Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

netloss · 2004-10-27 07:40:46

I am trying to put arch on a Sony laptop with no CD-ROM.

It has a floppy, but the floppy is USB. This means I cannot install with the floppies/ftp method, because the first (boot) disk books OK, but then it asks for the root floppy and cannot find it.

The laptop is currently running fedora core 2. I used a tutorial for a Fedora Core upgrade technique to place the arch iso on the laptop's hard drive, then put its isolinux directory in a separate spot on the hard drive, and then boot to that isolinux directory from grub. Using this technique, I can launch /arch/setup. However, I do not see the option to specify a spot on the hard drive to install from (as I did with FC) and I cannot figure out how to make it recognize my laptop's ethernet connection so I can use the ftp install.

I am willing to install either from my hard drive, local network, or ftp, but I need to know how to make the installer see my network connection once I've booted (either from the boot floppy or from my hard drive). ALternately, I need to make it see the ISO on the hard drive.

Thanks in advance for any help!

-netloss

Mr Green · 2004-10-27 08:30:01

Ok.

dmesg | grep eth

Will show you modules name you need for ethernet

or

lsmod

in fedora

HTH

or chroot into Arch partition...run from there...

netloss · 2004-10-27 10:00:12

Thanks for the reply. I'm afraid I need more explicit directions to get this up and running. I am still learning shell commands, etc., and just need a bit more verbose directions.

Thanks again, for the reply and for anyone who doesn't mind clarifying...

Mr Green · 2004-10-27 10:26:55

Is your network working under Fedora ?

If it is the information you need is there for you ....

I'm sure someone will be able to walk you through ftp install ....

Good Luck

netloss · 2004-10-27 22:12:53

OK, so using the commands you provided, I determined that my laptop uses the plain old e100 network module.

I guess my question is then: How do I load that module from the busybox prompt, before typing the /arch/setup command?

xerxes2 · 2004-10-28 00:30:20

isn't this described in the manual?
also make sure that your cpu is i686 compatible so you are not wasting your time here,
good luck,

netloss · 2004-10-28 00:57:36

The laptop is a Pentium 3, so I believe I am not wasting my time.

I found instructions on how to use floppy disks to load the network module, but I cannot use the floppy method because it fails to recognize my USB floppy. I searched previous posts for workarounds, but found no way to make the floppy method work with a USB floppy. Hence my bastardized attempt to boot from the hard drive and initiate a ftp install. This method seems very promising, but I need to make my ethernet card work before launching /arch/setup.

All I'm looking for now is a command or set of commands that will let me load the e100 module, from the busybox shell, so I can launch the ftp install. I realize this may be a very basic request, but I have looked extensively and am having difficulty finding the exact commands for this situation.

phrakture · 2004-10-28 14:26:17

why not just copy the module into some random directory - you should be able to modprobe the file directly (modprobe /some/dir/path/e100.ko)

Xentac · 2004-10-30 04:55:18

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Rem … %20Install

You could try this...

Arch Linux

#1 2004-10-27 07:40:46

Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

#2 2004-10-27 08:30:01

Re: Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

#3 2004-10-27 10:00:12

Re: Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

#4 2004-10-27 10:26:55

Re: Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

#5 2004-10-27 22:12:53

Re: Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

#6 2004-10-28 00:30:20

Re: Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

#7 2004-10-28 00:57:36

Re: Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

#8 2004-10-28 14:26:17

Re: Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

#9 2004-10-30 04:55:18

Re: Difficulties installing Arch on laptop

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