It's been a while...Setting up Arch Linux
Well, I will kick this off with an introduction to what has happened to me as of late.
It has been quite a few months since I have even touched this old junk yard. I have been consumed by schoolwork, and actual work, and all of the above. Unfortunately, for any of you people that actually do read this, that isn't so good for you. This means that I will be lucky to throw out a "once a month" session. But in any event, I try. Right?
Well, I updated to Hardy Heron on an old desktop, my batter charger died to my laptop, and everything just seemed to be going poopish for a while. Because this old desktop doesn't have a DVD drive, that means that installing Slackware is out of the question, because I am NOT downloading those individual CD's on a 30kbps handle :|. I thought about FreeBSD, but last time I went through that, I ended up getting mad and cursing, and that just isn't very satisfactory. I will probably do some BSDin before too long, but for now, Arch is pretty cool. It is like slackware, with debians package manager haha. I enjoy it, because I don't necessarily have to hunt for those dependancies, and I can still feel like I have really put something into my computer. So on with the install:
When you start the Arch Linux installer, it boots into a shell, just like slackwares. I thought it was a little more difficult from a newer users standpoint to installing than slack, or especially ubuntu, but it was worth it. I had the ArchWiki Beginners guide next to me on this laptop while I installed, in case something went wrong.
The first thing I noticed, was there wasn't a specific easy installarch command. I mean it was easy enough, you just had to type the full command, and for lazy people like me...well...you get the picture :). So I started off with
"/arch/setup"
And it loaded the installer, which is very close to the slackware installer, with some perks, and differences.
I went with the 150MB base install from CD. Which was pretty convenient, because I do not have the bandwidth to download 700MB everyday :P.
The first thing on the list that you will want to do, is go for "Prepare Hard drive" this is all the tasks like setting mount points, and such like. I went and did a full install right over ubuntu, so no dual boot, just straight Arch. So "Auto Prepare" it is for me.
The nifty thing is they go ahead and set a 32mb boot ext2, 256mb swap, and the rest is a seperate / and /home. Of course you can chose your sizes, but that is pretty accurate for me with old pappy here sitting on my desk whining it's coolant fan.
Next, we go to the select packages menu. Under here, is dun dun dun, you never would have guessed it; PACKAGES! This is basically a four level, four section piece right here. You have:
BASE - The base packages necessary, but just a barebones system.
SUPPORT - Here is the wireless support, ndiswrapper, and gpm and fuse and such.
DEVEL - Containing things like make, autoconf, and and automake
LIB - Different library packages.
I only went with Base, and Lib. Because this is a desktop, I am not all too concerned with wireless, although I am using a range extender, to serve as a wireless card, but that is a long story, and it acts as just an ethernet device, only it is wireless :o.
The next parts, are all individual packages from the previous levels you selected. I just went with them all, because I was lazy as usual.
Next, we move onto "Configure The System". Here is where the nerds, and the geeks are going to get their hots on. Through this, you can beforehand configure things like /etc/rc.conf and /etc/fstab. These are the things you would generally do after the install, but I think it is pretty cool that you can do it beforehand. It helps with your networking too. After you are done with this, you get to chose vi/vim or nano for your text editor. I am a nano person, but that is just me. You may be saying "It sucks I have to configure all of this bull crap myself". If that is what you are thinking, stop the install now, and back away from your computer, because like slackware, arch is all about putting something into your computer. These distros are set up like this for a reason, and making your computer really "yours" is a special thing. I highly suggest that you run through the ArchWiki Beginners Guide Installation Manual because it rocks. And if you don't know how to edit these files, the guide will help you with that too. Finally, at the bottom there, set your root password and pacman mirror. Pacman is the manager, that is similar to apt-get. Only it functions like the slackpkg tool, with more packages. Setting the mirror is important here, so don't be an idiot. I got a message saying that the official mirror was on the fritz, so I picked a different one ;). Next we go to "Install Bootloader". This is pretty easy stuff right here, just pick your bootloader, and there you go. I went with GRUB, because it has been good to me over the years. After this, you are pretty much done. So exit out of all that crap you just did and "reboot".
First thing you will probably want, is your internet. So "ping www.google.com" or something to that effect, and if you get a message about uknown host, you have an issue. My ethernet interface name is "eth0" like most, so I just did "dhcpd eth0" and I was up and running. Pretty simple, and not a lot of work involved. I like it already.
