Arch Linux based live gaming distro 'lg-live 0.9.5' released

Hey all,
first of all, sorry if this is the wrong subforum to post this in but this one seemed most appropriate.
I would like to announce the release of live.linuX-gamers 0.9.5, an Arch Linux based live gaming distro. It was made using Archiso and of course a big investment of time. It is going to be officially released on LinuxTag 2009 in Berlin (in three days) but I thought I'd give it to you guys now.
It is a very specialized distro: It contains lots of popular games, installs proprietary graphics card drivers out-of-the-box and provides you with a nice, clean interface for launching games and a few basic applications.
I don't want to over-advertise this so I'll just say: Please go ahead and test it if you feel like it, maybe mirror it or seed the torrents a bit, post feedback or thoughts, insult me or threaten me, etc.
If you want to give it a spin or see which games are on it, go over to http://live.linux-gamers.net and grab yourself an ISO/USB image.
Thank you, Arch Linux, for making this possible.

karol wrote:
capoeira wrote:is there a way to install other games when using a USB-Device?
This thread is rather old, but yeah, it's possible to remaster this "meta-distro" and add/remove games you like: http://github.com/svenstaro/lglive
BTW, there's a new release http://live.linux-gamers.net/
Ohh what a positive surprise to have a girl here,
yea, i downloaded the DVD this week. I'm no gamer, I gamed in the 90ies on a Amiga 500 last time. But sometimes I get a wich to play a bit, so I found this DVD (I don't want to instal games to my production-distro and don't want to instal Catalyst either for my card)
I want to play 3d first-person games but those ego-shooters i don't enjoy. Its running around shooting on everything and diying a hundred times. I want something more realistic, so I found penumbra and amnesia and would like to install it with this DVD. (if anyone has tips for realistic 3d-games, action-adventures, etc. I would apreciate tips)
I will have a look at your link, thanks a lot

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    cp -v ${abs_chroot}/tmp/pacman/usr/bin/pacman.static ${abs_chroot}/usr/bin/
    rm -vrf ${abs_chroot}/tmp/pacman
    # install pacman configuration in chroot
    echo -e "${B}configure pacman...${b}"
    [ "${abs_repository}" ] || abs_repository='http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/i686'
    abs_pacman_conf=${abs_chroot}/tmp/pacman.conf
    echo "
    [core]
    Server = ${abs_repository}
    [extra]
    Server = ${abs_repository}
    [community]
    Server = ${abs_repository}
    " > ${abs_pacman_conf}
    # install the core
    echo -e "${B}install the core...${b}"
    ${abs_chroot}/usr/bin/pacman.static \
    --sync \
    --refresh \
    --root ${abs_chroot} \
    --cachedir ${abs_cache} \
    --config ${abs_pacman_conf} \
    --logfile /dev/null \
    --verbose \
    --noprogressbar \
    base || exit $?

  • Web based IRC for the Arch Linux channel

    Would it be possible for someone to set up the Arch linux IRC channel to be viewable on a Firefox webpage in the same way the Frugalware guys do?
    http://frugalware.org/irc.php
    It could be really useful to those not familiar with IRC.  And it doesn't look that hard to do
    A link could then be put on the home page to get there quickly.

    CGI:IRC is really practical, if you are on-the-road (= not on your machine) but want to inform some people over chat on something important
    i had it running in an earlier version on my old machine to chat with my family when on holidays ... but the installation was pain ... however, i see that this piece of code evolved much and looks really great now
    i don't decide for archlinux.org but you have my vote ;-)

  • [SOLVED] Arch Linux Duke (2007) Fails to Boot

    Folks, I have a unique and challenging problem that has exhausted my Arch Linux skills, and so I am now turning to you.
