A Newbie Guide to installing Arch

Hi,
I did a Arch install from the scratch using Arch Voodoo CD.
I have documented my steps and hope it might help others.
Please read it at
http://abhay-techzone.blogspot.com/
Please give suggestions for changes that might improve it.
Your comments are most welcome.
Regards,
Abhay

detox332 wrote:
i really like how it looks, very user friendly, nothing too scary or unclear...i would suggest that you give alternatives other than kdemod, such as gnome or xfce...flux users should know how things work :-P but overall very good, very simplistic guide.
thanks for the contribution!
~matt
This is a good idea.
I will go ahead with installing Flux and e17 and will update the guide.
In the meantime please feel free to send in your own customizations or tweeks.
I would really appritiate that.
Thanks for the encouragement.
[For Dolby]
I never claimed it to be a guide, I always said that I have simply documented my steps.
Most of my friends like KDE ( SUSE, Kubuntu users) so I thought that Kdemod would be
a good way to introduce them to Arch.
Moreover, many steps like Restricted Apps, Audio/Video, NTFS mount etc are independent of the DE used.
However, point taken. I will add steps for other DE's also.

Similar Messages

Installing Arch on Asus Eee, Already Read the Wiki [Solved]

I'm attempting to install Arch on my Asus Eee 701 (4GB SSD model) and I made a mistake that I'm having trouble correcting. First, I accidentally wrote the image to my Eee's SSD, instead of my USB drive. I tried to install Arch with the installer on my SSD, set up the partitions (one for /, one for /boot, and one for /home), but when I issued the command, it told me that the disk was in use. It was then that I realized what I did. I used an Ubuntu LiveCD on another computer to burn the image file again, this time to my USB drive. I booted my Eee from the USB drive and tried to partition my SSD again, but this time, it tells me:
Device or resource busy
This disk is currently in use - repartitioning is probably a bad idea.
Unmount all file systems, and swapoff all swap partitions on this disk.
Use the --no-reread flag to suppress this check.
Use the --force flag to overrule all checks.
When I boot from my SSD, I get the same message, so I'm not even 100% certain that I booted from my USB drive before. My USB drive's activity light was on though.
Is there any way to fix this? Also, given that I have an SSD, what partitions should I set up and how big should they be? I can't find any concrete numbers in the wiki.
Thanks in advance for the help.
Last edited by Tyrian (2008-11-17 04:14:23)

I'll try that, thanks. What would happen if I dismounted the SSD with -f if it was in use?
EDIT: I just realized that when I go into the installer, it lets me set up partitions manually (I run the installer, pick "Prepare Hard Drive", "Partition Hard Drives", "/dev/sda"). But how should I set them up? When I test it by just making one 4GB partition, it tells me, "Wrote partition table, but re-read table failed. Reboot to update table." So I rebooted, and it appears to work. So I deleted that partition, made a 512MB one, rebooted, and repeated until I had 3 partitions in ext2, a 512MB (sda1, bootable), 512MB (sda2), and one roughly 2.5GB (sda3). I then went to "Set Filesystem Mountpoints", said "NONE" for the swap (due to the avoiding pitfalls section of the wiki), picked "/dev/sda1" as "/" in ext2, made "/dev/sda2" as ext2 called "/var", and made "/dev/sda3" in ext2 called "/home", then said "DONE". When I say "Yes" as the confirmation prompt, I get this message:
Error creating filesystem: mke2fs /dev/sda1
I hit enter and get dropped back to the "Prepare Hard Drive" menu. I followed this section of the Beginner's Guide too.
Is there any way to fix this?
Last edited by Tyrian (2008-11-15 18:37:10)

Install arch on a virtual machine

I am following a tutorial to install arch linux on my virtual box, oracle.
when it comes to the command mkinitcpio, it gives me an error, command not found.
#arch-chroot /mnt
#mkinitcpio -p linux
sh: mkinitcpio: command not found
I added /sbin to my path, but that had no effect.
could anyone guide me please.

