Some beginnerish problems

gajus · 2013-08-02 13:12:12

Hey! After 3 hard days I finally managed to install Arch. (On the 3rd day I just found out that I have an UEFI motherboard and after I just booted Arch in BIOS mode I installed it without a problem)
I already setup a lot of things, but I still have problems with some smaller things.

Problem Nr.1

I wanted to automount my USB devices and my CD/DVD drive. I installed and configured AutoFS. The problem is that they don't get a "letter". I can see my USB devices when I enter "dmesg", but when I enter "fdisk -l" it only lists my Harddrive and its partitions. Sometimes the devices get a letter and disappear 2-10 seconds later. I also have the same problem with my CD/DVD Drive.

Problem Nr.2

How do I change my hostname? I edited rc.conf and added the line "HOSTNAME="archDesk"" but my hostname is still localhost.

Problem Nr.3

Well I decided not to create another user and just keep on using root. But alot of programs and alot of people say that using root is dangerous. Why?

Problem Nr.4

If it is really that dangerous to use root and I decide to create another user. Can I just copy&paste all my config files from my root folder and to the new user folder? Because I really don't want to setup everything from scratch again.

Problem Nr.5

Is it possible to add a small network monitor to the tint2 panel? Im looking for something like this:

Problem Nr.6

My clock is crazy. Its not really arch related, but maybe you can help me with this problem also. My clock is going two hours too fast, while my bios clock runs right. I also have this problem on windows too. Any ideas?

I hope you can help me to solve some of this problems

Thanks!

Last edited by gajus (2013-08-02 13:15:35)

Trilby · 2013-08-02 13:36:37

gajus, welcome to the forums.

I don't have a direct response for any of your problems for three reasons. First: I had no idea what I was coming into when I could only see the title of your thread - please chose a meaningful title. You're posting in the Newbie corner of what is primarily a support forum, so 'beginnerish' and 'problems' are implied. Use your title to provide some useful information or summary.

The second reason I have no direct response is I don't know which problem to try to work on with you. You should have one problem per thread otherwise the discussion will quickly get confusing and go completely haywire. "Omnibus" posts are discouraged.

The third reason is that most of these issues have been covered before. Users are encouraged to search for related issues before making new threads. Show that you've done that, and you'll get a much more receptive audience.

I don't expect that all of your questions will be answered by a search of the forums - but some will (1). So take some time to look around, read the forum guidelines/etiquette, search for related threads, and work on troubleshooting these yourself. Then when you are really stumped, open a thread on a specific problem with a descriptive title that outlines what you have tried and where you are stuck.

edit: (1) All of these *could* in fact be fixed by a search of previous threads as they are each common issues with simple fixes, but no one would expect you to scour through a search with a 100% success rate of finding the relevant threads. However, any effort at searching for these issues should help you easily fix many of them - then you can ask for guidance on what is left.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-08-02 13:40:01)

gajus · 2013-08-02 13:47:36

Trilby wrote:

gajus, welcome to the forums.
I don't have a direct response for any of your problems for three reasons. First: I had no idea what I was coming into when I could only see the title of your thread - please chose a meaningful title. You're posting in the Newbie corner of what is primarily a support forum, so 'beginnerish' and 'problems' are implied. Use your title to provide some useful information or summary.
The second reason I have no direct response is I don't know which problem to try to work on with you. You should have one problem per thread otherwise the discussion will quickly get confusing and go completely haywire. "Omnibus" posts are discouraged.
The third reason is that most of these issues have been covered before. Users are encouraged to search for related issues before making new threads. Show that you've done that, and you'll get a much more receptive audience.
I don't expect that all of your questions will be answered by a search of the forums - but some will. So take some time to look around, read the forum guidelines/etiquette, search for related threads, and work on troubleshooting these yourself. Then when you are really stumped, open a thread on a specific problem with a descriptive title that outlines what you have tried and where you are stuck.

HI, thanks for the answer. Im not that sort of a guy which just posts without searching the internet.
You know I had like one million more problems but I easily solved them by searching the internet, but I didn't find any answers for the things I asked in this thread.

You want to me create a thread for every problem I have? That would be 5 or 6 threads in 5 minutes.
And I can't make a super clear thread title, when I have that many different problems.

Cheers.

drcouzelis · 2013-08-02 14:15:15

gajus wrote:

How do I change my hostname? I edited rc.conf and added the line "HOSTNAME="archDesk"" but my hostname is still localhost.

What documentation are you using to install Arch Linux? You should be using the Beginner's Guide.

Because "/etc/rc.conf" is extremely old. It's not used any more.

Last edited by drcouzelis (2013-08-02 14:16:08)

2ManyDogs · 2013-08-02 14:17:01

Yes, you should start a new topic for each problem, and give the topics descriptive names.

gajus wrote:

Problem Nr.2
How do I change my hostname? I edited rc.conf and added the line "HOSTNAME="archDesk"" but my hostname is still localhost.

This at least could be solved by a simple search of the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HO … e_hostname But as drcouzelis mentions, if the guide you used to install Arch told you to edit rc.conf, it is likely that you have other problems. Please read the Beginners' Guide.

gajus wrote:

Problem Nr.3
Well I decided not to create another user and just keep on using root. But alot of programs and alot of people say that using root is dangerous. Why?

And this one by an ixquick (or google) search: https://ixquick.com/do/search?keyword=w … root+linux

gajus wrote:

Problem Nr.6
My clock is crazy. Its not really arch related, but maybe you can help me with this problem also. My clock is going two hours too fast, while my bios clock runs right. I also have this problem on windows too. Any ideas?

