Usb cable internet connection

pratik_narain · 2009-12-03 13:25:13

Hey everyone. I've come first time in this forum and going to try to install arch on my dell inspiron 1545(core2duo 2.0 ghz, 3gb ram, 320 gb harddisk, ati mobility raedon hd 4330 graphics card). I use ubuntu 9.10 alongside vista and looking to replace ubuntu with arch. The problem is that the only internet connection which i do have is a gsm edge plan which i use with my nokia n72 and a usb cable. I wanted to ask how to configure this connection at the time of installing in the configuration step. I went through the wiki but it does not seem to address this issue. I have some idea about using ppp from cmd line as I used it with puppy linux when it didn't have gui for this. Dear Archers, plz help so that I also can try to become one Archer. Thank you.

pratik_narain · 2009-12-03 17:59:02

come on people, 12 views and no answers. Isn't anybdy gonna help me. BTW, I'm installing arch in a VM(virtualbox) and I'll update this thread with my experience.

.:B:. · 2009-12-03 18:03:29

This is a forum, not a hotline. Have some patience.

Bumping isn't allowed within 24h.

kjon · 2009-12-03 21:29:52

if I were you, I might try to install archlinux on virtualbox. After that, I might install wvdial to make ppp conections simpler.

Once you've made your way installing it, try to use your phone as a modem using wvdial (allowing virtualbox to control your phone). Google for the proper init strings and, if you success, you're ready to port your virtual installation to your real machine. Just tar your whole root and dump it on your hard drive.

If you need more details, please ask. I just pointed a very brief guideline.

Last edited by kjon (2009-12-03 21:30:26)

Tekrotzen · 2009-12-03 21:37:46

Did you look at that?
You don't need Internet to install Arch, and once you the basic install is done, all you need seems to be the few packages listed there, that you could copy to a usb key and pacman -U to install...

Just an idea though, I have no experience with this kind of things.

Edit: a little late, I guess!

Last edited by Tekrotzen (2009-12-03 21:39:22)

pratik_narain · 2009-12-04 09:16:24

sorry mods for the bumping. I didn't mean to be rude. Actually I've installing arch in virtualbox and I'll configure it as soon as my internet subscription paln renews. Thanks kjon for the suggestion about wvdial. Just one thing, can I build wvdial by source as I don't have internet connection on arch so I can't install it by pacman. I've installed all the packages from base-devel category. And what about using just ppp to establish the connection.

Feedback: The installation of arch was very easy in virtualbox. It worked flawlessly with the default options and for the first time in my linux experience(which is about 2 years of home use), I came to know so much about the internal workings of linux in general. The setup is very well designed and I'm looking forward to replace my full ubuntu 9.10 install with arch linux. However, I'd say that making decisions about the full configuration of my system is not an easy task. It takes much background reading to come up with appropriate software collection for the existing hardware.

Tekrotzen · 2009-12-04 10:15:03

you CAN install wvdial using pacman.
Just grab the packages you need in one of the repositories ( http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mirrors ) and install them using:

pacman -U name_of_the_package.pkg.tar.gz

Only problem: the dependencies!
(ex: as you can see on http://www.archlinux.org/packages/extra/i686/wvdial/ , wvdial depends on ppp and wvstreams, so you have to download those as well, but the may depends on other things...)

horgh · 2009-12-04 12:19:52

If you want to install network-manager that will handle these usb-modems pretty well, you can find more info on wiki. Al least I didn't have to do anything to get connected. Just plug the USB, select connect to mobile broadband from networkmanager applet and you're connected.

pratik_narain · 2009-12-06 11:24:25

Thnx for the response folks. I got arch linux working in virtualbox. I also followed advice on wvdial and used it to connect to internet. But the thing is that I'm not able to access any site. I tried open dns nameserver addresses in resolv.conf, but it was not successful. BTW, I'm mounting the phone directly in virtualbox as a usb device and I connect to internet successfully.

pratik_narain · 2009-12-06 11:38:59

Once again referring to the very exellent arch wiki on network configuration, I used the nohook resolv.conf option in dhcpcd.conf but even after restarting network, dns addresses were assigned by network and it wasn't using the addr given in resolv.conf

pratik_narain · 2009-12-06 11:43:56

same thing even after restarting the vm. No success with either ping or elinks

pratik_narain · 2009-12-06 18:42:43

solved the net access problem. I just disabled the NAT network interface that is the default in virtualbox. It seems LAN and usb internet have some problem in co operating. Can anyone point to some link that clarifies this. Also on a full machine install of atch how do I disable eth0

kjon · 2009-12-06 19:22:25

(deleted)

Last edited by kjon (2009-12-06 19:23:08)

brianhanna · 2009-12-06 19:26:24

To disable eth0 you should be able to edit /etc/rc.conf and put an ! in front of eth0 in the line that starts with INTERFACES (under the networking section).

It should look something like this.
INTERFACES=(!eth0)

pratik_narain · 2009-12-06 20:14:26

Just one last but important question. In the hard disk preparation step, at the point of setting up the filesystems and mount points, I just want to leave my whole file system partitioning intact as it is already partitioned. Moreover, sda1 and sda2 contain my windows vista which I can't afford to lose. But, when the installer displays the partitions. It shows text like raw, no-fs etc in front of those too. If I leave them untouched there, will it leave my windows system intact. What are the chances to corrupt my vista installation. Plz, answer soon.

Last edited by pratik_narain (2009-12-06 20:15:35)

perbh · 2009-12-07 04:20:48

You know - the safest thing you can do is to make up your partitions beforehand (using a live cd).
Then when it comes to install arch, you just tells it which partition(s) to use and do not let it delete or create any partitions.

Oh - and one more thing ...
If you intend to install grub on the mbr, you should make a copy of it first (while you are still using the live cd)
You _could_ save it on your windows partition - something like this ...

mkdir /mnt/win
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda2 /mnt/win  # assuming your windows partition is on sda2 - with 'recover' on sda1
mkdir /mnt/win/sys
dd if=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1 of=/mnt/win/sys/mbr.bin
umount /mnt/win

Last edited by perbh (2009-12-07 04:25:05)

pratik_narain · 2009-12-08 20:40:38

Hey folks. So I installed the system with complete kde desktop. But with opensource ati drivers and no xorg.conf file, I haven't got kwin desktop effects. Can anyone help me on this. Also can I __completely__ remove all traces of kde from the system like i installed it by pacman -S kde.

Gen2ly · 2009-12-09 05:11:50

pratik_narain, probably should start a new topic (so other that have the same question can see).

That said, you can get rid of kde installed packages and it's dependencies by:

pacman -Rcs $(pacman -Qq |grep kde)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-12-03 13:25:13

Usb cable internet connection

#2 2009-12-03 17:59:02

Re: Usb cable internet connection

#3 2009-12-03 18:03:29

Re: Usb cable internet connection

#4 2009-12-03 21:29:52

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#5 2009-12-03 21:37:46

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#6 2009-12-04 09:16:24

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#7 2009-12-04 10:15:03

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#8 2009-12-04 12:19:52

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#9 2009-12-06 11:24:25

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#10 2009-12-06 11:38:59

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#11 2009-12-06 11:43:56

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#12 2009-12-06 18:42:43

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#13 2009-12-06 19:22:25

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#14 2009-12-06 19:26:24

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#15 2009-12-06 20:14:26

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#16 2009-12-07 04:20:48

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#17 2009-12-08 20:40:38

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#18 2009-12-09 05:11:50

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