Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

newarchman · 2018-01-02 16:43:15

Hi
My friend asked me to install arch linux on his laptop. However, there is a small problem that the "S" key of this keyboard is not working. As Arch has text based installation therefore "S" would be required several times to be pressed during installation, like /dev/sda...
Any idea, how can I bypass this issue?
P.S: No external keyboard is available at the moment.
PS: GUI based arch derivatives can be a solution (like manjaro etc.) but they don't match the simplicity, speed and customization of pure arch linux installation.
Regards

V1del · 2018-01-02 16:59:14

Welcome to the forums.

newarchman wrote:

Hi
My friend asked me to install arch linux on his laptop. ...

First of all, I strongly advise against this. If he's new to linux and you are setting him up an Arch install, you will be doing your friend (and unless you are willing to provide 24/7 support, yourself) a great disservice. Arch isn't an entry level distribution and if one doesn't set it up oneself, will have undoubtedly configuration and changes to the system done, that follow your preference, but might not be what he wants at all. Furthermore if something goes wrong for any reason, your friend won't know where to look to fix issues. You REALLY shouldn't start someone off on Arch by setting up a system for them, it will backfire.

For the actual question, this is all explained in the wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ex … board_keys (which, pardon the quip, reinforces my point, because I'm not sure you really know what you are getting yourselves into either)

Last edited by V1del (2018-01-02 16:59:57)

seth · 2018-01-02 17:07:20

# showkey --scancodes
# evtest /dev/input/event12

Get. A. Functional. Keyboard.
Friend or not.

newarchman · 2018-01-02 17:11:24

Thanks for welcoming me
I am planning not only to install arch but also cinnamon desktop above it, along with all necessary desktop applications, so that he does not have to configure it by himself. He is a longtime windows user and windows' viruses destroyed his data.
P.S: As he and me works in same office and sit in same cubical so fulltime support would not be an issue

mrunion · 2018-01-02 19:08:32

Please heed the advice of others and don't do this. The bottom line is: if your friend cannot install Arch by themselves following the Wiki, they are not ready for Arch.

Install Ubuntu for them, but not Arch.

newarchman wrote:

Thanks for welcoming me
I am planning not only to install arch but also cinnamon desktop above it, along with all necessary desktop applications, so that he does not have to configure it by himself. He is a longtime windows user and windows' viruses destroyed his data.
P.S: As he and me works in same office and sit in same cubical so fulltime support would not be an issue

eschwartz · 2018-01-02 20:16:20

No, this is perfectly fine. newarchman is the user and administrator of that system, and as long as the friend in question does not try to acquire our support on his own (but rather asks the system administraror, newarchman), everything should be perfectly okay.

This does assume that everyone properly understands whose Arch system it will be.

applebaps · 2018-01-02 20:20:16

I can definitely appreciate your passion for and fixation on Arch (it does rock), but without an external keyboard to perform the install, you simply won't be able to do it. I won't tell you to give up on it entirely, but you are going to need an external keyboard, end of story.

Also, you're going to need one every time you want to update your system or install any packages, because

# sudo pacman -Syu

Last edited by applebaps (2018-01-02 20:21:06)

seth · 2018-01-02 20:49:05

Once the system is setup properly, one could maintain it via ssh - or map "sS" to "altgr+fF" or something.

I got curious, though.
You and your friend *work* in an *office* and he (still?) got a keyboard with a dysfunctional "S" key? On the system he does (how is that even possible?) his job on?

Tell your boss, seth said he's a jerk. If you're your own bosses - you're welcome
You are aware that you can replace notebook keyboards, are you?

newarchman · 2018-01-03 04:51:33

I agree that the boss sucks
This is his personal laptop which he uses for research (as we both are researchers and don't require organization's workstations).
I tried "Arch Anywhere" on virtualbox and I think it maybe the closest.
I asked my friend that how he manages to type "S" and he told me that he used to copy "S" and "s" from any website and keep them in clipboard.Sounds strange but it works

Trilby · 2018-01-03 12:20:17

A full arch install can be done without touching the 's' key. The live iso uses zsh by default with full tab-completion available. No command nor path starts with 's' so all s's could be tab completed. In fact all required s's are late enough in the commands or filenames that it would be trivially easy to tab-complete then. The only exception (that would not be trivially easy, just pretty easy) would be block device names like /dev/sda, but for those you have /dev/disk/by-* that could be used.

Even in the absolute worst case, you could edit any file that has an s in it (there are plenty of them, and neither 'vim' nor 'nano' requires typing 's' to launch), then edit the file trimming out everything but the needed s and inserting any other text needed in a command. Then exit (again neither :wq nor Ctl-X require the 's' key) and source the file (source of course has an 's' but actually '.' is a better way of doing this anyways).

EDIT: but of course I agree with all the above about installing arch for this friend. You are not being a friend to him by doing so. You are doing him, yourself, and in the end this entire community a disservice. Someone above mentioned ubuntu, that could work, or Mint is good. You could even point him to Chakra which is quite newbie friendly and even taretted specifically at those coming from windows, yet it is based on arch so your arch experience would translate well to helping him with his Chakra system.

Last edited by Trilby (2018-01-03 12:23:00)

Arch Linux

#1 2018-01-02 16:43:15

Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#2 2018-01-02 16:59:14

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#3 2018-01-02 17:07:20

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#4 2018-01-02 17:11:24

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#5 2018-01-02 19:08:32

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#6 2018-01-02 20:16:20

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#7 2018-01-02 20:20:16

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#8 2018-01-02 20:49:05

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#9 2018-01-03 04:51:33

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

#10 2018-01-03 12:20:17

Re: Arch Installation and "S" key is not working

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