16:13Sharbel A. · Review
Grok Bot Is Only $20 Now. Here's What They're Not Telling You
A two-week hands-on test of xAI's $20 agent platform, lined up against the free, self-hosted tools that do the same job.
September 6thThe argument in one line.
Omarchy pairs a minimal, from-scratch Arch Linux base with Hyprland and Quickshell so an AI agent can rice, theme, and troubleshoot the whole desktop on command, removing the weeks of manual configuration that used to gatekeep 'real' Linux ownership.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- You've thought about switching to Linux but got scared off by Arch's reputation for demanding hours of manual setup.
- You're a developer or power user who wants a fully customizable desktop without babysitting dotfiles for weeks to get there.
- You're curious what an 'AI-first' operating system actually looks like in practice, not just in marketing copy.
- You already run Linux and want to know whether a tiling window manager and AI-driven theming are worth the keyboard relearning.
SKIP IF…
- You need guaranteed driver support for niche pro-audio or video-editing hardware today, not eventually.
- You have zero interest in a keyboard-driven, largely mouse-optional workflow.
The full version, fast.
NetworkChuck installs Omarchy, DHH's opinionated Arch-Linux-based distro built on Hyprland and Quickshell, in one minute forty-seven seconds on real hardware, replacing what used to be a multi-hour manual Arch install. He then lets an AI agent generate custom desktop themes, build a Quickshell plugin, and diagnose a Steam game crash, while ThreatLocker's allowlisting and ring-fencing are framed as what makes letting an AI agent run commands unsupervised survivable. He also runs Windows inside a Docker container for the few apps Linux can't replace yet. His conclusion: the setup time that used to gatekeep Arch Linux is now mostly an AI problem, not a human one, so trying it costs almost nothing.
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00:00 – 01:31
01 · Why Omarchy might make this the year of the Linux desktop
NetworkChuck introduces DHH's Omarchy, an opinionated Arch-based distro built to feel cinematic and fast, and frames the video's central question of whether it can finally make the Linux desktop mainstream.
01:31 – 02:46
02 · The 60 second Arch Linux install challenge
He flashes a USB drive and installs Omarchy on an old gaming desktop and then on his dual-4090 machine, timing the install at one minute forty-seven seconds.
02:46 – 06:48
03 · What Arch Linux actually is, and the big five distros
A primer on which Linux distros are built from scratch (Debian, Slackware, Fedora/Red Hat, Gentoo, Arch), why Arch ships as a bare root prompt, and how Omarchy pre-configures that same base in minutes.
06:48 – 11:44
04 · First contact with a tiling window manager
NetworkChuck fumbles through Hyprland's keyboard-only workflow with help from Typecraft's Chris Power, learning super-key shortcuts for launching apps, moving between panes, and closing windows without a mouse.
11:44 – 13:23
05 · Switching themes instantly with Quickshell
He cycles through several built-in Quickshell themes that repaint the whole desktop at once, then triggers an AI agent to generate an entirely new custom theme from a text prompt.
13:23 – 16:33
06 · How allowlisting and ringfencing lock down what runs
Sponsor segment for ThreatLocker: allowlisting blocks anything not explicitly approved, and ring-fencing restricts what an approved app can do, framed as the safety net that makes trusting an unsupervised AI agent on a desktop reasonable.
16:33 – 20:12
07 · The malleable desktop, and ricing it with AI
NetworkChuck argues Omarchy isn't just trading Apple's or Microsoft's opinions for DHH's, because AI now lets him reshape the desktop on demand, generating a cyberpunk neon theme and a full Windows XP recreation with Claude and Codex.
20:12 – 23:09
08 · Gaming on Linux, and letting AI diagnose the crash
He installs Steam and Portal, hits a crash, and uses the built-in 'diagnose with AI' feature, which correctly traces the failure to a Proton compatibility setting rather than an Omarchy bug.
23:09 – 25:01
09 · Running Windows inside Omarchy with Docker
After getting the game running again, he spins up a full Windows installation inside a Docker container for the handful of apps that still require it, noting how much longer that setup takes than booting Omarchy itself.
25:01 – 28:06
10 · What Omarchy actually is: Arch, Hyprland, Quickshell
A recap explaining Omarchy as the combination of Arch Linux, Hyprland, and Quickshell, plus its own package mirror and update channels that keep it from breaking as often as raw Arch.
28:06 – 31:40
11 · Can you say "I use Arch btw" if you run Omarchy?
NetworkChuck addresses the Linux community's gatekeeping over whether a pre-configured distro still counts as 'real' Arch, and lands on switching to Omarchy himself while keeping Windows for one irreplaceable recording tool.
31:40 – 33:36
12 · A prayer for you
NetworkChuck closes with his signature end-of-video prayer for the viewer.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- Arch Linux installed and booted to a working desktop in one minute and forty-seven seconds using Omarchy, on hardware where a manual Arch install traditionally takes hours.
- Only five Linux distributions are built truly from scratch: Debian, Slackware, Fedora/Red Hat, Gentoo, and Arch — almost every other distro, including Ubuntu, derives from one of them.
- Arch ships as a bare root prompt with no GUI, sound, fonts, or sudo preconfigured, which is exactly what earned 'I use Arch btw' its bragging-rights reputation.
- Omarchy intentionally lags Arch's rolling-release mirror by about a month and offers stable/RC/edge/dev channels, so it gets Arch's cutting-edge software without Arch's habit of breaking itself on update.
