Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

paulfxh · 2009-08-16 22:12:27

I installed Arch 2009-08 (2.6.28.7) on my EeePC 901 after dd'ing the image to a USB key and everything seemed to go fine.
However, I'm unable to get a network connection as the atl1e and rt2860 modules are only included (or so it seems) in the 2.6.30 kernel.
However, I cannot find how to get the 2.6.30-ARCH installed as no image for transferring to a USB key seems to be available.
Can anybody please advise on how to install Arch with a 2.6.30 kernel on the EeePC 901 (and, yes, I did read the Arch wiki pages for the EeePC 901)

djszapi · 2009-08-16 22:47:53

Hello paulfxh!

Did you try with 2009-02 too and update after that ?

paulfxh · 2009-08-16 23:07:10

Hi
No, I didn't use 2009-02 on the EeePC. I just downloaded the 2009-08 from here.
Although it says on this page that the 2.6.30-ARCH is included, when I run uname -r in the installed Arch I get 2.6.28-7.
Nevertheless, a lot of the "infrastructure" for 2.6.30 is available (e.g. /lib/modules/2.6.30-ARCH/......).
If there's some means to get the vmlinuz26 to load the 2.6.30-ARCH, please tell me about it.

AdrenalineJunky · 2009-08-16 23:15:34

you can download the package(s) from here (or any other repo mirror):

http://archlinux.unixheads.org/

then just put them on the usb drive and you can install them with pacman -U /path-to-package

paulfxh · 2009-08-17 01:22:59

@AdrenalineJunky
Thanks for that suggestion.
Well, I used your link to download both the kernel26-2.6.30 and the (almost) corresponding kernel headers and then installed them in my Arch Linux partition on the EeePC 901.
The install seemed to go fine as the word SUCCESS cropped up a few times.
However when I booted back into Arch and ran uname -r I got 2.6.28.7 which was a severe disappointment.
Perhaps I need to do something with vmlinuz26 too but just can't figure this one out.
Any comments or suggestions from anybody?

AdrenalineJunky · 2009-08-17 03:15:58

whats the output of pacman -Q kernel26 ?

and what is in your /boot/grub/menu.lst ?

paulfxh · 2009-08-17 10:22:32

Hi AdrenalineJunky
pacman -Q kernel26 gives me kernel26 2.6.30.4-1
Now before I present what's in my /boot/grub/menu.lst I should just explain that I multiboot on my EeePC 901. So I actually boot Arch from Ubuntu. My mbr contains Ubuntu's Grub and the relevant /boot/grub/menu.lst is therefore Ubuntu's.
Additionally, to get this to work (and it works fine for the other distros I have, and have had, on my machine) I copied both kernel26.img and vmlinuz26 from /boot on the Arch Linux partition to /boot/arch on the Ubuntu root partition.
So, the relevant stanza in Ubuntu's /boot/grub/menu.lst is

# (0) Arch Linux
title          Arch Linux
root           (hd1,1)   
kernel         /boot/arch/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdb1 ro                           
initrd         /boot/arch/kernel26.img

Note that (hd1,1) is Ubuntu's root partition and /dev/sdb1 is the partition where I have installed Arch.
It seems that the kernel26.img and vmlinuz26 refer to the 2.6.28.7 kernel even though I copied both of them over from /boot in Arch to /boot/arch in Ubuntu AFTER I installed the 2.6.30.4 kernel package.
Also, after my initial failure, I renamed both kernel26.img and vmlinuz26 in /boot (Arch) to something else and re-installed the 2.6.30.4 kernel package. This proved that both files are replaced by the install (presumably as 2.6.30.4-1). However, transferring both over to /boot/arch in Ubuntu still causes Arch to boot to the 2.6.28.7 kernel.
Sorry about the long-winded explanation.

AdrenalineJunky · 2009-08-17 15:44:01

what happens if you change your root to (hd1,0) ?

paulfxh · 2009-08-17 18:56:21

@AdrenalineJunky
Thanks again for your reply.
I had actually used the conditions in the Arch /boot/grub/menu.lst [IOW from (hd1,0)] and got the exact same result. That is, everything seemed to be set up for 2.6.30.4 kernel but uname -r showed 2.6.28.7.
So, I changed mirrors from this to this (as I'm in Brazil, both are Brazilian mirrors).
Then I re-installed from USB key exactly as before. However, this time uname -r shows 2.6.30-ARCH.
I have to conclude that the first mirror is supplying a messed up image.
Thanks for all your help and comments.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-08-16 22:12:27

Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

#2 2009-08-16 22:47:53

Re: Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

#3 2009-08-16 23:07:10

Re: Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

#4 2009-08-16 23:15:34

Re: Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

#5 2009-08-17 01:22:59

Re: Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

#6 2009-08-17 03:15:58

Re: Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

#7 2009-08-17 10:22:32

Re: Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

#8 2009-08-17 15:44:01

Re: Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

#9 2009-08-17 18:56:21

Re: Help installing Arch on EeePC 901

Board footer