saman_artorious wrote:Yes, it is the UUID, but I don't know how to check it.
I think this is the way to do that-
To list basic information about the partitions, run:
$ lsblk -f
or, if you like a gui, I'm partial to "gparted" where you right click on a partition and then click 'information'
Somewhat off topic, but are there preconfigured appliances for download that are recommended? It would be nice to not have to go through the whole instillation routine.
I found this one, and it seems to be one of the few out there from the systemd era:
Archlinux-2013.08.01.ova.torrent
For the OP, you may consider working backwords. Load up a preinstalled appliance, and remove packages you don't want.
Just thinking out loud.
Last edited by browntown (2014-01-14 15:56:48)

Impossible to install arch in UEFI mode on my Acer Aspire S3-391

Hi there,
I am trying to install arch-linux on my Acer Aspire S3-391, which came with a pre-shipped Windows 8. I am trying to make a dual boot, so I would like to keep the UEFI mode at startup. However, my computer won't boot on the Arch Linux USB Flash drive when in UEFI mode : when plugged in, the key prevents the computer from loading anything. The "Acer" page keeps on reloading itself, without even letting me access the BIOS menu (In other words, the computer is blocked at "POST" phase when the installation media of arch is plugged in).
Here's what I did to try and solve the problem :
1) of course, I disabled Secure Boot and hibernation in Windows 8.
2) tried to boot in legacy bios. It works, and i could install arch this way : but as told before, i would like to install it in UEFI mode.
3) Checked, re-checked and re-rechecked the installation media.
4) tried to install Ubuntu in UEFI mode. It worked : the bootable key of Ubuntu was loaded, when the bootable key of arch is blocked. Why ? No idea...
5) Installed Ubuntu, and tried to install Arch in UEFI mode from Ubuntu, following the tutorial "Install_from_Existing_Linux". No luck here : i was blocked at step "Testing if you are booted into UEFI mode" on the beginner's guide : I was not, and I couldn't find any solution in the tutorial.
Any suggestions on what I should try next ?

If you've already installed in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode, my recommendation is to install your EFI-mode boot loader and try it out. You'll need to use something else that does boot (such as Ubuntu), install the boot loader using the Windows bcdedit command (assuming you're dual-booting), or install the boot loader as EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi (if you're setting up for Linux alone) to get it to work, though.

How to install arch 2009.08 from hard drive? Please enlighten me

OK, I admit I am impatient for the installation from the CD drive. Whenever possible and whatever distro I wanna try, I head first to try to install it from the hard drive. I don't remember how many times and how many distros I have done the same to, ubuntu, zenwalk, sidux, fedora, opensuse and of course arch. It rarely failed as long as I followed someone's guide, sth like "install any OS from hard drive", I do not exactly remember. And I did the same in the past with arch. But after 2009.08, it simply didn't work. I've read the article "fast install arch from existing linux system" in the wiki, it didn't work either (by the way, if someone can solve my problem, I think the article should be updated). After it boots, at some stage, it says "Use Hook [archiso]", then tell me "waiting for /dev/archiso for 30 seconds ..." then when the time due, it throws me into a ramfs shell. I've hacked for a long time, but no luck. Then I went back to download the 2009.02 iso, however, it works flawlessly.
I did find some differences in the menu.lst/isolinux.cfg between two version.
In 2009.02, we have
title Boot Arch Linux Live CD
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 lang=en locale=en_US.UTF-8 usbdelay=5 ramdisk_size=75%
initrd /boot/archiso_pata.img
While in 2009.08, it is
title Boot Arch Linux Live CD
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 lang=en locale=en_US.UTF-8 archisolabel=ARCHISO_AHCOHH6O ramdisk_size=75%
initrd /boot/archiso_pata.img
I know I can install arch from usb, but I simply wanna know what's wrong here, so guys, if you have any idea, don't hesitate to enlighten me.

