Want to try Arch, some questions though.

georgelappies · 2015-05-10 17:53:38

Hi

I would like to try Arch. Please can you provide answers to the following questions.

1. How difficult is it to setup Arch on the same hard drive as Windows 7?
2. Can I setup Arch via a Wifi connection?
3. I am on capped bandwidth, how much data does Arch use typically per week / month to stay up-to-date?

nomorewindows · 2015-05-10 18:02:13

1. Available in the wiki, but done everyday. GPT installations a little more tricky. UEFI can vary based on implementation.
2. You would probably need a firmware file, and recommended to use wired connection to install. Then tweak your wifi after install.
3. If you have capped, would not recommend using for Arch. You maybe better off finding a public internet cafe/library/etc. to keep Arch up to date.

2ManyDogs · 2015-05-10 18:22:54

Have you looked at the Beginners' Guide? Installing with a wireless connection is covered there.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … e#Wireless

Dual-booting with Windows is also discussed in the wiki.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wi … _dual_boot

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2015-05-10 18:26:26)

lothar_m · 2015-05-10 20:13:45

georgelappies wrote:

Hi
3. I am on capped bandwidth, how much data does Arch use typically per week / month to stay up-to-date?

Depends on the number of installed packets and the frequency of upstream updates.

mcmillan · 2015-05-10 20:14:47

As 2manydogs says, the wiki should be your first place to look for information, and should cover your first 2 questions.

As for the 3rd, nomorewindows is right in saying you don't have access to unlimited downloads, running arch may be an issue. But for some perspective, in case your cap is particularly generous, I hadn't cleaned my package cache for a while, so just checked and had ~6GB of packages with modification date of April. Didn't check to see how typical that was, but I don't remember any particularly big updates other than some KDE. Also for perspective, I'm running a pretty complete KDE, but otherwise tend to keep things slimmed down mostly to things I use, though I also run of testing repositories, so I probably have a bit updates a bit more frequently than you might see if only using the core/extra/community set of repositories.

Soukyuu · 2015-05-10 22:02:20

You don't really have to update every time a package is updated. I usually update about once a month, and it's about 500MB max, usually around 300MB, though. I'm running KDE Plasma at the moment, was running KDE4 before, plus various software including wine.
As for how hard it is, it depends on your previous knowledge. If you don't know much about linux internals, it will take you much more time than if you already roughly know what you're doing.

nomorewindows · 2015-05-10 23:59:58

Depends on what you install, but you can just about guarantee an update to just about every package on your system (given no significant user invention required on some major package), if you let it go about a month.

georgelappies · 2015-05-11 05:36:32

Thanks for the replies, seems that I have to abandon the idea of running Arch until my Internet connection situation improves then.

nomorewindows · 2015-05-12 19:14:07

georgelappies wrote:

Thanks for the replies, seems that I have to abandon the idea of running Arch until my Internet connection situation improves then.

The FCC's Net Neutrality may or may not improve this situation depends on how they decide to function. But hopefully this isn't like a tethered phone connection or something because they usually do have metering on it.

georgelappies · 2015-05-12 19:30:12

nomorewindows wrote:

georgelappies wrote:
Thanks for the replies, seems that I have to abandon the idea of running Arch until my Internet connection situation improves then.
The FCC's Net Neutrality may or may not improve this situation depends on how they decide to function. But hopefully this isn't like a tethered phone connection or something because they usually do have metering on it.

Yeah connecting via HSDPA on a mobile device with a 10Gb monthly cap. No DSL available in my area (semi rural area in South Africa).

nomorewindows · 2015-05-12 19:48:29

I was thinking somewhere in Africa they just recently got a fringe benefit internet. 10Gb monthly cap. You might let an installation of Arch go a month, and then download whatever is needed, and then your cap goes back to 10Gb the next month. Like update whatever's needed once a month type a thing, it might be doable. Have a good size pacman cache just in case things go wrong.

Last edited by nomorewindows (2015-05-12 19:49:59)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-05-12 19:55:49

I had two separate Arch systems running with daily updates & bandwidth to spare on a 15GB/month cap so I would think 10GB/month with one system would be fine.

nomorewindows · 2015-05-12 20:04:25

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

I had two separate Arch systems running with daily updates & bandwidth to spare on a 15GB/month cap so I would think 10GB/month with one system would be fine.

Were they the same architecture because you can share the package cache between them (I'm sure you know that)? I do have a sizable package cache and it does take awhile for me to fill it up (and then I remove everything except a few packages in question, and the newest ones).

Last edited by nomorewindows (2015-05-12 20:07:49)

mauritiusdadd · 2015-05-13 06:07:40

I would like to add too my two cents here, because I've been in the same situation for years: the zone where I live is not covered by the DSL yet and the only wired connection available is the old 56k. Only recently we were reached by a WiMax connection, but before that happened I used a mobile broadband connection with a 10Gb monthly cap and I can say that is definitely possible to use Arch with a such connection. In fact I have two machines running a x86_64 Arch with KDE and sharing the packages between the twos and updating twice per month, consumed only about 5GB.

georgelappies · 2015-05-13 06:10:27

mauritiusdadd wrote:

I would like to add too my two cents here, because I've been in the same situation for years: the zone where I live is not covered by the DSL yet and the only wired connection available is the old 56k. Only recently we were reached by a WiMax connection, but before that happened I used a mobile broadband connection with a 10Gb monthly cap and I can say that is definitely possible to use Arch with a such connection. In fact I have two machines running a x86_64 Arch with KDE and sharing the packages between the twos and updating twice per month, consumed only about 5GB.

