Arch Linux

h8uthemost

Member

Registered: 2010-08-25

Posts: 5

Not sure if I can install

Hey guys,

I'm interested in Arch Linux. So I want to throw it on a disc and give it a shot. If I like it, and it's lightweight and fast enough(I'm currently using Lubuntu, and I'm wanting to see if Arch is even lighter/faster), then I'll install it. But I was just reading the Wiki, and under the Pre-Installation part this is mentioned:

Arch Linux is optimized for i686 and x86_64 processors and therefore will not run on any lower or incompatible generations of x86 CPUs (i386, i486 or i586). A Pentium Pro, Pentium II or AMD Athlon (K7) processor or higher is required.

I have a seven year old computer, and I really don't know much about processors. So I'm not sure if I can run Arch. It looks like I have an AMD Athlon XP 2700+ processor. So going by this, am I able to use Arch? I've always download and used the i386 version of distros. And according to the wiki Arch is incompatible with this. So I'm guessing I can't run it, but I thought I would ask just to be sure.

Thanks for any help.

toad

Member

From: if only I knew

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,775

Website

Re: Not sure if I can install

Go ahead, you should have no problems.

And remember, the Beginner's Guide is THE place to start

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fukawi2

Ex-Administratorino

From: .vic.au

Registered: 2007-09-28

Posts: 6,224

Website

Re: Not sure if I can install

From your Lubuntu install, what is the output of this?

grep 'model name' /proc/cpuinfo

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mythus

Member

From: MS Gulf Coast

Registered: 2008-05-15

Posts: 509

Website

Re: Not sure if I can install

Hey guys,

I'm interested in Arch Linux. So I want to throw it on a disc and give it a shot. If I like it, and it's lightweight and fast enough(I'm currently using Lubuntu, and I'm wanting to see if Arch is even lighter/faster), then I'll install it. But I was just reading the Wiki, and under the Pre-Installation part this is mentioned:

Arch Linux is optimized for i686 and x86_64 processors and therefore will not run on any lower or incompatible generations of x86 CPUs (i386, i486 or i586). A Pentium Pro, Pentium II or AMD Athlon (K7) processor or higher is required.

I have a seven year old computer, and I really don't know much about processors. So I'm not sure if I can run Arch. It looks like I have an AMD Athlon XP 2700+ processor. So going by this, am I able to use Arch? I've always download and used the i386 version of distros. And according to the wiki Arch is incompatible with this. So I'm guessing I can't run it, but I thought I would ask just to be sure.

Thanks for any help.

That processor is newer than the  Athlon K7 series. It is i686, and thus installling a i686 OS like Arch Linux will/should give you a faster computing experience.

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karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Not sure if I can install

Yes you can! :-)

h8uthemost

Member

Registered: 2010-08-25

Posts: 5

Re: Not sure if I can install

Oh wow, I didn't know I had an i686. So is this what I should be picking from now on if there's an option for it? And if there's not, then I should just pick i386?

And fukawi2, this is what the output is:  AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2700+.

Thanks again everyone for the info. I'm pretty excited now. I keep getting told that Arch is one of the best, lightest distros out there. So, I have one more question. I've been using Linux for close to three years now. And unfortunately pretty much all I know is Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivative distros. So will I have a pretty hard transition to Arch? Or is Arch a pretty easy distro to learn?

Thanks. And I will definitely will use the Beginners Guide, toad.

EDIT: One more thing, should I go with the NetInstall or Core Image? I'm guessing NetInstall?

Last edited by h8uthemost (2010-08-26 01:24:39)

fsckd

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-06-15

Posts: 4,173

Re: Not sure if I can install

fyi, i386 is from the 1980's.

Use netinstall if you have confidence in your network connection. This question is also answered in the Beginners' Guide.

Last edited by fsckd (2010-08-26 01:40:04)

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schen

Member

Registered: 2009-06-06

Posts: 468

Re: Not sure if I can install

NetInstall downloads the packages from the mirror, instead of having the snapshot from core. That way, all of your packages are up-to-date.

Also, definitely read the beginner's guide. If you are willing to accept the Arch mentality, I think you'll have a great time. Do be warned, Arch only installs the basics, (in other words, only CLI), so you have to install the other stuff from the repository. If you follow the beginner's guide(and the wiki in general), you'll have no trouble.

urist

Member

Registered: 2009-02-22

Posts: 248

Re: Not sure if I can install

I know some people on the forums have expressed that they can't use the core disk, a kernel problem or something. The netinstall disk doesn't have this problem.

I guess what I'm getting at is, if you use the core disk and it doesn't work, don't give up all hope.

h8uthemost

Member

Registered: 2010-08-25

Posts: 5

Re: Not sure if I can install

Do be warned, Arch only installs the basics, (in other words, only CLI), so you have to install the other stuff from the repository. If you follow the beginner's guide(and the wiki in general), you'll have no trouble.

This is what has drawn me into the Arch "mentality", that you pretty much build your own. I have(like I mentioned) a 7 year old computer with only 512MB of RAM. So the reason I moved from Ubuntu to Lubuntu, is that Ubuntu is way too bloated and really bogs down my computer. Lubuntu only comes installed with a few apps, and the apps that it does come installed with, are for the most part the lightest of their kind. So anyways, my computer absolutely flies with Lubuntu. But still, people keep telling me about Arch.

So I'm going to try out Arch with the LXDE desktop and see how that goes.

I'll give the Beginners Guide a good read through right now.

Thanks everyone for answering my stupid questions. I'm already liking it here.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Not sure if I can install

I too have a 7yo computer with 512 MB RAM and it's my gaming rig! Starcraft / Broodwar under wine and UT2k4 natively - both work great.
Just because Windows 7 / some fat distro is slow, doesn't mean you have to buy a new computer. :-)

Doehni

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-05-19

Posts: 175

Re: Not sure if I can install

My laptop is also 7 years old with 512 MB RAM
Win XP is barely usable for me, Arch just flies! Don't know the last time I used Win...

*david_a*

Member

Registered: 2009-06-19

Posts: 80

Re: Not sure if I can install

I have an Athlon XP 2000+, and Arch works extremely well for me. I have added some RAM to this machine, which makes it run a lot better for far less than the cost of a new machine.

Some kind of issue (maybe just my machine is too slow - maybe I've made some newbie mistake??) prevents me from using any distro's KDE 4.x - never gets past the splash screen for loading KDE - but Gnome and all others work just fine here.