Arch Linux

[stryder144]

Well, I went and did it. I downloaded it (which is no mean feat considering that I have an unreliable 56k connection!) and started to install it.

My first impression: Installing it, for the most part, is very simple. Think even simpler than Slack, which for me is a lot simpler than wading through all of the options that RH gives to you. I am impressed.

Second impression: The only real sticking point, and it isn't really much of one, is that you will need to manually edit several files. Of course, I'm sure that if you read the fine manual it will be no problem (did I mention that I had to stop the install due to the fact that I hadn't read the manual yet. Silly me.). This part of the install is very near the end.

I can honestly say that considering that the version number is 0.3, just about any newbie can install everything without reading the manual (up until the point where you need to do the editing). With a little bit of foreknowledge, anyone should find that this distro is sweet and easy to use.

I am very impressed. Now, I must go so that I can read the manual and finish installing it.

Cheers.

unless you didn't install more than the base during install. There are a few extra configs to do to get KDE or Gnome running as well as their display managers--if you are into display managers. Most of these answers can be found in the user forum.

oh and i agree that the install is very easy (in my case including the configging of the files that stryder144 mentions but only because i have been doing alot of messing with those files in the last few months with various distros).

[GhostDawg]

This does seem like a pretty good distro. I'm go have to give it a try also.

Which files need editing?

The files that you edit or may have to edit are:

/etc/modules.conf
here you will want to put your nic and other necessary modules
/etc/rc.local
another option for loading modules or cli stuff like hdparm settings
/etc/rc.conf
this is the file to edit for getting your inet connection operating
/etc/lilo.conf
after you load lilo this will have some default settings which you may need to edit depending on where your / partition is and you can also add append lines at this time such as "hdx=scsi-ide"
/etc/fstab
just look it over usually the default is good but edit as needed


the install instructions delve into the files your will edit. I would install lilo before doing the editing though.

[ifred]

Tried Arch today and after a bit of frustration got it to work! I am posting using Arch right now. Not bad! It seems like a cross between Slackware and Debian. Anyway, time to see if I can get a good CD playing using pacman.

cool i have a kickass PKGBUILD i can send you for an awesome commandline cdplayer for you

[ifred]

Cool . . . point me to it.

Sorry been very sick for a few days. If you use lftp or gftp go to ftp.archlinux.org/incoming and grab the PKGBUILD.cdcd and PKGBUILD.libcdaudio and dowload them to /usr/abs/local. It is best that you create their own directories too. Then just cd into those directories rename the PKGBUILDs to PKGBUILD then run makepkg -i.

cdcd help i believe will give you the commands for running cdcd. IF i remember correctly cdcd -o will launch you into an interactive console for cdcd.

[ifred]

Roger that and thanks. . . .

[GhostDawg]

If I'm currently using Slackware 8.0 along with Windows XP, can I add Archlinux to my Slack's Lilo configuration and boot Arch from it?

I've finally got Arch downloaded and about ready to install it, but would like to keep my Slack setup intact!

Thnx.