Arch Linux

RonB

Member

Registered: 2008-09-15

Posts: 6

I think I'm going to like Arch...

...but I've got a lot to learn.

I didn't do anything the right way, just started installing and seeing where it would go -- but I somehow managed to get here and I'm posting from Arch Linux (Epiphany). But, for now, I'm using the SU command to get into Gnome and I'm sure the system is not clean like it should be. I'll probably reinstall after I've read the Wikis (this time).

I had trouble with xorg.config. For some reason it didn't put in my monitor's Vertical Sync settings -- just left them at "NUL." Once I hand-entered them, everything took off okay. It's good to be forced to get down to the guts a little.

Of course there was a little more to it than that. I tried to install KDE (not enough room), installed gnome, but forgot to install Xorg -- stupid things.

Also decided to try Arch Linux on a system that is probably a little under powered -- though it seems to work fine. It's a Dell Optiplex GX1, with 384 Megs of memory and a 6 Gig hard drive.

Sorry to ramble. I can see why folks like Arch Linux. I hope to learn about Linux by using it.

Last edited by RonB (2008-09-15 03:30:27)

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: I think I'm going to like Arch...

Hiya RonB. Welcome to the forums.

Arch will do well on that machine. I had a laptop with similar specification that Arch ran great on. One thing that I did different than you was I installed E17 as the window manager to keep resources down while keeping easy configurability up. You may consider looking into one of the window managers or XFCE or LXDE as a light weight desktop environment. Of the latter I'd choose LXDE. I've had bad luck with XFCE, but I seem to be in a special minority.

Acecero

Member

Registered: 2008-06-21

Posts: 1,373

Re: I think I'm going to like Arch...

Let me say, Welcome to the forums!

For you, I don't see the point of reinstalling, that if you want to change your partitions differently or if really want start all over for the hell of it. Your system should be pretty clean, unless you have been installing from source without using PKGBUILDS at all, that's considerably bad.

Read the wiki, everything you want to know is there. For configuring xorg, I recommend using "Xorg -configure," as it detects your hardware, and sets it up to work your machine with a clean base to configure with. Go here for more info. http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg

Any "stupid things" you do, you must learn and overcome, that's how you become better.

For a small hard drive and low memory, I don't think you should even bother with gnome or KDE as you will need a lighter environment. Consider investing the time to learn and look into a WM, such as Openbox, Fluxbox, Pekwm, and etc. You will find those more pleasing to work with, as they are faster and lighter.

You will learn a huge amount from Arch, that's a guarantee, enjoy your stay.

Last edited by Acecero (2008-09-15 04:24:16)

RonB

Member

Registered: 2008-09-15

Posts: 6

Re: I think I'm going to like Arch...

Hiya RonB. Welcome to the forums.

Arch will do well on that machine. I had a laptop with similar specification that Arch ran great on. One thing that I did different than you was I installed E17 as the window manager to keep resources down while keeping easy configurability up. You may consider looking into one of the window managers or XFCE or LXDE as a light weight desktop environment. Of the latter I'd choose LXDE. I've had bad luck with XFCE, but I seem to be in a special minority.

This computer is kind of a test bed. The last install I had on it was VectorLinux with Xfce (I've also experimented with asterisk and other Linux distributions). I'm testing Archlinux with the idea of using it as my main OS on a more "powerful" computer (a 1.7 mhz Pentium 4 with 756 Meg). I currently have openSuSE on that one -- and run W2K under VirtualBox so I can run a few Windows programs -- SuSE is okay but a bit sluggish, and I like the idea of a "clean" install and more control over what's going on.

I found out about Archlinux while reading a review about Slackware. I've tried Slackware in the past, was impressed by its speed, but figured I wasn't quite bright enough for it -- (installing from source still scares me.) It seems like Archlinux (with pacman and the repositories) is just about perfect -- once I learn it.

If I do reinstall Archlinux on this computer, I probably will install Xfce or try E17. Although gnome really isn't doing that bad on it.

Thanks for your response.

RonB

Member

Registered: 2008-09-15

Posts: 6

Re: I think I'm going to like Arch...

Let me say, Welcome to the forums!

For a small hard drive and low memory, I don't think you should even bother with gnome or KDE as you will need a lighter environment. Consider investing the time to learn and look into a WM, such as Openbox, Fluxbox, Pekwm, and etc. You will find those more pleasing to work with, as they are faster and lighter.

You will learn a huge amount from Arch, that's a guarantee, enjoy your stay.

Thanks. I'll read the Wikis now. That's kind of the way I like to learn. Dive in, find out what I don't know, then I know what I need to learn when I go at it more systematically.

As for this computer, if it keeps Archlinux (which it may) I'll definitely look at Xfce. But, as mentioned in another post, this computer is kind of a test bed. I figure if a Linux distribution runs well on it, it'll probably run really well on something with a little more power and memory.

Thanks for all the advice. Hopefully I won't have to ask too many stupid questions when I get to installing prettier fonts and the multimedia stuff.