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#1 2008-12-24 01:23:32

mango
Member
Registered: 2007-04-27
Posts: 29

Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

Hi folks..

I have used Arch and other distros in the past but have been using mostly windows for a while now. Today I got a feeling I would like to start using linux and especially Arch linux again..
So I thought of installing Arch on my computer which has 2 hdd's and a dual core processor and my questions are:

1) I may sound stupid now but when I have a dual core-processor (Intel core 2 duo E7200), is the x86_64 version of Arch linux iso most suitable for my purposes?

2) I want to keep WinXP on my other HDD and install Arch on the other,  should I install Grub on the same drive with the windows to put it in MBR so that I can use dual boot? If windows-drive would be (sda) and the linux partition would be (sdb), I must install Grub in (sda)?

Thank you and merry christmas everybody smile

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#2 2008-12-24 01:34:18

luciferin
Member
Registered: 2007-05-10
Posts: 144

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

2) No you shouldn't have to install grub on the Windows drive, just install grub to the MBR on sdb.  I'd recommends booting from sdb/grub though as it's easier to configure it to boot Windows than it is to configure the Windows boot loader to start up Grub.

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#3 2008-12-24 01:44:18

Xyne
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Registered: 2008-08-03
Posts: 6,963
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Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

1) I would say yes, but you should read through the numerous x86_64 vs i686 threads and then decide.

2) I would change the boot order of the disks to boot the one currently listed as sdb first, install grub on that  one and then chainload the other disk for booting windows. That way you don't have to touch the Windows disk or MBR.


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#4 2008-12-24 01:47:17

fukawi2
Ex-Administratorino
From: .vic.au
Registered: 2007-09-28
Posts: 6,217
Website

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

1) The Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit processor, so the x86-64 will but good for it. Not because it's dual core though, you could still install the 32-bit version and have it use both cores just fine, but there's pretty much no reason these days to stick with a 32-bit OS when you have a 64-bit CPU smile

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#5 2008-12-24 08:59:37

mango
Member
Registered: 2007-04-27
Posts: 29

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

Thanks for your replies.

So there is no remarkable performance advantage between i686 and x86_64 versions? Did I get this right?

And if I will install Grub on sdb, the easiest and safest way would probably be to unplug the windows-drive and then install Arch on the other? I install Arch normally and then change the boot order in BIOS to get my system to start from the arch-disk first? That's all I have to do?

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#6 2008-12-24 10:04:19

GSF1200S
Member
Registered: 2008-12-24
Posts: 474

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

mango wrote:

Thanks for your replies.

So there is no remarkable performance advantage between i686 and x86_64 versions? Did I get this right?

And if I will install Grub on sdb, the easiest and safest way would probably be to unplug the windows-drive and then install Arch on the other? I install Arch normally and then change the boot order in BIOS to get my system to start from the arch-disk first? That's all I have to do?

Not too noticeable, except in certain areas- For example, video encoding receives very noticeable improvements in speed. Firefox will probably take the same amount of time to load, on the other hand. Alot depends on whether or not they actually wrote the program to take advantage of 64bit technology (if thats even beneficial or possible). Others can give more details for sure.

Im on Arch 64bit, and I have no problems whatsoever.. the sacrifices that used to be are slowly fading...

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#7 2008-12-24 12:43:12

mango
Member
Registered: 2007-04-27
Posts: 29

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

Ok, I think i'll go with the x86_64.

I think I want to unplug the windows-drive when installing Arch just to make sure nothing on the windows-drive gets messed up?
Can this cause problems with my Grub or anything else? Do I have to configure Grub later to boot to windows if the windows-drive is unplugged while installing grub?

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#8 2008-12-24 12:55:39

dldiamond2
Member
Registered: 2008-11-29
Posts: 14

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

That sounds like trouble to me. If you unplug your windows drive then the drive you are installing on will be /dev/sda but when you plug windows back in it will become /dev/sdb and mess up the booting. I had this problem when one of my drives went south. It messed up the drive letters and arch would no longer boot.

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#9 2008-12-24 13:02:41

mango
Member
Registered: 2007-04-27
Posts: 29

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

Ok, so I won't unplug the windows-drive while installing if that can cause trouble.

Thank you all for your answers, I think I'll get everything done now! smile

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#10 2008-12-24 14:39:42

mango
Member
Registered: 2007-04-27
Posts: 29

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

Little bit of update...

I managed to install Arch on sdb and everything works fine now.
Had to change some things in /boot/grub/menu.lst to get the system to boot to both WinXP and Arch but now everything works just fine.

Thank you all for your help!

edit:
So now I came up with another question... My graphics card is ATI radeon hd3850 OC 512mb. Which ati-driver should I use?
I found out that xf86-video-radeonhd driver is not quite ready yet so should I just install xf86-video-ati and libgl?

Last edited by mango (2008-12-24 14:44:58)

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#11 2008-12-24 17:51:07

tankmcp
Member
From: Tulsa, OK
Registered: 2007-09-17
Posts: 54

Re: Couple of questions considering Arch installation on a dual core pc.

It would probably be to your advantage to start with a new topic for this question.
However, I think you might want to use the catalyst driver, but I am not that up to date on that card.

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