Hi, vacant, thanks for the reply. I did not notice you are the author of the article. Actually I missed the head of the article which directs me to another (the amalgamated one you mentioned). I take a look at it, it seems to make things complicated. I still miss the old days: you simply download the iso, mount it and copy all the contents into a separate partition, edit your current grub, then reboot and everything works. I don't understand how Arch could be so evolved to exclude this simple installation scheme. I am not complaining the development of Arch. In my opinion, a distro as flexible as Arch should provide as much installation strategy as possible. In this respect, I think we can learn from Ubuntu or sidux (in sidux, it provides a very convenient kernel parameter called "fromiso" which allows you to install sidux from the plain iso, that means, you even don't have to mount it and copy the contents out of it to a separate partition).
Last edited by plmday (2009-10-25 06:25:44)

Install arch on emachine laptop

Hello,
Here is my problem. I am trying to install arch on an emachines amd64 laptop. The 0.6 install disc boots a working 2.6 kernel from which I can get networking started. If I then install a 2.6 kernel, it freezes loading the kernel at the point where the dmesg says: "NET" Registered protocol family 2". If I install a 2.4 kernel it will boot fine after adding acpi=off and agp=try_unsupported parms. However, I cannot get networking to work with the 2.4 kernel. The modules will load but I will always timeout during network start. I've run network start using bash -x and I am getting the correct parms to dhcpd. It just doesn't want to work. So my question is this. How do I get a 2.6 kernel to boot? I know it will work because install uses it. Is there a way to use the install kernel? Should I try to build a kernel during install and how do I do this?
Thanks,
Jason

Ok, Got the 2.6.3 kernel working. There is an excellent resource here.
The 3 things which helped me were:
1.) Using the config file listed on the page linked above as a basic guide.
2.) Using ext3 as my filesystem.
3.) Adding "pci=noacpi noapic psmouse.proto=imps" to my kernel boot parms.
Also on the page linked above there are links to 2 other resources. "thither's page" and a gentoo forum link. Thither's page is worth checking out and the gentoo forum is a long read but provides some background on the problems.
The link also provides misc patches. I have not tried those yet.
As far as I know the wireless card does not have working drivers yet and the ati card will not run 3d due to lack of drivers. If I find solutions to either I will post here.
p.s. Sorry about the OT in the posts above I am the only person I know who can get OT in a dsicussion with themself.
Thanks,
Jason

Problems after installing Arch [SOLVED]

Hello,
I attempted to follow the installation instructions to install Arch Linux. I followed those since they are faster than the Beginners Guide and didn’t meet some of my needs.
For example, I was also wanting to install an LVM partition (and I'll backup and set up dm-crypt+LUKS later after I get this issue solved), which the Beginner Guide didn't mention and there were a few other minor tweaks I wanted.
In my partition layout I have a 400MB boot (extra room for other kernels). followed by an LVM volume, which has one volume group with 4 logical partitions, these are: /, /home, /tmp, and /var.
The problem:
GRUB is not working, or at least it's not installed and configured correctly. When I boot up my computer, it says exactly, "GRUB", in the top-left corner of my screen and nothing happens. I have a poor understanding of the init/bootloader process in computers, which I am trying to learn slowly but steadily. I was re-reading the instructions for GPT specific partitions, which is what I use, and it says here:
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual … stallation
That I'm supposed to have a "BIOS partition". This is interesting because I have no idea what this is for. Something came to mind when I was using cgdisk or gdisk, it would automatically allocate the first 2000-ish sectors (instead of 34 like the documentation was hinting), so this probably means something.... I don't know.
And then I read that the BIOS installation for GPT is supposed to be done before you install Arch Linux. Whoops! So can I fix this without having to reinstall Arch? I can probably mount all of my directories and chroot inside again after creating the BIOS partition so GRUB can be configured and reinstalled correctly. Maybe I can fix this. I don't know.
So I am trying to troubleshoot this problem, but is there anything I am understanding wrongly here? Is there some other reason why GRUB won't boot up? I tried Super GRUB 2 disk and that didn't work, there was just a blank screen when booting from grub.cfg. Any help or suggestions?
I am using x86_64 Arch Linux with the installed 3.6.4-1-ARCH Linux kernel.
Last edited by mrrhq (2012-11-08 22:31:49)

