Arch Linux

ionflux

Member

From: Boston, MA

Registered: 2007-06-20

Posts: 18

My first month using Arch Linux

Dear All:

I am a recent Arch convert (from Ubuntu) and have been using this distribution for approximately a month.
Here is my first impression.

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IT IS SPECTACULAR
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I am a beginner with Linux, but have tried many different distributions and could never settle.
Now I think I can get married

Arch has everything I always wanted in a distribution: I am so impressed by such a beautiful piece of work.
I am deeply grateful to all the developers for creating something so elegant.

Also the website is incredibly well designed: very clean and essential. It is by far the best of all, in my opinion.
I also want to thank all the people on this forum for answering my questions at the speed of light and with great kindness.
This community is impressive and very welcoming.

If I may, I would also like to make a suggestion.  Please keep in mind that I am an absolute beginner; forgive my basic questions, please!

After my installation I wanted a power management application for my Thinkpad T43 and struggled with a simple question: which one is the best?
Typing "power management" into the Arch Wiki search field will somehow lead to speedstep, acpi, etc.  After some Googling, I found that powersave seems to be the most comprehensive package, so I installed it.  It seems to work very well, including my suspend to RAM, but the network does not come back after resume.  Well, I will figure this out; I just didn't have time to explore.

My (very minor) suggestion would be to organize the information on Arch Wiki into main themes.  I am sure everything is there already, but for me it was a little difficult to find.  For example, it would be great to have a "Power management" chapter starting with a high-level sentence, like: "The consensus of the Arch community for power management is to use XYZ package."

I hope this comment won't be taken the wrong way.  I love this distribution and the community it has gathered!
Thank you all so much!!

smurnjiff

Member

Registered: 2007-06-25

Posts: 211

Re: My first month using Arch Linux

I'm glad you are enjoying Arch Linux and I hope the marriage lasts long!  A better approach would be to outline the pros and cons of each software, rather than say: THIS ONE IS THE ONE YOU SHOULD ALWAYS USE.

pelle.k

Member

From: Åre, Sweden (EU)

Registered: 2006-04-30

Posts: 667

Re: My first month using Arch Linux

Welcome!

I'd say as far as a _complete_ solution for power managment goes, powersave and pm-utils (in testing...) are pretty much the only ones available. Sure, you could always install hdparm, cpufrequtils etc and do it all that way, but that's exactly what powersave is for, so it wouldn't really give you an edge in _your_ case.
by default, powersave _should_ be configured to reload ipw2200 (which is your network adapter, right?) Check /var/log/suspend2ram.log to confirm this. This is all done from /etc/powersave/sleep should you need to correct this.
Good luck

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"Your beliefs can be like fences that surround you.
You must first see them or you will not even realize that you are not free, simply because you will not see beyond the fences.
They will represent the boundaries of your experience."
SETH / Jane Roberts

Roberth

Member

From: The Pale Blue Dot

Registered: 2007-01-12

Posts: 894

Re: My first month using Arch Linux

Does arch have an slogan? like "of course it runs netbsd"

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Use the Source, Luke!

ionflux

Member

From: Boston, MA

Registered: 2007-06-20

Posts: 18

Re: My first month using Arch Linux

Hi Guys:

Thank you for your prompt replies!
I checked suspend2ram.log and it writes several times "stty: standard input: Inappropriate ioctl for device" (for restarting alsa, cups, network and netfs).
I am using a dsl connection.  Actually a simple dhcpcd eth0 (as root) brings the network back, so it's not a big deal.

Is it possible that simply adding my username to the network group will solve the issue?

Thanks very much for your help!

Flying Saxman

Member

From: Northern Hesse

Registered: 2007-02-26

Posts: 252

Re: My first month using Arch Linux

Does arch have an slogan? like "of course it runs netbsd"

What about "a simple, lightweight linux distribution"? You can see this on top of every page from archlinux.org!

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now with 80% more sax-appeal!
"I hacked the Phrak, and all I got was this lousy signature"

pelle.k

Member

From: Åre, Sweden (EU)

Registered: 2006-04-30

Posts: 667

Re: My first month using Arch Linux

I checked suspend2ram.log and it writes several times "stty: standard input: Inappropriate ioctl for device" (for restarting alsa, cups, network and netfs).
I am using a dsl connection.  Actually a simple dhcpcd eth0 (as root) brings the network back, so it's not a big deal.

Don't worry about the stty errors. It gets restarted anyway. Try delaying network interfaces startup. Put "sleep 5" in /etc/rc.d/network. (preferably inside ifup() function)

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"Your beliefs can be like fences that surround you.
You must first see them or you will not even realize that you are not free, simply because you will not see beyond the fences.
They will represent the boundaries of your experience."
SETH / Jane Roberts

ionflux

Member

From: Boston, MA

Registered: 2007-06-20

Posts: 18

Re: My first month using Arch Linux

Hi Guys,

Thank you SO much for your help!!
Now everything works perfectly.