Arch Linux

nick

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2008-08-22

Posts: 21

Modules?

I've tried installing Arch multiple times but I always have some sort of showstopping issue, even post-installation. Previously I couldn't set up X because the configuration utility couldn't find a certain module file.  I've been told that running the "depmod" command will generate this file but my question is, is there any manual configuration of kernel modules I have to do during installation?  I'm not so comfortable with this aspect of setup and I'm not familiar with Linux designations for my hardware, so I used the "hwdetect" tool.  Upon reaching the "Configure system" step of installation, I've noted that the kernel module file (the name escapes me at the moment) is empty, and that I would have to manually add entries.  It seems like something may be missing, although I wouldn't exactly know where to go from here.

Last edited by nick (2008-08-29 20:03:06)

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Modules?

You specify modules to be loaded in /etc/rc.conf or enable MOD_AUTOLOAD therein and that's all you need to do.

nick

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2008-08-22

Posts: 21

Re: Modules?

Well like I said I'm not familiar with the Linux modules for my hardware.  MOD_AUTOLOAD is on though.  Does that find all of them or is there manual configuration I also need to do?

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Modules?

Basic system should work okay with only MOD_AUTOLOAD. Some modules you have to provide yourself when you want to enable some specific functionality, like speedstep/powernow or truecrypt. nvidia driver gets autoloaded by xorg if it's specified in xorg.conf.

nick

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2008-08-22

Posts: 21

Re: Modules?

So is there an easy way to find the names of my hardware modules?

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Modules?

"hwdetect --show-modules" shows modules probably loaded by MOD_AUTOLOAD (hwdetect used to do autoloading, I think udev does that now). I don't really know what you want to know.

nick

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2008-08-22

Posts: 21

Re: Modules?

Well you said that hwdetect doesn't load all the modules, so I just wanted to know how to find a list of all the available ones so that I can configure them manually.

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Modules?

You probably will find what modules you need to load when setting up some functionality, eg. it's specified in the Powernow wiki article.