Arch Linux

metcy

Member

Registered: 2009-05-13

Posts: 3

Arch Linux Installation

Hi all,

I am new here and need some help installing Arch Linux.

I have Win Xp and Opensolaris installed in my laptop.
55 GB total space
     Win Xp -40 GB(NTFS)
     OpenSolaris-15 GB(Linux Swap)

I would like to install Arch over the opensolaris partition.When i went through the Arch installation yesterday and at the 'Partition Harddrive' step ,  only one partition (55GB)  can be seen and that is my entire HD space.As i dont know much about this I have quit the installation in fear of corrupting the Xp.I am wondering what would be the best way to install Arch.

Many Thanks in Advance

peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

Re: Arch Linux Installation

The Beginner's Guide will take you through the installation step by step.

If memory serves, at the "partition harddrive" step, first you must pick a disk, and then you get to partition. That may be why you only saw one option available: you only have one disk.

Gen2ly

Member

From: Sevierville, TN

Registered: 2009-03-06

Posts: 1,529

Website

Re: Arch Linux Installation

I previously had OpenBSD installed on a partition on a different computer but fdisk (a common linux partitioner) recognized that partition (though it showed the partitions as unrecognized type).  I didn't need to save any partitions at the time so I backed up and wrote a whole new partition table with fdisk.  To try and keep your partition table I'd try formatting the OpenSolaris partition first.

fdisk -l

Will show you if fdisk sees the partition.  Then try to format it ext3 (the most common linux filesystem)

mkfs.ext3 /dev/<yoursolarispartition>

If this works you can do your Arch Install as normal, if not you'll have to think about what i said first.

fdisk tut:

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/fdisk_partitioning.html

Last edited by Gen2ly (2009-05-20 03:33:54)

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Xyne

Administrator/PM

Registered: 2008-08-03

Posts: 6,965

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Re: Arch Linux Installation

I think you can just skip the partitioning step and jump right to selecting the mount points.

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Ferrenrock

Member

Registered: 2008-11-22

Posts: 36

Re: Arch Linux Installation

The Beginner's Guide will take you through the installation step by step.

If memory serves, at the "partition harddrive" step, first you must pick a disk, and then you get to partition. That may be why you only saw one option available: you only have one disk.

This could be the case. If the arch cd is screwing up its partitioning program, which has happened to me before, you could use a linux live cd that comes with gparted to properly format the drive and get a better visual idea of what's going on. I'm not sure if the archlive cd has the gparted program, I'd have to check, but I know that puppy linux and system rescue linux come with it.

Another option could be to download a free partitioning program for windows xp and editing the rest of the disk that way.

hatten

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Sweden, Borlange

Registered: 2009-02-23

Posts: 736

Re: Arch Linux Installation

The core cd do not have gparted.