- Quickshell runs the entire desktop shell as a single process, which is why switching an entire visual theme (colors, fonts, wallpaper, window borders) applies everywhere instantly instead of requiring a restart.
- The desktop has a built-in agent picker that treats your choice of AI model (Claude, ChatGPT/Codex) as an OS-level setting, not a per-app choice.
- An AI agent generated a complete custom desktop theme, including a matching screensaver, from a single plain-English prompt referencing the video's sponsor.
- When a Steam game crashed, the desktop offered a one-click 'diagnose with AI' option that correctly identified the failure as a Proton compatibility issue rather than an OS bug.
- A full Windows installation can run inside a Docker container on Linux via the open-source dockur/windows project, letting a handful of Windows-only apps run without dual-booting.
- That containerized Windows install took noticeably longer to provision than booting native Omarchy, an honest tradeoff the video doesn't try to hide.
- ThreatLocker's allowlisting model, where nothing runs unless it's explicitly approved, is presented as what makes it survivable to let an AI agent run commands unsupervised on a desktop.
- 'Ring-fencing' restricts what an approved application can do once it's running, for example blocking a PDF reader from ever opening PowerShell, closing off a common malware technique even for allowed software.
- Over 70,000 companies, including major airlines and an NFL team, run ThreatLocker, positioning it as enterprise-proven rather than a niche security tool.
- The debate over whether Omarchy users can claim 'I use Arch btw' reveals the phrase was always more about time invested than technical skill, and AI-assisted setup collapses that time cost.
- The presenter explicitly plans a gradual migration, keeping Windows for one specific recording tool while moving other daily workloads to Omarchy, rather than claiming a full switch.
AI collapsed Arch Linux's famous learning curve
WHAT TO LEARN
Omarchy shows that Linux's biggest barrier was never the underlying complexity, it was the hours of manual configuration, and an AI agent can now absorb nearly all of that cost.
01Why Omarchy might make this the year of the Linux desktop
- An operating system's default aesthetic is a design choice, not a technical constraint: Linux looks plain because nobody opinionated it, not because it has to.
- 'Opinionated' software, one maintainer's defaults baked in, trades days of your own configuration time for someone else's taste, which is a real tradeoff, not automatically a downgrade.
02The 60 second Arch Linux install challenge
- A distro's installer speed is now a legitimate feature to shop for: Omarchy went from a historically multi-hour Arch install to under two minutes on real hardware.
03What Arch Linux actually is, and the big five distros
- Only a handful of Linux distros are built genuinely from scratch, Debian, Slackware, Fedora/Red Hat, Gentoo, and Arch, and nearly everything else, including Ubuntu and Kali, derives from one of those five.
- Arch ships as a bare root prompt with no GUI, sound, fonts, or sudo configured; you assemble the entire experience yourself, which is where 'I use Arch btw' bragging rights come from.
- Arch runs a rolling release, continuous cutting-edge updates instead of fixed versions, so staying current is the user's ongoing job, not a periodic upgrade.
04First contact with a tiling window manager
- Tiling window managers replace the mouse-driven minimize/maximize/close model with memorized keyboard shortcuts, disorienting for the first hour and faster than a mouse after that.
- The learning curve is the point for this audience: manually memorized keybindings are what make power users feel ownership over a computer that finally does exactly what they tell it.
05Switching themes instantly with Quickshell
- Quickshell runs the entire desktop UI as one live process, so a full visual theme change applies everywhere instantly instead of requiring a restart.
- Built-in AI agent integration lets you generate a custom desktop theme from a plain-English prompt instead of hand-editing config files, collapsing a multi-hour ricing session into a couple of minutes.
07The malleable desktop, and ricing it with AI
- The pitch for a 'malleable' OS is that customization is no longer gated by hours of free time; an AI agent can generate a full theme, wallpaper, and even a working plugin from a spoken request.
- Switching your default AI agent is a first-class OS-level setting here, not an app-level choice, a preview of how AI-native operating systems may treat model choice going forward.
- A generated theme isn't just colors; it can extend to matching screensavers and startup animations, because the whole desktop shares one theming system.
08Gaming on Linux, and letting AI diagnose the crash
- Modern Linux gaming runs through Steam's Proton compatibility layer, which translates Windows game calls to run natively; a real crash and a real fix are shown, not a cherry-picked success.
- When a game crashes, a one-click 'diagnose with AI' option reads the crash and points to the actual cause, a Proton setting rather than a system bug, moving troubleshooting from forum searches to inline.
09Running Windows inside Omarchy with Docker
- A full Windows VM can run inside a Docker container on Linux for the handful of apps that still require it, instead of dual-booting or keeping a separate machine.
- That containerized Windows install is genuinely slower to provision than booting native Omarchy, treated as an honest point against Linux rather than glossed over.
10What Omarchy actually is: Arch, Hyprland, Quickshell
- Omarchy is Arch Linux plus Hyprland plus Quickshell, three existing open-source projects combined and pre-configured, not a from-scratch operating system.
- Despite sitting on Arch's rolling-release base, Omarchy behaves more like a stable distro day-to-day because it maintains its own package mirror about a month behind upstream, with stable/RC/edge/dev channels to choose from.
11Can you say "I use Arch btw" if you run Omarchy?
