You are not logged in.

#1 2010-03-23 21:37:05

spoovy
Member
From: Vatican XII
Registered: 2010-03-23
Posts: 32

Do I qualify

After going through the usual distro progression I am finally at Arch.  I wanted to make sure I had some knowledge before tackling it, and sure enough just as I had been led to believe, I was greeted by a two-day mind bender trying to install successfully - specifically getting my ***ing wireless connection working.   

Literally 48 hours of head scratching, muttering, reading over and over the wiki pages, beginners guide, installation guide, forum posts, about 30 google searches....  you get the idea.

But finally I have got it working!  And without resorting to bothering you lot with a forum question either!  I think I can safely say that I have never been happier to see a successful ping return. 

So do I qualify as a competent linux user then?  Or just thick and stubborn?  smile

Offline

#2 2010-03-23 21:43:03

Peasantoid
Member
Registered: 2009-04-26
Posts: 928
Website

Re: Do I qualify

Perhaps you would like to inform others of how you solved your issue. It might prove helpful to someone else.

Offline

#3 2010-03-23 21:52:00

n0dix
Member
Registered: 2009-09-22
Posts: 956

Re: Do I qualify

For me yes, you look in the wiki after posting something in the forum. wink

Offline

#4 2010-03-23 21:53:02

Misfit138
Misfit Emeritus
From: USA
Registered: 2006-11-27
Posts: 4,189

Re: Do I qualify

Congratulations, and welcome to Arch!

Offline

#5 2010-03-24 01:29:43

cesura
Package Maintainer (PM)
From: Tallinn, Estonia
Registered: 2010-01-23
Posts: 1,867

Re: Do I qualify

In my opinion, someone who is a linux expert doesn't think of themselves as a linux expert, rather, other people do. Installing arch alone, then no, I wouldn't consider you a linux expert, from that standpoint. You could probably be competent with linux, just from your ability to do some of this. It also depends on whether you troubleshooted the problem yourself or searched the internet, which is of course okay to do

Welcome to Arch Linux!

Last edited by cesura (2010-03-24 01:30:39)

Offline

#6 2010-03-24 02:05:37

ataraxia
Member
From: Pittsburgh
Registered: 2007-05-06
Posts: 1,553

Re: Do I qualify

Your desire to figure it out yourself, and the fact that you actually succeeded, qualify you in my opinion.

Welcome to Arch.

Offline

#7 2010-03-24 10:46:43

spoovy
Member
From: Vatican XII
Registered: 2010-03-23
Posts: 32

Re: Do I qualify

My question was tongue-in-cheek by the way, I definately consider myself a newb at linux, i'm treating arch as a learning experience.

Actually it seems I celebrated too soon anyway, because about an hour after posting my OP my wireless connection went again and I haven't been able to get it back since, despite repeating the exact same steps.  So now I'm really confused. 

Is this the right forum to post wireless questions? If so I will plug my laptop in via ethernet (i'm on my desktop at the moment) and ask the question; that way I can copy/paste config files and stuff as well.

Cheers

Offline

#8 2010-03-24 11:24:05

moljac024
Member
From: Serbia
Registered: 2008-01-29
Posts: 2,676

Re: Do I qualify

Yes, this is the right forum, just not the right thread smile


The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck, is the day they make a vacuum cleaner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But if they tell you that I've lost my mind, maybe it's not gone just a little hard to find...

Offline

#9 2010-03-24 11:41:39

webmasteryoda
Member
From: Serbia
Registered: 2010-03-20
Posts: 115
Website

Re: Do I qualify

spoovy wrote:

Is this the right forum to post wireless questions? If so I will plug my laptop in via ethernet (i'm on my desktop at the moment) and ask the question; that way I can copy/paste config files and stuff as well.

Cheers

Try using wicd. Its much better for wireless than any other network manager. I solved all my wifi problem with it. And check ifconfig to see if there is any interface problem. If there is no proper wlan0 interface than check the beginners guide again.

Hope its helpfull.


@Moljac izvuci taj svetlosni mac da se obracunamo. `oma ..... smile

Offline

#10 2010-03-24 12:44:06

.:B:.
Forum Fellow
Registered: 2006-11-26
Posts: 5,819
Website

Re: Do I qualify

If you can get your system up and running without having to talk to a living soul and solely relying on your google skills, wiki fu and such to resolve issues, then yes. I'll go even further - you're the ideal user this distro is targeting wink.


Got Leenucks? :: Arch: Power in simplicity :: Get Counted! Registered Linux User #392717 :: Blog thingy

Offline

#11 2010-03-24 23:03:46

spoovy
Member
From: Vatican XII
Registered: 2010-03-23
Posts: 32

Re: Do I qualify

Peasantoid wrote:

Perhaps you would like to inform others of how you solved your issue. It might prove helpful to someone else.

I've kind of got it sorted now (i'm using it now), but not really well enough to use. 

I eventually found that I could get a wireless connection after bootup using the normal ifconfig and iwconfig steps as described in the beginners guide.  But after a few mins I would lose wireless connection and couldn't get it back even by repeating the exact same steps.   
What I eventually found worked was -

ifconfig eth0 down (not in beginner's guide, unless i missed it)
ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 essid "blahblah" key "blah"
ifconfig wlan0 up
dhcpcd wlan0

I was also getting a dhcpcd lock file in /var/run which I needed to delete frequently.

Now I am using wicd which prevents me from having to delete the lock file, but I still lose wireless connection every few minutes, and I still need to keep either doing an 'ifconfig eth0 down' or clicking on 'Disconnect All' in wicd before reconnecting, or it won't get an IP. 

So it seems that my setup keeps defaulting to eth0 whenever it (frequently) loses wireless connection, which then locks out wlan0.   Back to wiki - google - headscratch.. unless anyone has any ideas?

Last edited by spoovy (2010-03-25 00:46:20)

Offline

#12 2010-03-24 23:21:23

pickboy87
Member
From: Minnesota
Registered: 2010-02-12
Posts: 84
Website

Re: Do I qualify

Can't you just install something like wicd and start it in the daemons?

But yes, you are more than 'qualified' for Arch. I started with Arch with not _too_ much knowledge of Linux and have learned quite a bit over the last several months. My suggestion is to dink around with Arch and eventually break it, take note of the packages you installed/liked and start fresh. Work from there.

Edit: Ah, missed the last part of your post.

Last edited by pickboy87 (2010-03-24 23:26:45)

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB