A farewell to the ArcoLinux University

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

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Reflecting on 8 Years of Teaching, Building, and Promoting Linux

After eight years of dedication to the ArcoLinux project and the broader Linux community, the time has come for me to step away.

This decision wasn’t made lightly. But as I approach 60, I’ve found myself with less energy, less focus, and making small mistakes that remind me I’m no longer at my peak. I want to leave ArcoLinux while it’s still strong, and while I can look back with pride at everything we’ve accomplished together.

What We’ve Achieved Together

Since day one, ArcoLinux has stood for education, experimentation, and empowerment. I didn’t just want to build a distro — I wanted to help people learn Linux, love Linux, and grow into confident users, tinkerers, and developers.

Here are just a few milestones I’m proud of:

🎓 Over 5,000 educational videos on YouTube — covering everything from Arch basics to advanced configurations.

🧰 The creation of ArcoInstall, a flexible and evolving installer experience for learning-by-doing.

🏗️ Carli (Custom Arch Linux ISO) – a full educational project teaching you how to build your own Arch-based ISO from scratch.

🌐 ALCI (Arch Linux Calamares Installer) – demonstrating how to combine Arch power with graphical simplicity.

🌀 ArcoPlasma, ArcoNet, ArcoPro, Ariser – each tailored to different use cases and learning paths.

💬 Countless hours spent on forums, Discord, Telegram, and email, helping users solve problems, understand systems, and grow.

🧪 Encouraging people to try Bspwm, i3, Chadwm, Xmonad, Qtile, AwesomeWM, and many more tiling window managers.

📦 Teaching how to build AUR packages, create your own repos, and dive deep into pacman, zsh, bash, systemd, and beyond.

We weren’t just maintaining a distro — we were teaching a mindset.

Why It’s Time to Step Back

Aging is humbling. As I near 60, I’ve come to realize I simply don’t have the same mental sharpness or stamina I used to. I catch myself making little mistakes — the kind that matter when you’re maintaining an ecosystem with this many moving parts.

Rather than let that diminish the quality of ArcoLinux, I choose to leave it while it’s still stable, respected, and valuable.

What Comes Next?

I don’t have big plans. I want to slow down, enjoy life, and maybe tinker with Linux just for fun again — without the pressure of running a large project.

The code, the videos, the documentation — they’ll remain online for others to learn from, fork, or remix. I truly hope others will take inspiration from it. Just as I was inspired by the community years ago.

Thank You

To every user, contributor, tester, question-asker, and silent learner: thank you.

You kept me going on the hard days. You turned this from a solo effort into a true community.
ArcoLinux lives on — in your terminals, your ISOs, your curiosity.

Please… keep experimenting. Keep breaking things. Keep learning. And always:
Have fun with Linux.

Warm regards,

ArcoLinux Team – ArcoLinux Betatesters

 

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Source: https://www.arcolinux.info/a-farewell-to-the-arcolinux-university/

YouTube Announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NMQ_-77JRM

 

Erik, I salute you!!