is arch the distro for me?

murderbymodem · 2008-07-24 21:09:16

Hiya all, just want to thank you in advance for your time and advice:D

anyway, my plans are to buy the linux version of the MSI Wind when it is released in a few months.
(http://www.msimobile.com/DetailPage.asp … d_NB_Linux)

I have used SUSE (the distro it ships with) and did not like it too much.
arch was recommended to me by a friend, so I started looking into the option.

basically I need an easy to install distro that will work well enough on the wind to browse the internet, chat on IRC, play quake3, and maybe play starcraft under wine?
does this sound like arch? I've used a little linux, sabayon, ubuntu, suse, but basically I can explain my skill level by saying I was never able to successfully install gentoo (for the life of me I cannot find my way around a text-based install)

also, another bump in the road is that the wind does not have an optical drive, so no cds or dvds for me.
I saw the usb .img install and grabbed it, but as I am in windows vista right now, none of the meathods for writing the .img file seem to work right.
the closes I have gotten was by following this: http://webconverger.org/usb/
but it doesn't seem to want to write to my usb stick for some reason.
I type in the commands but it dosen't seem to do anything.
screenshot here:http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/g35x/arch.jpg

I suppose it would be easier to buy a usb optical drive, as I'm sure I will get tired of having to copy everything to a usb stick to get it onto the wind.

basically I need to know if arch can do the things I've mentioned, will be easy to install, and most importantly will work on the MSI wind. I was unsure about being able to play quake3 and use wine for starcraft because of video drivers, will arch work with the intel onboard video well enough?

again, thank you for your time, I look forward to using arch come time to buy my laptop:D

Last edited by murderbymodem (2008-07-24 21:09:53)

Barrucadu · 2008-07-24 21:22:46

If the hardware works in SuSE, it'll work in Arch (not necessarily without tweaking, however). Arch is easy to install - if you follow the beginner's guide on the wiki. The installer is all text-based, and when done you end up with a basic CLI system upon which you build your operating system and configure everything yourself, so unless that sounds appealing to you Arch may not be the best choice.

murderbymodem · 2008-07-24 21:38:26

It sounds cool and I like the idea of doing everything myself - the problem is I just can't figure it out sometimes:/

if the wikis can take my hand and walk me through every single step and command I have to do, sure I can do it, I follow directions pretty well, but if the instructions are vague (as I found gentoo's to be) I get totally lost.

since its a laptop I am putting it on and I can look at the wiki while I am trying to install I think I will be able to follow it relatively well- way better than writing down commands and then rebooting and trying them like when I tried gentoo on my main computer.

edit: looking over the wiki now I see some steps where I will get stuck such as what video drivers to use with the MSI Wind

Last edited by murderbymodem (2008-07-24 21:56:00)

ghostHack · 2008-07-24 22:06:33

Looking at the MSI website the Wind uses an Intel graphics chip so you will probably need the 'intel' X.org driver (package xf86-video-intel). For hardware/driver related things it might be a good idea to boot into the Suse distro when you get the computer and find out what drivers etc are being used, that way you will know exactly what you need to install when you put Arch on it.

Also, if you want to post the other areas of the Wiki guide that you have problems with we may be able to help (and improve the Wiki if needed)

murderbymodem · 2008-07-24 22:33:16

ghostHack wrote:

Looking at the MSI website the Wind uses an Intel graphics chip so you will probably need the 'intel' X.org driver (package xf86-video-intel). For hardware/driver related things it might be a good idea to boot into the Suse distro when you get the computer and find out what drivers etc are being used, that way you will know exactly what you need to install when you put Arch on it.
Also, if you want to post the other areas of the Wiki guide that you have problems with we may be able to help (and improve the Wiki if needed)

sounds like a good idea :]
guess I'll be back here in a few months once the linux version is released (I'm tempted to buy the windows XP version right now, but $100 more for 512mb more ram and bluetooth isn't exactly worth it. looks like I'll be waiting:/)

thanks for all the help guys!

Last edited by murderbymodem (2008-07-24 22:33:29)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-07-24 21:09:16

is arch the distro for me?

#2 2008-07-24 21:22:46

Re: is arch the distro for me?

#3 2008-07-24 21:38:26

Re: is arch the distro for me?

#4 2008-07-24 22:06:33

Re: is arch the distro for me?

#5 2008-07-24 22:33:16

Re: is arch the distro for me?

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