Arch Linux

kdar

Member

From: Sweet home Alabama!

Registered: 2009-06-27

Posts: 356

Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Hello everyone. I am new lol.. Had hard time to register because it was always telling me I am a bot ..... (didn't know I had to write Archlinux.. tried almost everything Arch, Arch Linux..:D )

I used Ubuntu for few years. And not long time ago I got new laptop and decided to install Mandriva. And to be honest, I don't like it so much. Its seem so restrictive. For some reason I can't even get into fail safe mode or kill X (wanted to install official nvidia drivers).

I also want to learn much more about Linux and I heard from other people that Arch is way to go.

I am using MSI GX620, so you think hardware wise it will be ok?

Last edited by kdar (2009-06-27 16:54:36)

arkham

Member

From: Stockholm

Registered: 2008-10-26

Posts: 516

Website

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

I think so; btw, a good approach would be to try to install Arch in a virtual machine first, I'm sure you will find plenty of information around.

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"I'm Winston Wolfe. I solve problems."

~ Need moar games? [arch-games] ~ [aurcheck] AUR haz updates? ~

lifeafter2am

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 1,332

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Welcome!  Personally I say go for broke and just install it.  The more stuff that doesn't work right off the bat the more you learn. 

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JWJones

Member

From: Cascadia

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 20

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

You should do it. You will learn loads about Linux by going the Arch Way. And I have tried EVERYTHING: Slackware, Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, Ubuntu, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, Mepis, and so on.

I have not found anything else that does what I want, the way I want, like Arch does. Only Slackware and Debian come close.

lifeafter2am

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 1,332

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

You should do it. You will learn loads about Linux by going the Arch Way. And I have tried EVERYTHING: Slackware, Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, Ubuntu, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, Mepis, and so on.

I have not found anything else that does what I want, the way I want, like Arch does. Only Slackware and Debian come close.

Guess you never tried Gentoo. 

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sHyLoCk

Member

From: /dev/null

Registered: 2009-06-19

Posts: 1,197

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Make sure you read all the documentation at Arch Wiki first!

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ArchBang: Yet another Distro for Allan to break.
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JWJones

Member

From: Cascadia

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 20

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Guess you never tried Gentoo. 

Yes, you are right. That is one PITA I will probably avoid. I'm too happy with Arch to bother with it.

kdar

Member

From: Sweet home Alabama!

Registered: 2009-06-27

Posts: 356

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

yes, I probably will try install it few times in VirtualBox. Which .iso I should download? One with core?

@sHyLoCk thank you. I will read that Beginners Guide first.

Last edited by kdar (2009-06-27 20:21:48)

lifeafter2am

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 1,332

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Guess you never tried Gentoo. 

Yes, you are right. That is one PITA I will probably avoid. I'm too happy with Arch to bother with it.

Personally I think that both Gentoo and Linux From Scratch (LFS) are two of the best learning experiences you can have; simply because your hands get much more dirty than even Arch.  Arch comes in a close third for learning experience, if only because you only get a base system installed and then you are thrown into it .... Gentoo and LFS you don't even get that.

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arkham

Member

From: Stockholm

Registered: 2008-10-26

Posts: 516

Website

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

yes, I probably will try install it few times in VirtualBox. Which .iso I should download? One with core?

@sHyLoCk thank you. I will read that Beginners Guide first.

Yep.
One friendly suggestion: install the base group from cd and add kernel26 to the IgnorePkg section in /etc/pacman.conf; the new kernel (2.6.30) seems to break most of the virtualbox installs

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"I'm Winston Wolfe. I solve problems."

~ Need moar games? [arch-games] ~ [aurcheck] AUR haz updates? ~

kdar

Member

From: Sweet home Alabama!

Registered: 2009-06-27

Posts: 356

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Ok. Thanks. I will do that once I will try installing it my laptop.

Right now I am trying to install Gnome using pacman in virtualbox. Pacman is pretty nice tool to use. I didn't know it could be so fast and relatively simple.

(PS. Arch doesn't install Desktop environments by default, right? I hope I didn't miss anything during install.)

Last edited by kdar (2009-06-27 21:41:35)

lifeafter2am

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 1,332

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Ok. Thanks. I will do that once I will try installing it my laptop.

Right now I am trying to install Gnome using pacman in virtualbox. Pacman is pretty nice tool to use. I didn't know it could be so fast and relatively simple.

(PS. Arch doesn't install Desktop environments by default, right? I hope I didn't miss anything during install.)

No it doesn't.