mrrhq wrote:In my partition layout I have a 400MB boot (extra room for other kernels). followed by an LVM volume, which has one volume group with 4 logical partitions, these are: /, /home, /tmp, and /var.
Be aware that logical partitions are a construct of the Master Boot Record (MBR) partitioning system; however, the title of your thread, and some of the specifics, suggest that you're using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) system, which doesn't use logical partitions. If you're certain you used gdisk or cgdisk, and not fdisk or cfdisk, then you're using GPT and I'd simply accept your use of the word "logical" as an error. If there's any doubt in your mind about this, though, you should investigate further, since some of the issues and solutions depend greatly on which partitioning system you used.
That I'm supposed to have a "BIOS partition". This is interesting because I have no idea what this is for.
The BIOS Boot Partition holds a portion of the GRUB code. It's used on GPT disks but not on MBR disks -- on MBR, the equivalent code goes in an officially-unallocated area immediately after the MBR. The BIOS Boot Partition can sometimes be just a few kibibytes in size, but it's usually either 1MiB or 2MiB. (I've seen reports that some configurations now require over 1MiB, but I haven't investigated this claim.)
Something came to mind when I was using cgdisk or gdisk, it would automatically allocate the first 2000-ish sectors (instead of 34 like the documentation was hinting), so this probably means something.... I don't know.
No, these are unrelated issues. Most partitioning tools today, including gdisk and its siblings, align all partitions on 2048-sector (1MiB) boundaries so as to avoid performance penalties that can be incurred on Advanced Format disks, SSDs, and some types of RAID arrays. See this article I wrote on the topic some time ago.
That said, if you have nowhere else to put it, you could try creating a BIOS Boot Partition in that space. You'd need to change the alignment policy in gdisk or cgdisk to align on 1-sector boundaries to do so, although an 8-sector alignment would be safer for future changes if you've got an Advanced Format disk. The BIOS Boot Partition isn't really greatly affected by the alignment issues, so I wouldn't worry about leaving it unaligned. OTOH, if GRUB wants more then 1MiB on your system, this space would be too small, so it might be better to resize a partition to make room for the BIOS Boot Partition.
WonderWoofy wrote:From what I understand (I have not tried this though) grub2 is actually lvm aware. So you can put all partitions within the lvm, including boot. If this is the case, I see no reason why you would not also be able to put the 2MB bios boot partition in there as well.
GRUB 2 is LVM-aware, and it is possible to put your Linux /boot directory inside the LVM. If you want to do this, though, there's really no point to split /boot off into a separate logical volume (the LVM equivalent of a partition); you might as well just make it a normal directory off of the root (/) filesystem. I'm pretty sure it is not possible to put the BIOS Boot Partition inside the LVM. That's because the code to parse the LVM data structures is contained within the BIOS Boot Partition, thus creating a chicken-and-egg situation if you were to attempt it. Furthermore, the code to write to the BIOS Boot Partition looks for the partition type code in the disk's partition table, and there's no equivalent to that in the LVM data structures. (All this said, in principle you might be able to get something like this to work, but the result would be something similar, but not identical, to a BIOS Boot Partition.)
Although GRUB 2 can read a kernel from within an LVM, I still prefer to keep a separate /boot partition. The reason is that you might not always use GRUB 2. If you wanted or needed to switch to another boot loader in the future, it might not be LVM-aware, and might need /boot to be on a true partition, not in an LVM. (This is true of every EFI boot loader except for GRUB 2, for instance.) In fact, I routinely create two or three smallish partitions on my computers so that I can create multiple /boot partitions for multi-boot configurations or to help transition to a new installation should the need arise. This can help simplify things when the time comes to start fresh.

Automated install Arch x86_64 root-file system the "Raspberry" way..

