Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

khalderon · 2008-01-03 18:43:41

Hi!
I am new to this place! Currently I am running Ubuntu, but unfortunately I am deeply disappointed with its bloated and opaque interface. In the Ubuntu forums I was recommended to give Arch a try. But before doing so, I have to be sure my hardware is fully compatible with Arch. Here it goes:

Acer Aspire AS5715Z:
AS5715Z-1A0508Mi, Gemstone design, Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T2310, Mobile Intel® GL960 Express chipset with integrated 3D graphics, featuring Intel® GMA X3100 with up to 358 MB of Intel® Dynamic Video Memory Technology 4.0 (8 MB of dedicated system memory, up to 350 MB of shared system memory) DDR II 1024MB (2x512), 15.4" WXGA high-brightness (200-nit) Acer CrystalBrite™, 1280 x 800 pixel resol., 80GB SATA, DVD+RW SuperMulti (tray) load, no FDD, S-Video Out, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard™/54, Dolby® certified surround sound system with two built-in stereo speakers (2 W ), External display (VGA) port; Headphones/ speaker /line-out port; Microphone /line-in jack; (RJ-11) port; DC-in jack for AC adapter, Ethernet, 56K, 802.11 b/g, 6-cell LiIon - 2.2-hour battery life, Acer QuicCharge™ technology: 80% charge in 1 hour, 2.80 kg, Linux/ 1 year International Travelers Warranty

Many thanks in advance! I just hope I am right here in this forum and there are people willing to help me. Excuse me if I did something wrong by violating your rules in a certain way. I have only heard the name "Arch" before, but never really seen it working. Perhaps this forum could be of help introducing me to Arch?

Zdravko

P.S. This was my first post here.

lilsirecho · 2008-01-03 18:53:00

Welcome to arch and that's a good way to start the new year!!!

Your system should be quite compatible.

Read the beginners' guide in the wiki for installation of arch and get it running!

Cerebral · 2008-01-03 18:53:11

I don't see anything in that list that jumps out at me, but generally it's not a matter if "Arch supports it" - it's a matter if the Linux kernel supports your hardware. If Ubuntu can do it, we can most likely do it too.

peart · 2008-01-03 19:00:02

Zdravko,

If your hardware worked with Ubuntu, it'll work with Arch. Linux is linux. The difference is that Ubuntu gave you everything out of the box (or at least tried), whereas with Arch, you must configure things to get them working.

Arch avoids bloat by not installing all the crap you don't need/want. Many distributions install a default desktop whether you like it or not. Arch doesn't, so once you have completed the basic install, you will have a command line. That's it. From there on in, you install only what you want, using pacman.

Put on your reading glasses and welcome to the world of non-bloat.

khalderon · 2008-01-03 19:04:13

Uuh, now, that was a warm greeting
I didn't expect a reply so quickly.
Is Arch capable of dual-boot with Windows as Ubuntu is?

lilsirecho · 2008-01-03 19:05:13

Dual ahoy!

peart · 2008-01-03 19:05:24

Same grub, same dual boot.

khalderon · 2008-01-03 19:08:07

Many thanks! Where should I start reading from?
Man, I am so eager to start learning Linux and Arch, and... I just hope that you will give me some assistance along the way

lilsirecho · 2008-01-03 19:09:34

Wiki installation data beginner's guide....

Bob-Hur · 2008-01-03 19:40:11

I'm fairly new to Arch, too, and I've had success installing both the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions. A few things are fresh in my mind that may help you:

- Print the Installation Guide and the Beginner's Guide before starting, if you can.

- If the dialog after/during an action suggests you read something or preview/edit a file, DO IT! Calling it a "suggestion" is just the Arch folks being polite, your system probably won't work right unless you follow those instructions.

- As soon as you get a bootable system, install the text-mode browser "lynx", it uses color coding for html pages which makes it much easier to browse this site than the "links" browser that's part of the install. Then open another session with Alt-F2, log in, and enter "lynx http://www.archlinux.org" and you have the whole Arch site including Wiki and these Forums at your fingertips. You can toggle back and forth between your install session and the lynx session using Alt-F1 and Alt-F2.