- There's a real gatekeeping debate over whether a pre-configured Arch-based distro 'counts' as running Arch, since you skip the manual setup that used to be the badge of expertise.
- The counterargument: gatekeeping by setup time was always really gatekeeping by free time, and AI-assisted configuration makes that gate mostly obsolete now.
Terms worth knowing.
- Arch Linux
- A minimalist, from-scratch Linux distribution that ships with almost nothing preconfigured, on a rolling-release model where the user is expected to assemble and maintain the whole system themselves.
- Omarchy
- An opinionated Linux distribution built by DHH on top of Arch Linux, Hyprland, and Quickshell, that pre-configures a full working desktop in minutes instead of the weeks Arch traditionally demands.
- Hyprland
- A tiling window manager for Linux: it arranges open windows automatically into a grid rather than letting them overlap freely, and it's controlled almost entirely with keyboard shortcuts.
- Quickshell
- The desktop shell (status bar, app launcher, theming engine) Omarchy runs on top of Hyprland, running as a single process so a full visual theme can switch instantly across the whole desktop.
- Tiling window manager
- A window manager that automatically arranges open windows into non-overlapping tiles and is navigated mostly by keyboard shortcuts instead of a mouse.
- Rolling release
- An update model that continuously ships the newest software versions rather than grouping changes into periodic, tested releases, trading stability for faster access to new features.
- Ricing
- Slang for heavily customizing a Linux desktop's visual appearance, such as colors, fonts, window borders, and wallpaper, beyond its default look.
- Allowlisting
- A security model that blocks every application by default and only permits software that has been explicitly approved to run, the opposite of blocklisting known-bad software.
- Ring-fencing
- Restricting what an approved application is allowed to do once it's running, for example preventing a trusted PDF reader from launching a command shell.
- Proton
- Valve's Windows-compatibility layer for Steam that translates Windows game calls so many Windows-only games can run on Linux without modification.
- Dotfiles
- The hidden configuration files, named with a leading dot, that store a Linux user's personal settings for their shell, editor, window manager, and other tools.
Things they pointed at.
Lines you could clip.
00:20
“This is what computers can be. They can be exciting.”
03:48
“No GUI, no sound, no fonts, no pseudo. Sudo, just an empty canvas.”
16:09
“Show ThreatLocker some love and make me look good.”
21:08
“It's not scary to use Linux now, especially Arch, the most fearful of them all. You can just figure things out.”
31:38
“Go on a date. Just feel it out.”
31:43
“I use Arch, by the way.”
Word for word.
Read-along
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See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
metaphoranalogy
I think it's time. This is the year of the Linux desktop because now we have Omachi, Omarki, Omarchi. This is the Linux desktop we've been waiting for.
It's like you . You go like, Oh, I used to use a three wheeler and pedal around with my little computer world. And then here's the and we'll go to hyperdrive.
Let's go. This is what computers can be. They can be exciting.
That's DHH, co -founder of Basecamp, creator of Ruby on Rails, and the creator of Omarchy. The way I pronounce it is Omachi. Right, Omachi.
It's a Linux distro that feels like the OS we've been waiting for. It's a passion project for DHH. It's this quest for the perfect operating system.
An operating system that feels like it's from a movie. Because Linux doesn't have to be ugly. Like, this is what I always wanted.
I would always look at these great movies, right? The Matrix or whatever. You'd see their little interaction.
Like, why can't my computer look like that? Why is it only in the movies it looks like that? And I'm like, wait, we could make it look like that.
So a couple of things. It's an AI -first OS, which I cannot wait to show you what that means. It's fast.
Apparently, you can install it in under 60 seconds. It's endlessly customizable. And it's supposed to make it really easy to game on Linux.
But you see this thing? He doesn't want you to use it. No mouse, ever.
which I'm kind of here for. And it's the first time I've ever felt like I can actually use Linux without having to manage Linux. You know what I mean?
I honestly think you're going to love this. Get your coffee ready. Oh, and it's also arch by the way, let's go.
So here we go. We're about to install the hardest to install Linux distro known to man arch Linux, but it's only going to take us 60 seconds, I think. But before we do hold on, Is this even for you?
I asked DHH. Anyone who either already loves their computer or who is interested in loving their computer. Yes, it's for you.
If you want to love your computer, I think you do, right? Yes. So let's get started.
Now I'm going to be quick because Omachi is quick. First, we'll flash our USB drive with the latest version Quattro. Then I'll grab an old gaming desktop I have lying around.
It's running these specs. I can't remember right now, so I'm gonna have it on the screen. And I know what you're thinking, Chuck, what hardware do I use?
Where do I install this? Here's what DHH uses. This is the Dell XPS 16, which is like just great, great machines.
This is my favorite machine right now. But Framework, I use those for a while too. Here's the Framework Pro 13 Pro is also a good machine.
Now keep in mind, that's for cutting edge hardware. But the cool thing about Omachi is that you can run it on pretty much anything, bring any old hardware back to life with potentially the best operating system in the world. Anyways, we're gonna boot into bios, select our USB key and go.
Here we go. We're gonna start the clock. And what I wanna do is see if I can explain what the heck arch Linux is and the time it takes to install arch Linux coffee break.
What is arch? Now I've been a long time user of Ubuntu and Cali Linux. Both of these are Linux distros, but they're also based on or derived from Debian Linux, which is a Linux distro made from scratch.