Next up, we have pacman. The infamous...more or less...package manager of arch. First thing that is important, is updating this bad boy. But BEFORE we do that, check out your /etc/pacman.conf file. You may want to disable "unstable" or something like that. Just comment it out if you don't want it. You may also want to "Ignorepkg = kernel26" or something in there, to ignore the kernel updates. I know it pisses me off when I have done EVERYTHING in the world to get my system updated, and just how I like it, and then bam some package manager throws it all away with a kernel update <_<. noupgrade =" etc/lilo.conf">
"gpasswd -a yourusername audio"
Check out all the sound jazz here:
"alsamixer"
Add this to your /etc/rc.conf DAEMONS section, to restore these settings at boot:
"nano /etc/rc.conf"
"DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond alsa"
Now we install X.
"pacman -S libgl"
"pacman -S xorg"
Now we need to install your video driver, to work with the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. First, find out what card you have like so:
"lspci | grep VGA"
Then, list all of the drivers and find the one you want:
"pacman -Ss xf86-video | less"
In my instance, it was the SiS one. So now we install:
"pacman -S xf86-video-sis"
Now that we have that done, we can actually create the xorg.conf file:
"Xorg -configure"
That is capitalized by the way ;). It will print you some info, and tell you to test it with this:
"X -config /root/xorg.conf.new"
So do that. If you see an X mouse, and you can move it, then you are good to go!
Use "Ctrl+alt+backspace" to exit that.
Now we need to set your user with a window manager.
"su username"
This following command is based off of "skel" which stands for skeleton. Basically, the /etc/skel contains a bunch of default scripts, so that one doesn't have to write an entire one himself. Here is where we will snag our .xinitrc:
"cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~/"
Then
"nano ~/.xinitrc"
Then add "exec xterm" so it looks along these lines:
"pacman -S ttf-ms-fonts ttf-dejavu ttf-bitstream-vera"
Then
"pacman -S xfce4"
and
"pacman -S xfce4-goodies gtk2-themes-collection"
Lastly this; if you want the Fortune Mod that is.
"pacman -S fortune-mod"
And now you should have a nicely working GUI, Arch linux desktop, and a sense of accomplishment. I know I did. Those themes are pretty hefty in size, close to 100MB. Anyways, that's pretty much the "simple guide to installing Arch linux and a Desktop". Enjoy :).
Azariah Ben Yaakov
It has been quite a few months since I have even touched this old junk yard. I have been consumed by schoolwork, and actual work, and all of the above. Unfortunately, for any of you people that actually do read this, that isn't so good for you. This means that I will be lucky to throw out a "once a month" session. But in any event, I try. Right?
Well, I updated to Hardy Heron on an old desktop, my batter charger died to my laptop, and everything just seemed to be going poopish for a while. Because this old desktop doesn't have a DVD drive, that means that installing Slackware is out of the question, because I am NOT downloading those individual CD's on a 30kbps handle :|. I thought about FreeBSD, but last time I went through that, I ended up getting mad and cursing, and that just isn't very satisfactory. I will probably do some BSDin before too long, but for now, Arch is pretty cool. It is like slackware, with debians package manager haha. I enjoy it, because I don't necessarily have to hunt for those dependancies, and I can still feel like I have really put something into my computer. So on with the install:
When you start the Arch Linux installer, it boots into a shell, just like slackwares. I thought it was a little more difficult from a newer users standpoint to installing than slack, or especially ubuntu, but it was worth it. I had the ArchWiki Beginners guide next to me on this laptop while I installed, in case something went wrong.
The first thing I noticed, was there wasn't a specific easy installarch command. I mean it was easy enough, you just had to type the full command, and for lazy people like me...well...you get the picture :). So I started off with
"/arch/setup"
And it loaded the installer, which is very close to the slackware installer, with some perks, and differences.
I went with the 150MB base install from CD. Which was pretty convenient, because I do not have the bandwidth to download 700MB everyday :P.
The first thing on the list that you will want to do, is go for "Prepare Hard drive" this is all the tasks like setting mount points, and such like. I went and did a full install right over ubuntu, so no dual boot, just straight Arch. So "Auto Prepare" it is for me.
The nifty thing is they go ahead and set a 32mb boot ext2, 256mb swap, and the rest is a seperate / and /home. Of course you can chose your sizes, but that is pretty accurate for me with old pappy here sitting on my desk whining it's coolant fan.
Next, we go to the select packages menu. Under here, is dun dun dun, you never would have guessed it; PACKAGES! This is basically a four level, four section piece right here. You have:
BASE - The base packages necessary, but just a barebones system.
SUPPORT - Here is the wireless support, ndiswrapper, and gpm and fuse and such.
DEVEL - Containing things like make, autoconf, and and automake
LIB - Different library packages.
