Help: Installing Arch on multi-boot system

mukul_s · 2009-08-23 08:16:22

Hi,

I am currently running Vista(pre-installed), openSuse & Ubuntu on my laptop. Now I am planning to add Archlinux so that I can get rid of either openSuse or Ubuntu.
The drive partitioning is as follows:

mukul@linux-w5lp:~> sudo /sbin/fdisk -l
root's password:

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x27c80bf7

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1        1394    11193344   27  Unknown
/dev/sda2            1394        9683    66581484    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            9683       11901    17817600    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4   *       11902       18422    52379932+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5           11902       12163     2104483+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6           12164       14774    20972826   83  Linux
/dev/sda7           14775       15990     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda8           15991       17449    11719386   83  Linux
/dev/sda9           17450       18422     7815591   83  Linux
mukul@linux-w5lp:~>

I still have almost 100GB free space. Now during the base installation how can I tell Arch to use my existing swap partition (/dev/sda5) for the swap??
N is there any wiki page or forum topic to get help on how to use cfdisk for partition?

Xyne · 2009-08-23 08:46:29

Have you read through the Beginners Guide?

If the info about cfdisk in the Beginners Guide isn't enough, you should be able to find what you need with a search engine, although I don't understand why you need to use cfdisk if you plan to use an existing partition for Arch. If you don't want to change your partitioning scheme, just skip the disk partitioning step during setup.

If you just want to delete and recreate some partitions then cfdisk is quite intuitive and you should be able to get by without a guide. If you want to resize existing physical partitions (i.e. non-LVM) then you probably want to look into using gparted.

As for the swap disk, there is a point during the installation that you select mountpoints and swap. You should be able to select the existing swap partition at that stage.

I hope this helps. Good luck with the setup.

mukul_s · 2009-08-23 09:32:14

Thanks for the quic reply. Any special instruction on installing from USB?
What do select during install packages? I am planning not to use CD option unless the USB fails.
So assuming USB boot will work, what option to select for Packages installation?

mcmillan · 2009-08-23 20:09:55

mukul_s wrote:

So assuming USB boot will work, what option to select for Packages installation?

The base group is pretty much the minimal you need, though there's a few things that if you're sure you could remove. If you're not sure it's safest to just install the whole group. It's been a while since I did an install so I don't remember how much other than base is available from the installation, but beyond the base group it's up to you to decide what you need.

I'd second Xyne recommendation to read through the beginner's guide carefully for any questions about the initial setup.

mukul_s · 2009-08-24 06:12:09

Thanks guys,
Everything went smooth for the installation of the core system.
Beginner's Guide is an excellent resource.

I am having problem with Xorg and have opened a new thread for it. Please see if you can help me.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-08-23 08:16:22

Help: Installing Arch on multi-boot system

#2 2009-08-23 08:46:29

Re: Help: Installing Arch on multi-boot system

#3 2009-08-23 09:32:14

Re: Help: Installing Arch on multi-boot system

#4 2009-08-23 20:09:55

Re: Help: Installing Arch on multi-boot system

#5 2009-08-24 06:12:09

Re: Help: Installing Arch on multi-boot system

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