Manjaro-Arm for the Raspberry Pi and embedded devices is shutting down
![j-a-watson.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/d5b37f343a396aa64de9a93a660dc39be69e85da/2014/07/22/2c0d2650-1175-11e4-9732-00505685119a/j-a-watson.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
I really like to make positive, interesting, and informative posts here. Unfortunately, the real world does not always cooperate with me on that. Today is one of those days.
![m-arm-end.png](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/2017/02/26/cdb1ccab-0bcc-4c40-a71a-060a7c5d03c5/m-arm-end.png)
According to announcements on the Manjaro and Manjaro-Arm websites, the Manjaro-Arm project is being shut down. A longer post in the Manjaro-Arm Forums explains the details about why this is happening, and what is going to happen to the existing distribution and infrastructure.
I am really sad to see this distribution go. In my opinion it is the best of the non-Raspbian distributions for the Raspberry Pi, and my recent posts about running it on the Raspberry Pi 2 & 3, and especially on the Raspberry Pi 1 and Zero, showed how much I enjoyed it.
The end of the distribution reveals two important facts. First, producing and maintaining a Linux distribution is very, very hard work. It requires a lot of dedication, a lot of time, and a lot of knowledge. I recall when the SolydXK distribution went through something like this a couple of years ago, and the SolydXK Forum post at that time sounded very similar to Manajro-Arm today.
Fortunately, some talented and dedicated people stepped up to help with SolydXK and it survived that difficult time. I hope that the same might happen with Manjaro-Arm.
Second, I think this shows that providing an alternative to Raspbian GNU/Linux on the Raspberry Pi is extremely difficult. There will always be a small number of people (like me) who are interested in non-Raspbian distributions, but finding a user base beyond those people will be extremely difficult.
So, I will take this opportunity to say thanks very much to the people who have put a lot of time and a lot of hard work into the Manjaro-Arm project. I have found it fun and interesting, and it has helped me to show some people what the potential of the Raspberry Pi is. I wish everyone who has worked on the project well.