Arch Linux

bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Why arch?

Ok, i have used ubuntu for about a year now, and im distro hopping, and i would like to know what is it about arch you guys like?

Nepherte

Member

From: Singapore

Registered: 2008-09-09

Posts: 427

Re: Why arch?

This pretty much sums it all up:
* What is Arch Linux? - http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Linux
* The Arch Way - http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/The_Arch_Way
* Arch vs. Otherrs - http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_vs_Others

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,405

Website

Re: Why arch?

The wiki:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Linux
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_vs_Others
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/FAQ

Edit: beaten by two seconds!

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bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

Ha! thanks guys, i think applying the KISS principle to a distro is genius.
i think i have found my new home.

bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

Actually, one question.
With no desktop environment installed, how do you install one without anything?

toad

Member

From: if only I knew

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,775

Website

Re: Why arch?

I think you'd benefit from reading the beginner's guide in the wiki. The magic is all there

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bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

Ok, thank you

bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

Wait, were do i find said guide?

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,405

Website

Re: Why arch?

Link on the front page of the wiki:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide

Note that there is an edit button in the bottom corner of your post...

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rune0077

Member

Registered: 2009-04-11

Posts: 135

Re: Why arch?

Yeah, read one of these:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Off … tall_Guide

I'm new to arch myself, and what seemed over-complicated at first turned out to not be that complicated at all, once you get your head around it. You should have access to the beginners guide during your installation, since it is very well documented and pretty much explains it all step by step.

EDIT: I'm too slow

Last edited by rune0077 (2009-05-14 10:26:10)

bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

Yeah, read one of these:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Off … tall_Guide

I'm new to arch myself, and what seemed over-complicated at first turned out to not be that complicated at all, once you get your head around it. You should have access to the beginners guide during your installation, since it is very well documented and pretty much explains it all step by step.

EDIT: I'm too slow

actually your  to fast i was about to start freakin' out about the whole install process.
But duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude that is complicated

bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

"Arch Linux is optimized for i686 and x86_64 processors and therefore will not run on any lower or incompatible generations of x86 CPUs (i386,i486 or i586). A Pentium II or AMD K6-2 processor or higher is required. Before installing Arch Linux, you should decide which installation method you would like to use. Arch Linux provides bootable ISO and USB disk images, using the GRUB bootloader. The ISO images will work on almost any machine with a CD-ROM drive, and the USB images will work on any system capable of booting from a USB drive. For those having problems with GRUB not loading, ISOs with the ISOLINUX bootloader are offered as well. There are two variants of each installation medium which only differ in terms of supplied packages."
How do i find out what type thing my computer is, its an MSI u100 netbook with a Intel® Atom N280 Processor

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,405

Website

Re: Why arch?

You will want i686.

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bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

thanks, is there any were else in the installation process im goin' to need no know the hardware specs?

thisperishedmin

Member

Registered: 2008-11-04

Posts: 164

Re: Why arch?

thanks, is there any were else in the installation process im goin' to need no know the hardware specs?

Edit - See Ashrens post below... Additionally, knowing your hard drive size will be beneficial in choosing your partition scheme - but you can determine the size of your disk before you start committing any changes

As far as general thoughts/advice:

Yes - the install is very daunting your first time around - especially if its your first time with a distro that does not include a GUI hold-your-hand sort of installer...but its honestly not as bad as it seems.  Its an amazing sense of accomplishment once you get everything taken care of as well!  Just take your time, read carefully, and make use of the wiki and you should be fine!  Theres tons of helpful information relating to different aspects of each step outside of the beginners guide... for example, more info on Xorg installation on the dedicated Xorg wiki page.

You will probably fair better to install Gnome, XFCE, or KDE as a desktop environment your first time around too...You will probably also be more familiar with these.  The good news is that if you decide to check out another window manager or tiling window manager or something - Arch makes it very easy to do even after another full system is configured and installed.  You will find many things that are borderline unthinkable or very convoluted on other distros are much easier than you might expect once you are familiar with Arch!

These things aside - welcome on board and best of luck!

Last edited by thisperishedmin (2009-05-14 11:38:07)

Ashren

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2007-06-13

Posts: 1,229

Website

Re: Why arch?

thanks, is there any were else in the installation process im goin' to need no know the hardware specs?

Yes:

1. When setting up X you'll need to know what graphics card you have. Probably Intel 945GMA.
1.1 Here you'll also need to know what driver your touchpad needs if you disable hotplugging.
2. When setting up wireless you'll need to know which wireless card you have. (Actually I think it works out of the box with a MSI netbook with kernel 2.6.28 and above)

But stick to the "Beginners Guide" and everything will proceed more or less without too much pain.

Read here as well: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MSI_Wind_U100

Last edited by Ashren (2009-05-14 11:34:17)

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bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

Thanks so much guys, it dosent seem all that bad after a few read throughs.
and as a window manager i have chosen fluxbox.
wait, just as i was typing i had a thought.
will fluxbox open gnome apps?
like banshee?

thisperishedmin

Member

Registered: 2008-11-04

Posts: 164

Re: Why arch?

flux box is great from what I hear (Im an openbox guy myself these days... haha). 

it should work fine - but of course, it will need some dependencies to use the application.  pacman should take care of all of this!

That holds true for any app...be it gtk (gnome) or qt (kde) etc.

bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

seriously whats the difference between fluxbox and openbox?

will1911a1

Member

Registered: 2008-04-20

Posts: 59

Re: Why arch?

seriously whats the difference between fluxbox and openbox?

Openbox seems a bit more customizeable.

I don't know how common the problem is, but I had some performance issues with Fluxbox that I don't seem to have with Openbox.

bearded-flower

Member

Registered: 2009-05-14

Posts: 14

Re: Why arch?

Yeah i think im goin to go with fluxbox

thisperishedmin

Member

Registered: 2008-11-04

Posts: 164

Re: Why arch?

seriously whats the difference between fluxbox and openbox?

couldn't honestly tell you, but I'm extremely happy with openbox and all the lil tools and configs i've custom built.

far more work then KDE / gnome but so worth it thus far!

stabele

Member

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 101

Re: Why arch?

seriously whats the difference between fluxbox and openbox?

- in nutshell: both are light and configurable. openbox seems to me a bit more configurable and polished (but this is subjective), on the other hand fluxbox have build in task bar, tray etc., in openbox you have to use some other program if you want them. anyway, it is easy to try both and choose. if you you want desktop environment based on openbox and do not want to build it piece by piece, try LXDE.

barzam

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2009-01-27

Posts: 277

Re: Why arch?

Also I think Fluxbox is easier to setup, for example this is the Openbox way to setup meta key+f2 'go to desktop 2':

(~/.config/openbox/rc.xml)
<keybind key="W-F2">
      <action name="Desktop">
        <desktop>2</desktop>

(~/.fluxbox/keys)
and the same in fluxbox:
Mod4 F2                         :Workspace 2

I also think it's easier to have serveral config files as in Fluxbox, but maybe that's just me I switched to Openbox after some months on Fluxbox, and from there to Awesome. Maybe that's a regular path around these here parts..

Edit: typo

Last edited by barzam (2009-05-14 20:40:24)