The Arch Linux Enthusiast Starter Pack — Meme Explained

Level 1: Easy Mode Bragging

Imagine a kid who’s boasting about riding a super fancy bike. They say, “Haha, I’m such an awesome cyclist, by the way!” But here’s the catch: the bike has training wheels on it, and the kid didn’t even assemble the bike themselves — it came pre-made. Not only that, they’ve also loaded the bike with a heavy basket and gadgets, so it’s not lightweight at all anymore. The kid still proudly insists it’s the fastest, coolest bike and that they’re a pro rider. 🤭

This is just like the joke in the meme. The person is bragging about using a super minimal, expert-friendly operating system (Arch Linux) — which is like claiming to ride a simple, light bike really well. But in reality, they used an automatic helper to set it up (the training wheels) and then piled on a bunch of heavy programs (the basket of gadgets). They ended up with something heavy and ordinary, yet they’re still bragging as if it’s ultra special. The humor comes from that silly contradiction: taking an easy path and adding extra weight, then boasting as if you did it the hard, lightweight way. It’s like saying you climbed a mountain on your own, when you actually took a helicopter and carried a ton of luggage — and still expecting everyone to be impressed. 🏔️😆

Level 2: I Use Arch, BTW

Let’s break down the joke in simpler terms. This meme is about Arch Linux and the habit some users have of bragging, "I use Arch, by the way". Arch Linux is a popular Linux distribution known for being minimal and DIY. When you install Arch, usually you do everything manually: partition your disk, select and install packages one by one, and configure settings using the command line. It’s like building your own custom PC, but in software – you only add what you need. This is why Arch is often called "simple" and "lightweight": not because it’s easy (it’s not, for beginners), but because it starts as a bare-bones system with no extra fluff. You keep it simple by only adding minimal components.

Now, Arch users have a bit of a stereotype in developer communities. They love to mention that they use Arch, almost as a badge of honor. Saying "I use Arch btw" (BTW means “by the way”) in forums or chats became a meme. It implies, half-jokingly, "I’m a power user; I went through the tough setup." It’s often said mockingly, because real pros don’t need to brag – so when someone blurts out "...I use Arch, btw.", it can come off as showing off. Everyone in the Linux world has heard this phrase enough that it’s a running joke.

The meme shows someone installing Arch the easy way and then adding software that makes it heavy, despite Arch’s lightweight reputation. The commands listed in green text simulate a user in a terminal (command line interface, or CLI):

• archinstall: This is an automatic installer for Arch Linux. Instead of typing dozens of commands manually to set up Arch, archinstall is a single command that launches a guided installation (kind of like the installers other distros have). This script asks you questions and then installs Arch for you. It’s convenient if you’re new or just don’t want to do everything by hand. But traditional Arch users remember when there was no installer at all – you had to follow a wiki page and type all commands yourself. Using archinstall is totally fine (it’s official!), but it’s a new thing. Some longtime users jokingly say using it is “cheating” because you didn’t suffer through the manual setup. So, in the meme, the very first action our user does is using the easier path (archinstall), hinting they might be a newcomer who wants Arch without the usual work.

• install snap: They likely mean installing Snap on Arch. Snap (managed by the snapd service) is a package manager and format invented by Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu). Snap lets you install apps in a sandboxed, self-contained way. On Ubuntu, you can do snap install something and it’ll fetch the app and all the files it needs. It’s great for getting the latest versions of software, especially if your normal package manager doesn’t have them. However, Snap has a reputation for being resource-heavy and slow. Every Snap app includes a lot of its own files (even copies of common libraries), and a background snap daemon has to run to manage these apps. This goes somewhat against Arch’s philosophy of "minimal everything". On Arch, the standard way to get software is via pacman (the default package manager) or the AUR (Arch User Repository) for user-maintained packages. Those use shared system libraries and don’t require heavy services. By installing Snap on Arch, the user is basically adding a layer of complexity (and memory usage) that Arch doesn’t need. It’s a bit ironic: Arch is meant to be slim, but Snap is kind of bulky. Arch users often avoid Snap unless absolutely necessary. So seeing install snap implies our Arch user isn’t sticking to the lean-and-mean tools — they’re bringing in outside help (from Ubuntu’s world) that many Arch enthusiasts would consider "bloat."

• install steam: This refers to installing Steam, a very popular application for downloading and playing video games. Steam on Linux allows you to play many games (some natively, and many Windows games via a compatibility layer called Proton). It’s fantastic for gaming, but by nature Steam is a huge app. It comes with its own user interface, updates, and even a bunch of its own versions of libraries to make games run reliably on any distro. When you install Steam, you also install lots of supporting software (graphics drivers, 32-bit compatibility libraries, etc.). In terms of size and resource usage, Steam is one of the heavier desktop programs. Now, there’s nothing wrong with installing Steam on Arch – many people do (Arch can be a great gaming OS). But remember Arch’s slogan about being lightweight. Once you add Steam, your system isn’t that lightweight anymore (you’ve added gigabytes of stuff). So adding Steam kind of goes against the image of "I run a super minimal custom setup." It’s a practical choice (you want to play games) that just clashes humorously with the brag.