Stick with me. I know it's kind of weird, but I want you to understand what we're doing here and why it's kind of crazy. Now there's only a handful of distros that are on this level of from scratch this, the big five, some of these you've probably never heard of Slackware like the video.
If you've heard of Slackware comment, if you have, I got to hack the YouTube algorithm somehow by hacking you Fedora or red hat gen two, and finally arch. Omachi, which feels like it should be Omarchi, but whatever, is based on Arch. But here's the thing about Arch.
It's known for being on the cutting edge, opting for rolling updates versus the fixed releases of other distros. And it's also known for being minimal, very minimal. There's almost nothing there.
There's just Linux. And then there's a package manager called Pac -Man. And then there's a DUI mentality that you should set everything up.
Arch just hands you a root prompt and says, Good luck. No GUI, no sound, no fonts, no pseudo.
Sudo, just . You choose and configure nearly everything. Memes like I run Arch, by the way, were born from the bragging rights of being able to set up Arch.
From sinking all your time into not just building, but maintaining your Arch computer. But it also meant that you knew Linux. It meant you kind of loved Linux and valued truly owning your computer, which usually means you make all the choices.
Making it your own or ricin. A term used for customizing the crap out of your Linux desktop. But there's kind of a dark side to that, which is you now have to keep up with each program you've installed.
Whenever they release a new version, maybe it has breaking changes. Maybe their APIs have changed. Maybe their configuration file format has changed.
You now have to reconfigure and relook into that program. By the way, that was Chris from Typecraft. He's my friend and fellow YouTuber, and he loves Arch.
And also now Omachi. Omachi. Dang it.
I keep saying it wrong. Now I want to point this out. I want to call it out.
I'm not going to hear about it in the comments, but Omachi is kind of breaking the rules here for arch people. Like think about this, the weeks and months that you would spend into making your arch Linux distro just perfect for you is now being done for you in a matter of seconds when you install it or a few minutes. If you're me right now, I literally have invested over the past year, probably 3000 hours.
in making this system perfect. That's why Omachi is referred to as an opinionated Linux distro. It's all DHH's opinion of how your computer should look and run.
And the question I have is, how is that different from Mac or Windows? We'll get to that. But the beautiful part about Omachi is that it gives you a working, beautiful system that you can start playing with right now.
And you know I like that. Now I'm going to provide the base layer, the base setup, and it's going to have everything that a developer or computer lover would Light you see out of the box.
It's going to have all the agent sort of harnesses. It's going to have all the installation stuff. Everything's just going to be there.
The terminal is going to look beautiful. All the themes are integrated so that when you change from Tokyo Night to something else, everything just fills through. But then it's a do -it -yourself adventure.
And it's set up. Took roughly three minutes. Slower than 60 seconds, but it's an older system.
What do you say we try it on this?
Remember Terry? My dual 4090 system? Yeah, he's gonna run Omachi.
Okay, it's installing. One minute, 47 seconds. Better?
I'll take it. Wow, that is pretty.
It sees both my cards. It's pretty sick. Woo!
Get back on the laptop. We're kind of just thrust into the world of a tiling window manager. There's a version of Linux that's this neckbeard pocket protector, completely devoid of style and sense of color coordination.
It should be that. Just below the surface. We're built on all of these uber nerds creating this incredible operating system over the last 30 plus years, 40 million lines of just super nerdy code.
Incredible. Nothing of this that happens could happen if they hadn't done this work. But then.
On top of it, we're going to layer some nice aesthetics because Linux doesn't have to be ugly. The fonts don't have to render like shit. The window arrangement, the color coordination does not have to look like it was made by someone who's colorblind.
All right, let's configure the wireless. Seeing wireless just fine. I do like this a lot so far.
Connected to Wi -Fi. I like all the ping and the... And all the network specs right there.
Dude, that's actually pretty cool. I love that. Look at the messaging it gives you.
That speaks to me. I love this. Wiring bits, handling packets, sorting frames.
It's like the Claude thinking stuff. You can also share your network right here. The QR code.
Even shows the password. We're gonna blur all that. Now from here, it gets kind of frustrating.
If you've never used a tiling window manager before, like me. I know I'm going to love this, but I just don't know how to use it yet. And it's okay if it takes a couple of days to learn your computer.
This is a computer system made for pros. And I mean that in the sense of professional computer lovers. People who are willing to invest time and energy into learning how their system works and reap the benefits that come from that investment.
I can get down with that mentality. It doesn't make you want to just go deeper. Like you want to be part of that club, right?
Let's try. Um, so I know I'll do the super key. Let's try super key space.
We can search for stuff fuzzy finding and I'll do terminal. I think the default one is called foot. Okay.
We did that. How do I zoom control? Plus, plus, plus.
Okay. Got it. Now.
Do you know something weird? There's no, um, there's no Xs or maximize or any kind of window thing with we can do with our mouse. How are we supposed to use this thing?
I hate those. three little dots that every window has had since the beginning of time on every operating system. There's none of that.
You have to learn that super, which is the same as the Windows key or the command key, super W closes a window. You learn that once and now you never need to try to hunt for the little X up at the corner again with your dumb little mouse. Thankfully, Typecraft was here to show me how to do some stuff.
That is why I love tiling window managers and even... if i'm not programming it's still just more fun to use i feel like i can just switch between panes really fast i can switch between workspaces it's easy to group windows together it's easy to move them into different workspaces it just feels like it feels like a superpower almost super is the way you move around in hyperland so i can type super one two and three if i type super h it'll move to the left pane That's currently on my screen right now.