    I have a vintage Pentium Pro 200 system (that’s 200 MHz folks! – 200 MHz 686 architecture – the original 686!), two CPUs, running a dual boot between Windows NT 4.0 and Arch Linux Duke (2007). It has 512 MB of RAM and a 120 GB hard drive, partitioned up between Windows NT and Linux. I built this system new in 2007, hence the dated version of Arch.  It has run like a charm all these years, granted not getting that much use. After about a year of no use at all, I fired the system up last week to help with a little research for a blog post I was writing on networking Windows NT 4.0 and Mac OS 8.6. Windows NT 4.0 fired right up with no issue, and after I was done testing what needed to be tested I tried to boot over to Arch.
    After a year of disuse, Arch unexpectedly and stubbornly refused to boot. The boot process started up just fine, but towards the end, it declared that it could not mount the root file system on the root device and took a kernel panic and stopped. My Arch skills have gotten a bit rusty in the last few years, but I dusted them off and went to work. My guess was a file system or superblock error. Arch wouldn’t boot, but I dragged out my trusty RIPLinux 2.9 Rescue Live CD and fired it up. It came right up and ran, and I was able to mount the Arch partition and view all the files… everything seemed to be there; it just wouldn’t boot. Windows NT 4.0 AND RIPLinux both boot and run on the machine, so the hardware is fine as well.
    A little information on the disk layout. Windows NT 4.0 is in the first partition on the hard drive. The extended partition has a second Windows NT 4.0 partition (sort of a /home partition for Windows NT 4.0), followed by the main Arch partition (the one I am trying to boot), followed by a swap partition and then the largest partition, which I use to share data between Arch and Windows NT 4.0 (I have loaded an ext2/3 driver into Windows NT 4.0 and it happily accesses the Linux partitions on the box).
    RIPLinux’s e2fsck did find some issues with the Arch partition and I had it repair them all. I checked again afterwards that all the files were still there, and they were. With the partition now known to be clean, and the superblock repaired from one of the backups, all should have been well. However, Arch still wouldn’t (and still won’t) boot.
    RIPLinux has a kind of a chain loader function, so I had it attempt to start up Arch for me. However, this was flummoxed by the fact that Arch addresses all my hard drive partitions as /dev/sdax and RIPLinux addresses them as /dev/hdax. Hence, without a common language, it was hard to get the one to start the other. Still, using this function, I have been able to get a crippled version of Arch running on the machine again. No modules had been loaded, and so it couldn’t do almost anything, but there it was (and is), Arch Linux Duke, at the CLI level. From there, I can see all the files, I can move freely in and out of my user account and the root account, but I can’t make the thing actually boot properly.
    If you have read this far, you are a trooper.  Summarizing what I know, the hardware is good, the file system is clean, the superblock is good, I can mount it cleanly from a live CD and I can chain load a crippled version of Arch. Here is the boot process blow-by-blow. When I try to do a normal boot, the Windows NT 4.0 loader passes control to the Lilo boot sector I have placed on hda1 (sda1 in Duke’s parlance). Lilo takes over, present a menu and when I select Duke, takes off. Arch Linux Duke starts to boot. It gets a good long way along, all the way along to:
    :: Loading udev events                [Pass]
    :: Mount root Read-only
    :: Checking file systems
    This is where it stops.
    The next thing I see is:
    /dev/sda6
    The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else) then the superblock is corrupt and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
        E2fsck –b 8193 <device>
    I then get a sort of character based splash screen that says
    **********FILE SYSTEM CHECK FAILED ****************************
    *   Please repair manually and reboot. Note that the root file system
    *   is currently mounted read-only. To remount it read-write, type:
    *   mount –n –o remount,rw /.  When you exit the maintenance
    *   shell, the system will reboot automatically
    Give root password for maintenance
    At this point, I give the root password and enter the maintenance shell as root. I typed in “mount” and the first entry I got back is
    /dev/sda6 on / type ext3 (rw)
    This is exactly the root partition that the start up complains about. It is clearly there.  I can see it, I can walk around it… it is clearly there. Why won’t it boot? Despite the message, the superblock is fine – it passes every test e2fsck can throw at it.
