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#1 2005-03-16 16:03:26

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

So I've never been too productive in my attempts at using Linux and configuring a system. It is very evident that I have a lot to learn if I am to succeed in my latest Linux mission.

My previous experience is limited to say the least. I have messed around with Suse distrubutions and Mandrakes. My main problem back then was getting the pesky CS4232 sound module working on my Thinkpad 600E, never did suceed.

More recently I have been messing arround with Knoppix and Knoppix STD again with varrying levels of frustration while trying to get Madwifi drivers to work.

Durring these brief forays into the world of Linux I have picked up some basic knowledge of its idiosyncracies and conventions. Its about time I sussed it out properly.

***********************************************************

The Mission

Subject - Thinkpad 600E (now upgraded to a P3 Cel 600MHz w 544Mb RAM)
Purpose - Wireless client and security experimentation

and Arch is to be my weapon of choice.

Tasks

1) First Installation
2) Get that damnable sound card working!!!
3) Complie and install MADWIFI drivers for my Atheros based PCMCIA card and get online through my AP
4) Install a L2 Cache enabling module early in the boot process (A side effect of upgrading the P2 600E to a P3 chip is cache enabling issues - a module already exists to re-enable)
5) Install various apps - we'll worry about exactly which ones after 1 - 4 wink

************************************************************

So I am asking for all your patience, assistance and advice. Should have the 0.7 iso ready to go in a few minutes and I'll crack on with the show.


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#2 2005-03-16 16:24:10

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Katch wrote:

Tasks

1) First Installation
2) Get that damnable sound card working!!!
3) Complie and install MADWIFI drivers for my Atheros based PCMCIA card and get online through my AP
4) Install a L2 Cache enabling module early in the boot process (A side effect of upgrading the P2 600E to a P3 chip is cache enabling issues - a module already exists to re-enable)

Well, props for sticking with it... and feel free to ask whatever.... most of us are willing to help...

I'll try what I can:
1) Arch is easy to install, but may be odd to those used to installers like RH, Mandrake, SuSe, etc  There's quite alot of posts on the forums about issues had during it - try searching first, as you may have a common problem
2) this should be easy... once the system is setup, run:

# pacman -Sy alsa-lib alsa-utils
# modprobe snd-cs4234
# modprobe snd-pcm-oss

now you can use "alsamixer" to unmute and crank up the volume...
look here for more info.
3) shouldn't be hard... but we can get to this later... check the wiki for the wireless page.. it has madwifi CVS instructions there... but maybe I'll throw a PKGBUILD in there...
4) Hold off on that until it's an issue - no sense fixing something that isn't bothering you

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#3 2005-03-17 10:20:21

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Ok lets get to the first handful of issues...

**************************************************************

Sound -

Already some oddness here, when installing the 2.6 kernel I get modprobe error galore on the snd_... modules whereas a 2.4 kernel loads with out error.

In the 2.6 kernel (and 2.4) I can't for the life of me figure out how to try and rebuild and re init the alsa driver packages.

**************************************************************

KDE -

I want to get KDE up asap. I have downloaded the tarball - kde-i18n-en_gb-3.4.0-1.pkg.tar.gz from the [extras] repository. I now have it sat as is on a cd rom - again I have no idea how to get it unpacked and installed in Arch.

I appologise for the intense basicness (is that even a word) of my problems and questions, but I am determined to get Linux in my head and want to understand what I am doing and do it right (blind fumblings got me Micro$oft knowledge but that isn't gonna cut it here)

Thanks

EDIT - Also worth noting that, as yet, I have no internet conectivity on the laptop so any updates have to be downloaded on my Windon't machine burned to CD and transfered to the Arch system. I do have a spare Realtec PCMCIA 10/100 laying around and the Windon't machine is set as a gateway (192.168.0.1) So technically I could get the Arch system online (again if I could figure out how)


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#4 2005-03-17 16:18:21

twpvw5
Member
From: Columbia, MO, US
Registered: 2005-03-06
Posts: 45

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

you are going to need more than that tarball for kde there is a whole list of depends for just the base you need at least the following"

kdelibs>=3.4.0
eject
lm_sensors
mtools
libusb
x-server
libraw1394
cyrus-sasl
dbus
hal
pmount

if you search for kde on the packages page, select the package you want and it will bring up a page w/ some basic info about the package and it's depends


-The more engineering courses I take, the more I lose my heart for engineering. I just want to F*@%ing build stuff!