• install Edge: This means installing Microsoft Edge on Arch Linux. Microsoft Edge is a web browser (the successor to Internet Explorer, built on the same base as Google Chrome). Microsoft releasing Edge for Linux was a surprise a while back, because historically Microsoft and Linux weren’t exactly friends. But nowadays, Microsoft does support a lot of things on Linux. Edge on Linux is basically the same as Edge on Windows or Mac – a big, modern browser. It’s known to be pretty fast, but like Chrome, it can use a lot of RAM and CPU when running many tabs or heavy web apps. For Arch users, installing Edge is humorous because Arch tends to attract people who prefer open-source software and who tweak their system a lot. Edge is proprietary (closed source) and considered kind of mainstream/corporate. If someone is trying to show off their Linux cred, using Edge isn’t something that scores points in the open-source community—if anything, it’s the opposite (folks might playfully tease: "Why are you using the Microsoft browser on Arch?!"). There are also more lightweight browsers around, but our user chose Edge, which again adds to the system’s bloat.

So, after those install commands, what’s the result? The user has Arch Linux, but they’ve added a ton of extra weight and complexity: a service-heavy package manager (Snap), a large gaming platform (Steam), and a big browser from Microsoft (Edge). Essentially, the system is now similar in heft to an Ubuntu or another full-featured distro that Arch users sometimes call “bloated.” The meme jokes that despite making Arch just as bulky as any common distro, this person still types out:

"haha I use Arch btw >:3"

The quotation marks and the >:3 emoticon indicate this is the user speaking with a smug grin (>:3 is like a mischievous, cat-like smiley). "Haha I use Arch btw" is them bragging — "by the way, I use Arch," said with a giggle as if it’s cool. It’s the classic line you see when someone wants to subtly (or not so subtly) remind you that they run Arch. In context, it’s very ironic. They’re essentially saying: “Look at me, I’m such a 1337 (elite) Linux user because I run Arch!” — even though they skipped the hard setup and undid Arch’s lightweight advantage by installing all those heavy programs.

The numbers "42 | 5 | 2" displayed like a scoreboard under the Arch logo add a final touch of parody. It looks like some kind of score tally. While not explicitly explained, you can imagine it as a joking metric of this user’s situation. For example, maybe "42" could be the number of bragging points they think they earned by using Arch, "5" might be the number of bulky services they’ve added (Snap counts as one, Steam, Edge… maybe a couple more?), and "2" could be the actual net gain in performance over a standard distro (i.e., almost none, maybe even negative!). This part is speculative, but clearly it’s formatted to look like game stats or a scoreboard, which fits the theme of “keeping score” of one’s tech cred vs. what they’ve done.

In summary, for a junior developer or someone new to this humor: the meme is poking fun at an ironic situation. Arch Linux is admired for its minimalist, do-it-yourself nature. People often brag about using it to signal they have advanced Linux skills. Here, someone uses shortcuts (the easy installer, a heavy universal package manager) and adds big mainstream apps, which goes against Arch’s identity. Yet they still boast “I use Arch, btw 😼!” as if they’re elite. It’s the contrast between image and reality that makes it funny:

• Image they project: a lean, expert-crafted Linux system worthy of bragging.
• Reality: a largely automated setup with lots of extra “bloat” just like any common distro.

Everyone who knows these tools can see the disconnect and that’s why they’ll likely smirk or laugh at this meme. It playfully ribs those who seek bragging rights without actually doing the thing that’s hard or special. In the world of dev and IT humor, it basically says, “Using Arch isn’t automatically impressive, especially if you just turned it into Ubuntu-with-extra-steps.” 😂

Level 3: Minimal Distro, Maximum Flex

Arch Linux prides itself on being a simple, lightweight Linux distribution where you typically build your system from the ground up. Historically, installing Arch meant manual partitioning, configuring bootloaders, and carefully picking only the packages you need. This DIY approach is almost a rite of passage in the Linux world. It's why bragging "I use Arch, by the way" has become a running joke — it implies "I went through the complex manual setup, I'm hardcore."

Enter the archinstall script: an official, automated installer for Arch. Running > archinstall is like summoning a friendly robot to do all those manual steps for you. It's convenient (even Arch maintainers realized not everyone enjoys manual disk partitioning at 2 AM). But purists smirk because it shortcuts the earned knowledge. Using archinstall and then boasting about running Arch is akin to beating a game on easy mode and then claiming you're a speedrunning champion. The meme's first command > archinstall highlights that our user took the easy road into Arch. A seasoned Arch user (or a cynical veteran) knows the subtext: “Oh, you used the installer... so much for hand-crafted minimalism.”