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Bregol

Member

Registered: 2008-08-15

Posts: 175

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

You should do it. You will learn loads about Linux by going the Arch Way. And I have tried EVERYTHING: Slackware, Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, Ubuntu, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, Mepis, and so on.

I have not found anything else that does what I want, the way I want, like Arch does. Only Slackware and Debian come close.

Guess you never tried Gentoo. 

Haha if you want to learn a lot about linux, use gentoo - you will break things then learn a lot as you try to fix them.  My first linux was gentoo and that's how I learned: play, break, fix. 

You should be very happy with Arch, though.  It gives freedom, rolling releases, and has always been stable for me.  Just remember to use the wiki and forums - great resources for all sorts of things.

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lifeafter2am

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 1,332

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

You should do it. You will learn loads about Linux by going the Arch Way. And I have tried EVERYTHING: Slackware, Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, Ubuntu, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, Mepis, and so on.

I have not found anything else that does what I want, the way I want, like Arch does. Only Slackware and Debian come close.

Guess you never tried Gentoo. 

Haha if you want to learn a lot about linux, use gentoo - you will break things then learn a lot as you try to fix them.  My first linux was gentoo and that's how I learned: play, break, fix. 

You should be very happy with Arch, though.  It gives freedom, rolling releases, and has always been stable for me.  Just remember to use the wiki and forums - great resources for all sorts of things.

Yeah, my first Linux wasn't Gentoo, but I used it for 7 years ... but for me it was usually patch, compile, break, fix, repeat. 

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Matrix Server: https://matrix.binarii.net
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Allan -> ArchBang is not supported because it is stupid.

kdar

Member

From: Sweet home Alabama!

Registered: 2009-06-27

Posts: 356

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

lol.. it feels nice after you get your desktop environment working

flummoxed

Member

Registered: 2007-12-10

Posts: 21

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Arch stands out for me as a distribution that lets you do what you want and helps you learn a ton, but remains usable without an extreme amount of hassle. LFS and Gentoo on the other hand...

kdar

Member

From: Sweet home Alabama!

Registered: 2009-06-27

Posts: 356

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

I really like Pacman. Its fun to use. Before I was worried that its only CLI file manager. I will try to install Arch few times on virtualbox, and later, once I am comfortable with it, will install on my laptop.

arkham

Member

From: Stockholm

Registered: 2008-10-26

Posts: 516

Website

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Before I was worried that its only CLI file manager.

It is a package manager. Actually is it a package mananager
A file manager is nautilus/konqueror and a CLI file manager is midnight commander

Last edited by arkham (2009-06-28 18:29:58)

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"I'm Winston Wolfe. I solve problems."

~ Need moar games? [arch-games] ~ [aurcheck] AUR haz updates? ~

kdar

Member

From: Sweet home Alabama!

Registered: 2009-06-27

Posts: 356

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

Before I was worried that its only CLI file manager.

It is a package manager. Actually is it a package mananager
A file manager is nautilus/konqueror and a CLI file manager is midnight commander

thanks . I will use it correctly in future. hehe

I got another question, I don't really want to make another threat for this.

I got few 2gb jump drives from one of my friends for free. Do you think it would possible to put Arch on one of them? (maybe use Openbox or something light).

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,355

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

2 GB, depends very much on the packages I guess. Openoffice, for one, takes a quarter of that . My root (without home) is currently 10.4 GB in size, but I have a chroot in there that's probably 2-3 GB.

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

methuselah

Member

Registered: 2007-10-02

Posts: 570

Re: Hello everyone. Thinking to try Arch

I used Ubuntu for few years. And not long time ago I got new laptop and decided to install Mandriva. And to be honest, I don't like it so much. Its seem so restrictive. For some reason I can't even get into fail safe mode or kill X (wanted to install official nvidia drivers).

I use the official NVIDIA drivers also: http://nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=122606

But when you first install Arch, I would suggest that you start with the Arch nvidia driver and nvidia-utils packages because it will make the install process easier.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beg … hics_Cards
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA

Just install the Arch nvidia driver and xorg with:

pacman -Sy xorg xf86-input-evdev nvidia nvidia-utils

and then configure xorg.conf with this easy command:

nvidia-xconfig --composite

Then to check if it worked correctly (before you install a desktop or anything else) just run this command:

startx

And if it works good then just type the reboot command into the terminal and continue with the rest of your install of a desktop from the console screen:

reboot -n

After you finish the install and everything is working correctly then you can replace your nvidia/nvidia-utils with the official NVIDIA driver that you download from here: http://nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=122606