Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

wolfbyte18 · 2009-07-22 20:00:45

Hi,

First off, from the first glance Arch Linux looks pretty good. I don't know too much about Linux - I've used Ubuntu lightly, but it's summer vacation for me, and I figured I had the time, and Arch would teach me more about Linux, which I really would like to do.

I do have three questions. Sorry if they were answered elsewhere, please direct me to the right place then (I did search though).

1) The bootup is kind of slow. Is there anything obvious that I can do to speed it up? I can get back to you guys with some readouts of what shows up, and what's taking the longest - but if there are any general tips I'd love to hear them.

2) Would the world blow up if I put my /var, /boot, and root mounts all on the same partition and filesystem? I only ask this because the Beginner's Guide in the wiki strongly suggested separating them, and using separate filesystems (and filesystem types) for each.

3) Something I noticed was that I wasn't able to change the system time by right clicking on the clock, as I'm used to in Windows. This is doubly a problem because the time is not right, even though I set it during the installation process. What can I do to enable this?

Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate your help, and look forward to exploring Arch Linux .
Eric

rwd · 2009-07-22 20:28:44

1) http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Speedup_boot
Other things to try:
- set the bios to boot directly from the harddisk instead of checking the dvd drive first
- use noatime,nodiratime in fstab (skips updating inode access times on files/directories)
- use ext4 instead of ext3 filesystems
- use static ip address instead of dhcp (saves at least 3 seconds ..yay)
- boot straight into x without gdm/slim/kdm, and with autologin: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Start_X_at_boot
My boottime without messing with init scripts or kernel is 12 seconds from grub to login screen, and 14 from login screen to Xfce desktop. Ubuntu takes at least twice that time.
You can use bootchart to make a graph of the bootprocess.

2) you can put everything apart from swap on one partition, but there are drawbacks, such as increased fragmentation, or when a runaway process fills up the partition with random data. A separate home is always a good idea for making restoring/reinstalling without touching home easier.
3) The hardware clock tends to drift a little bit. You can set it with (surprise) ..the command 'date' . See 'man date' for details. Another option is to use use openntpd to keep the clock synchronized so you never need to adjust it manually. See: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Net … e_Protocol . Also be sure you set the right timezone in /etc/rc.conf .

Last edited by rwd (2009-07-23 12:58:34)

klixon · 2009-07-22 22:20:28

2.1) suppose you try something weird and your log directory asplodes... This would fill your root filesystem as well, if it is the same partition. Having var (and home for that matter) makes it somewhat safer
2.2) you want to try another distro. just mount your home into it and all your files are there (and configs)
2.3) You now have 3 partitions. This decreases the likelyhood of wiping everything

EDIT: typos

Last edited by klixon (2009-07-22 22:21:09)

windtalker · 2009-07-22 22:37:16

1] My boot time is less than 20 seconds.
There was nothing special done to my system beyond me configuring my partitions by hand.
My partition table is:
hda1 - swap -2gigs
hda2 - / - 20 gigs
hda3 - /home- remainder of hd.

2] You can configure your partition table however you wish to fill your needs, it's your box.
I however would recommend using the three partitions that are normally recommended until you have a good understanding of how they work.
They are the same ones I use above.
3] Unless you wish to do a lot of reading or like to frustrate yourself, I would recommend trying kdemod 3.5 until you have a good grasp of the commands that are commonly used in Linux.
Kdemod 3.5 is very light and kde itself is close to mirroring the Windows desktop.
For instance, one can right click the clock and adjust the time/date/timezone.

Linux is cool and configurable as heck, but there's no reason to spend all your time trying to figure it out,,,, unless you just want to that is.:D

Last edited by windtalker (2009-07-22 22:38:17)

wolfbyte18 · 2009-07-22 23:55:40

Cool! Thanks so much for the links guys, and the advice. I'll post back if I'm still having problems, but there's more than enough there to get me going.

I also really appreciate the quick responses!

Llama · 2009-07-22 23:56:59

(1) Don't worry unless it's way too long . The single longest stop should be udev; about 3 seconds.

(2) You can use swap,/,/home partition layout with impunity. Even swap is optional, depending on your RAM.

(3) pacman -S openntpd (Network Time Protocol; by far the easiest solution: fire and forget). Just don't forget to add DAEMONS=(... @openntpd ...) to /etc/rc.conf.

Last edited by Llama (2009-07-23 00:00:02)

wolfbyte18 · 2009-07-25 13:49:14

Apparently, "init" is running twice and taking its sweet time doing it. I think.

Essentially, a bunch of code shows up on my screen in bunches, with decent pauses between each set. This is my only computer, so I can't really observe the boot process while typing in what shows up -- are there any programs which will help me capture the output?

Thanks for the help with this... are there any obvious solutions?

Last edited by wolfbyte18 (2009-07-25 13:50:14)

miau · 2009-07-25 14:54:17

Check the log files under /var/log. There is definetely something wrong with your startup. 95 sec until initramfs starts is unnormal. Does the kernel hang at a certain point or any message about waiting for something? Also dmesg could help you.

wolfbyte18 · 2009-07-25 14:58:40

Ok - what logs do I need to look at? I'm still wet behind the ears with Linux, and almost brand new to Arch.