Now, Arch’s tagline is literally visible in the meme: “A simple, lightweight Linux distribution.” The punchline is that this user immediately crams in heavy, non-minimal stuff. The green text commands > install snap, > install steam, > install Edge show them pulling in some of the chunkiest packages you can add to a Linux system:

• Snap: an all-in-one package management system from Ubuntu that bundles apps with their dependencies in self-contained units. Snap is convenient for developers since “it works on my machine” (and any machine, because it brings its own baggage). But it’s notorious for being resource-heavy and not exactly “simple”. Installing Snap on Arch means running a constant snapd background service, mounting squashfs loop images for each app, and duplicating libraries that Arch’s normal packages would share. In Arch circles, Snap is often seen as bloat – the very thing Arch users claim to avoid. It’s ironic: Arch users usually have Pacman (the native package manager) and the AUR (Arch User Repository) for access to almost everything, tailored the Arch way. By adding Snap, our user basically said: “Let’s bolt on Ubuntu’s bulky app system to my lean Arch install.” It’s the opposite of the minimalist ethos. (Long-time Arch folks might chuckle, or cringe: running Snap on Arch? That’s like putting a V8 engine in a bicycle in their eyes.)

• Steam: the popular gaming platform by Valve. Yes, Steam runs on Linux (hooray for gaming on Linux!), and Arch can handle it flawlessly. But Steam is a huge application with tons of libraries (it even carries its own runtime, duplicating many system libraries for compatibility). When you > install steam, you’re pulling in GUI frameworks, drivers, and multitudes of 32-bit libraries to support games. Your once trim OS is now bulked up with gigabytes of game-related packages. It’s totally fine — lots of Arch users install Steam — but it’s funny in context: bragging about a “lightweight setup” right after adding one of the heaviest desktop applications out there. It’s a bit like boasting about how you eat healthy “by the way” as you order a double cheeseburger with extra fries.

• Microsoft Edge: Yes, that Edge, the browser from Microsoft. It’s built on Chromium (like Chrome) and isn’t shy about gobbling RAM. Edge on Linux is a relatively new development (Microsoft embracing Linux still feels a bit surreal to old-timers). Installing Edge on Arch is technically straightforward (it’s available as a binary in the AUR or via Microsoft’s own package, and even as a Snap). But culturally, it’s rich with irony. Arch users often favor open-source browsers like Firefox or minimalist browsers to keep things...well, lightweight and FOSS-friendly. Edge is the antithesis of that vibe: a proprietary browser from the Windows world. So our Arch user here has basically donned a “Hello, fellow kids” t-shirt from Microsoft while claiming indie cred. It’s hilariously contradictory — kind of like customizing a vintage race car and then installing a Microsoft Clippy bobblehead on the dashboard. Nothing says “I’m a true Linux power user” like running a Microsoft browser and announcing it, right? 😜

Putting it all together, the meme paints a scenario almost every dev community member can recognize. We have someone who chose Arch (often for bragging rights), skipped the hard parts with automation, then immediately bloated the system with big-name, resource-intensive software — and still flexes “I use Arch btw >:3”. The >:3 emoticon is that smug, cat-like grin, implying a cheeky “I’m so cool, right?” The scoreboard "42 | 5 | 2" shown under the Arch logo is formatted like a stats line — possibly a tongue-in-cheek tally of credibility vs. bloat vs. irony. (If “42” is our user’s bragging confidence level, the other numbers might be how many heavy apps they threw on, and how many eye-rolls they earned from Arch veterans – but that part’s up for interpretation.)

The humor here cuts deep into dev community culture: Arch Linux has a reputation for elite DIY status. Announcing “I use Arch” is a meme because of how predictably some users slip it into conversations to assert nerd street-cred. But if you’ve basically turned your Arch into Ubuntu (with Snap, Steam, and Edge – all things easily available on a newbie-friendly distro), that brag rings hollow. It’s pure irony: the user’s system is no longer “simple and lightweight,” yet they still act superior for running Arch. The community in-joke is that you don’t get to have it both ways – you can’t install all the hand-holding and bloat and claim the minimalist bragging rights. In other words, they’ve technically got Arch Linux under the hood, but philosophically they’ve lost the plot. This resonates with experienced devs because it’s a classic pattern: we’ve all seen someone chase clout by using a complex tool or framework without embracing its actual philosophy, ending up with a Frankenstein solution that defeats the original purpose. It’s funny, a bit cringe, and a cautionary tale all at once – hence the meme’s comedic punch among developers.