I only went with Base, and Lib. Because this is a desktop, I am not all too concerned with wireless, although I am using a range extender, to serve as a wireless card, but that is a long story, and it acts as just an ethernet device, only it is wireless :o.
The next parts, are all individual packages from the previous levels you selected. I just went with them all, because I was lazy as usual.
Next, we move onto "Configure The System". Here is where the nerds, and the geeks are going to get their hots on. Through this, you can beforehand configure things like /etc/rc.conf and /etc/fstab. These are the things you would generally do after the install, but I think it is pretty cool that you can do it beforehand. It helps with your networking too. After you are done with this, you get to chose vi/vim or nano for your text editor. I am a nano person, but that is just me. You may be saying "It sucks I have to configure all of this bull crap myself". If that is what you are thinking, stop the install now, and back away from your computer, because like slackware, arch is all about putting something into your computer. These distros are set up like this for a reason, and making your computer really "yours" is a special thing. I highly suggest that you run through the ArchWiki Beginners Guide Installation Manual because it rocks. And if you don't know how to edit these files, the guide will help you with that too. Finally, at the bottom there, set your root password and pacman mirror. Pacman is the manager, that is similar to apt-get. Only it functions like the slackpkg tool, with more packages. Setting the mirror is important here, so don't be an idiot. I got a message saying that the official mirror was on the fritz, so I picked a different one ;). Next we go to "Install Bootloader". This is pretty easy stuff right here, just pick your bootloader, and there you go. I went with GRUB, because it has been good to me over the years. After this, you are pretty much done. So exit out of all that crap you just did and "reboot".
First thing you will probably want, is your internet. So "ping www.google.com" or something to that effect, and if you get a message about uknown host, you have an issue. My ethernet interface name is "eth0" like most, so I just did "dhcpd eth0" and I was up and running. Pretty simple, and not a lot of work involved. I like it already.
Next up, we have pacman. The infamous...more or less...package manager of arch. First thing that is important, is updating this bad boy. But BEFORE we do that, check out your /etc/pacman.conf file. You may want to disable "unstable" or something like that. Just comment it out if you don't want it. You may also want to "Ignorepkg = kernel26" or something in there, to ignore the kernel updates. I know it pisses me off when I have done EVERYTHING in the world to get my system updated, and just how I like it, and then bam some package manager throws it all away with a kernel update <_<. noupgrade =" etc/lilo.conf">
"gpasswd -a yourusername audio"
Check out all the sound jazz here:
"alsamixer"
Add this to your /etc/rc.conf DAEMONS section, to restore these settings at boot:
"nano /etc/rc.conf"
"DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond alsa"
Now we install X.
"pacman -S libgl"
"pacman -S xorg"
Now we need to install your video driver, to work with the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. First, find out what card you have like so:
"lspci | grep VGA"
Then, list all of the drivers and find the one you want:
"pacman -Ss xf86-video | less"
In my instance, it was the SiS one. So now we install:
"pacman -S xf86-video-sis"
Now that we have that done, we can actually create the xorg.conf file:
"Xorg -configure"
That is capitalized by the way ;). It will print you some info, and tell you to test it with this:
"X -config /root/xorg.conf.new"
So do that. If you see an X mouse, and you can move it, then you are good to go!
Use "Ctrl+alt+backspace" to exit that.
Now we need to set your user with a window manager.
"su username"
This following command is based off of "skel" which stands for skeleton. Basically, the /etc/skel contains a bunch of default scripts, so that one doesn't have to write an entire one himself. Here is where we will snag our .xinitrc:
"cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~/"
Then
"nano ~/.xinitrc"
Then add "exec xterm" so it looks along these lines:
#!/bin/shAlright, we are back in business. I suggest you uncomment the window manager of your choice now, and save you some time later. I went with xfce. Before you can actually run this window manager, you need to install it. First lets grab some fonts#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)
#
exec xterm
# exec wmaker
# exec startkde
# exec icewm
# exec blackbox
# exec fluxbox
"pacman -S ttf-ms-fonts ttf-dejavu ttf-bitstream-vera"
Then
"pacman -S xfce4"
and
"pacman -S xfce4-goodies gtk2-themes-collection"
Lastly this; if you want the Fortune Mod that is.
"pacman -S fortune-mod"
And now you should have a nicely working GUI, Arch linux desktop, and a sense of accomplishment. I know I did. Those themes are pretty hefty in size, close to 100MB. Anyways, that's pretty much the "simple guide to installing Arch linux and a Desktop". Enjoy :).
Azariah Ben Yaakov
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