Going to try out Arch Linux

Post by **Patrick** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:22 am

After talking to Dan Dennedy last night I think I'm going to give Arch Linux a look:
http://www.archlinux.org/

I hear good things about it. I really like Kanotix but I'm willing to check out different distros.

ddennedy · Post by **ddennedy** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 4:01 am

It does not setup a lot of things for you like, say, Mandriva or Kanotix does. You have to configure a lot of things yourself; however, the Arch packagers tend to keep the packages vanilla and the system config is very simple and not obscure unlike Mandriva, for example. The wiki provides a lot of good info. I dont think it is for everyone, but at a time when I had a spare machine , I was testing MLT on various distros. Then, my main workstation hardware failed when Arch was on the spare machine. I kept using it and learned to like it. Package file format is not .rpm or .deb, but the backend is much like apt-get (rolling upgrades, pulls in dependencies automatically) and it is fast unlike yum. If you are one who likes to keep things in packages and the package database, then you will love the fact that it is so easy to make your own packages or rebuild an existing package with different build options!

CptnObvious999 · Post by **CptnObvious999** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 12:11 pm

Seems a lot like gentoo only without compiling things. I would probly like it but since Im in the process of getting gentoo up I probly won't try it for a while.

Post by **Patrick** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 1:00 pm

ddennedy wrote:It does not setup a lot of things for you like, say, Mandriva or Kanotix does. You have to configure a lot of things yourself; however, the Arch packagers tend to keep the packages vanilla and the system config is very simple...

Sounds like a cross between Slackware and Debian. I downloaded the iso and will probably install on my test drive in the next few days. It will take a lot for me to switch from Kanotix (Debian) but I'll give it a fair shake. I'm looking to get back into coding (C++ with QT) and will try it out on both distros to see which I like better. I'll also try setting up and using some of my favorite apps. The thing that keeps bringing me back to Debian is apt-get. I know you can now run apt-get on Suse, Fedora, etc.. Slackware has Slapt-Get as well. Debian also a huge volume of packages available for it.

Post by **dann** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 1:20 pm

I think I am going to pull one of the hd's from the old server and give it a try myself, specifically for the video editing stuff. Kino seems to be working fine on Ubuntu but the ffmpeg2theora script is acting weird. I get segfaults but it seems to work every third time.

Ubuntu's backend pakcages are wonky now with their transition to Breezy Badger. Still, my problem with the Ubuntu/Deb packages is that there seem to be two repositories for the apps I want and they conflict with dependencies. This makes it difficult to do everything I would like it to do.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 4:28 pm

Still, my problem with the Ubuntu/Deb packages is that there seem to be two repositories for the apps I want and they conflict with dependencies

Not unless you've added non-ubuntu repos to your sources.list file. W/o pinning, debian's default shoud be to the latest version of a package, so even if a package exists in more than one repo, it should default to the most recent.

As far as wonkiness in ubuntu's repos, most likely you're talking about backports puking when you do an apt-get update. Backports is now an official repo (YAY!) and thus has a new addy:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-backports main restricted universe multiverse

extras stays where it is though, due to legal reasons (I get most of this stuff from christian marrilat's repos anyhow).

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:39 pm

Pat, this evening I downloaded both the Arch 0.7 ISO and the Archie ISO. Archie is a Live-CD build of Arch.

I tried out Archie and it seemed to have worked fairly well. I tried it on my test PC (a PIII). One thing I noticed right away was the speed in it's boot-up time.

The only thing I couldn't test was the sound card detection. No speakers were handy for the test PC.

So, next is installing the full ISO image and see what kind of trouble I can get myself into.

After doing some reading on the Arch site, it seems as though it's the kind of distro that requires you to get "your hands dirty." I've been spoiled lately, with Kanotix, so we'll see how much I can remember about configuring Linux.

Have you had a chance to try Arch yourself, Pat?

Post by **Patrick** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:48 am

Judland wrote: Have you had a chance to try Arch yourself, Pat?

