[_qbjt]

I’ve been using Arch as my only OS on desktops and laptops for years now. Maybe I’m just lucky but in my experience it’s been incredibly stable. I’ve only run into one issue with updating packages using pacman and it was a Postgres + PostGIS conflict caused by my own configuration mistakes (easily fixed). I imagine most updates for the Steam Deck will either be from the core repositories or through Steam itself though, so the same issues you might run into when installing bleeding edge packages from the AUR shouldn’t apply.

As far as why Arch, I think it’s a great “build your Linux OS” distribution that gives you a solid foundation to expand into the bespoke system of your dreams. On my desktop, I have a personalized computing experience using Wayland + Sway, PipeWire and only the software I use. That same DIY principle makes Arch a compelling option for anyone looking to build their own distro; Manjaro is one such example and it’s the distro I used before making the full dive into Arch.

[fomine3]

For “build your Linux OS” distribution, Gentoo looks like more suitable since it's more customizable (e.g. many USE flags, still provides OpenRC instead of systemd). Just curious the reason why Arch over Gentoo. I suspect that because Arch is more acceptable for normal Linux Desktop user.

[curryst]

Gentoo wants to compile from source, because of the USE flags. Thats hard on battery life, and maxes out CPUs creating thermal issues, both of which are notorious issues on mobile.

You should be able to accomplish the same thing by using your own pacman repos with compiled binaries that have the right USE flags. They all have the same hardware after all.

[throwdbaaway]

You can build a binary distro based on Gentoo, e.g. https://github.com/sakaki-/gentoo-on-rpi-64bit (sadly EOL'ed several months ago).

Anyway, from my own experience, the video decoding performance of gentoo-on-rpi-64bit was somehow nowhere close to LibreELEC, on the same hardware. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt there...