And if I type super L, it'll move to the right pane. And same thing with J and K. You can see in the top left of the status bar, you have the numbers, one, two, three, four.
So how you get around is you can hold the super button and just type a number. A super space is your application launcher. If I want to launch, let's say ghosty, which is my terminal of choice, by the way, I can do that.
I can just type ghosty. It's a fuzzy finder. I can hit enter and there we go.
That's ghosty. Okay. So I can switch my spaces by doing super key.
Which I'm already at. Then two, three, four. Okay, cool.
We already did super space. Let's open up CLI amp. I heard some things about this.
All right, I'm gonna try and not use my mouse. Let's do a lo -fi stream. That's cool.
And then I think we can do super key. We can use our arrow keys to kind of switch windows. Why did it stop?
Oh, it's like a radio, right? Anyways. I'm going to close this.
Okay, cool. I can do super key space and then do learn. And then we can learn our key bindings.
Okay, cool. Super shift return to open your browser. There it goes.
How do I close that little icon thing when I don't have a mouse? Oh, like that. I think I'm gonna do super key F to make that full screen.
Escape to, you have to hold it. Okay, let's learn some more. Super plus return for the terminal.
Easy. Super W to close. This is fun.
Super escape for the system menu. Okay. So we have a lot of things to memorize.
Can I get good? I think by the end of this video, I want to, I want to be a super user. I want to draw.
So stay tuned for that. I'm going to practice. Ooh, a theme menu, super shift control space.
All right. Super shift control space. Ooh, look at all of our options.
Let's do solitude. Oh. And notice how it changed the theme of everything.
Oh, I used my mouse, dang it. Okay, let's go. I cheated, all right.
Chuck .com. Okay, let's try a white theme. That changes so fast, it's so sick.
Osaka Jade. Oh, that's so cool. Now the reason this is so fast is because of Quick Show.
What you're seeing right now is Quick Show. That's the desktop. and everything's running under one process, from what I understand.
Groovebox, yeah. I like the feel of Groovebox. But you know what we can do?
We can do this. So, if I do super space, and I do agent, we can select a default agent. Remember, this is an AI -driven OS, and you can choose a bunch of stuff.
I'm gonna choose Claude. I'll get logged in. I'm already logged in.
And built into this is an Omarchi. Omar Omachi skill. We should be able to create our own themes easily with this.
We're about to rice dog. Here we go. I want you to create a unique, incredible, amazing theme based on threat locker, the sponsor of this video, create a theme, dude, let's go.
This is so cool. Now while that's building, let's go into them. Does have Neo them built in?
No, I thought it did. Oh, it's like built in. It's a built in app.
So the sponsor of this video is ThreatLocker and their whole philosophy is the reason why you're looking at this potential OS. You decide what runs on your computer, not malware. They call it deny by default.
If an application is not on a list for it to run, it does not run. Zero trust. They zero trust all your apps unless you say so.
So ransomware from the sketchy attachment that someone, Linda, Brenda, it's Brenda. She clicked on it. She's in accounting.
She clicked on it. It can't run. It's not on the list.
It got bounced. That's called allow listing. And then there's this crazy thing called ring fencing.
Oh, it's almost done. Sorry, got distracted. This puts a fence around an app.
For example, like a PDF reader. It has no business opening up PowerShell. So it can't.
We just don't let it. I mean, also, like, look at my screen right now. There's an AI agent running all kinds of commands on my computer.
He's not fenced in. At home, on this machine. That's lightning speed.
I love this at corporate and the enterprise. I don't want Brenda doing this or George or Bernard, none of them, but ThreatLocker can help you help them to run AI stuff. A box of men.
Now this isn't some niche tool that just came out on Twitter. It's legit. Did I say Twitter?
I mean, I mean, X so hard to get used to saying that over 70 ,000 companies run ThreatLocker Emirates jet blue, the Indianapolis Colts. So it's not just airlines. Okay.
It's almost done while it's making that I want to do one more thing. Because why not? What's my key binding for agents?
Super shift control A. Okay. Excellent.
Let's build a custom fast fetch theme.
It finished. Did you see that? Okay, it's done.
Oh, look at that. That is so sick. And if I try to switch themes.
Oh, wait, what was it again? Yeah, there it is. It's just sitting there.
It's a threat locker theme. That's awesome. I want to do another thing too.
It did the screensaver. How sick is that? Best ad ever.
Legit. That was so cool. It's going to fix it.
It's like it was too wide.
There's our fast fetch. Did not use the right Threat Locker logo. but it looks pretty sick and they do run on windows, Mac and Linux.
They don't run arch yet. Threat locker. Can we do arch?
I mean, look at that. How can you not wanna do arch after you see this threat locker say in the comments below threat locker, please do arch because this is the year of the Linux desktop. I'm getting hyped.
That this is so freaking fun. I need a coffee break. I'm getting too stoked.
Need calm down a little bit. Oh, are you seeing this? Are you seeing Okay, that's it.
If you thought that was cool, go to this link right here. Show ThreatLocker some love and make me look good. Link below.
Now enough jacking around with themes. DHH keeps using this word about this computer, the future of our OS, malleable. And it's the whole reason I'm thinking about switching.