No I haven't yet. It's on my list of things to do after editing the video footage for the DVD.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:00 am

When I do and Arch install I always do a base install, even if I have the latest ISO to install from. The base install is a slim 250MB. That will give you a bootable system. You'll need to load your modules manually or add them to the /etc/rc.conf file. Then I do a "pacman -Syu" and that upgrades everything that's installed in the base. From there I go to install all the packages I need. The pacman package manager is excellent. Arch is a well-documented distro too. So, if you get stuck, you'll probably find some help in their wiki.

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:22 am

Well, I finally got a base install of Arch going last night. Took me some time, though.

I followed the Wiki installation guide as best as I could, but kept getting hung up on the configuration of Grub. Seems as though the installer maps root= ...../disc0/part1 (or something or other). But, what needs to be done is change the installer's script to /dev/hda1 (which is what I was more familiar with in the first place).

Took me some time to find this solution on the Arch forums, and it would have been really nice if there were some kind of mention of it on the Wiki installation guide.

Then I spent some time with Xorg's config file. Seems as though it was not able to detect my PS/2 mouse. So, I found a serial mouse and changed Xorg's config file to match.

Finally got thing working up to the point I could startx. Now, I just have to try and remember how to get kdm to start up when I start up my Xsession (once I get the KDE packages installed, that is).

Sure makes me appreciate all that Kanotix does for me automatically.

Post by **Patrick** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:30 am

Judland wrote:Sure makes me appreciate all that Kanotix does for me automatically.

It all goes back to the debate do you put more effort into the installation process so that maintenance become routine or go for the easy install. There has to be a happy medium. Gentoo is a very quick and customizable distro once you get it going. Unfortunately it takes forever to get it going. I know Dan has had issues with Ubuntu and his multimeida apps/codecs and is looking at his options. So far Kanotix has been good to me. Yeah it's a KDE centric distro but I like KDE and it's on a fairly quick machine. I know you can reauhtor Kanotix with whatever packages you like. I wonder how difficult this is. Maybe there's a version of Kanotix floating around without KDE and you just add whatever desktop enviroment you like. I'm curious to see how the upgrade scripts will work with the new version of Kanotix. I'll wait a bit to hear from others on how well it went before taking the plunge on my own machine. Right now it's running like a top with all the apps and codecs I like so I'm in no rush to upgrade. I will install the new version of Kanotix on my dads machine when it comes out.

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:43 am

Patrick wrote:It all goes back to the debate do you put more effort into the installation process so that maintenance become routine....

What got me looking at Arch in the first place was the idea that you can execute one command (pacman -Su), walk away and have all installed packages updated.

Although it's a bit of work right now, I'm willing to put in some effort to see actually how much work it is to get a system I'm completely happy with (like I am with Kanotix).

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:51 am

P.S.

While I should be working, I've just explored a bit more of the Arch Wiki site. Seems as though there's a "Post Install" section that mentions how to get kdm running right from boot-up. So, now I have something to do when I get home tonight.

From the looks of it, Arch has got to have one of the more informative distro. Wikis I've seen. This is good, for me, as I can usually follow most any instructions I find.... if they're there to find.

Post by **Patrick** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:20 am

I forgot to mention the biggest negative of Gentoo besides the brutal install. Upgrading any major software will basically put your system out of commission until it finishes compiling. This is unacceptable! The GCC screensaver is incompatible with anyone who needs to use their system on a regular basis. I remember when Gentoo was the "hottest" linux distro. Seems like a dream now!

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 1:46 pm

Well, last night I wanted to get kdm to start up during boot-up. So, first thing I did was download and install KDE.

I simply typed: pacman -S kdebase at the command prompt and pacman proceeded to download and install KDE onto my Arch box.

Although I lost track of the time, it certainly only seemed to be about five minutes or so for pacman to finish.

I then followed the instructions on the Wiki regarding the changes I had to make in order to get kdm to launch after boot-up, then I rebooted.

Sure enough, kdm appeared and I logged into my first KDE 3.4.3 session on the new box. Amazing... and seemed very quick.

I don't know what sort of ordeal it is to get KDE installed on a Gentoo or Slackware system, but it couldn't have been more easier than with Arch last night.

I think I'm going to enjoy my Arch Linux learning experience.

thelinuxlink.net

Going to try out Arch Linux

Going to try out Arch Linux

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