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Arch Linux
A minimalist, do-it-yourself rolling-release distribution that installs with almost nothing preconfigured, letting the user build exactly the system they want package by package.
Based on
Independent
First released
2002
Package manager
pacman
Desktop environments
None by default (fully user-chosen at install)
Arch Linux follows the 'KISS' (keep it simple, stupid) philosophy in its own specific sense: rather than making decisions for the user, it ships a minimal base and expects the user to choose and configure their own bootloader, desktop environment, and every other component manually, guided by the widely respected Arch Wiki -- often cited as one of the best pieces of Linux documentation regardless of which distribution someone actually runs. Its rolling-release model means there's no periodic 'new version' to install; the system updates continuously via pacman, always tracking close to upstream software releases. The Arch User Repository (AUR), a community-maintained collection of build scripts for software not in the official repos, gives Arch access to an enormous software catalog beyond what any other distribution's official repos typically match.
MirrorNest doesn't mirror distro ISOs — installation media should always come straight from the project's own official download page (linked above), so you get the correct checksum/signature to verify against.