Arch live discs questions

viperskunk · 2008-10-24 10:17:46

Hi
I am planning to move from Fedora 9 to Arch. The reasons are obvious: F9 doesn't give the stability with bleeding edge that Arch promises.

However, I have gotten quite used to a graphical system. And seriously CLI scares me a bit. I tried the Arch installation reading the beginner's guide and install guide, and numerous other documents from the truly amazing Arch wiki (honestly Fedora documentation isn't half as good). But I ran into some problems, that are small, but nonetheless there.

I also read on the forums about the Arch Live cd. I have a few questions to ask before joining this amazing bandwagon:
1) Is it the only Arch based Live CD there is? On the Blog, it looks quite buggy (maybe, because there is nothing else except changelog)?
If there are, could you please list them here?

2)Does an Arch based live CD mean that it is essentially the Arch base system (with extra software packages installed), and one can remove and thin down one's system to absolute core, if one wants to? (Honestly, I prefer this approach, as I am scared of a black CLI staring at me when I install an Operating system.....happened to me once with M$ WIndows )

3) Will an install from the Live CD give me the same speed as Arch promises from the core install?
4)This one is a silly question, but i have to make sure: Does the repository remain the same (I mean, 'Core', 'Extra', 'Community'.....and ABS etc.)?
5)What are the downsides as opposed to the plus points of a Live CD intsall? (Because, as far as I am guessing, it should be the exact same thing as the core install, right? and you can bring it right down to just what you need, when you want?)

Please help me with this, and you will have one more devoted user.....I am really interested in using Arch.

Thanks a lot.

mentallaxative · 2008-10-24 10:31:31

2) It depends on what you mean by a base system. I'd caution you since you are uneasy with dealing with CLI: the official install does not give you any GUI at all. Once you reboot into your freshly installed system, you're left at the command line, free to install X and whatever you please.

3, 4, 5) I think you are a bit confused here. The repositories are the same--core, extra, community, aur--regardless of which approach you take to installing. There are two flavours of livecd, core and ftp install livecds, and the only difference between them is that the core livecd comes with some packages from the core repository already on it, so you install those packages from the livecd. The ftp install downloads everything from your selected mirror instead. With the core livecd, you don't have to download as much, but some of your core packages will be outdated.

Read the beginner's guide thoroughly, and good luck with your Arch installation.

viperskunk · 2008-10-24 10:50:14

mentallaxative wrote:

2) It depends on what you mean by a base system. I'd caution you since you are uneasy with dealing with CLI: the official install does not give you any GUI at all. Once you reboot into your freshly installed system, you're left at the command line, free to install X and whatever you please.
3, 4, 5) I think you are a bit confused here. The repositories are the same--core, extra, community, aur--regardless of which approach you take to installing. There are two flavours of livecd, core and ftp install livecds, and the only difference between them is that the core livecd comes with some packages from the core repository already on it, so you install those packages from the livecd. The ftp install downloads everything from your selected mirror instead. With the core livecd, you don't have to download as much, but some of your core packages will be outdated.

Read the beginner's guide thoroughly, and good luck with your Arch installation.

Hey. Thanks for the quick response.
2) what i mean by the base system is the absolute core install that you get from the CD/USB here: http://www.archlinux.org/download/
yes it has no GUI. and that is the problem.
i was referring to the install you get from here: http://arch-live.blogspot.com/

and i have read the beginner's guide carefully. it is really educational. i am not denying that.
all i want to know is more about such live CD projects. and maybe some user experiences....

viperskunk · 2008-10-24 11:09:50

also. is there an installation media, that when installed, boots up into some sort of a GUI? I just need it to boot into a graphical desktop. from there onward, i can configure it myself. so it can be completely minimalist.

Last edited by viperskunk (2008-10-24 11:10:19)

chris_ak · 2008-10-24 11:17:27

I would just do the regular install rather than the live cd if you're planning on making the move anyway. It's really not that bad at all. The beginners guide tells you everything you need to know. Don't be afraid of CLI. If you can read, you're fine.

viperskunk · 2008-10-24 11:23:40

i have already tried the regular install method. the problem with it is a very weird one. everything seems to be working fine,except my internet.
I have a wired internet connection (Static IP). However, in a usual setting, I set the IP address, the netmask, Gateway etc. wherever required, in the network settings.
here is the peculiar part with me. after this has been fed in, i need to open a browser and type any website (for eg. www.yahoo.com). then a login page appears, where i have to feed in my username and password. then i log in. then i restart my browser. it is only then i can use my internet.
on the CLI, that i keep booting into, no matter what i do with configuration files, i cannot feed in the password and username for my internet, can i?
and without internet, arch is sort of unusable.
that is why i need to boot into a graphical environment.

Last edited by viperskunk (2008-10-24 11:26:03)

Misfit138 · 2008-10-24 12:51:31

Links is included in [core], so it should be on your base install. Use links from the command line.

viperskunk · 2008-10-24 12:54:47

how do i use links?

archlinuxsagi · 2008-10-24 12:55:32

You can install by using the "Install Arch from within another distro" method.
Link is http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro.
This method will require you to have internet already connected from your fedora distro
and then you can chroot into Arch partition to start installing.

Another method is to install a web browser that doesn't require x but i don't have any experience with
a x-less browser.

Last edited by archlinuxsagi (2008-10-24 13:02:42)

Misfit138 · 2008-10-24 13:06:57

viperskunk wrote:

how do i use links?

