What Is Liya?
Liya Linux or Liya GNU/Linux or Liya for short is Yet-Another Arch Linux based distribution.
Its focus is on user experience and performance, its lightweight, easy to use and has good performance
without any performance difference (as seen with some distributions in which some apps are compiled for a particular architecture and they start faster than other apps which aren't compiled) and maintaining 100% compatibility with Arch Linux
Why Was Liya Started?
Liya grew out of frustration, the frustration of bloat.
Initially the creator used a X Linux distribution which was based on Arch, but found it too bloated and heavy for use on his 4GB RAM Computer.
The creator tried many Arch Based derivatives but had many issues and lack of features in them, they would either perform well but have no good features, if they would have good features then they'd be horrible at performance.
So, Liya emphasizes and its core values are
- No Bloat [Our ISO's only contain necessary and basic software]
- Great performance [Liya performs well, this can be seen on benchmarks and tests conducted]
- Lightweight and complete [An average Liya system with 4GB ram and a dual core CPU consumes about 600-800 MB when idle]
- Clean UI [We offer a clean user interface, not too much customized and not too raw, we make sure that customization does not effect the performance]
Liya Is For Users Who ...
- are not happy with their current OS.
- have A 64(sixty-four) bit [x86_64] Processor.
- are unwilling to spend time installing Arch Linux and want a Arch-Based Cinnamon desktop setup which runs out-of-the-box and easily installs.
- want a easy-to-use rolling-release OS.
- prefer performance over looks [The misconception that Liya is ugly has to be removed, its minimal]
- want a high-performance OS which squeezes every bit from hardware.
Liya Is Not For The Users Who ...
- hate SYSTEMD.
- don't want a rolling-release OS.
- hate using the command line.
- have a 32(thirty-two) bit Processor.
- don't like the distribution [If you don't like it then don't use it, nobody forces you to do so].
- hate closed-source software.
Initial Steps
So, after the installation, we recommend you to update the system. [WE JUST RECOMMEND, SYSTEM WORKS OUT OF THE BOX WITHOUT AN UPDATE].
Please use the command line for better results.
But before updating, you'll need to refresh the mirrorlist, to do this, open kitty from the taskbar and simply type/paste the following
sudo mv /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak && sudo reflector --latest 10 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
After this, refresh the keyring by typing in
ame -Sy archlinux-keyring chaotic-keyring
For updating the system, please type in/paste the following
ame
It'll ask for your password, please type it, do note one thing that the password which you type will be hidden, it's done for security purposes.
Once its done updating the repository, It'll ask you approve the update, please do so by typing in "y".
It'll download and install the updates, one thing you have to note is that in any Linux distribution with a package manager, you don't go to the website of the software and download that .exe file, you just go to the GUI or install the app by using the CLI, that's it, no more hassle of going to the website and downloading that .exe file and clicking a ton of next's and trying to dodge that crap ware that automatically installs and all that yuck, sometimes, you can even download a virus from unknown websites, so we do avoid all this crap and install/remove/update everything with one click of a button or a small command.
After the update is done, once restart the system. All of the system should be fine
Oh!, Updating Broke My System, What Can I Do Now?
There's no need to worry, the system automatically takes snapshots (if you installed on BTRFS filesystem), you can just restore them, while booting, choose the system snapshots and then boot into that snapshot and then restore it. It's that simple ...
X Feature Needs To Be Implemented
Liya is still pretty young (3 years), it might need a few features, if you feel so, please open a forum post or a Gitlab issue or a ticket in Discord or strike a discussion on Telegram ...
X Device Is Not Working
This is the reason a live environment is provided for Distributions, so that you can check if all devices are working or not, so we ask you to check weather all devices are working or not from a live environment.
Linux is well known for its wide hardware compatibility, if a device X is not working, please open a forum post or a Gitlab issue or a ticket in Discord or strike a discussion on Telegram, we'll assist you to make it work.
A simple fix for this might be first to see that weather the device is detected or not, open System Profiler and Benchmark from the menu to do this, if you see that the device is detected, installing a driver and a restart would be a simple thing to do so, even if you don't know, please ask us, we're here to help.
If the issue gets resolved, then that driver or fix would be included with the next release ...
I Want To Install X App
See, in order to install anything in Liya (and in Arch Linux), you have two choices,
i. Official Repositories
ii. AUR
Assume that you're looking to install a application, eg:- teamviewer
In order to do that, you
i. Open Add/Remove Software
ii. Search for that app, here teamviewer by clicking on the search icon situated on the top left corner of the Add/Remove Software window.
iii. Now, here one might get confused, you will find two teamviewer packages, but now, you look at the bottom of the description of the application, you will find
- Repositories
- AUR
Always choose the option which says Repositories. If that application is not available in the Repositories, choose the AUR option, but know one thing before using AUR,
AUR packages are user-produced content. These PKGBUILDs are completely unofficial and have not been thoroughly vetted. Any use of the provided files is at your own risk.
then after choosing, click apply and then it'll ask for your password, enter it and wait for it to get installed
more information is available here - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman ...
Article X Needs To Be Written In The Wiki
Drop down a comment and see the forum the next day ...
Why Is The ISO Image >3.2GiB?
A reason for this is the inclusion of NVIDIA drivers and use of ZSTD compression which substantially increases its decompression speed but has a negative impact on size of the Image file.
Nevertheless, we do not install unwanted software such as 3rd party software.
Where Is This Distribution Made?
Nationality of a distribution doesn't matter unless you've got a few ultra-nationalistic ideals.
Though having said this, the distribution is from India 🇮🇳.
It only has one developer [Sayed M. Hisham] but plans to build a team.
I Want To Support The Distribution
There are many ways you can do so,
the simplest way is to drop a review on Distrowatch
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=liya
You can also donate for the distribution as it helps us a lot,
https://ko-fi.com/liyalinux
80 % of the money from Patreon goes to new infrastructure as we are highly dependent on free services.
10% Goes to the new projects which help Linux and remaining 10% is stored as emergency funds
and then, you can bring in more users to the distribution a build a community.
Copyright And Registered Trademark Notices
Arch Linux is a copyright of Judd Vinet, Aaron Griffin and Levente Polyák.
The Arch Linux name and logo are recognized trademarks. Some rights reserved.
Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.