    At this point, I did a “e2fsck /dev/hda6 (which is how RIPLinux would have passed it into Arch” and it says it is “clean”. I suspect that the Superblock message is because Arch sees root as sda6, while RIP passed it in as hda6...
    Deciding to see what Arch would be seeing as it tried to set things up in the boot sequence, I tried the following next:
    # mknod “/dev/root2” b 3 6   
    (“3” because RIPLinux refers to my hard drive as IDE, while Arch refers to it by major number “8”, which is SCSI. By the way, it IS an IDE drive – not sure why Arch insists on using the sdx nomenclature instead of hdx)
    Then I entered “mount /dev/root2 /mnt/hda6” and “ls /mnt/hda6”
    All was well. I can make the node, I can mount it, and I can see the contents. All is clearly well, but something is clearly wrong enough that Arch can’t boot.
    I am totally out of ideas. I have tried every trick I know and am out of tricks. I would welcome any insights as to what I could try to get this venerable Arch installation back on its legs.
    By the way, the key section of the /etc/lilo.conf file (lest anyone want to know) is:
    image = /boot/vmlinuz26
       root = /dev/sda6
       label = ArchLinux-Duke
       initrd = /boot/kernel26.img
       read-only
    I am stumped. Thanks in advance for any and all pointers you may be able to offer.
    Last edited by mac57 (2014-06-02 17:42:21)

    Folks, thanks for all your helpful comments, and I wanted to report back to you that I finally overcame the issue, and ArchLinux-Duke (2007) is once again executing flawlessly on my old Pentium Pro 200 system. I won't bother reporting here all the blind allies I went down as I tried to figure out what was wrong, but in the end, literally moments before I was about to give up and overwrite my Arch installation with a new Linux variant (antiX seemed well suited for such old and low power hardware), my attention was drawn to a note I had made in my files back in 2007 about a problem with similar symptoms. In that case, I had just deleted ZenWalk Linux from the hard drive (both Arch and Zen had been on the drive), and merged several partitions to make use of the newly free space. This had changed Arch's view of the drive lettering, and what had been its /dev/sddx root device was now /dev/sdcx. Arch failed to boot, throwing off the same errors I was seeing now. I wish I had recalled that note a month or so ago! It would have saved me a lot of work and a lot of frustration.
    At any rate, as a last step, and testing the idea that maybe the drive lettering had changed for some reason, I repeatedly manually booted Arch, specifying root=/dev/sda6, then /dev/sdb6, then /dev/sdd6, and finally, /dev/sdc6. Eureka! Arch now considered itself to be on /dev/sdc6 whereas previously it had been on /dev/sda6. This got me part way there, but the boot failed at the filesystem check stage and threw me into root. I disabled the file system check in /etc/rc.sysinit and got farther. Then I cleaned up /etc/fstab to agree with the new sdc naming, and I was back on the air fully.
    So, what had happened was that Arch had changed its view of the drive it was on from sda6 to sdc6. While I could not understand why this "sudden" change had occurred, at least I had a solution, and had Arch back up and running.
    Trolling through the rest of my notes, I found the answer. In 2012, the Tekram SCSI card in the machine failed, and I ultimately replaced it with an Adaptec card. The Tekram card did not have a BIOS segment on it. The Adaptec card did. My guess is that this caused the two internal SCSI devices I have built into the system (Iomega ZIP and Jaz respectively) to be enumerated first, claiming the "sda" and "sdb". device names. That left "sdc" for the root device, and that is where Arch went next.  This is my guess anyway.
    I should have caught this issue back in 2012, at the time, but from my notes, I can see that I tested the new card thoroughly using the  Windows NT 4.0 side of the machine, but never thought to bring up Arch as well. Hence, this problem lay dormant for two years, before I attempted to fire up Arch last month and blundered right into it.
