How to install archlinux? Very difficult? Why?

Leigh · 2008-08-23 04:41:19

I think the last time I installed arch, the latest ftp iso snapshot (at that time) was buggy, or got corrupted somehow. After tons of frustration I downloaded a earlier snapshot and everything was fine.

danber · 2008-08-24 02:53:54

I am having the same problem that gets me into the grub console.
The difference is I use the usb-image version of 2008.6.

I have tried to set up the usb-device as the root device but it seems like grub can't find the drive.

I'm gonna try the previous release of arch to see if that works out better, and upgrade from there instead.

brando56894 · 2008-08-24 04:57:39

if you think arch is complicated to install, obviously youve never tried gentoo lol, i attempted to install it about 4 times a few years ago and finally gave up. I was using Kubuntu for awhile and I'm surprised that no one recommended this, try Linux Mint, its based off of ubuntu and has a lot of the restricted stuff installed for you (Compiz IIRC, flash, and Codecs).

I'm not a linux noob since ive been using it on and off for years but arch was a little intimidating at first for me, it took me about 3 or 4 days on and off messing with it and stuff that I had problems with was easy to fix. I'm running KDEmod on arch right and I love it, theres still a few things I have to get fixed (and get used to, such as pacman since im used to APT) but all in all the few hours it takes to install Arch is worth it IMO, you definitely do learn a lot since you're not blindly clicking buttons and have no idea what is going on.

You can go two ways to get used to linux: take the easy route and learn the basics with an easy distro such as Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.. or you can dive in head first and install arch via the command line. The command line will become you're best friend once you get used to it, its 1000x more flexible than the windows command prompt and if you create aliases its a lot quicker than launching a program.

Last edited by brando56894 (2008-08-24 05:01:04)

stucky · 2008-10-02 01:14:37

In my experiences with arch, if you get GRUB> prompt during the boot, something is wrong with your image as MrDuck pointed out. Try burning at a slower speed or on a different type of media (CD instead of CD-RW or DVD) or burn on another machine.

If you are patient and really stick to the Beginner's Guide, you will learn an amazing amount about how your system really works. I've been using arch for a couple of months now and I can install an entire base system with a DE in almost no time. It really is easy, but can be daunting at first. Nothing compared to some other distros. Hope that helps and you haven't given up yet.

jackrat · 2008-10-02 05:41:20

Earlier, mirchichamu was told that he should check the integrity of his download .... he's obviously downloading on his M$O$ and burning it there too. I always suggest using the "MD5Summer" for M$O$ downloads http://www.md5summer.org/ and when I used M$O$, it worked great for me. He also needs to know that any ISO that he downloads will have an MD5Sum to check the integrity with (well, almost every one ) Then he needs to compare the MD5Sum from the download site to the MD5Sum that he got from the MD5Summer he downloaded and set up. If the numbers and letters are the exact same, then he has a good download. Then he should use Roxio or Nero, or whatever program he's burning with and set it for 4x to burn - this will force the app to burn at the lowest possible speed (usually around 8x) . After that he should slip it into the CD drive and set his BIOS to load or boot from the CD. If he still gets the GRUB> prompt, I don't know what to tell him, but I am an Arch newbie, I have installed Arch 4 times on different systems using the above-mentioned Beginner's Guide and have never experienced any great problems such as he has. My only other advice for him would be to avoid the *Buntu's and get a download of Simply Mepis or something like that - I've never liked the *Buntu's, they always gave me fits, so I've never tried Mint. Mepis is a very good starter distro for newbies, and it has a little brother called AntiX that works well, recognizes almost all hardware as well, but is considerably smaller. There are a lot of good newbie-friendly distros out there without recommending *Buntu's, so mirchichamu, don't give up on Linux, it's a great OS, and much more stable than the M$O$ that you currently use. Just my 2 centavos

Arch Linux

#51 2008-08-23 04:41:19

Re: How to install archlinux? Very difficult? Why?

#52 2008-08-24 02:53:54

Re: How to install archlinux? Very difficult? Why?

#53 2008-08-24 04:57:39

Re: How to install archlinux? Very difficult? Why?

#54 2008-10-02 01:14:37

Re: How to install archlinux? Very difficult? Why?

#55 2008-10-02 05:41:20

Re: How to install archlinux? Very difficult? Why?

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