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#1 2008-08-28 09:28:54

seg_fault
Member
Registered: 2008-08-28
Posts: 4

Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

Hi,
I'm new to Arch and reading several good reviews I just want to give it a try!

1. First, I want to install it on a pretty old laptop:
* CPU: Intel Celeron 1133MHz
* Mem: 128MB sad
* HD: 40008MB
Do you think Arch will run fluid?

2. Second, while trying to install Arch I faced with the "no space left on device" during packages installation
Here below are the installation steps (at the end there the error):

--- [snip] ---
1. Boot/Install from Core CD
2. Logged in as root
3. Changed keyword (km) and timezone (tz)
4. Run /arch/setup
5. Enter the "cfdisk" hard disk partition mode: available disks "/dev/sda 40008MB"
5.1 Created new partitions:
sda1   Boot   Primary   Linux               4096.19 MB
sda2             Primary   Linux swap       254.99 MB
sda3             Primary   Linux              35656.59 MB
5.2 Written the partitions and Quit from cfdisk
6. Set Filesystem Mountpoints:
6.1 Set mount points:
/dev/sda2:swap:swap:yes
/dev/sda1:ext3:/:yes
/dev/sda3:ext3:/home:yes
6.2 Quit with answer Yes (=>  Partition were successfully created)
7. Returned to main menu
8. Enter the Select packages menu
8.1 Don't use the cache for pacman (the default)
8.2 Selected "base-devel" (the only category available)
8.3  No additional packages selected
8.4 Exit from the menu
9. Enter the Install packages menu
9.1 Don't use the cache for pacman (the default)
9.2 In a while the following err0r message appears:
Installation Complete
blah blah blah (packages names)
Beginning update process...
warning: couldn't create package cache, using /tmp instead
:: Retrieving packages from core...
error: failed to commit transaction (unexpected error)
/arch/setup: line 823: echo write error: No space left on device
/arch/setup: line 824: echo write error: No space left on device
/arch/setup: line 826: [: : integer expression expected
/arch/setup: line 829: echo write error: No space left on device
--- [/snip] ---

Does anyone have an idea of where I'm wrong?!

Thank you very much!!

-- Marco

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#2 2008-08-28 10:17:06

Pierre
Developer
From: Bonn
Registered: 2004-07-05
Posts: 1,964
Website

Re: Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

You could try the current froscon edition.

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#3 2008-08-28 10:26:21

zenlord
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

I think the memory requirements state '160MB' - maybe you could try a larger swap-partition (and a smaller boot-partition: you won't need anything more than 500MB...)

Zl.

/EDIT: now I see. I always make a separate boot-partition (EXT2, ca. 500MB). You just separated / and /home...

Last edited by zenlord (2008-08-28 10:28:09)

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#4 2008-08-28 10:42:05

byte
Member
From: Düsseldorf (DE)
Registered: 2006-05-01
Posts: 2,046

Re: Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

The problem is your RAM. The whole livecd environment runs in memory (run 'free' to check how much is in use) and as all packages you selected (~135 MB) get copied to /tmp which also is in memory, it's simply not enough.


1000

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#5 2008-08-28 12:12:33

seg_fault
Member
Registered: 2008-08-28
Posts: 4

Re: Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

Ok!

Thank you very much for the help
I've just run "free" after selecting packages and before installing them:
(sizes are in MB):
               total   used   free   shared   buffers   cached
Mem:       114      112        2             0            3            62
-/+ buffer cache: 47       67
Swap:     243       59     183

The free mem is very low. So I think I'm unable to install Arch sad((

OT: anyone can address me to very very very lightweighted distro suitable for my laptot. I've read about Damn Small Linux...
Another choice is Minix but doesn't support ext2/ext3 filesystems (I need them to exchange some data with other computers)

Thank you very much!!

-- Marco

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#6 2008-08-28 12:44:13

wuischke
Member
From: Suisse Romande
Registered: 2007-01-06
Posts: 630

Re: Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

Wasn't there a lowmem-option which would allow installation with 96MB RAM?

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#7 2008-08-28 12:56:06

seg_fault
Member
Registered: 2008-08-28
Posts: 4

Re: Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

Ive found a post talking about the lowmem boot option:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=50838

but I didn't find any mention in the [installation|beginner] guides.

Further, supposing lowmem let me install Arch, will Arch be reasonably usable on my old 128MB guy?!

Thanks!!

-- Marco

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#8 2008-08-28 13:23:47

seg_fault
Member
Registered: 2008-08-28
Posts: 4

Re: Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

Just tried to add "lowmem" parameter.

Unfortunately I get the same error sad

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#9 2008-08-29 17:40:50

kclive18
Member
From: Columbus, Ohio, USA
Registered: 2008-05-08
Posts: 219

Re: Arch 2008.06 Installation: no space left on device

I would start with an older Arch ISO that requires less memory (like version 2007.x) and boot it with the lowmem option.  After your arch install, you can just pacman -Syu to the latest packages.

EDIT: And I would suggest you use a lighter DE than KDE or GNOME, such as XFCE or Fluxbox, so that your system runs smoothly.

Last edited by kclive18 (2008-08-29 17:41:22)


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