Arch Linux

Arman

Member

From: California, United States

Registered: 2010-02-16

Posts: 4

[SOLVED] Reinstalling Arch

After messing up GRUB, I've decided to just go ahead and reinstall Arch. I have already backed up all the important files I needed so I don't have to worry about losing anything important. I'm hoping that after my first experience installing Arch, I'll be able to install it to better suit my needs this time around. My main priority is stability, closely followed by speed. Last time I quickly browsed through the Beginner's Guide and was able to install it, not really knowing what I was doing half of the time.
This time around, I'm definitely going to be asking questions .
Here are the specs of my computer:

2.40GHz AMD Athlon 64 4000+ CPU
NVIDIA GeForce 6150LE GPU
1 GB DDR RAM
250 (230~) GB SATA HDD

Now for the list of questions.

1.    Should I go with x86_64 or i686? I had i686 before, and it worked great. The main reason I opted not to go with x86_64 was because I've heard it is pointless to get on a system with less than 4GB RAM and that x86_64 had less support. I realized later on that the sources I got that info from were quite a few years old . I'll be doing some gaming (Guild Wars, WoW-type games) and maybe some light audio/video editing, so would going 64bit help much in any of those areas?

2.    When installing linux in general, I usually only make / and /home. Should I make the other ones (/usr, /boot, /var, etc)? If I should, what size should they be, and what filesystem should I use?
Here is how I'm planning to partition my hdd:

/dev/sda1    ntfs    WinXP      10GB
/dev/sda2    swap               2GB
/dev/sda3    extended
/dev/sda4    ext4    /          20GB
/dev/sda5    ext4    /home      10GB
/dev/sda6    ntfs    Data      ~208GB

3.    Is it ok to install kdemod without ever installing kde4.4? I know, kind of a stupid question, since you have to uninstall kde4.4 before installing kdemod…but still, I'd be paranoid if I didn't know for sure.

4.    How do you set up Arch to mount all partitions and allow users to read/write during installation? I remember it took me a while to give my user access to that, so it would be great if I could take care of it ahead of time. No real worries about security, since I am the only one using my computer.

5.    Any other tips you guys may have? Anything I should do during installation, after installation, stuff not to do—I'd appreciate any type of advice.

Thanks in advance guys.

Last edited by Arman (2010-03-04 00:08:04)

evr

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

Registered: 2009-01-23

Posts: 554

Re: [SOLVED] Reinstalling Arch

Have you read through the Beginner's Guide yet?  There's alot of info about some of the stuff you're asking in there.  I'd recommend giving it a good read through before you go through the process again.

As for x64_64 vs i686, it's been covered alot and i would recommend x64_64.  I've been using it for a long time, and it's really stable, so why not?

and yes, you can install kdemod without installing kde4.4 first.

ozar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2005-02-18

Posts: 1,686

Re: [SOLVED] Reinstalling Arch

1. Should I go with x86_64 or i686?
2. When installing linux in general, I usually only make / and /home. Should I make the other ones (/usr, /boot, /var, etc)?
3. Is it ok to install kdemod without ever installing kde4.4?
4. How do you set up Arch to mount all partitions and allow users to read/write during installation?
5.Any other tips you guys may have?

I've been using 64-bit for the last 2 years and have never considered downgrading to 32-bit.

If you aren't really sure why you would need the extra partitions, you probably don't need them.

I don't do KDEmod so can't speak on that.

Check the fstab page in the wiki.

Make system images of your partitions after you've gotten Arch installed and tweaked.  It only takes a few minutes to image and a few to restore the images if needed.

Hope the fresh install goes well! 

---

oz

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: [SOLVED] Reinstalling Arch

1. x86_64
2. If you want to
3. Yes
4. You don't - do it post-install
5. Read stuff

Arman

Member

From: California, United States

Registered: 2010-02-16

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] Reinstalling Arch

Oh wow, didn't expect to come back and see so many responses. Thanks a lot everyone. I'll be sure to read the Beginner's Guide thoroughly this time around and hopefully everything goes well.