Dear Archers,
I am currently deeply interested in installing Arch as dual boot on my
current x86_64 system.
And yes, there is plenty information regarding this subject in Arch wiki's.
However...
I would like to automate the installation the "Raspberry-Pi" -way.
Details on the "Installation tab" of:
http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv6/raspberry-pi.
As you can see, the installation steps are easy to automate, in my opinion.
That's why I wrote an automation script for this purpose..
The information further suggests that there is a root-filesystem for
Arch named: 'ArchLinuxARM-rpi-latest.tar.gz.'
Unfortunately, I don't think this root system will function on x86_64 systems..
So I researched if there was a root filesystem for Arch x86_64 and found filenames like 'root-image.fs.sfs' 'core.db' 'core.img'.
But I'm unsure if these archives/images really contain a rootfilesystem similar to the ArchARm system.
Therefore my question:
Does anybody know if there is a similar root filesystem for x86_64 so I can reproduce the "rpi-way" installation for x86_64 systems?
Kind regards,
Kees Epema

You are definitely not going to be able to simply dd arch to your machine unless you create an image to do so. Even then, that image would become old and stale pretty quickly, possibly leading to problems getting the system up to date.
In my opinion, the raspberry pi way to simply dd'ing an image to an SD card is a disservice to the ArchlinuxARM users. Though seemingly the proper way to get a system running on a raspberry pi, it masks the install process and leaves the user without a clue as to what would have gone into creating the system.
Go read the beginners guide. Use a virtual machine to practice if you need. Shortcuts are not going to help you with Arch.

How to partition a USB flash-drive to install Arch Linux?

Good afternoon,
Could anyone please guide me in the right direction, how would I go about partitioning my USB flash-drive in order to install Arch Linux onto my Acer Aspire One? I've found guides, but none of them are specific enough - the static assumption being that the OS is already partitioned onto your flash-drive, and that is not the case for me.
Much appreciated,
A Swiftly Tilting Planet

assuming your usb key is /dev/sdz
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdz
//cleans the usb drive
# fdisk /dev/sdz
// press m and read the help, make a partition, make it bootable
// you have to press (double check anyway):
// n, p, 1, <enter>, <enter>, a, 1, t, b, w
# mkfs.vfat /dev/sdz1
// formatting
The first passage can actually replaced to something more modest, like:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdz bs=1024 count=1
Last edited by ezzetabi (2009-01-03 16:37:04)

The need to install Arch over network?

When I install Arch, I need to connect to network and use pacstrap to get the packages according to the relative wiki pages.
Could I install Arch without network connection? Which command I can use to do that, say, pacman?
Why don't we provide a CD such as Ubuntu did?
My previous questions:
pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!
When install arch, how to avoid sleep or hibertate state
order question on language,internet connection and Mount the partition
wiki：
Beginners' Guide
Last edited by photon (2012-11-18 13:05:56)

Awebb wrote:
Max-P wrote:TL;DR: Just download the packages you need and put that on some media and install with pacman -U.
Which will break dependencies, unless you go all the way and install package by package with --asdeps.
Not if you install them all at once in one command. Also works if you install them in the correct order, but just dumping all the packages in the command line fixes it because pacman reads all the package first, check depencies afterward. That way, it will see you install 100 packages, all depencies met -> no problem.
Awebb wrote:And, err, if what you want to say can be said in one line, why all the text?
Because the longer text:
Explains why Arch can't have big disk images with all packages preinstalled on it
Explains why having the packages isn't that useful in most cases (example of the 1.2Gb update)
Offers multiple ways to store the packages:
Put extra packages on another media or network share
Expand the original CD image and put them directly on the Live CD
Tells where to go for the currently downloaded packages for easy access
Plus, finally, offers an alternative way to install the system: pre-build it in a VM or chroot and just untar on the target machine(s)
The one-line version doesn't talk about all that and suggest the direct way to do it quickly, but it acts more like a summary. Next time learn to read before complaining, thanks.

Installing Arch i686 on my Compaq ProLiant 5500. Will it detect the..