Like after seeing that, how can you not want to switch? I think by the end of this video, I'm going to be switching to Linux for everything.
Now getting back to my question from earlier, when we're switching to Omachi to Linux, aren't we just kind of shifting from Macs and Windows opinions about our OS to DHHs? No, I don't think we are.
I think he's giving us a great starting point, a computer that's ready to use now, that's already fun right now, but you can rice it to your heart's content. This is your computer, not Apple's, not Microsoft's, yours. And the word DHH keeps using.
This vision of the malleable computer that you can change to your specifications and liking. This is the . And I like that word malleable.
Say it again, malleable. Say it right now out loud malleable, not take a sip of coffee.
It's the idea that this desktop is yours and you can change it as much as you want. And now that we have the power of AI that you just kind of got a glimpse of, you can absolutely do whatever you want. Like you have an idea.
You just, no, I know we kind of already riced my system a bit, but I want to rice it more. And it's gotta be quick. Cause I don't have time.
You don't have time to sit here and watch me sit here and rice this. Let's see if AI really does empower me here. Let's try this.
Oh no. I opened up chat to be T somehow. No.
Close. I forgot how to do stuff. There we go.
Rice test number one, cyberpunk.
Let's see what happens.
I like how it prompts me for my pseudo password. That's pretty cool. Little coffee break while it's building.
I don't know how many cups I've had today. Okay, I finished the neon theme. Let's go try it out.
Switch to cyberpunk neon. That's actually pretty sick. And it even gave me a whole set of quick shell options.
I can make it stop raining.
That's so cool. I can show status. Okay.
Don't want to see that. Let's get it raining again. And of course, if I play some music.
Got that up at the top. Man, that's so sick.
You hear the fans on this thing right now? Let's switch back to normal. Now also while I was waiting, I tried to have Claude build out something fun.
API was failing, so I just changed my agent to JadGBT, or Codex. Ew, I can just switch it right here? Look at that!
Oh my gosh, that is so freaking cool. I can see my usage. Man.
Anyways, I had to build something fun. You ready for this? So cool.
Switching now.
Windows XP.
Are you seeing this? This is so sick. Notice it does have, it's got the window options again.
Let me see if I can actually close it. Oh, it doesn't actually work. but in my head it does got the clock down here.
I mean, this is windows XP. What programs do I have? What's my computer.
It did. It did everything. Okay.
I think I'm streaming recording right now. And dude, that is so cool. This is so fun.
All right, let's switch back. So the cool thing about quick shell is that it allows people to develop plugins for a Marchi much easier than they otherwise would. Okay.
So we can build our own plugins. Let's try that. Let's build a Pomodoro timer.
While it's building that, let's try gaming. Now, while you weren't looking, I installed Steam. Gaming on Linux has traditionally been...
Sorry for that. And also, while you weren't looking, I installed Portal. Let's see if it works.
Play.
So, first of all, good. All right. Fans are going nuts.
That's okay, though, as long as I can play. No, what was that? No, I'm going to play.
New game. Uh -oh. And it crashed.
Now this, I was actually kind of hoping it would do that. You see this up here? Process crashed.
Click to diagnose with AI. AI's built in. Click on it.
Dude, check it. It's starting to diagnose. And how do I hide this?
I think I go command T. Oh yeah, there we go. Oh, you can toggle it floating with super, super T.
Okay, it's diagnosing the crash for me right now. This is why it's not scary. to use Linux now, especially Arch, the most fearful of them all.
You can just figure things out. AI can help you. Let me check on my plugin.
It's still working. No, I honestly have no idea if that's something it can fix. If it can, that's kind of fire.
I'm really starting to get used to this keyboard though, or the keyboard actions, the tiling window manager. It's fun. I'm already at 71 % of my weekly on Codex.
So cool you can see it right here though. I have been building. Now, while it's working, I got something special in the mail.
Just now it's so perfect for what's happening right now. I'll be right back. I got a package.
Oh, it finished. So it didn't solve it, but it did say like, it's a portal issue. It's not an Omachi thing.
So we shouldn't upload the issue. How do I fix it? Okay.
Let's open this box.
It like literally came as I'm recording this framework did send this to me specifically because they knew I was going to be talking about Omachi. Beautiful packaging. I'm loving this.
Wait. Do I have to assemble this? I was going to do something real quick with this.
I'm going to have to do that later. All right. It told me to use a compatibility tool.
I'm going to do Proton 11 .0. Okay. Let's see if that helps.
Oh, we have to update it. I've never done this before. Okay.
My Pomodoro timer is done. Do you see at the top there? Dude, this is like built -in right?
Oh, this is so cool start. There we go Pomo is running pause. I wonder how it looks if I go to Windows Quick shell, baby.
Let's go Do I lose it? Yeah, let me do She's a random one like a root box. Oh, it looks so nice.
It just adapts It's got settings even though the fan is having a heart attack right now. I get this I get it hacker man. Okay Okay.
While we're waiting for portal to reinstall me and Chris found something kind of cool. Do do super key space search for windows. Oh yeah.
Oh, interesting. Okay. Look at this.
It's Docker. That's sick. That's amazing.
Check this out. Super key space windows. It's right here.
Um, I don't know what's gonna happen. It's launching windows. I'm having a lot of fun with this operating system.
I don't know what it's doing. Oh, my game is ready. Okay.
We're bouncing all over the place. I know. Let's play.
