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#1 2021-11-29 20:56:36

4romany
Member
Registered: 2021-11-27
Posts: 25

My journey from Ubuntu to Archlinux (hint: follow the WIKI guide)

Long time Ubuntu user - since probably 2006 or so.   I was attracted to some of the more techie things about Arch - but trying to install it on a older Dell laptop (2014-15) brought back all those problems I used to see with Linux - fighting xorg issue, printing issues, not booting up, etc.   First problem was after I installed the software it would not boot up.  The arch wiki provided a solution to that which was helpful (nomodeset added to grub)....I was able to than boot to a CLI prompt (expected).  Installed plasma and sddm - rebooted - no gui - just hung.  CNTRL ALT F2 gave me a console prompt - looking at /var/log/xorg log had lots of video module complaints.  Hour later I lost the will to invest anymore time in fighting that.  The installation I had done was pretty much a manual one - manually fdisk to set up the disks - etc.  Followed a youtube vid on that - and was successful with installing the software - so that tells me the drive was ok.   I said let try installing it with "archinstall" script.....this failed after it successfully formated the drive I picked (I picked that option) - gave  some error that it could not mount the drive.   Gave lot of reasons why it might have failed.  I tried 2 different targets - internal SSD and external USB - same exact failure.   I never could get by that.   I'm sure that most of my issues revolve around this older Dell - but its my primary laptop - so it not like I can install a different video card in it.   I really like the AUG though - 2 commercial programs that I use were both well documented in AUG - Securecrt and MoneyDance - not exactly household names.   I may circle back in the future - but right now I'm sticking with old boring Ubuntu.   I've spent way too much time on this science project :-0

...

Last edited by 4romany (2021-11-30 13:25:50)

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#2 2021-11-29 21:05:12

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,442
Website

Re: My journey from Ubuntu to Archlinux (hint: follow the WIKI guide)

4romany wrote:

... [ lots of vague problems ] ...

I gather you're just providing background - as we obviously can't help with problems you don't describe completely.

4romany wrote:

The installation I had done was pretty much a manual one - manually fdisk to set up the disks - etc.  Followed a youtube vid

Youtube videos on installing arch are all shit.  I expect such installs to fail.  If you try again, don't follow those.  We are here to help on these forums, but only if you follow our existing documentation that this community works quite hard on maintaining.

4romany wrote:

I said let try installing it with "archinstall" script.....this failed

That is technically a supported installation method.  But it's quite new ... and from the forum activity discussing it, it has a lot of kinks to work out - and when it fails, most seasoned users here would be at a loss on how to help.  I would not recommend anyone use it, certainly not new users.

Note that 5 years old is not remotely old for hardware.  Arch will run quite well on hardware much older than that.  It sounds like you just need help selecting the proper video driver.  We could help with that here, but again, only if you actually describe the issue and give relevant details of your hardware ... and not try to take youtube "shortcuts".

Last edited by Trilby (2021-11-29 22:16:14)


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#3 2021-11-30 00:22:24

4romany
Member
Registered: 2021-11-27
Posts: 25

Re: My journey from Ubuntu to Archlinux (hint: follow the WIKI guide)

Yeah, I was just leaving a general commentary.   I found your comment about the archinstall script not being reliable helpful - I can blame those issues on that script and not on my hardware.  I think I'll take another swing at it - and maybe someone can provide some breadcrumbs on the video issue...

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#4 2021-11-30 00:34:43

Slithery
Administrator
From: Norfolk, UK
Registered: 2013-12-01
Posts: 5,776

Re: My journey from Ubuntu to Archlinux (hint: follow the WIKI guide)

4romany wrote:

...and maybe someone can provide some breadcrumbs on the video issue...

There is no 'issue'. You just need to follow the wiki...
What on earth is the 'AUG'?


No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

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#5 2021-11-30 00:36:45

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,192

Re: My journey from Ubuntu to Archlinux (hint: follow the WIKI guide)

nomodeset will allow you to boot to a console but kernel modesetting is required for X11 (with the exception of the vesa driver) / Wayland.
If you try again please post details on the GPU `lspci -v | grep -A1 -e VGA -e 3D`
Also the kernel messages from a boot without nomodeset to see what is failing.  That will need to be addressed to get X/ Wayland working.
Edit:
AUG possibly AUR?

Last edited by loqs (2021-11-30 00:40:44)

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#6 2021-11-30 02:05:06

4romany
Member
Registered: 2021-11-27
Posts: 25

Re: My journey from Ubuntu to Archlinux (hint: follow the WIKI guide)

OK....for about the 5th time in the last couple of days I went thru the installation procedure - the main difference this time  (he says in a low voice) was this time I followed the wiki --- and everything WORKED!   No grub related boot issues - no problem with sddm - and the  plasma desktop loaded right up!    Trilby, thanks for your comments - that gave me the encouragement to make one more attempt.  And yes I meant AUR....

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#7 2021-11-30 02:25:29

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: My journey from Ubuntu to Archlinux (hint: follow the WIKI guide)

4romany wrote:

everything WORKED!   No grub related boot issues - no problem with sddm - and the  plasma desktop loaded right up!    Trilby, thanks for your comments - that gave me the encouragement to make one more attempt.  And yes I meant AUR....

OUTSTANDING.   Welcome to Arch Linux.

Edit:  You might update the title of the thread big_smile

Last edited by ewaller (2021-11-30 02:25:59)


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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