I got a Compaq ProLiant 5500 and going to install Arch on it for a web/email server so will it detect the SCSI's out of box or what?
Also, how should I partition my drives for it? It'll be a web/mail/dns/dhcp server.

The driver for SCSI drives is in the ARch kernel so it shouldn't be a problem. I have a scsi-drive on one of my computer's and it has no problems. As how to partition, I'd look at one of the BSD-guides. Alot of BSD's are used for mail servers and have good advice on how to partition. If i remember correctly you'll want partitions for /, /tmp, and /var... Here, I done looked it up for ya :
http://openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#Partitioning

Installing Arch on MacBook Air - EFI issues

Hi, all.
I have a mid-2012 13" Air and I want to install Arch on it as the only OS.
Now, I've tried following guides on the wiki and in the forum, and I tried to install it with grub2-efi loader, but after numerous attempts I either got nothing, or got a system that had a big delay with the bootloader. There are two or three articles on the topic: GRUB2, MacBook guide and EFI guide, but no straightforward guide, just these three pages that crossreference each other in all the wrong places What is the best way to install Arch on a Mac?
I understand that installing rEFIt can simplify things, but I want to find a way around it, since I'll only be using one OS, and I really dislike the Qt3 looks of rEFIt.
Some articles say that LILO is simpler to setup that grub on an EFI machine - is that true?
Furthermore, some discussions here mention that I should use archboot rather than the default installation image.
So, could anyone please give me a simple list of steps?
Last edited by ilembitov (2012-11-04 00:45:48)

Hi,
I'm using also Arch on a MacBook, but with rEFIt. Never tried to to remove OS X complete, because I want to have the chance to upgrade EFI and Firmware itself via Mac OS X Update.
But for a clean grub_efi installation you have to create and mount an "efi partition" and install some boot files here. Check for detailed information those 2 wiki pages:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI_Bootloaders
Afterwards you can start with the grub installation.
Simple Steps:
create partitions on disk
mount partitions
Install arch system ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide )
prepare chroot environment
jump into crhoot environment
configure system
configure grub2_efi (default files /etc/default/grub)
prepare efi partition (dir and files)
install grub2_efi
That should it be...
As I already said, never tried it without rEFIt, but its not simple, because Apple is not using a standard UEFI, so some futures won't work or will work differently. If I have some free time and money, I will try it on a second harddisk. That will be my next private project :-)

Installing Arch in a VirtualBox Machine

Dear all,
I'd like to give Arch a try installing it on a VirtualBox Machine in Ubuntu 12.04 (64 bit)
I followed the instructions in the Beginners Guide
but my installation failed (after rebooting you can't go past grub).
I would like to make a second attempt, but this time I would like to have a clarification first (just to be sure)
In section 2.3 it is shown how to configure VirtualBox and certain packages to install are listed.
I figured that since the instructions used pacman, I had to install these packages during the installation, i.e. they have to be installed
IN VirtualBox, rather than in the system on which VirtualBox is installed (in my case Ubuntu). Is this correct?
I hope I will manage to get through the installation this time (it doesn't seem too complicated, but I can't understand why my installation failed).
Thanks in advance for your help,
Cheers, Luca

It doesn't matter what your host OS is (Ubuntu, Windows 98, etc). If you follow the Beginners' Guide, the instructions are for installing Arch Linux. It doesn't matter if you're installing on a real machine or on a virtual machine. The process is the same. For VirtualBox in particular (doesn't apply to WMware or QEMU), there's the Guest Additions package, which will get you shared clipboard among other goodies. But that comes in much later. Like I said, the installation is exactly the same - appart maybe from establishing an internet connection, because dhcpcd is ran automatically.
It doesn't go passed GRUB probably because you forgot to generate a grub.cfg, or you used "/dev/sda1" instead of "/dev/sda". Or you used GPT instead of MBR and didn't create an empty 2 MiB partition (Syslinux doesn't need one).
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … bootloader