Welcome to Arch. You're going to love it!

underpenguin · 2008-01-03 22:07:45

Your wireless card may need some work to get going, a lot of wireless cards do. One note for dual booting:
Near the end of installation, you will be asked to edit a grub menu.lst file. Make sure you uncomment (remove #'s)the section at the end starting with

title Windows
.
.
.

This will ensure a windows boot option when you boot up the computer. Ubuntu does this automatically, so you probably didn't have to do this when using it.

khalderon · 2008-01-05 05:07:21

I don't use wireless, so this won't be an issue for me.
Btw, what DE would you recommend me? I was thinking of xfce, but I am unaware whether it is simple to install, maintain and run.

jacko · 2008-01-05 05:20:42

Zdravko wrote:

I don't use wireless, so this won't be an issue for me.
Btw, what DE would you recommend me? I was thinking of xfce, but I am unaware whether it is simple to install, maintain and run.

simple? nothing in arch is hard to install.

pacman -S name_of_program

that includes DE's WM's. Just break into the beginners guide and start. Forget about lynx. Print the beginners guide or use another PC to view the beginners guide and just copy and paste(in other words, just type word for word, letter for letter into CLI). One of the first things u should install once u have a bootable system is the DE or WM u choose to use. If u are new to linux, go for gnome or kde. These will feel much more familiar if u aren't used to other WM's DE's like xfce,openbox,fluxbox,fvwm,pekwm,compiz,etc...

Be prepared for the CLI, u need basic knowledge of commands. Be prepared to use nano to edit config files till u get a DE installed.

btw, my first arch install took me a week to get it rightly configured(was one night getting a base arch install done with a DE installed). This last time (3rd time) took me 6 hours for everything. U will learn so much so fast u will feel like genius. arch wiki is your godsend and the forums are pretty good too.

Last edited by jacko (2008-01-05 05:30:38)

Rumor · 2008-01-05 16:14:01

Zdravko wrote:

Hi!
Many thanks in advance! I just hope I am right here in this forum and there are people willing to help me. Excuse me if I did something wrong by violating your rules in a certain way. I have only heard the name "Arch" before, but never really seen it working. Perhaps this forum could be of help introducing me to Arch?

Hi Zdravko! I remember your post in the Ubuntu forums. Welcome to Arch!

I think you will find the Arch community as helpful as the Ubuntu community if no more so. Some of the Arch developers are among the regular posters here, so you will get some very knowledgeable help. The folks here are very friendly. You won't get flamed. You're in the Newbie Corner. There are no stupid questions here.

If you run into any problems, or have any questions, just ask away.

khalderon · 2008-01-05 16:50:28

Thank you very much, Rumor, for the understanding. I just finished installing Windows Vista on the laptop and now I am more or less able to start with Arch... Oops, I have several manuals to read. Wish me luck and in the next few days I may become truly one of you

sykesm · 2008-01-06 10:32:18

for desktop environments If you're KDE inclined give the following a look.

http://kdemod.ath.cx/

khalderon · 2008-01-06 10:45:46

Actually, I have never used KDE before. I had a little time with GNOME only. Now my idea is to just be able to install as easy as possible a DE.

sykesm · 2008-01-06 11:42:46

go with what you're familiar with at this stage, and when you're comfortable get around to trying everything!

Arch Linux

#1 2008-01-03 18:43:41

Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#2 2008-01-03 18:53:00

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#3 2008-01-03 18:53:11

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#4 2008-01-03 19:00:02

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#5 2008-01-03 19:04:13

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#6 2008-01-03 19:05:13

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#7 2008-01-03 19:05:24

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#8 2008-01-03 19:08:07

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#9 2008-01-03 19:09:34

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#10 2008-01-03 19:40:11

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#11 2008-01-03 22:07:45

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#12 2008-01-05 05:07:21

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#13 2008-01-05 05:20:42

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#14 2008-01-05 16:14:01

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#15 2008-01-05 16:50:28

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#16 2008-01-06 10:32:18

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#17 2008-01-06 10:45:46

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

#18 2008-01-06 11:42:46

Re: Will you introduce me briefly to Arch and tell me if it's compatible?

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