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#5 2005-03-17 16:31:33

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

I agree : installing something like KDE, without pacman is a mess....

If you had internet connectivity, you install kde by doing

# pacman -Sy kde

and that will download and install all required dependancies...

I think the best bet would be to use the install disk to install it, if you have the full and not the base....

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#6 2005-03-17 16:36:42

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Katch wrote:

Already some oddness here, when installing the 2.6 kernel I get modprobe error galore on the snd_... modules whereas a 2.4 kernel loads with out error.

In the 2.6 kernel (and 2.4) I can't for the life of me figure out how to try and rebuild and re init the alsa driver packages.

Hmmm, ok one step at a time... what *exactly* did you do, and what were the errors...

and why are you rebuilding the alsa drivers?

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#7 2005-03-17 18:58:11

Snowman
Developer/Forum Fellow
From: Montreal, Canada
Registered: 2004-08-20
Posts: 5,212

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

If you don't have internet and if kde is not on the cd,  you can do

pacman -Syup kde

to get the URL of the files you need.  BTW, the tarball you downloaded is just the British Localization for KDE.  You'll need more than that to get KDE running.

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#8 2005-03-18 21:46:20

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Ok,

*takes a breath and slows down a little*

This whole process (I'm guessing) is going to be easier if I have internet conectivity to use pacman (do correct me if I am wrong)

Ok, my Orinoco Gold Classic 11b pcmcia card turned up today and it works a treat in Knoppix STD edition. What I want to do first (before addressing anything else) is get this connection installed and up so I can start retrieving packages.

So I'm just about to do a fresh install of the 2.4.xx kernel and take it from there. Just one thing... how do I get the card installed and connected out of my AP?

EDIT - One other really noob question - if the package is on the CD (Arch 0.7) how do I get pacman to do its thing from the CD


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#9 2005-03-18 22:11:17

iBertus
Member
From: Greenville, NC
Registered: 2004-11-04
Posts: 2,228

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Maybe I missed something, but why are you using the 2.4 kernel? Also, I'd suggest checking out the Wiki for pacman. It has info on how to setup a local repo and such. If you have packages on the CD you could just do 'pacman -A <filename>' to install that package.

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#10 2005-03-18 22:15:38

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

ok, I would suggest trying a wired connection first, as wireless can be a bit irritating.  I don't know if it's part of the base iso or not.

Setting up wireless is a bit odd if you don't know what's going on...
you're going to want to make sure you install pcmcia-cs, wlan-ng26 (is that the package name??), and wireless_tools

from there, get your pcmcia started and try modprobing orinioco (or another module if you need it instead)

then, simply follow along:
check /dev for either eth0 or wlan0 - this depends on the module... I'll use wlan0 here, but you can switch it out

# iwconfig wlan0 essid "MyAP_ESSID"
# ifconfig wlan0 up
# dhcpcd wlan0

that should work... once your up and running we can do more with it, but we need to get it working first...

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#11 2005-03-18 22:31:13

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Ok thanks for the help,

sorry that we may have to take this very slowly. I appreciate your input.

When I installed Arch (a few moments ago) I also selected the dhcp and pcmcia-cs packages.

So now I'm just sat in root trying to get stuff moving.

you say I need the other 2 wireless packages,

well I'm not sure how to get them to unpack off the cd. I've tried pacman -A /arch/pkg wireless......pkg.tar.gz etc but it fails to locate the files. Do i need to mount the cdrom somehow.

Also while we're on the subject,

When I boot the Knoppix STD live cd it inits the following modules hermes, orinoco, orinoco-cs

Are the hermes or Orinoco modules on the Arch 0.7 cd or am I gonna need to go find them?


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#12 2005-03-18 22:49:20

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Katch wrote:

Are the hermes or Orinoco modules on the Arch 0.7 cd or am I gonna need to go find them?

those should be part of the wlan-ng package...

to get the files off the cdrom you need to do a few things:

# mkdir /mnt/cdrom
# mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

this will mount the cdrom at /mnt/cdrom

now, I don't know where the packages are on the install CD, so you're going to:

find /mnt/cdrom *.pkg.tar.gz

and take note of the path

now open up /etc/pacman.conf in your favorite editor.