Installing arch on extended partition/logical drive

hi there. i am a newbie to linux and about to install arch as my first linux installation.
i am using vaio AR laptop already running xp and would like to keep it and have double boot without reinstalling xp.
have 200gb hdd with recovery primary partition, system primary partition (where xp installed) and extended partition with one logical drive (D: ) of 100gb.
i was considering deleting the logical drive (and the extended partition if necessary), which if i understand correctly should give me 100gb of unallocated space.
i would then like to install arch on the 100gb of unallocated space.
i would like to know if the way i am planning to go about it is possible, and whether i can install arch completely on one extended partition devided into logical drives.
any comments or sugestions would be much appreciated...
Last edited by o12357 (2009-09-04 12:45:18)

I believe that is correct. Grub has to have a reference to the md0 raid for booting.
Please see
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=79306
This solution to the boot problem with md0 should be helpful for your case since grub must be modified to accomodate the raid.
I am not sure the data in your raid0 is appropo for your use in booting archlinux, however. If I understand correctly, it is windows related data and not applicable to linux.
If your raid0 is partitioned, it would be possible to establish a boot for each system using grub partition references differing for linux and windows systems.
Thus, you would have grub entries complete for linux and another set complete for windows.
I think AFAICT windows has to be first in the usual dual booting but am not an expert on that, not having used dual boot. It may be somewhat different when using raid for booting dual systems.
I suggest you read the wiki on dual boots.
Perhaps you will get advice from others on the subject also.
EDIT: Your asumption that all OS'es will recognize the raid0 devices as a single drive does not apply to archlinux which does not autodetect raid arrays but must have initramfs populated with the raid data established by mdadm and initiated into initramfs by mkinitcpio. Then during boot sequences , the array is assembled and enabled as a single drive,i.e., md0. The boot sequence assembles all drives having identical UUID's in the raid array.
Last edited by lilsirecho (2009-09-05 18:23:36)

Installing Arch on an SD card

I already looked at the beginner's guide etc... I've scoured the forums a bit, and I've probably missed something, I won't mind being corrected after saying I couldn't find anything of much use. I'm putting arch on my netbook but I don't feel like playing with the harddrive which I'd prefer to keep as the default windows installation. Unfortunately the harddrive has 4 partitions on it so in order to use it at all I'll have to get rid of something. Fortunately I have an SD card slot which I can go ahead and use (currently planning on using my 8GB card). From what I understand I should put the /var partition on the harddrive so as to not ruin the card any faster than I have to. I'm not entirely sure what I should do here, it's been a long time since I've had to install Arch, and I've never been good at it. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks again,
--Wes

ewaller wrote:The link provided by lagagnon addresses CF cards on an IDE to CF converter.
As the fellow who wrote the original draft of that link, I can assure that it holds equally valid for SD cards. The only difference is that an SD card needs the mkinitcpio USB hook enabled.
ewaller wrote:I cannot think of any laptop that does boot from internal SD readers.
I can not think of any laptop that does not boot from internal SD. I've only set it up on half a dozen or so, but my success rate as been 100%. Nearly every laptop made in the last seven years can USB/SD boot.
ewaller wrote:This laptop (HP Pavilion DV4 1227) has a SD reader, but will not boot from that reader.
Always research large purchases to death. Punch that laptop's name into google, and the third result is "Don't Buy the HP Pavilion...."
Wesman26 wrote:I'm not entirely sure what I should do here.
Don't worry about /var. I've always had it write to the flash drive. (I also replace my SD/CF cards every year and my hard drives every three.) When you are installing Arch, enable USB booting. That is the only critical step. And follow those direction regarding mount flags, otherwise it will be dog slow.
Right now I am typing this from a computer running entirely from a class 6 micro SDHC card. I can swap it with the µSD card in my MP3 player or camera and boot a completely different OS. Once I start thinking about all the places you can hide a chunk of plastic the size of a fingernail, it is hard not to whistle the "Mission Impossible" theme while using a computer.
In short, running linux from SD cards is easy and fun.
Last edited by keenerd (2010-01-08 14:11:30)

A Newbie Guide to installing Arch

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