Hey!
It's working! Yes! And it's, you know, it's pretty smooth.
Oh, I haven't played this in a long time. Let me play with my girls. Let me out.
Can I use a remote? Let's see. Just like that, dude.
I mean, this looks really good.
All right, enough of this. I'm going to sit here and play this forever. Let's close Steam.
Let's try Windows one more time. I think what I did is I had tried it, like, yeah. I had tried it once before, and I'm like, no, I don't want to see it yet.
I want to show you guys. And check this out. It's setting up a Windows VM for us, probably KVM.
We'll give it four gigs of RAM. Yeah, all the defaults. That'll work, Chuck.
Do a password. Yeah.
So it's gonna be running Windows inside Docker. Look at that. Where'd my quick shell bar go?
Did it crash? Now if you do super key T, you kinda go into, I think Chris called it scrolling mode or something, where you can still move things around with your mouse if you wanna go old school. My quick shell bar is gone all of a sudden.
Okay, let's set this aside for a moment. Even after all of this, many of you may be like, Okay, what exactly is Omachi?
Is it just Arch Linux with a bunch of custom .files that DHH riced? Yeah? Because essentially all it is is Arch Linux with Hyperland and Quick Shell as the desktop.
The combination of those three things, Arch, Hyperland, and Quick Shell, has allowed me to build Omachi into this perfect distillation of aesthetics. productivity and everything I love about computers. But honestly, it itself acts more like a distro like Ubuntu and Kali Linux because of the way it handles updates.
Remember Arch Linux is always like when you update anything, it's just like the cutting edge bleeding edge. And it's, if you update something and it breaks, figure it out, or it's your job to go read all the information about the updates before you update yourself. Omachi is like, ah, we're going to have your back on that.
It has its own package repo and its own mirror of arch itself. It's intentionally one month behind and it has channels. So right now I can go to super key space and go to update.
I can look at the channel. It's got stable RC edge and dev. This ensures that all the choices that DHH helped us make aren't broken constantly by the bleeding edge aspect of arch.
Okay. It's, it's still installing. It's taking a long time, but it's still cool.
I'll wait. I'm patient, dude. It's running in chemo.
I honestly don't know where a quick shell went. Maybe I have to press any key to close this and things come back to normal. No.
Let me ask AI where it went. Hey, what happened to my quick shell? I don't see any menus right now.
I can just ask for help. I think Windows may have gotten stuck at 84%. Oh, it's going.
It's almost done. Oh, I toggled it off.
I just turned it off. How did I do that? I don't remember doing that, dude.
All right, closing you. I'm all keyboard, man. If I do super control T, I can see B top and it gives me all my stuff.
How things are going right now. Oh, I like this. So this laptop only has 16 gigs of RAM.
It's actually doing really well with usage and I'm spinning up a VM or a container. I'm curious about the terminal Docker PS. There's Windows right there.
Hi. You know, this is taking a long time to get set up, and I think all that DHH wanted to do with this is to show you that Windows takes forever and Omachi takes nothing. Nice play, DHH.
I see you. Almost there. Let's see how it feels.
Okay. This is not terrible, but very fun. It's actually pretty quick.
Can I hear it? Does the sound come through? No, there's no sound drivers.
No. The video's playing really well. It's crazy.
Okay, it runs Windows. Now if I close it here, I think it's still gonna run. Still running.
Okay, so you can just reopen it immediately after you're done. I think it's still the same session. Let me actually, let me open up.
Well, no, it's not, because I had a browser open, right? How do I get out of here? This is so weird.
This thing is still steaming.
Okay, time for the serious question. Can we actually say, when we install and use Omachi, I use Arch? By the way, you might think yes, just by default, but I posted about it and I got stuff immediately.
People coming at me. There's a whole culture around this. There's actually a really bad term for Omachi.
Don't look it up, but the consensus by, and I'm gonna use DHH's terms by the neckbeards is that Omachi isn't true Arch Linux. You can't wear that badge because you didn't configure it. You don't have those bragging rights.
You didn't go through the pain of installing everything meticulously. You didn't earn it. And to that, I say it's kind of dumb.
Like I get it, but also times have changed. We're entering a new age where yes, you would have had to do something like that to get this desktop, but now you don't have to. And if you actually do that, it's kind of a waste of time.
I think DHH and Chris see that. Yeah, no, you can. you can always say you use arch by the way, even if you're on a Margie.
So what's cool now is having a computer running arch is no longer gated by hours of complexity. Having a computer that is completely yours, breaking free of the walls and the forced opinions of Apple and Microsoft. It's now in reach for everyone for you, for me, because honestly, I've always wanted to be part of this camp.
Like I wanted to rice. I saw PewDiePie making his rising video, but I cannot justify the time for that. Can you, I've got a job.
I'm running two companies. I have six kids. Ubuntu for me, man, until now, now I can do this.
I can create exactly the computer I want with the most cool Linux distro out there. And there's nothing stopping you from doing this right now. Yes.
It's comfortable. It's cozy in Mac and windows land. Yes.
It's gonna be a bit of a learning curve moving here. I think AI in general is a really great, great way to make Linux setups like this a lot less scary. And that I think Linux was missing that.
That's why I think this very well might be the year of the Linux desktop because the complexity is still there underneath the surface, but it's not gated by neckbeards. That's my most elegant way of saying that. Now, am I going to switch to Omachi?