For this one, you should search the forum, and the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Time
If you still have problems after some more reading, you should start a new topic, and post the output of

timedatectl status
sudo hwclock --debug
ls -l /etc/localtime

and tell us what the correct local time is when you run those commands.

You might also want to read How to Ask Questions the Smart Way.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2013-08-02 14:32:04)

tomk · 2013-08-02 14:31:15

I'm with drcouzelis here, except I would take it further and say that your install is irrevocably broken if you're seeing and editing rc.conf. You obviously used an ancient iso to install - what were you thinking?

Wipe everything, download the current iso, reinstall, reconfigure - then ask your questions.

Trilby · 2013-08-02 14:33:33

It's possible this was an appropriate install - but the OP had found outdated documentation that said to add a line to rc.conf and so the OP just created the file with that in it. Possible.

EDIT: however, this smells a bit more like a derivative distro from here. Gajus, please clarify where you got your installation iso/media and what documentation you have followed for the install. That will help us know where we are starting from.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-08-02 14:35:02)

mostlyharmles · 2013-08-02 22:53:28

I'm in agreeance with all the above posts, google is very much your friend and Arch is a very self-help distro, if you go at it with the right attitude you will learn quite a bit about POSIX and Linux in general. However, I will directly answer one of your questions as to why it's a bad idea to do your day to day work as root. The short answer is there are very many reasons not to and it's just not good practice, it's begging to get your system hosed. The longer answer is multi part; but still not even remotely all encompasing.
1. Many (mostly all) applications expect to run as a non-super user that is free to roam in it's own little world, and do whatever it pleases within the realms of that area. If something bad happens in the program, the worst that can be expected is that files related to the program can be hurt, or at the absolute worse, files that the user that ran the program owns. root has access to every single byte on your system, as well as the bare metal hardware. If something goes wrong, there's a chance that files vital to the system can be hosed, or even hardware get damaged. (You can physically crash a hard drive if you are root, or spin a cd so fast it shatters in the disk tray!) as you are running applications in the universe, rather than their own little corner of your computer's cosmos.
2. Just because linux is resistant to malware doesn't mean it's malware proof. It's a trivial thing to make code that can delete your filesystem if you run it in root. Part of the strength of Linux's security is that normal users can not affect the system as a whole, only the parts that directly affect them. It's possible to ruin a users configuration so bad that that user can not operate normaly, but it's a simple recovery process, you just delete the user and start him off fresh, the overlying system will still work just dandy.
3. It's not neccesary. Nearly every application in Linux is meant to be run in user space, there are a few special cases that require root access to get to bare metal hardware, but they are as stated before, special cases where you know exactly why the program needs to be run as root. The only time you ever need to be actually root is when you are adminstering the system, that is changing users passwords, or editing the system configuration files, or installing applications.

There are many, many other reasons why not to run as root, and those aren't even the biggest three examples I gave. It all boils down to 3 words: Security, security. SECURITY.

MickeyRat · 2013-08-03 00:27:56

The others are right. You have several threads here but, I'll try. Just remember I'm pretty new too.

gajus wrote:

Problem Nr.1
I wanted to automount my USB devices and my CD/DVD drive. I installed and configured AutoFS. The problem is that they don't get a "letter". I can see my USB devices when I enter "dmesg", but when I enter "fdisk -l" it only lists my Harddrive and its partitions. Sometimes the devices get a letter and disappear 2-10 seconds later. I also have the same problem with my CD/DVD Drive.

What does df -h say about them?

gajus wrote:

Problem Nr.3
Well I decided not to create another user and just keep on using root. But alot of programs and alot of people say that using root is dangerous. Why?

Yeah, it's dangerous. Root always executes as root. If you're another user, you have to use sudo to run as root. So, if you get hold of some malware (Yes, there is malware in Linux.) and you're running as root, you are open to all kinds of mischief. Also we all you know you'd never make a mistake and hit the wrong button and wipe out half your system but, it has happened. It won't if you're not root.

gajus wrote:

Problem Nr.4
If it is really that dangerous to use root and I decide to create another user. Can I just copy&paste all my config files from my root folder and to the new user folder? Because I really don't want to setup everything from scratch again.

Well, it depends. If it's just things like windows sizes, colors, etc., that can be transferred. If it's file locations, it'll probably transfer. System files don't move. Most applications that look for things in your home directory, specify the location in terms of ~/<some directory>. Those should work. However, if it's not specified that way, it could be a problem. It won't hurt to try.

I'm afraid I'm not even sure what a tint2 panel is and someone else already answered you on the time.

2ManyDogs · 2013-08-03 00:32:44

Might be time to wait to see if the OP even shows up again, and how he answers the "what distro are you using?" question.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-08-02 13:12:12

Some beginnerish problems

#2 2013-08-02 13:36:37

Re: Some beginnerish problems

#3 2013-08-02 13:47:36

Re: Some beginnerish problems

#4 2013-08-02 14:15:15

Re: Some beginnerish problems

#5 2013-08-02 14:17:01

Re: Some beginnerish problems

#6 2013-08-02 14:31:15

Re: Some beginnerish problems

#7 2013-08-02 14:33:33

Re: Some beginnerish problems

#8 2013-08-02 22:53:28

Re: Some beginnerish problems

#9 2013-08-03 00:27:56

Re: Some beginnerish problems

#10 2013-08-03 00:32:44

Re: Some beginnerish problems

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