Arch Linux

raul_nds

Member

From: Lisbon, Portugal

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 258

Just found Arch

...and I'm sorry I didn't find it earlier. I've been using it for the past 2 weeks actually, on my 8 year old laptop. The documentation is just so good, that I think if I waited to post about some important problem, I would never post.

I was running Ubuntu Server + a WM in my faithful 128MB, 333Mhz laptop, and it wasn't bad, but I decided to ditch Ubuntu and give Arch a try.

I was amazed. Pacman is IMO much better than apt, and the config files are very well explained. It feels like everything in your computer is owned by you. I just love it.

Arch seems to integrate flawlessly with any WM or DE I throw at it. The only thing I didn't get working is sound, but to be honest, i didn't try that hard because a whopping 3.7Gb HD can't hold many songs.

Right now I'm using E17 and it's blazing fast. I'm so proud that I can make so much with such an ancient machine.

I'm just waiting for my exams to end to ditch Ubuntu in my main desktop, and install and configure Arch. I'm just a little afraid that I might mess up the partitioning and lose my /home partition, even though I've been through it so many times.

While we're at it, is there any problem in keeping my /home partition from Ubuntu? Like some conflicting configuration files/folders, or something like that? I don't feel like buying an External HD to store my music =\

Last edited by raul_nds (2007-06-28 23:41:04)

lilsirecho

Veteran

Registered: 2003-10-24

Posts: 5,000

Re: Just found Arch

Store music on USB flash...............

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raul_nds

Member

From: Lisbon, Portugal

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 258

Re: Just found Arch

Yeah, well...50 Gb are not that handy

Cerebral

Forum Fellow

From: Waterloo, ON, CA

Registered: 2005-04-08

Posts: 3,108

Website

Re: Just found Arch

You should be fine using the same /home partition - I know many people who actually dual-boot and share the same home partition between their various OSs

Cotton

Member

From: Cornwall, UK

Registered: 2004-09-17

Posts: 568

Re: Just found Arch

Regardless of what OS you choose, if you don't want to lose that 50GB, back it up.  There are too many people on this forum and elsewhere who have chosen not to act until they have lost everything.

Don't wait for a disaster to motivate you.

kano

Member

From: Michigan

Registered: 2007-05-04

Posts: 185

Website

Re: Just found Arch

I've went from Ubuntu to Arch using the same /home partition... Only thing I had to do was make my username the same and chown my ~ to my user/group in Arch. (id's were different)

Last edited by kano (2007-06-29 07:34:41)

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\\ archlinux on a XPS M1530 //

scarney

Member

From: Wisconsin, US

Registered: 2006-07-11

Posts: 173

Re: Just found Arch

backup backup backup!. did i mention backup? 8)

mrB

Member

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 28

Re: Just found Arch

I use the same /home partition for three different distributions. I just use different usernames in order to not mix up any configuration files

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Just found Arch

I've went from Ubuntu to Arch using the same /home partition... Only thing I had to do was make my username the same and chown my ~ to my user/group in Arch. (id's were different)

Indeed. The only thing that has to match are the UIDs (first 'normal' user gets UID 1000), just make sure they match, or else change ownership of everything in your $HOME, as kano said.

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

Thrillhouse

Member

From: Arlington, VA, USA

Registered: 2007-05-29

Posts: 175

Re: Just found Arch

Don't the GID's have to match too?

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.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

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Re: Just found Arch

Probably, yes. But mostly, GIDs seem to coincide (since the users are part of the 'users' group, which seems to be the same on most installs). You only have one users group, while you can have multiple (human) users on a linux install. So I guess the GID mostly stays the same.

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

kano

Member

From: Michigan

Registered: 2007-05-04

Posts: 185

Website

Re: Just found Arch

Don't the GID's have to match too?

Probably, yes. But mostly, GIDs seem to coincide (since the users are part of the 'users' group, which seems to be the same on most installs). You only have one users group, while you can have multiple (human) users on a linux install. So I guess the GID mostly stays the same.

You will have to change the GID moving from ubuntu->arch aswell. By default, Ubuntu makes a group for each user instead of putting them all in one group like Arch. GIDs on Ubuntu start at 1000, whereas they start at 100 in arch (iirc). So just do this once you get it setup.

chown -R `whoami`:users $HOME

(run as your user, not root)

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\\ archlinux on a XPS M1530 //