    It has not all been bad. I have learned more about the ext2 and ext3 file systems and superblocks in the intervening time than I will ever need to use. I have learned how to manually boot Linux on a machine whose BIOS is so old that it cannot address the disk cylinder that the kernel is on and I have completely refreshed the many general Linux skills that used to just flow from my finger tips. It has been a frustrating experience, but ultimately a successful and useful one.
    Just wanted to let everyone know that this is now [SOLVED]. I would mark the post as such, but I don't see any obvious way to do that. Thanks again everyone.

  • System encryption using LUKS and GPG encrypted keys for arch linux

    Update: As of 2012-03-28, arch changed from gnupg 1.4 to 2.x which uses pinentry for the password dialog. The "etwo" hook described here doesn't work with gnupg 2. Either use the openssl hook below or use a statically compiled version of gnupg 1.4.
    Update: As of 2012-12-19, the mkinitcpio is not called during boot, unless the "install" file for the hook contains "add_runscript". This resulted in an unbootable system for me. Also, the method name was changed from install () to build ().
    Update: 2013-01-13: Updated the hook files using the corrections by Deth.
    Note: This guide is a bit dated now, in particular the arch installation might be different now. But essentially, the approach stays the same. Please also take a look at the posts further down, specifically the alternative hooks that use openssl.
    I always wanted to set up a fully encrypted arch linux server that uses gpg encrypted keyfiles on an external usb stick and luks for root filesystem encryption. I already did it once in gentoo using this guide. For arch, I had to play alot with initcpio hooks and after one day of experimentation, I finally got it working. I wrote a little guide for myself which I'm going to share here for anyone that might be interested. There might be better or easier ways, like I said this is just how I did it. I hope it might help someone else. Constructive feedback is always welcome
    Intro
    Using arch linux mkinitcpio's encrypt hook, one can easily use encrypted root partitions with LUKS. It's also possible to use key files stored on an external drive, like an usb stick. However, if someone steals your usb stick, he can just copy the key and potentially access the system. I wanted to have a little extra security by additionally encrypting the key file with gpg using a symmetric cipher and a passphrase.
    Since the encrypt hook doesn't support this scenario, I created a modifed hook called “etwo” (silly name I know, it was the first thing that came to my mind). It will simply look if the key file has the extension .gpg and, if yes, use gpg to decrypt it, then pipe the result into cryptsetup.
    Conventions
    In this short guide, I use the following disk/partition names:
    /dev/sda: is the hard disk that will contain an encrypted swap (/dev/sda1), /var (/dev/sda2) and root (/dev/sda3) partition.
    /dev/sdb is the usb stick that will contain the gpg encrypted luks keys, the kernel and grub. It will have one partition /dev/sdb1 formatted with ext2.
    /dev/mapper/root, /dev/mapper/swap and /dev/mapper/var will be the encrypted devices.
    Credits
    Thanks to the authors of SECURITY_System_Encryption_DM-Crypt_with_LUKS (gentoo wiki), System Encryption with LUKS (arch wiki), mkinitcpio (arch wiki) and Early Userspace in Arch Linux (/dev/brain0 blog)!
    Guide
    1. Boot the arch live cd
    I had to use a newer testing version, because the 2010.05 cd came with a broken gpg. You can download one here: http://releng.archlinux.org/isos/. I chose the “core“ version. Go ahead and boot the live cd, but don't start the setup yet.
    2. Set keymap
    Use km to set your keymap. This is important for non-qwerty keyboards to avoid suprises with passphrases...
    3. Wipe your discs
    ATTENTION: this will DELETE everything on /dev/sda and /dev/sdb forever! Do not blame me for any lost data!
    Before encrypting the hard disc, it has to be completely wiped and overwritten with random data. I used shred for this. Others use badblocks or dd with /dev/urandom. Either way, this will take a long time, depending on the size of your disc. I also wiped my usb stick just to be sure.
    shred -v /dev/sda
    shred -v /dev/sdb
    4. Partitioning
    Fire up fdisk and create the following partitions:
    /dev/sda1, type linux swap.