[eric@Robigus ~]$ ls /var/log
ConsoleKit      bootchart.tgz  dmesg.log       gdm           old         wtmp
Xorg.0.log      btmp           errors.log      kernel.log    pacman.log
Xorg.0.log.old  crond          everything.log  lastlog       syslog.log
auth.log        daemon.log     faillog         messages.log  user.log

miau · 2009-07-25 15:09:15

dmesg.log should be a good start.

wolfbyte18 · 2009-07-25 23:00:28

Alright, thanks again. The log is exactly what showed up at boot:
http://pastie.org/559002

Also, I watched it closely this time (instead of leaving, getting a drink, and being frustrated that it was still booting ) and noticed that it hangs on four spots for around ten seconds each: I'm not really sure what this means, or how to fix it - but solving those would definitely speed things up.

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 2x/52x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
***** HANGS HERE *****
sr 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x0)
ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata1.01: cmd a0/01:00:00:80:00/00:00:00:00:00/b0 tag 0 dma 16512 in
         cdb 5a 00 2a 00 00 00 00 00  80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
         res 40/00:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/b0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
ata1: soft resetting link
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata1.01: configured for MWDMA2
ata1: EH complete
***** HANGS HERE *****
ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x0)
ata1.01: limiting speed to MWDMA1:PIO4
ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata1.01: cmd a0/01:00:00:80:00/00:00:00:00:00/b0 tag 0 dma 16512 in
         cdb 5a 00 2a 00 00 00 00 00  80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
         res 40/00:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/b0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
ata1: soft resetting link
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata1.01: configured for MWDMA1
ata1: EH complete
***** HANGS HERE *****
ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x0)
ata1.01: limiting speed to PIO4
ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata1.01: cmd a0/01:00:00:80:00/00:00:00:00:00/b0 tag 0 dma 16512 in
         cdb 5a 00 2a 00 00 00 00 00  80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
         res 40/00:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/b0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
ata1: soft resetting link
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata1.01: configured for PIO4
ata1: EH complete
***** HANGS HERE *****
sr1: scsi3-mmc drive: 32x/32x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
sr 0:0:1:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1
EXT4-fs: barriers enabled

rwd · 2009-07-25 23:25:25

I don't know this particular problem, but if I had this I would Google site:bbs.archlinux.org "lost interrupt". Please search and think for yourself a bit instead of waiting to be spoonfed a solution. Arch is bleeding edge so you will see these kind of issues more often than with Ubuntu. It takes some digging and fixing every now and then.

Last edited by rwd (2009-07-27 16:18:07)

Ashren · 2009-07-26 22:13:56

wolfbyte18>

The emask timeout problem you're experiencing I've battled with for over a year, but haven't found a suitable solution. It has something to do libata/scsi and your CD/RW drive. Sometimes, it seems, it helps updating the firmware, but not always (as in my case).

I have personally given up and I'm going to buy a new DVD burner tomorrow, they're dirt cheap anyway.

If you're interested in the threads about this issue on the forums I've done a search for you: http://bbs.archlinux.org/search.php?search_id=879874908

Last edited by Ashren (2009-07-26 22:16:38)

miau · 2009-07-27 14:29:41

What happends if you unplug your DVD drive?

twin · 2009-10-10 19:23:27

I have a 10 year old computer which booted arch really fast(less than 20sec):P.

Unfortunately some days ago, I disconnected the hard drives. Now that I put them back in and reseted BIOS, the boot process hangs in the same places that wolfbyte18 describes:

sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 52x/52x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
***Hangs***

ata1: soft resetting link
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata1.01: configured for MWDMA2
ata1: EH complete
***Hangs***

ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
ata1: soft resetting link
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata1.01: configured for MWDMA1
ata1: EH complete
***Hangs***

At first I tried to tinker with configuration files, but as it turns out the same thing happens when booting from the live cd(latest arch installer and puppy).
So it must be hardware related. I checked the disks and they're fine. Also everything is working like it used to, except the long startup lag.
Could it be the BIOS? Some weird bug? I have no clue.

When I unplug the respective cd drive, there's no hang at "sr0:..." (but no drive also:P) and obviously I still get the "ata1:..." part.

Any suggestions? thanks for your time.

**EDIT**
OK, I figured it out. The hard drive was faulty: one of the 80 pins was broken. Took that drive out, and everything boots fine.:D

Last edited by twin (2009-10-11 18:34:53)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-07-22 20:00:45

Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#2 2009-07-22 20:28:44

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#3 2009-07-22 22:20:28

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#4 2009-07-22 22:37:16

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#5 2009-07-22 23:55:40

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#6 2009-07-22 23:56:59

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#7 2009-07-25 13:49:14

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#8 2009-07-25 14:54:17

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#9 2009-07-25 14:58:40

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#10 2009-07-25 15:09:15

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#11 2009-07-25 23:00:28

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#12 2009-07-25 23:25:25

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#13 2009-07-26 22:13:56

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#14 2009-07-27 14:29:41

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

#15 2009-10-10 19:23:27

Re: Three Beginner Questions (Though I may have more!)

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