Thanks, will give it a shot.

scryan · 2015-05-14 01:54:10

A lot of capped connections and KDE... KDE frequently caused BIG 1gb+ updates for me. Using a lighter desktop may help if you notice your back up against the wall? (Good excuse to start using a tiling WM )

ewaller · 2015-05-14 02:45:58

mauritiusdadd wrote:

I would like to add too my two cents here, because I've been in the same situation for years: the zone where I live is not covered by the DSL yet and the only wired connection available is the old 56k.

I had no idea that Europe still has places that did not have high speed Internet. I thought it was just in third world countries like mine where we have those issues.

Edit: That is really not fair. Most developing countries have far better Internet service than that which is available here.

Last edited by ewaller (2015-05-14 02:47:42)

mauritiusdadd · 2015-05-14 07:27:03

@scryan: yeah, ironically just after I switched to the flat-rate WiMax connection I fell in love with dwm and installed it on both my desktop and my laptop

@ewaller: In Italy we have a proverb that can be translated as "We all live in the same country" (meaning that there are same problems in different countries) Btw, I actually live in a semi-rural district and the funny thing is that I often receive calls from call-centres of the main Italian ISPs and the conversation is like the following:

operator: «Good morning sir, would you like to switch to our "super-cheap-super-high-speed" ADSL connection?»
me: «Of course»
operator: «Ok, let me check your data... oh I'm sorry, I just noticed we cannot offer this service in the zone where you live. Goodbye.»

runical · 2015-05-14 10:02:31

ewaller wrote:

mauritiusdadd wrote:
I would like to add too my two cents here, because I've been in the same situation for years: the zone where I live is not covered by the DSL yet and the only wired connection available is the old 56k.
I had no idea that Europe still has places that did not have high speed Internet. I thought it was just in third world countries like mine where we have those issues.

I must say, I live in one of the best countries when it comes to internet (most cities switching to fiber with gigabit+ speeds, small country etc), but even here, there are places where it takes you half a hour to upload a picture (granted, these are the real rural areas near the German border, but still). Luckily, the gemeente (county?) can invest in a decent network, so these last dark spots are being removed as well.

Maybe you should just move to a country densely populated area?

Soukyuu · 2015-05-14 11:11:57

Speaking of Germany, it's a 3rd world country when it comes to internet. The bigger cities have decent internet, but the rural areas often barely get coverage. And the whole industry still clings to the old copper ADSL infrastructure, because replacing it with fiber would just cost too much. And then there is the mobile internet, which is ridiculously capped (500MB per month for 10€ or 1GB per month for 25€). That's what, a few youtube videos? But people are paying...

I'm still on a wonky 6MBit down/1Mbit up line, that sometimes gets disconnects and general instability because the next hub is too far away. I received a mail from my ISP yesterday, which states our line will be upgrade next month. Maybe then I'll get a decent connection. But hey, at least it's not capped.

Ironically, new EU countries like Latvia are getting a nice boost and have good, cheap mobile and fiber internet offers.

(Sorry, this turned into a grrr post).

cafe · 2015-05-14 12:33:41

nomorewindows wrote:

Were they the same architecture because you can share the package cache between them (...)

That's nice! How do you do that? Here we have 3 computers running arch and it would be nice if only one downloads updates from the internet and the other two would just use the local network to update the system.

Trilby · 2015-05-14 13:29:18

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacserve

cafe · 2015-05-14 14:47:41

Thank you.

nomorewindows · 2015-05-14 16:35:44

cafe wrote:

Thank you.

That's a proxy way of doing it. You can just mount the server's pacman cache over the local other machines package cache directory and do the same thing. The only downside is when you have to clean up the old packages, you may have to do it manually on the server (the other machines won't have copies & you don't want to delete something that is on one machine and not another). With pacserve, you can do a comparison mount between the directories using fdupes to get rid of redundant package files later. There's also a way to do it with squid which essentially does the same thing as pacserve.

Soukyuu · 2015-05-15 18:50:20

^ I've set

CleanMethod = KeepCurrent

in pacman.conf, now it keeps the latest version of the package in cache instead of only the currently installed ones. You will still have to remove any packages you don't use anymore by hand, but otherwise it's automatic.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-05-10 17:53:38

Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#2 2015-05-10 18:02:13

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#3 2015-05-10 18:22:54

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#4 2015-05-10 20:13:45

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#5 2015-05-10 20:14:47

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#6 2015-05-10 22:02:20

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#7 2015-05-10 23:59:58

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#8 2015-05-11 05:36:32

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#9 2015-05-12 19:14:07

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#10 2015-05-12 19:30:12

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#11 2015-05-12 19:48:29

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#12 2015-05-12 19:55:49

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#13 2015-05-12 20:04:25

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#14 2015-05-13 06:07:40

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#15 2015-05-13 06:10:27

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#16 2015-05-14 01:54:10

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#17 2015-05-14 02:45:58

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#18 2015-05-14 07:27:03

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#19 2015-05-14 10:02:31

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#20 2015-05-14 11:11:57

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#21 2015-05-14 12:33:41

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#22 2015-05-14 13:29:18

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#23 2015-05-14 14:47:41

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#24 2015-05-14 16:35:44

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

#25 2015-05-15 18:50:20

Re: Want to try Arch, some questions though.

Board footer