how far can i go?

djre · 2007-10-24 14:18:22

Hi. Im a bit new to linux. I heard about Arch and wanted to try it. So Ive read the general installation guide and Im confused. Its either the installation is very easy or its too hard and the guide was a very high level of abstraction of the installation process. Anyway without any knowledge of scripting, how far could i go with the installation? Suppose I could finish the basic installation, what exactly do I have? Do I have a window manager, or is that still far ahead?

Thanks in advance.

Cerebral · 2007-10-24 14:25:25

AFAIK you don't need to know any scripting to install Arch, however you would benefit from knowledge of the initial configuration files (rc.conf, mkinitcpio.conf, grub/lilo configs, etc.)

If you do the basic installation (which is recommended) you get yourself into a text-based console, from which you can begin installing other applications. If you want a window manager, it's as simple as

pacman -S kde

or

pacman -S gnome

or

pacman -S xfce (.. or xfce4, can't remember right now)

and so on - after which you have to set up an xorg.conf (and possibly ~/.xinitrc) and run startx.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide <-- recommended reading

Sigi · 2007-10-24 14:27:37

The installation of Arch is really as easy as in the installation guide. Once the base installation is finished, your only a "pacman -Sy dwm" (or similiar) away from having a system with a window manager. Just try it and report back here if you have problems. Some interesting reads:

Although you prolly already read this one: Arch install guide

If you like kde:
kdemod

If you like gnome:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME

btw, the new isos 2007.11 are out!

Cheers Sigi

djre · 2007-10-24 14:45:04

That was fast. Thanks Cerebral and Sigi. Im glad to know that. Anyway, still got to do a lot of homework before I dive into it.
God bless.

tomk · 2007-10-24 14:57:03

Some minor clarifications (no offense Sigi ):

Sigi wrote:

If you like kde:
kdemod

kdemod is indeed loved by millions (!), but it is an independent project. The official Arch packages for KDE are available in our repo - see http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE for details.

Sigi wrote:

btw, the new isos 2007.11 are out!

The 2007.11 test iso is now available - the final release will be next month, as indicated by the release number.

foxbunny · 2007-10-24 16:25:16

The point tomk made is quite important because of the lag between Arch package updates and KDEmod updates. Last time, just before KDEmod 3.5.8, some libraries were updated in the core (or extra) repo, but KDEmod was still trying to use the previous version. The side effect was that no KDE app could access the Internet until I symlinked some library files. So it can be a pain, especially since it took me a while to discover which library was the problem. Other than that, if you keep this in mind, you'll LOVE KDEmod. It's lighter than Arch kde package, and it is more visually appaling out of the box.

Mikko777 · 2007-10-24 18:03:52

If you are totally new to linux... I'd recommend trying some "easy" distro first.

I think the first linux distro I tried was gentoo back when I had windows modem, after fighting with it for a month it was back to windows

So try something simple first to give an idea what works and what doesn't so you get an idea what you can later build your arch install to.

Then its simple and easy to install arch, everything is fast and usually just works. And if it breaks you usually know how to fix it.

anyways this beginners guide gives a good overview of arch install. Its also pretty fast to get a working install (1-2 hours)
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide

Jerry · 2007-10-25 23:15:06

If you have the time and interest archlinux is the way to go.

If you haven't... it is still the way to go. but I have to go with mikko777 that you try out easier distro first, that is if your not that committed.

If you have problems there's the wiki, irc (server: freenode, channel: archlinux), and the forum.

have a great day and God bless to you too.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-10-24 14:18:22

how far can i go?

#2 2007-10-24 14:25:25

Re: how far can i go?

#3 2007-10-24 14:27:37

Re: how far can i go?

#4 2007-10-24 14:45:04

Re: how far can i go?

#5 2007-10-24 14:57:03

Re: how far can i go?

#6 2007-10-24 16:25:16

Re: how far can i go?

#7 2007-10-24 18:03:52

Re: how far can i go?

#8 2007-10-25 23:15:06

Re: how far can i go?

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