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#1 2008-12-24 20:35:38

soupcan
Member
From: ?
Registered: 2008-10-25
Posts: 268

A few questions before I attempt to install.

I've wanted to try out Arch for a while now, and I finally have the time to attempt an install this week. I've recently been feeling that i won't learn enough by sticking to only Ubuntu, and I haven't really liked any of the other distributions I've tried. As such, I'd like to have a dual-boot with Ubuntu, in case of any problems with Arch. So I have a few questions:
1. All of my hardware worked "out of the box" with Ubuntu. After setup, will Arch be the same, or will I need to do more to get it working?
2. Should I use 64bit Arch?

Not strictly Arch-related:
I want to install Arch to another partition on my hard drive, and I have a large amount of files that I cannot lose. I don't have an external storage device large enough to hold all of them. Is there any way I can guarantee that they won't be lost?

I'm very sorry if this should be posted somewhere else, and I've read all of the forum rules and "etiquette".

Thanks very much for any responses in advance!

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#2 2008-12-24 20:47:48

bluewind
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From: Austria
Registered: 2008-07-13
Posts: 172
Website

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

1. Depends on your hardware. Ubuntu configures X for you and will install nvidia drives if you need them. Arch won't do that, but it shouldn't be that hard to get everything working. If you want to know more provide some more information.

2. If you have <4GB RAM or you need some 32-only apps no.

Auto partition would remove that partition. If you do that part by hand you should be safe.

For fast help while installing or so come to the IRC channel: http://www.archlinux.org/irc/
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Irc

Last edited by bluewind (2008-12-24 20:49:15)

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#3 2008-12-24 21:14:13

xaiviax
Member
From: Michigan
Registered: 2008-11-04
Posts: 282

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

If you have a large amount of files that "you cannot lose", you need backup for them regardless of whether you try arch or not.

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#4 2008-12-25 03:07:09

windtalker
Member
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 220

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

First you need to read the beginners guide from start to finish a few times to make sure of all the necessary steps and no sarcasm intended but make sure you understand what the wiki is talking about in regards to your machine.
Arch is nowhere near as hard to install as Gentoo used to be or FreeBSD, but if you don't understand what the wiki is talking about, it may as well be.
I dunno if anything has changed or not but http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=56431 gave me some problems so you'll need to be aware of it beforehand.
Since you're talking about dual booting, make sure you have a good grasp of the procedure beforehand.

To answer your initial question, will Arch be ready out of the box.
Yes and no, we don't know your needs and I havn't a clue what Ubuntu includes on the out of the box install.
If you got it right, you'll have the desktop you chose with an internet connection minimum.
What the desktop includes depends on what you chose.
I chose kdemod3.5 with all the bells and whistles.
I still had to install Shaman, [a base package manager] and set up yaourt.[the community package manager]
We all install other things out of the repo's such as wine, pidgin, jre, flash etc.
Depending on your internet connection speed and whether you have problems, you can expect not less than an hour or so of just installing your base packages and configuring everything.
Then comes installing your desktop.
Kdemod took another hour for me.
In the end I have my system set up so that it's seldom I use the command line and can do everything I want or need,, pretty darned fast to.
I spent probably 6 hours total installing and setting everything up to my liking.

As an aside, a portion of my income depends on my pc so rest assured I'm going to have the very best I can find on it.

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#5 2008-12-25 03:12:49

soupcan
Member
From: ?
Registered: 2008-10-25
Posts: 268

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

xaiviax wrote:

If you have a large amount of files that "you cannot lose", you need backup for them regardless of whether you try arch or not.

I know that; I simply don't have the means right now.

@Bluewind:
Thanks. I have a 64bit processor and 4GB of RAM, and as far as I know I don't need any apps that are 32bit only. If by more information you mean more about my hardware, I have:
A 320GB Fujitsu HD, 4GB RAM, Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection (I assume that's my wireless card), and an Intel GMA X3100.

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#6 2008-12-25 03:46:50

heleos
Member
From: Maine, USA
Registered: 2007-04-24
Posts: 678

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

1) In general, Ubuntu tends to work more "out-of-the-box" than Arch. But people have different experiences tongue
2) With 4GB of ram, you're kind of strattling the line of 64 vs 32 bit (3.5GB max in 32bit). I use 64 bit personally, and I never had any show stoppers (besides flash, which is getting better every day)

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#7 2008-12-25 04:00:46

flummoxed
Member
Registered: 2007-12-10
Posts: 21

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

I just made the switch to 64-bit, and so far everything is running smoothly. An alpha release of the adobe 64-bit flashplayer seems to run quite well, I installed it from repos and haven't had any problems yet. So far, I really haven't noticed much of a difference from 32-bit, everything does seem a tad snappier though. I would recommend trying it out.