Comment out all the repos listed there for now, as you have no connection...
add the following:

[installcd]
Server = file:///mnt/cdrom/*******

and put the path to the packages you took note of above.

Now you can use pacman to work get packages off the cdrom.

First sync the packages:

# pacman -Sy

now let's install:

# pacman -S wlan-ng26

this should install that package along with wireless_tools

from there you can modprobe all the modules you need

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#13 2005-03-18 23:11:04

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

phrakture wrote:
Katch wrote:

Are the hermes or Orinoco modules on the Arch 0.7 cd or am I gonna need to go find them?

those should be part of the wlan-ng package...

to get the files off the cdrom you need to do a few things:

# mkdir /mnt/cdrom
# mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

this will mount the cdrom at /mnt/cdrom

mount: mount point does not exist


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#14 2005-03-18 23:26:52

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

well then you mighta made a mistake there.

mkdir /mnt/cdrom

that makes the mountpoint, make sure you ran that first, - then - do mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

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#15 2005-03-18 23:29:27

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

hmmm try "mkdir -p /mnt/cdrom"

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#16 2005-03-18 23:30:10

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

iphitus wrote:

well then you mighta made a mistake there.

mkdir /mnt/cdrom

that makes the mountpoint, make sure you ran that first, - then - do mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Nope definitely did that verbatim I can even 'cd' to the /mnt/cdrom/ that I have created.


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#17 2005-03-19 00:28:09

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Katch wrote:
iphitus wrote:

well then you mighta made a mistake there.

mkdir /mnt/cdrom

that makes the mountpoint, make sure you ran that first, - then - do mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Nope definitely did that verbatim I can even 'cd' to the /mnt/cdrom/ that I have created.

are you root?

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#18 2005-03-19 00:35:23

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

hmmm maybe it's the dev node... it might be /dev/cd or /dev/hdc (primary drive on second ide cable is usually hdc)

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#19 2005-03-19 09:38:59

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Ok got the cd mounted ok it was hdc in /dev. Thanks.

Ok VIM'd the pacman.conf - commented out all the other repos and added

[installcd]
Server = file:///mnt/cdrom/arch/pkg

upon giving the command

pacman -Sy

returns

:: Syncronizing package databases...
failed copying /mnt/cdrom/arch/pkg/installcd.db.tar.gz

failed to synchronize installcd
error: could not open sync database: installcd
          have you used  --refresh yet?

I'm guessing the bug is

[installcd]

in the pacman.conf...

Edit -

Placing it under [current] seems to have fixed the problem


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#20 2005-03-19 10:03:39

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

[noob question]

ok in dos we have dir /p or dir /w/p to display directory contents in such a way if it fills more than one screen it shows the first page and waits for a key press (space) to continue.

whats the linux equiv? I've tried searching goolge and ls --help etc but can't find what i'm after...

[/noob question]


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#21 2005-03-19 11:27:24

puntmuts
Member
Registered: 2005-02-22
Posts: 138

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

ls -al | more
ls -al | less

Out / Gone
Mirgrating all my machines off ArchLinux . No longer part of the ArchLinux community / users .
Done. Goodbye.

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#22 2005-03-19 11:51:41

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Ok so heres where I'm at and what I've done so far. I'm going to try and concentrate on getting the soundcard up and running, then move on to the wifi card then kde.

I've reinstalled a fresh 2.6.x kernel with Grub bootloader -

Upon first boot after installation I get an error starting shpchp module then several error reports

...Can't load module snd-cs4236
Missing kernel or user mode driver snd-cs4236.

- I have then set up the Arch CD package repo and installed the alsa packages

pacman -Sy alsa-lib alsa-utils

Upon completion i have executed alsaconf

The config util detects my laptop make (600E) and tells me what driver it thinks it should use. It goes on to probe legacy ISA cards (cs4236) for several minutes.

After many minutes it gives a result screen click ok to proceed and end up back at root.

I have tried alsamixer - errors

function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device

and modprobe snd-cs4236

Error inserting snd-cs4236 (/lib/modules/2.6.10-ARCH/kernel/sound/isa/cs423x/snd-cs4236.ko) No such device

I have done a cold reboot and the shpchp error is gone (as you would expect) but I still get many (20 or so) errors

...Can't load module snd-cs4236
Missing kernel or user mode driver snd-cs4236

Edit - This thread seems to document the same problem but with no resolution.
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … nd&start=0


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#23 2005-03-19 13:35:40

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

Ok more info,

I think I must have done something bad when installing the kernel.