Install the base system, boot into it, and run

links

viperskunk · 2008-10-26 20:04:12

archlinuxsagi wrote:

You can install by using the "Install Arch from within another distro" method.
Link is http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro.
This method will require you to have internet already connected from your fedora distro
and then you can chroot into Arch partition to start installing.
Another method is to install a web browser that doesn't require x but i don't have any experience with
a x-less browser.

hi thanks for this one. it really helps. however, i seem to have gotten something wrong with the GRUB setup. i just cannot boot into the partition.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … Setup_Grub
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro
i did everything mentioned as it was in the two guides. however, my grub just will not boot into arch.

so i was wondering. so i was wondering what to do next. i will keep you all informed.

viperskunk · 2008-10-26 20:05:32

errrr...i was also wondering if there are any Arch-based distros out there, that i could try to get a hang of Arch? from what i found Archie was one, but is dead now. Are there any others? There is also Faun OS. I would like to try that out. but i am doubtful of its "bleeding-edge-ness". but if it based on Arch, and uses the pacman manager, then pacman -Syu should make it equivalent of any other Arch distro, right? will that also upgrade the kernel to the latest? please help.
thanks a lot in advance.

Last edited by viperskunk (2008-10-26 20:15:46)

lilsirecho · 2008-10-26 22:02:18

At the present time FaunOS is not being maintained. Thus an >Syu will not provide an upgrade to the latest kernel.

Individual packages can be installed via pacman and evaluated while running in ram. Session save procedures permit saving the packages to an overlay with aufs.

Hopefully, the FaunOS system will soon be rejuvenated with a new name and forum/wiki.

The present kernel in Faunos stable is 2.6.24.

I assume that recent changes in archlinux will require many upgrades in FaunOS as it now stands but with a newer approach, complexity should be greatly reduced. A new name is probable to eliminate porno sensitivity.

It costs nothing to try it...download the usb.img and ..DD a flash drive and you are set to go..............

My experience is that it is fast in ram and stable!!!!

archlinuxsagi · 2008-10-27 06:02:56

viperskunk wrote:

hi thanks for this one. it really helps. however, i seem to have gotten something wrong with the GRUB setup. i just cannot boot into the partition.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … Setup_Grub
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro
i did everything mentioned as it was in the two guides. however, my grub just will not boot into arch.
so i was wondering. so i was wondering what to do next. i will keep you all informed.

Mmm.. Is your Fedora distro still bootable?
If so i guess, the grub install to your hard disk MBR is using Fedora.
You can possibly edit Fedora grub/menu.lst to boot up to ArchLinux.
You don't need to install ArchLinux grub to MBR.

viperskunk · 2008-10-27 07:51:06

archlinuxsagi wrote:

viperskunk wrote:
hi thanks for this one. it really helps. however, i seem to have gotten something wrong with the GRUB setup. i just cannot boot into the partition.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … Setup_Grub
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro
i did everything mentioned as it was in the two guides. however, my grub just will not boot into arch.
so i was wondering. so i was wondering what to do next. i will keep you all informed.
Mmm.. Is your Fedora distro still bootable?
If so i guess, the grub install to your hard disk MBR is using Fedora.
You can possibly edit Fedora grub/men"u.lst to boot up to ArchLinux.
You don't need to install ArchLinux grub to MBR.

yes my Fedora is still bootable. however, even after editing the grub.menu.lst, it will not boot into arch.
it says it cannot find the partition (error code: 15 or something like that), or it cannot mount the partition, or it cannot find some file....on three different occssions. (please remember, i have a /newarch directory/partition where arch is supposed to be....just like mentioned in the guide).

in my /newarch/boot directory, there is one subdirectory "grub", and 4 other files, namely "vmlinuz26", "System.map26", "kernel26.img", "kernel26-fallback.img". is there something missing?
could you please give the correct entry that i should put in my /boot/menu.lst?

there is another thing. after i partitioned /dev/sda3 (on which arch is now supposed to be) with reiserfs, and gave it the mount point as /newarch, it shows in my home "/ "directory, as just a folder or directory (not as a hard disk icon).
so what should i put in my menu.lst?

Last edited by viperskunk (2008-10-27 07:54:17)

viperskunk · 2008-10-27 08:36:23

please also note that i have non-functional CD/DVD burner. it reads the media, but doesn't burn. so a USB installation or like "archlinuxsagi" provided the link to installing from a different OS, such methods are really preferred. i do not mind having to reinstall the whole thing again. but next time i want to be as certain as possible that i am doing the right thing.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-10-24 10:17:46

Arch live discs questions

#2 2008-10-24 10:31:31

Re: Arch live discs questions

#3 2008-10-24 10:50:14

Re: Arch live discs questions

#4 2008-10-24 11:09:50

Re: Arch live discs questions

#5 2008-10-24 11:17:27

Re: Arch live discs questions

#6 2008-10-24 11:23:40

Re: Arch live discs questions

#7 2008-10-24 12:51:31

Re: Arch live discs questions

#8 2008-10-24 12:54:47

Re: Arch live discs questions

#9 2008-10-24 12:55:32

Re: Arch live discs questions

#10 2008-10-24 13:06:57

Re: Arch live discs questions

#11 2008-10-26 20:04:12

Re: Arch live discs questions

#12 2008-10-26 20:05:32

Re: Arch live discs questions

#13 2008-10-26 22:02:18

Re: Arch live discs questions

#14 2008-10-27 06:02:56

Re: Arch live discs questions

#15 2008-10-27 07:51:06

Re: Arch live discs questions

#16 2008-10-27 08:36:23

Re: Arch live discs questions

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