Guaranteeing data protection without backing it up is not really possible, I'd say. But I do plenty of distro installs without backing up my data partitions, and while I've had some close calls, I've never lost anything. Always double check when you're partitioning the drive (don't do anything like delete the partition table of the drive that has important data on it!) and make sure you don't format the wrong partitions, and you should be fine.

Arch is not an "out-of-the-box" distro; once you get through the install you'll only have a commandline to work with. Luckily it's very easy to get things going from there, and there are several guides that can help you. Take this one for example:

http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=276&pid=1

It walks you through the entire install process.

Good luck.

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#8 2008-12-25 04:07:51

soupcan
Member
From: ?
Registered: 2008-10-25
Posts: 268

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

flummoxed wrote:

I just made the switch to 64-bit, and so far everything is running smoothly. An alpha release of the adobe 64-bit flashplayer seems to run quite well, I installed it from repos and haven't had any problems yet. So far, I really haven't noticed much of a difference from 32-bit, everything does seem a tad snappier though. I would recommend trying it out.

Guaranteeing data protection without backing it up is not really possible, I'd say. But I do plenty of distro installs without backing up my data partitions, and while I've had some close calls, I've never lost anything. Always double check when you're partitioning the drive (don't do anything like delete the partition table of the drive that has important data on it!) and make sure you don't format the wrong partitions, and you should be fine.

Arch is not an "out-of-the-box" distro; once you get through the install you'll only have a commandline to work with. Luckily it's very easy to get things going from there, and there are several guides that can help you. Take this one for example:

http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=276&pid=1

It walks you through the entire install process.

Good luck.

Thanks.
I think I may have misstated my "out of the box' question: I wanted to know if I would have to go to crazy lengths to get everything working correctly, like having an ATI card. You know, having to hack drivers and stuff into working order. I've been told that Intel hardware is pretty much guaranteed to work; is this true?

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#9 2008-12-25 15:54:03

windtalker
Member
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 220

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

I'm mostly Intel and everything Intel works for me.
I have an Nvidia card which works fine.
I tried installing to an old Compaq lappy that has a Rage Mobility and it was a no-go for a vid driver.

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#10 2008-12-25 19:32:12

flummoxed
Member
Registered: 2007-12-10
Posts: 21

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

soupcan wrote:

[
Thanks.
I think I may have misstated my "out of the box' question: I wanted to know if I would have to go to crazy lengths to get everything working correctly, like having an ATI card. You know, having to hack drivers and stuff into working order. I've been told that Intel hardware is pretty much guaranteed to work; is this true?

Well, I think that ultimately, as with any distro, a lot of it depends on your hardware. But also things just sometimes work in one distro that puzzlingly won't work in antoher. The first time I used Arch was because i was having a problem with the nVidia driver freezing randomly in ubuntu, but for some reason it didn't have the same problem in Arch. Arch has the advantage of being small and customizable, so you can control a lot of what's on your system. Weird conflicts are less likely to happen if you set things up correctly. However, several things do require more manual tinkering than for a distro like ubuntu, but nothing really seems to be too complicated.

Learn how the Arch Build System works. It is a great tool that will give you even more flexibility when you're trying to get something installed properly. For instance, if the driver for whatever piece of hardware doesn't work straight out of the repos, you can use the ABS to build it from source and still manage it with pacman, so you won't have to deal with the headaches of things installed directly from source.

Last edited by flummoxed (2008-12-25 19:33:04)

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#11 2008-12-25 22:04:15

soupcan
Member
From: ?
Registered: 2008-10-25
Posts: 268

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

Okay, I've repeatedly tried to join the #archlinux channel for help with partitioning, but it won't let me write anything. It tells me to type /msg NickServ identify soupcan ****, and then says I am already logged in.

Last edited by soupcan (2008-12-25 22:05:29)

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#12 2008-12-25 22:12:36

bluewind
Administrator
From: Austria
Registered: 2008-07-13
Posts: 172
Website

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

Someone already registered an account with this name 36 weeks ago. He never used it though. See http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#nickisgone for info on how to register it yourself.

Shouldn't tell you that you're already logged in.

Last edited by bluewind (2008-12-25 22:14:34)

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#13 2008-12-25 22:53:32

soupcan
Member
From: ?
Registered: 2008-10-25
Posts: 268

Re: A few questions before I attempt to install.

bluewind wrote:

Someone already registered an account with this name 36 weeks ago. He never used it though. See http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#nickisgone for info on how to register it yourself.

Shouldn't tell you that you're already logged in.

Little bit of a typo again: I tried soupcan for a little while, and then switched to soupcan_, which I registered. I type /join #archlinux, then /msg nickserv identify ******. -NickServ- You are already logged in as soupcan_.

Last edited by soupcan (2008-12-26 01:22:20)

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