    /dev/sda2: type linux
    /dev/sda3: type linux
    /dev/sdb1, type linux
    Of course you can choose a different layout, this is just how I did it. Keep in mind that only the root filesystem will be decrypted by the initcpio. The rest will be decypted during normal init boot using /etc/crypttab, the keys being somewhere on the root filesystem.
    5. Format  and mount the usb stick
    Create an ext2 filesystem on /dev/sdb1:
    mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb1
    mkdir /root/usb
    mount /dev/sdb1 /root/usb
    cd /root/usb # this will be our working directory for now.
    Do not mount anything to /mnt, because the arch installer will use that directory later to mount the encrypted root filesystem.
    6. Configure the network (if not already done automatically)
    ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0
    route add default gw 192.168.0.1
    echo "nameserver 192.168.0.1" >> /etc/resolv.conf
    (this is just an example, your mileage may vary)
    7. Install gnupg
    pacman -Sy
    pacman -S gnupg
    Verify that gnupg works by launching gpg.
    8. Create the keys
    Just to be sure, make sure swap is off:
    cat /proc/swaps
    should return no entries.
    Create gpg encrypted keys (remember, we're still in our working dir /root/usb):
    dd if=/dev/urandom bs=512 count=4 | gpg -v --cipher-algo aes256 --digest-algo sha512 -c -a > root.gpg
    dd if=/dev/urandom bs=512 count=4 | gpg -v --cipher-algo aes256 --digest-algo sha512 -c -a > var.gpg
    Choose a strong password!!
    Don't do this in two steps, e.g don't do dd to a file and then gpg on that file. The key should never be stored in plain text on an unencrypted device, except if that device is wiped on system restart (ramfs)!
    Note that the default cipher for gpg is cast5, I just chose to use a different one.
    9. Create the encrypted devices with cryptsetup
    Create encrypted swap:
    cryptsetup -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 -s 256 -h whirlpool -d /dev/urandom create swap /dev/sda1
    You should see /dev/mapper/swap now. Don't format nor turn it on for now. This will be done by the arch installer.
    Important: From the Cryptsetup 1.1.2 Release notes:
    Cryptsetup can accept passphrase on stdin (standard input). Handling of new line (\n) character is defined by input specification:
        if keyfile is specified as "-" (using --key-file=- or by positional argument in luksFormat and luksAddKey, like cat file | cryptsetup --key-file=- <action> ), input is processed
          as normal binary file and no new line is interpreted.
        if there is no key file specification (with default input from stdin pipe like echo passphrase | cryptsetup <action> ) input is processed as input from terminal, reading will
          stop after new line is detected.
    If I understand this correctly, since the randomly generated key can contain a newline early on, piping the key into cryptsetup without specifying --key-file=- could result in a big part of the key to be ignored by cryptsetup. Example: if the random key was "foo\nandsomemorebaratheendofthekey", piping it directly into cryptsetup without --key-file=- would result in cryptsetup using only "foo" as key which would have big security implications. We should therefor ALWAYS pipe the key into cryptsetup using --key-file=- which ignores newlines.
    gpg -q -d root.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v -–key-file=- -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 -s 256 -h whirlpool luksFormat /dev/sda3
    gpg -q -d var.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v –-key-file=- -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 -s 256 -h whirlpool -v luksFormat /dev/sda2
    Check for any errors.
    10. Open the luks devices
    gpg -d root.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v –-key-file=- luksOpen /dev/sda3 root
    gpg -d var.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v –-key-file=- luksOpen /dev/sda2 var
    If you see /dev/mapper/root and /dev/mapper/var now, everything is ok.
    11. Start the installer /arch/setup
    Follow steps 1 to 3.
