Trying to install VirtualBox

Roken · 2012-01-16 20:29:15

Hi all,

I'm new to Arch but not to Linux. Been using Debian for a couple of years as my day to day system, and after an LFS build I decided to see how feasible it would be to replace Debian with Arch. Still getting used to the way pacman and packer work, and I've hit a problem.

I have catalyst 11.12 installed and now want to install VB. There's a dependency conflict between the kernels, in that catalyst requires 3.1 or lower, and VB requires 3.2. I'd be happy to upgrade the kernel (I usually build my own custom kernel anyway), but I'll go with stock for now. The only other thread I've found suggests finding the tarball in the cache for a previous version of VB, though this isn't an option here (still a new install). Are there any other options.

Incidentally, I do know that catalyst will work on 3.2 kernels (working quite happily on my Debian system) - so is there a way to easily hack the catalyst dependency?

Or, any other suggestions are welcome.

alphaniner · 2012-01-16 20:45:40

Welcome to Arch.

Getting older packages: There's a Wiki for that!

As for hacking the dep, the check is just based on a line in the PKGBUILD. There's a number of ways to get at that. But keep in mind that restriction was [probably] put there for a reason.

Roken · 2012-01-17 02:59:48

Thank you. I managed to get a previous version installed, but alas it's to no avail. I wanted to use the same VMs that I already have, but it looks like something has changed and they simply won't boot on the older VB. Guess I can wait and see what comes of the 12.1 catalyst driver, Still have plenty to do to get the Arch installation fully equipped until then.

I did try hacking the PKGBUILD file for catalyst, but pacman just complained about it. Not going to lose any sleep over it at this point. There's time to learn a new package management system for me.

alphaniner · 2012-01-17 14:20:41

I'd suggest taking the boot problem to the VB forums. You never know, it may be an easy fix.

litemotiv · 2012-01-17 14:51:08

How much do you need Catalyst? The "recommended" way would be to replace it with the open source driver and upgrade the kernel. If you want, you could replace it with Catalyst again once it gets updated to the latest kernel.

Roken · 2012-01-17 14:51:33

I dumped it in the end. Decided I'd rather have a system that works, so instead I built VB from VirtualBox.org, and now it's working just peachy (as far as I can tell, in the process of testing right now), and my VMs have imported no problem now.

Roken · 2012-01-17 14:55:22

litemotiv wrote:

How much do you need Catalyst? The "recommended" way would be to replace it with the open source driver and upgrade the kernel. If you want, you could replace it with Catalyst again once it gets updated to the latest kernel.

I rely on it. I do some pretty gfx intensive stuff that the OS drivers simply can't handle. Catalyst is more important than VB if I'm honest. (VB is mainly so that I can work without having to boot a full Windows install for the proprietary software I use - and no, it won't work with wine - has to be a VM). In a worst case scenario I could actually boot Windows, but it's been that long since I did there's probably a gazillion updates to do.

litemotiv · 2012-01-17 15:21:38

This Catalyst package in AUR:

http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=29111

Seems to allow a broader range of kernels:

depends=('linux>=3.0' 'linux<3.3' 'catalyst-utils')

Or is that the one you are trying to use?

Roken · 2012-01-17 15:36:20

litemotiv wrote:

This Catalyst package in AUR:
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=29111
Seems to allow a broader range of kernels:
depends=('linux>=3.0' 'linux<3.3' 'catalyst-utils')
Or is that the one you are trying to use?

No, I wasn't using catalyst from AUR (never even thought to look there if I'm honest). As soon as my machine frees itself up I'll give it a go and report back. TY

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-16 20:29:15

Trying to install VirtualBox

#2 2012-01-16 20:45:40

Re: Trying to install VirtualBox

#3 2012-01-17 02:59:48

Re: Trying to install VirtualBox

#4 2012-01-17 14:20:41

Re: Trying to install VirtualBox

#5 2012-01-17 14:51:08

Re: Trying to install VirtualBox

#6 2012-01-17 14:51:33

Re: Trying to install VirtualBox

#7 2012-01-17 14:55:22

Re: Trying to install VirtualBox

#8 2012-01-17 15:21:38

Re: Trying to install VirtualBox

#9 2012-01-17 15:36:20

Re: Trying to install VirtualBox

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