at other people's rices on Unix porn and then often emulate them because they're cool, but even then, so actually, just for an example, someone in my Discord server, I think his name is Cody, had an awesome way setup. I took that because it looked awesome and I remade it in my own image. I I set it all up myself. It looked awesome. And while I emulated his way bar, I made it myself and I learned along the way what I needed to do and actually do that. I made it into my own thing. And now it's possible that again you could do that with Omari, but it just feels like if you're not, it feels a little elitist to say this kind of stuff like you, you know, you got to do it yourself. You know, it's it kind of reminds me of those those people who if you have an opinion, if you have an opinion on someone's work, like as a devel, you know, a non-developer, you go tell them, hey, it would be really cool if you have this feature and their response is, well, if you don't like the way that I'm doing it, go code it yourself. That's basically what I'm saying here, but a little, you know, toned down, I guess. It's just like it feels to me that the workflow that you build is better if you build it yourself because it's yours and it will work better for you than taking someone else's and molding it into. And and just finally, the best example I have actually comes from ages ago. Now, I have no idea where Luke Smith actually is. I'm sure he's off in in the woods somewhere. And but he used to have this thing called Larsbs and it was at first it was i3. It was an install script an install script for Arch Linux that installed Arch 3 along with all of his key bindings and applications. And then he moved to DWM and made that similar thing but for DWM and it was awesome. It was my first real attempt at DWM because you could just run this script and it would install uh everything that you know all of his really cool stuff. I mean, he had an awesome workflow. It was all key keyboard centric and all this kind of stuff, right? And the thing about Lars was that it had a ton of his own personal key bindings inside of it, his workflow there. And and in fact, I have sculpted a lot of my keybindings based on Luke Smith's keybinding simply because that's the my was my first exposure to that kind of thing, right? And and maybe if your first exposure to Omari is that way, maybe you will do the same. But what I'm trying to say here is that I was I I feel like I was poorer off by using Larsbs. Not because Larsbs is bad, but simply because I didn't immediately, you know, jump in and learn how to do the things myself. Now there is a counterargument to everything that I'm saying here is that if you are brand new to this kind of thing and you want to use Omari as a learning tool, you want to go into it and you know see how someone else has done things and you know kind of learn by tweaking their stuff. I don't see anything wrong with it and I don't see anything wrong with you using them Marcy. This video wasn't me trying to persuade people not to use it. This was me trying to explain why I'm not recommending you use it just because I feel like building it from the ground up is better for most people. So, um, this is the first video I've made since I've been back to making videos. And you might have noticed that it was even more rambly than normal. So, uh, I I got to get myself back out there and actually learn how to make videos again. So, if you made it through the entire 10 minutes or so of this video, uh, I appreciate that. I I should just say that I appreciate that. So, thank you so very much for that. If you want to follow me, you can do so on Mastadon. I'm back on Fauceton, by the way. The link for the Mastadon instance that I'm on will always be in the video description. You can follow me there. You can also support me on Patreon at patreon.com/theinxcast. There you'll find a weekly exclusive podcast that I do for all my patrons. Basically, it's just me sitting in front of this microphone for about 15 minutes or so, just rambling on about nonsense. I'm back to doing that as well. I just posted a brand new episode of that yesterday talking more about what's going on in in my life and some of the things that I've been working on. So, if you're interested in that, hit me up over on Patreon or hit the join button down there below and you can get that on YouTube here as well. So, uh thanks to everybody who does support me on Patreon YouTube. You guys are all absolutely amazing. Thank you so very much. Thank you guys for sticking with me through this uh crazy month where I haven't posted very much. So, I I do truly appreciate that for those of you who support me monetarily and for those of you who are just watching along. Uh I appreciate you sticking around and and supporting me and subscribing and all that stuff. So, uh I think that's that's where I will end it today and I'm done rambling now. So, uh thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.

Today I talk about my reasons for not making a review on Omarchy. 👇 PULL IT DOWN FOR THE GOOD STUFF 👇 Patreon - https://patreon.com/thelinuxcast Paypal - https://paypal.me/thelinuxcast Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCylGUf9BvQooEFjgdNudoQg/join Ko-fi - https://ko-fi.com/thelinuxcast ===== Follow us 🐧🐧 ====== MERCH - https://shop.thelinuxcast.org Discord - https://thelinuxcast.org/discord Odysee - https://odysee.com/$/invite/@thelinuxcast:4 TILvids(Peertube) - https://tilvids.com/c/thelinuxcast_channel/videos Mastodon- https://fosstodon.org/@thelinuxcast Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/thelinuxcast.bsky.social https://gitlab.com/thelinuxcast Matrix - https://matrix.to/#/#the-linux-cast:matrix.org The Website http://thelinuxcast.org Contact us email@thelinuxcast.org Amazon Wishlist - https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1J3W9HF4O2M7T?ref_=wl_share Logo Courtesy of - pedropaulo.net Intro Courtesy of - https://www.fragcgi.com/?i=1 Get a free month of Proton Mail! https://go.getproton.me/SH1gC Get 20% Off Your First Year at Hostinger - https://tinyurl.com/27kqbj63 ==== Special Thanks to Our Patrons! ==== https://thelinuxcast.org/patrons/ ==== My Gear ==== (Affilliate Links) Shure sm7b - https://amzn.to/42jvata LG Dual Up Monitor - https://amzn.to/42h7m9e Sceptre 32 Curved Monitor - https://amzn.to/40CHoeY Edifier R1280T - https://amzn.to/4gValbW Elgato Stream Deck MK2 - https://amzn.to/4ga1MJa Universal Audio Volt 276 - https://amzn.to/4jd8ukh iPhone 15 Pro Mac - https://amzn.to/4jmxdT2 Logitech Brio Webcam - https://amzn.to/4aqoRFZ Weilisi Desk Ring Light - https://amzn.to/4aqp1gz Logitech MX Master 3 - https://amzn.to/3Wm5A2E ==== Referenced ==== Omarchy - https://omarchy.org #omarchy #linux #thelinuxcast