A bloated distro like Omarchy is actually good for Linux newcomers

Published Oct 30, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT Dibakar Ghosh is a tech journalist at How-To Geek with over a decade of experience using and writing about open-source software, Linux, Android, AI, and personal productivity. He writes about software, operating systems, and tools that help people get more from the technology they already use. Almost every Linux user will tell you that bloat is bad — you should go with something minimal so you can customize it to your liking. There’s also a popular belief that Linux beginners should stay clear of Arch and tiling window managers, which are reserved for more “advanced” users. Well, Omarchy is based on Arch, uses the Hyprland tiling window manager, and is one of the most bloated and opinionated distros out there. And here’s my argument for why, despite conventional wisdom, I think it’s perfect for Linux beginners. Why bloated distros are better than minimal distros There’s nothing scarier than a blank page The reason most Linux users like minimal distros is that they give you an almost blank slate where you can add what you want and end up with a system consisting only of packages you’ve personally approved. This undoubtedly leads to a more efficient build and works well for people who know what they want and what’s available. However, the problem for Linux newcomers is that everything they know comes from Windows or macOS, and that doesn’t always map neatly onto Linux. Sure, you might know you need a file manager, a screenshot tool, a music player, and a terminal, but each of those categories has multiple apps that aren’t the same as what you’re used to on Windows. Picking one means researching your options, installing a few, trying them out, uninstalling the ones you don’t like, and going back to researching. Doing that across every category eats up a lot of time before you actually get to use your computer. However, with a bloated distro, you usually get preinstalled apps for almost every category. They often also ship with additional customizations and theming to show off what’s possible with your desktop environment (or tiling window manager). This way, you’re not left searching the web for what’s possible. Instead, the distro provides a curated collection of apps and customizations for the categories you need — including some you didn’t even know you needed. Now, conventional wisdom says that having these extra apps is bad because now you have the extra chore of uninstalling them. However, for a newcomer, it’s far easier to uninstall an app or package they don’t like than to research and find the ones they need. Bloat also exposes them to what’s available and what’s possible, which can help them refine their tastes and guide their future research. How the "bloat" in Omarchy helps newcomers Knowing what to delete is better than not knowing what to install Now that I’ve made my case for why bloated distros are better for Linux newcomers, the next obvious question is: which one should you pick? Well, there are actually a few solid options to choose from. I personally started out with Garuda which follows a choose-your-own-bloat kind of model — but today I’m going to focus on Omarchy. It’s a relatively new distro that has garnered a lot of attention, including $18.7 million in funding. Looking at its marketing, Omarchy positions itself as an agentic OS for developers. However, after using it for the past couple of months, I can tell you that you don’t necessarily have to be a developer to use it — I’m not. What’s more, it comes with a bunch of useful features that make the distro incredibly accessible to Linux beginners and newcomers alike. Omarchy takes the risk out of using Arch Linux It’s living on the edge — but with a safety net The main reason people warn against using Arch Linux is that it follows a rolling-release model. This means package updates become available as soon as their developers release them. The distro can have hundreds of pending updates at any given time, and while you don’t need to update your system daily (nor is it generally necessary), it’s a good idea to update weekly or at least every couple of weeks. Now, such frequent exposure to cutting-edge packages generally makes the distro more susceptible to bugs and system breakages than standard-release distros. As such, Arch users are generally encouraged to read the news on the Arch Linux website before updating their systems and to be comfortable working in the terminal to troubleshoot any issues that arise. However, with Omarchy, you don’t need to worry about any of that. The distro uses the Btrfs file system and comes with Snapper preconfigured. This setup takes routine system snapshots before you perform a system update. That way, if an update breaks something, you can simply revert back to an earlier snapshot from when your system was working properly — without having to troubleshoot and fix anything. Furthermore, even if a buggy update breaks your system and makes it impossible to log in, you can still revert to a previously working state because the snapshots are accessible directly from the boot menu. Omarchy’s Hyprland setup is incredibly beginner-friendly Tiling window managers made accessible Unlike most beginner-focused distros that use desktop environments, Omarchy ships with Hyprland, a tiling window manager (TWM). This can be somewhat disorienting because app windows no longer flow freely as they do on regular Linux desktops. Instead, when you open an app, the window will automatically take up the entirety of the available screen space. Then, when you open a second or third app, the screen splits proportionately to show all the windows side by side, with zero overlap. Now, I’m going to be honest: it is going to take you a little while to get used to a TWM. But once it clicks, you’ll find it a much more productive way to work. And if you’re using Omarchy, you can expect its setup to shorten that learning curve by weeks. You see, Hyprland and most other TWMs follow a keyboard-centric workflow. Much of the initial struggle comes from remembering all the keybindings needed to move and manage your windows. However, Omarchy offers an intuitive set of keybindings that makes window management very straightforward. All you need to remember are five things: Super + Space opens the app launcher. Super + W closes the focused window. Super + K opens the list of all system keybindings. Hold Super and left-click to move a window. Hold Super and right-click to resize a window. That’s all you need to get started. And with more use, you’ll have all the other keybindings memorized as well, at which point you’ll find yourself blazing through your workflows. AI is a first-class citizen on Omarchy Your distro comes with its own tutor AI is a highly debated topic in the Linux community, but I, for one, think it’s a net positive, especially if you’re a Linux newcomer. All the major AI models have extensive knowledge of Linux. They can not only explain how the OS works but also help you troubleshoot routine problems. Agentic tools like Claude Code can even take your requests and make specific changes to your system. Now, Omarchy comes with these frontier AI tools built in. You’ve got access to Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode — which lets you use models from several providers. You can also run local models through LM Studio or Ollama if you’d rather keep everything private and on your own machine. On top of that, Omarchy ships with its own skill.md file that teaches these agents how the system is put together, so they know where the configuration files are and how to modify them. In practice, you can open one of these agents and ask how to do something in Omarchy, and it’ll explain how. You can also ask it to change something, such as tweaking the top bar or creating a new theme, and it can make the changes for you. However, the real win comes when something goes wrong. You can have an AI agent analyze an error message or system logs to pinpoint what went wrong and help fix it. Basically, you get to use natural language to manage almost every aspects of your operating system. Linux doesn’t get more accessible than that. Omarchy is a better starting point than a blank slate I can tell you from personal experience that editing a bad piece of prose is often easier than dealing with writer’s block and writing from scratch. A bloated, opinionated distro is kind of like that — it’s a subtractive process rather than an additive one. It’s like sculpting your desktop out of a block of marble rather than painting it onto a blank canvas.