I am still getting problems with the boot sequence reporting missing kernel or user mode can't load driver...

I found this bellow showing another person's success at getting the card to work,  my system errors out at step 11 and never asks if I want to modify...

I finally got it up and running!!!!!!!!!!!! and to Tell the truth, it wasnt all that hard to do. Here are the steps to help out any one who couldn't find the info like I couldnt.

1.Open the Konsole or what ever terminal you prefer.
2. SU mode
3.type in "alsaconf" without the quotation marks
4.The ALSA Configurator should start up.
5.Just follow the instructions on screen
6.Search Sounds Cards (ok)
7.After the search it should say that, and I quote "looks like you are having a Thinkpad 600e". And "Should I try to snd-cs4236 driver & probe the legacy configuration? (ok)
8.Probing the legacy ISA cards might take some time? (ok)
9.Please select the drivers to probe?
[x]cs4236 Cirrus Logic CS4236-9
(ok)
10.then it should start to probe for the card and driver. This step should take some time.
11.Configuring snd-cs4236
do you want to modify /ect/modprobe.d/sound? (ok)
12.Ok the snd-cs4236 is configured
13.ALSA Configurator will prepare the card for playing now? (ok)
14.The mixer is now set up for playing. Shall I try to play a sample sound now? (ok)
15. you should hear a small song at this point, and if all is well it should say'
Now ALSA is now ready to use
Have a lot of fun!

Then in the control panel I had to go into sounds and multimedia
Then Sound system
Then Hardware
Then to Select the audio device
and change this to Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
save those changes
Then you have to make sure to go into Kmix or the volume control you use under KDE or Gnome
Then test it out with a CD
I did have to play around with the MUTE buttons on Kmix, but after a while Bingo I had it singing like a bird.

This whole set up worked with SuSE 9.1 personal edt.
Kernel 2.5.6-7
KDE 3.2.1

I hope this has helped you out
Wavz

Ok, lets step back and start again (I certainly am picking up a lot here)

On all previous installations I have cleared the partition table on my Hdd and then reconfigured it with the auto configuration option. The I have proceeded to to install the base packages, 2.6 kernel then minimal changes to the config files before installing the bootloader (GRUB)

Somewhere along the way I'm getting something wrong and I don't know what...

Ok lets do it again step by step and you may see what is causing my problem.

1 - Boot Arch 0.7 CD
2 - /arch/setup
3 - Option 1 to prepare Hdd - Op2 to partition - /dev/discs/disc0/disc
4 - Delete all partitions present and write table - Done
5 - Opt 1 to Auto-Prepare - completes succesfully

6 - Select packages - mount from CD - base only - all by default
7 - Install packages - Updates unpacks and completes 83.9Mb
8 - Install Kernel 2.6.x for IDE systems - refreshes unpacks and installs 14.3Mb

9 - Configure System - HOSTNAME changed to my unique hostname in rc.conf
10 - menu.lst

# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux [/boot/vmlinuz26]
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/discs/disc0/part3 ro

no changes

11 - Install bootloader GRUB options:-
/dev/discs/disc0/disc
/dev/discs/disc0/part1
/dev/discs/disc0/part2
/dev/discs/disc0/part3

12 - select /dev/discs/disc0/disc and installs ok

13 - (spooky 13) First boot shpchp missing and previously mentioned snd-cs4236 missing errors...


- Official Board N00b - Your patience and advice is  greatfully recieved!

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#24 2005-03-19 13:51:08

xerxes2
Member
From: Malmoe, Sweden
Registered: 2004-04-23
Posts: 1,249
Website

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

disable hotplug in the daemons array and load your modules in the modules array instead,


arch + gentoo + initng + python = enlisy

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#25 2005-03-19 14:02:17

Katch
Member
Registered: 2005-03-16
Posts: 17

Re: New Linux User - New Mission - Better Get Comfortable

xerxes2 wrote:

disable hotplug in the daemons array and load your modules in the modules array instead,

Please explain futher - names of the files I need to be inspecting would help. Tnx


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