    At step 4 (Prepare hard drive(s), select “3 – Manually Configure block devices, filesystems and mountpoints. Choose /dev/sdb1 (the usb stick) as /boot, /dev/mapper/swap for swap, /dev/mapper/root for / and /dev/mapper/var for /var.
    Format all drives (choose “yes” when asked “do you want to have this filesystem (re)created”) EXCEPT for /dev/sdb1, choose “no”. Choose the correct filesystem for /dev/sdb1, ext2 in my case. Use swap for /dev/mapper/swap. For the rest, I chose ext4.
    Select DONE to start formatting.
    At step 5 (Select packages), select grub as boot loader. Select the base group. Add mkinitcpio.
    Start step 6 (Install packages).
    Go to step 7 (Configure System).
    By sure to set the correct KEYMAP, LOCALE and TIMEZONE in /etc/rc.conf.
    Edit /etc/fstab:
    /dev/mapper/root / ext4 defaults 0 1
    /dev/mapper/swap swap swap defaults 0 0
    /dev/mapper/var /var ext4 defaults 0 1
    # /dev/sdb1 /boot ext2 defaults 0 1
    Configure the rest normally. When you're done, setup will launch mkinitcpio. We'll manually launch this again later.
    Go to step 8 (install boot loader).
    Be sure to change the kernel line in menu.lst:
    kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/mapper/root cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:root cryptkey=/dev/sdb1:ext2:/root.gpg
    Don't forget the :root suffix in cryptdevice!
    Also, my root line was set to (hd1,0). Had to change that to
    root (hd0,0)
    Install grub to /dev/sdb (the usb stick).
    Now, we can exit the installer.
    12. Install mkinitcpio with the etwo hook.
    Create /mnt/lib/initcpio/hooks/etwo:
    #!/usr/bin/ash
    run_hook() {
    /sbin/modprobe -a -q dm-crypt >/dev/null 2>&1
    if [ -e "/sys/class/misc/device-mapper" ]; then
    if [ ! -e "/dev/mapper/control" ]; then
    /bin/mknod "/dev/mapper/control" c $(cat /sys/class/misc/device-mapper/dev | sed 's|:| |')
    fi
    [ "${quiet}" = "y" ] && CSQUIET=">/dev/null"
    # Get keyfile if specified
    ckeyfile="/crypto_keyfile"
    usegpg="n"
    if [ "x${cryptkey}" != "x" ]; then
    ckdev="$(echo "${cryptkey}" | cut -d: -f1)"
    ckarg1="$(echo "${cryptkey}" | cut -d: -f2)"
    ckarg2="$(echo "${cryptkey}" | cut -d: -f3)"
    if poll_device "${ckdev}" ${rootdelay}; then
    case ${ckarg1} in
    *[!0-9]*)
    # Use a file on the device
    # ckarg1 is not numeric: ckarg1=filesystem, ckarg2=path
    if [ "${ckarg2#*.}" = "gpg" ]; then
    ckeyfile="${ckeyfile}.gpg"
    usegpg="y"
    fi
    mkdir /ckey
    mount -r -t ${ckarg1} ${ckdev} /ckey
    dd if=/ckey/${ckarg2} of=${ckeyfile} >/dev/null 2>&1
    umount /ckey
    # Read raw data from the block device
    # ckarg1 is numeric: ckarg1=offset, ckarg2=length
    dd if=${ckdev} of=${ckeyfile} bs=1 skip=${ckarg1} count=${ckarg2} >/dev/null 2>&1
    esac
    fi
    [ ! -f ${ckeyfile} ] && echo "Keyfile could not be opened. Reverting to passphrase."