I'll get it right eventually. Yes, I think. I'm going to run Terry on Omachi.
I'm going to keep this laptop on Omachi. I might give this away actually. I'm probably going to install Omachi on this.
framework laptop when I can figure out how to put it together. I just, that's a cool idea. I like that.
But similar to Chris, I can't do, I can't do everything right now because, and maybe, you know, maybe I might, but there are things like recording videos. Like I'm recording this video right now on Windows because I have a very specific application I need for this and it's reliable. I know it is.
I worry that Linux won't support everything I need. There's drivers, there's just things. It's gonna be a trust thing.
So I think slowly I can give more and more of my workload over to Linux, but I'm game. The naysayers are always like, oh, you're gonna spend all your time having to maintain Linux. Not anymore.
Like with AI, you don't have to do that. If something breaks, you tell him to fix it, her to fix it, whatever you wanna call your AI, and it does it. We're in a new age of computing.
So what about you? Are you going to be switching to Omachi? Are you going to at least try it?
I think you can actually install it side by side, dual boot with Windows. They make it really easy. They release that after I started messing with this.
But I think you should. Just get in there and try it. You don't have to fully commit.
Go on a date. Just feel it out. Anyways, that's all I got.
I use Arch, by the way. Hey, you're still here. At the end of my videos, I like to pray for you, my audience.
It's not a new thing anymore. I've been doing it for a while. But if you stay till the end, I appreciate you.
If you didn't know this was going to happen, then I don't think this was an accident. So you might as well stick around, right? I want to pray for you right now.
Let's do it. One, two, three, pray. God, I thank you for the person on the other side of the screen.
I thank you for who they are. They're valuable. They are cherished.
They are amazing. And I just thank you that they're here, that they're watching a video about. Linux, because that's cool.
And I pray that this video, this video about tech, would just ignite a fire in them to do amazing things in their life. I don't know where they're at, but you do. So I pray for this person right now that they would take this knowledge they've earned from this video and they use it.
They propel it, or they'll use it to propel themselves into a new career or to a new promotion. or just into an exciting new hobby or community or something. I pray this over their lives.
And if they're anxious about AI, if they're stressed, remove that. Replace that with excitement because we're living in exciting times and it's easy to get bogged down, but it's also a time where we can get excited together. And I pray that you just give them peace right now.
I pray peace over their lives. And ultimately, God, I pray in your name that they would come to know you, and many people may have no idea what that means, and that's okay.
I pray that you would put in their path somehow a chance to get to know you better, Jesus.
I ask this in your name, amen. Thank you for letting me do that. I'll catch you guys next time.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
NetworkChuck installs Arch Linux from a blank USB stick in under two minutes, then hands an AI agent the keys to rice, theme, and troubleshoot the entire desktop while he watches, building the case that DHH's Omarchy might be the year the Linux desktop finally works for everyone, not just the people willing to spend a decade configuring it.
Named ideas worth stealing.
03:46list
The big five from-scratch Linux distros
- Debian
- Slackware
- Fedora / Red Hat
- Gentoo
- Arch
Nearly every Linux distro, including Ubuntu and Kali, is derived from one of these five, which are the only ones built genuinely from scratch.
Steal forany explainer that needs to correct the common assumption that Ubuntu-family distros are foundational
08:12list
Hyprland default keybindings
- Super + K: keybindings help
- Super + Space: terminal
- Super + Return: browser
- Super + Shift + Return: file manager
- Super + Shift + Escape: system menu
- Super + Escape: theme menu
- Super + Shift + Ctrl + Space: fullscreen
The on-screen cheat sheet NetworkChuck reads off while learning to drive the desktop without a mouse.
Steal fora quick-reference graphic for anyone trying a tiling window manager for the first time
13:23concept
Allowlisting + ring-fencing
Allowlisting blocks every application by default and only runs what's explicitly approved; ring-fencing then restricts what an approved app can do once it's running, closing off common exploit chains even for trusted software.
Steal forexplaining zero-trust application control to a non-security audience
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
16:09product
“Show ThreatLocker some love and make me look good. Link below.”
Mid-video sponsor read woven directly into the ricing demo, since allowlisting and ring-fencing are framed as literally what lets an AI agent run commands unsupervised on his desktop, rather than a bolted-on ad break.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
- Join the NetworkChuck Academy! ↗
- 🌐 Omarchy ↗
- 📖 The Omarchy Manual ↗
- 💻 Omarchy on GitHub ↗
- 🛠️ Omarchy plugin directory (500+ plugins) ↗
- 🌐 Hyprland ↗
- 💻 Hyprland on GitHub ↗
- 🌐 Quickshell ↗
- 🌐 Arch Linux ↗
- 🛠️ Ghostty terminal ↗
- 🎵 cliamp (Winamp for your shell) ↗
- 💻 Windows in Docker ↗
- 🌐 Framework laptops ↗
- 🌐 ThreatLocker ↗
- 👤 DHH (David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Omarchy and Ruby on Rails, co-owner of 37signals) ↗
- Blog ↗
- Site ↗
- 👤 Chris Power (Typecraft) ↗
- YouTube ↗
- Site ↗
- ☕☕ COFFEE and MERCH ↗
- 📚 CCNA Course ↗
- Instagram ↗
- X/Twitter ↗
- Facebook ↗
- Join the Discord server ↗
Visual structure at a glance.
