Arch Linux

rsavu

Member

Registered: 2007-07-17

Posts: 8

Archlinux tutorial

As I was pointed to this section by some very helpful users, I want to share with you a tutorial I wrote for the archlinux newbies (as I believe that tutorials are the most common obstacle in large-scale adoption of Linux).

http://daemon80.blogspot.com/2007/07/ar … orial.html

Here it is. I will write more on the subject and I will try to be as correct and complete as possible. Please tell me what you think. Any critics are welcomed as this is one of my first tutorials.

hussam

Member

Registered: 2006-03-26

Posts: 572

Website

Re: Archlinux tutorial

you shouldn't recommend adding people to hal and dbus groups. those shouldn't really be needed.

calef13

Member

Registered: 2007-06-10

Posts: 142

Re: Archlinux tutorial

I would also not tell everyone to uncomment line en_US.UTF-8 in /etc/locale.gen, as not everyone has that locale, you could put in a short explanation to help them make a choice.

Also something which new users might appreciate is pacman -S codecs which is quite essential if you have lots of mp3s. I love that arch just has a single package for codecs, amazing that seemingly not other major distribution has clicked that a simple package is all it takes instead of a massive apt-get or yum line

But overall a very nice tutorial, well done

Calef13

hacosta

Member

From: Mexico

Registered: 2006-10-22

Posts: 423

Re: Archlinux tutorial

great guide.. be sure to contribute to the wiki also

cromo

Member

From: Czestochowa, Poland

Registered: 2006-09-20

Posts: 87

Re: Archlinux tutorial

you shouldn't recommend adding people to hal and dbus groups. those shouldn't really be needed.

Accordig to HAL page  at arch wiki:

For dbus and hal to function properly, local user accounts must be members of the optical, storage, dbus, and hal groups. To achieve this, open a terminal and type the following commands as root:
# gpasswd -a USERNAME optical
# gpasswd -a USERNAME storage
# gpasswd -a USERNAME dbus
# gpasswd -a USERNAME hal

rsavu

Member

Registered: 2007-07-17

Posts: 8

Re: Archlinux tutorial

My intention with this guide is not to provide a new tutorial as the stuff in there is easily found in the wiki. My point was to collect some tips, and expand that tutorial. Eventually, I want to have some good-enough stuff to contribute to wiki. My goal is to have a setup guide for the linux newcomer, that will allow him to do everything from windows in linux.

Regarding the HAL issue, I know that it is not necessary to add a user to the hal and dbus group. But as the archlinux wiki was not the first one to mention it, I thought it is "the best practice".

Locale-gen is not my first issue to be honest. I do have some more problems and lack of explanation throughout my tutorial, but be sure I will fix them.

About the codecs, I don't know why but I remember that the smplayer package installed them correctly. I will search the dependencies and update the blog.

Thank you for your feedback.

luishenrique

Member

From: Minas Gerais, Brasil

Registered: 2007-07-13

Posts: 27

Website

Re: Archlinux tutorial

Very nice.

Congratulations!

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Arch Linux + OpenBox user

Blog: http://blog.luishenrique.org
Twitter: @lshenr

hussam

Member

Registered: 2006-03-26

Posts: 572

Website

Re: Archlinux tutorial

you shouldn't recommend adding people to hal and dbus groups. those shouldn't really be needed.

Accordig to HAL page  at arch wiki:

For dbus and hal to function properly, local user accounts must be members of the optical, storage, dbus, and hal groups. To achieve this, open a terminal and type the following commands as root:
# gpasswd -a USERNAME optical
# gpasswd -a USERNAME storage
# gpasswd -a USERNAME dbus
# gpasswd -a USERNAME hal

Maybe, but for me, I've been always able to access all sorts of storage devices using only optical and storage groups. Unless, I'm mistaken hal and dbus only elevate a regular user's privileges for nothing.

dolby

Member

From: 1992

Registered: 2006-08-08

Posts: 1,581

Re: Archlinux tutorial

I've been always able to access all sorts of storage devices using only optical and storage groups. Unless, I'm mistaken hal and dbus only elevate a regular user's privileges for nothing.

+1

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There shouldn't be any reason to learn more editor types than emacs or vi -- mg (1)
[You learn that sarcasm does not often work well in international forums.  That is why we avoid it. -- ewaller (arch linux forum moderator)

Lone_Wolf

Forum Moderator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 12,007

Re: Archlinux tutorial

Wiki edited to reflect the above.

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

rsavu

Member

Registered: 2007-07-17

Posts: 8

Re: Archlinux tutorial

Done. Changed my tutorial. Thank you for the pointers. Also modified the tutorial to add alsa to the DAEMONS line and added the user to the audio group. Any other mistakes that might have slipped in?

Lone_Wolf

Forum Moderator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 12,007

Re: Archlinux tutorial

Your tutorial is meant for a pc with a fixed ip-address.

As it is targeted to newbies, you should either only put in instructions for dhcp or cover BOTH fixed and dhcp addresses.

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

hongy19

Member

From: China

Registered: 2005-04-08

Posts: 83

Website

Re: Archlinux tutorial

good article.

I think there should be some articles on system administrate and desktop. It would be very useful  for newbie.