PL guide me.Linux Vagabond needs resting place.Is Arch the righ one ?

sieger007 · 2009-07-19 23:43:33

Hi Folks
Can you Pl tell me if I have come to the right place.
I have been wandering , all over in the so many "LINUX Art Galleries" , essentially looking at so many 'paintings' but have'nt found my 'Monalisa'

Basically here is what I want as Bottomline :
<> AMD64 Distro
<> light distro . Easy to use and configure or at least with good doc so I can figure something out . < 2g total HDD Space.
I have a Qosmio wigth C2D 4G ram. So speed and ram are not a problem
<> I can install the latest version of the atheros AR9281 WLAN Driver with 802.11N support .So far I am frustrated there also , I can only get some 1-2 mbps on Ubuntu c.f. Draft N speeds on Windows
<> Best Skye sound support . I have realtek Hi Def Codecs in windows
<> Support for NFTS partition in RW mode ( that is good Jaunty has it built in )
<> Support for Chicony USB 2.0 Built in Web Camera
<> Torrent and P2P's installable easily
<> Some light weight word and pdf programs
<> Light weight Image and Scanning Program
<> Support for HP Printing

Previously I had Ubuntu now that is totally caput.
Here is what happened....
Initially I could not Sudo . It says I am not in the subdoers file. When I tried it fix that ....I cant login, it gives a bunch of crappy messages chown klog:klog not found etc. I went the recover way and dropped to root and tried some stuff - no avail
I got all this wonderful presents , when I updated packages. It all started with my terminal fonts not showing up properly - they'd look 'L ike Th is or pro bab ly Wo rse' . So I started yet another operation trying to figure that out .....and then on..no more sudo....no more login....and Damned.......
This is like those windows update experiences or worse still cos there is no system restore point concept.
Thats all and I have been just running around and catching my own tail trying to figure this out.
When Jaunty was up and running , my Skype worked for Just first 2 mins. Then on there was NO SOUND. I cant hear and I am not heard. Whenever at all I heard something, I could easily be mistake for a fisherman howling in some sailors language and believe me that has broken many a potential good relationships.
So just put that all in Plain English.Folks am open to something that is AMD64 Linux and not Ubuntu ( or non Buntu/ Debian ) also

Thats all and I have been just running around and catching my own tail trying to figure this out.
When Jaunty was up and running , my Skype worked for Just first 2 mins. Then on there was NO SOUND. I cant hear and I am not heard. Whenever at all I heard something, I could easily be mistaken for a fisherman howling in some sailors language and beleive me that has broken many a potential good relationships.
So just put that all in Plain English.Folks am open to something that is AMD64 Linux and not Ubuntu ( or non Buntu/ Debian ) also . Any insight there would help me.

Can these problems be fixed in Arch Linux.
Some specific Q's are
<> Can I somehow PORT and USE Debian Packages in Arch . How do I do this ..?
<> When you download Skye for Linux there is no 64 Bit AMD version but they have got specific ones for Mandiva, Buntus etc.
WHICH version fits ArchLinux ?
<> How has the user exp been with Skype on Arch Linux
<> When I tried to install Arch , I dropped to a vanilla root prompt. Now do I have the BUILD the OS all by myself , or once I install it , it will install the core packages for the GUI , Office, Networking etc
Please gimme some approach .
Thanks
Sam
Thanks
Sam

tomk · 2009-07-19 23:57:13

tl;dr

Everything you need to know about Arch is in the wiki (mostly), here in the forum, or in the mailing lists. It is not realistic to come in here with what seems to be an exhaustive list of questions without trying to answer them yourself first.

One more thing - the best way to decide if Arch is right for you is to install it and use it.

windtalker · 2009-07-20 00:07:14

All anyone can truly say is try it and see.
I'm i686 but still have probs with distro's that aren't as up to date as Arch is and that may be a part of your prob.
A lot of messengers had probs just a few weeks ago but that's been fixed here already.
Arch is light and fast and answers for problems can be found here in the forum as well as the wiki.
As for installing Deb packages, yeah, they can be installed, but why?
More than likely the package you're looking for is already in one of the repositories aaannnddd, Arch isn't Deb or Ubuntu or any other distro.
Arch is Arch and bleeding edge.
What's in Arch's stable repo could very well be in most other's testing repo's.

ngoonee · 2009-07-20 01:33:21

sieger007 wrote:

Can these problems be fixed in Arch Linux.
Thanks
Sam

Short answer:
Yes.

Clarification:
It can be fixed whatever distro you use, as well.

Long answer:
Without trying to be presumptive of your use-patterns and system-admin habits, I'd venture to say you take a more problem-solving approach to your system, basically "this is not working, how do I fix it". While this is to the point, when using Linux in general (and especially so for Arch), you're going to have to do more than that, and insert a 'why' somewhere. For example, just skimming through your list of issues, I can clearly see Pulseaudio-related stuff, but since you do not mention Pulse specifically, I'm pretty sure your efforts to solve that have not gotten to the root cause. So, while these 'problems' CAN be fixed when you use Arch, they won't if you don't fix them, or at least understand them so you don't get those problems in the first place. A popular line round here is "Arch is what you make it", and that's very true, even from a maintainability point of view.

Lastly, with your list of 'bottomline', I'd really suggest not using AMD64. The extra 1 GB of RAM you get is not worth the hassle of running a multi-lib/chroot system which adds a layer of complexity. Your usage as mentioned also will not get close to touching 4 GB RAM anyway. Of course, if you take that approach further, I'd actually recommend Ubuntu as being easier to use, once you get past the 'I HAVE to get the latest alpha koala' syndrome. Or even Windows XP with free software.

sieger007 · 2009-07-20 07:14:21

allright . I wiped my spare partition clean. Installed Archlinux But I am stuck. I need 2 things running so that I can dabble in further.
My Wireless card. How do I get that running.So I have internet access.

A GUI Interface and I have to have some basic utlitlies to associate with it.
Please tell me what is the way from here .
Sam

Ashren · 2009-07-20 07:36:47

sieger007 wrote:

A GUI Interface and I have to have some basic utlitlies to associate with it.
Please tell me what is the way from here .
Sam

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide

tomk · 2009-07-20 08:49:23

sieger007 - following on from my previous reply: please do not come to the forum with your questions until you have read the relevant pages in the wiki.

To encourage you, I'm going to close this thread.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-07-19 23:43:33

PL guide me.Linux Vagabond needs resting place.Is Arch the righ one ?

#2 2009-07-19 23:57:13

Re: PL guide me.Linux Vagabond needs resting place.Is Arch the righ one ?

#3 2009-07-20 00:07:14

Re: PL guide me.Linux Vagabond needs resting place.Is Arch the righ one ?

#4 2009-07-20 01:33:21

Re: PL guide me.Linux Vagabond needs resting place.Is Arch the righ one ?

#5 2009-07-20 07:14:21

Re: PL guide me.Linux Vagabond needs resting place.Is Arch the righ one ?

#6 2009-07-20 07:36:47

Re: PL guide me.Linux Vagabond needs resting place.Is Arch the righ one ?

#7 2009-07-20 08:49:23

Re: PL guide me.Linux Vagabond needs resting place.Is Arch the righ one ?

Board footer