    fi
    if [ -n "${cryptdevice}" ]; then
    DEPRECATED_CRYPT=0
    cryptdev="$(echo "${cryptdevice}" | cut -d: -f1)"
    cryptname="$(echo "${cryptdevice}" | cut -d: -f2)"
    else
    DEPRECATED_CRYPT=1
    cryptdev="${root}"
    cryptname="root"
    fi
    warn_deprecated() {
    echo "The syntax 'root=${root}' where '${root}' is an encrypted volume is deprecated"
    echo "Use 'cryptdevice=${root}:root root=/dev/mapper/root' instead."
    if poll_device "${cryptdev}" ${rootdelay}; then
    if /sbin/cryptsetup isLuks ${cryptdev} >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    [ ${DEPRECATED_CRYPT} -eq 1 ] && warn_deprecated
    dopassphrase=1
    # If keyfile exists, try to use that
    if [ -f ${ckeyfile} ]; then
    if [ "${usegpg}" = "y" ]; then
    # gpg tty fixup
    if [ -e /dev/tty ]; then mv /dev/tty /dev/tty.backup; fi
    cp -a /dev/console /dev/tty
    while [ ! -e /dev/mapper/${cryptname} ];
    do
    sleep 2
    /usr/bin/gpg -d "${ckeyfile}" 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup --key-file=- luksOpen ${cryptdev} ${cryptname} ${CSQUIET}
    dopassphrase=0
    done
    rm /dev/tty
    if [ -e /dev/tty.backup ]; then mv /dev/tty.backup /dev/tty; fi
    else
    if eval /sbin/cryptsetup --key-file ${ckeyfile} luksOpen ${cryptdev} ${cryptname} ${CSQUIET}; then
    dopassphrase=0
    else
    echo "Invalid keyfile. Reverting to passphrase."
    fi
    fi
    fi
    # Ask for a passphrase
    if [ ${dopassphrase} -gt 0 ]; then
    echo ""
    echo "A password is required to access the ${cryptname} volume:"
    #loop until we get a real password
    while ! eval /sbin/cryptsetup luksOpen ${cryptdev} ${cryptname} ${CSQUIET}; do
    sleep 2;
    done
    fi
    if [ -e "/dev/mapper/${cryptname}" ]; then
    if [ ${DEPRECATED_CRYPT} -eq 1 ]; then
    export root="/dev/mapper/root"
    fi
    else
    err "Password succeeded, but ${cryptname} creation failed, aborting..."
    exit 1
    fi
    elif [ -n "${crypto}" ]; then
    [ ${DEPRECATED_CRYPT} -eq 1 ] && warn_deprecated
    msg "Non-LUKS encrypted device found..."
    if [ $# -ne 5 ]; then
    err "Verify parameter format: crypto=hash:cipher:keysize:offset:skip"
    err "Non-LUKS decryption not attempted..."
    return 1
    fi
    exe="/sbin/cryptsetup create ${cryptname} ${cryptdev}"
    tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f1)
    [ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --hash \"${tmp}\""
    tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f2)
    [ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --cipher \"${tmp}\""
    tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f3)
    [ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --key-size \"${tmp}\""
    tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f4)
    [ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --offset \"${tmp}\""
    tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f5)
    [ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --skip \"${tmp}\""
    if [ -f ${ckeyfile} ]; then
    exe="${exe} --key-file ${ckeyfile}"
    else
    exe="${exe} --verify-passphrase"
    echo ""
    echo "A password is required to access the ${cryptname} volume:"
    fi
    eval "${exe} ${CSQUIET}"
    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    err "Non-LUKS device decryption failed. verify format: "
    err " crypto=hash:cipher:keysize:offset:skip"
    exit 1
    fi
    if [ -e "/dev/mapper/${cryptname}" ]; then
    if [ ${DEPRECATED_CRYPT} -eq 1 ]; then
    export root="/dev/mapper/root"
    fi
    else
    err "Password succeeded, but ${cryptname} creation failed, aborting..."
    exit 1
    fi
    else
    err "Failed to open encryption mapping: The device ${cryptdev} is not a LUKS volume and the crypto= paramater was not specified."
    fi
    fi
    rm -f ${ckeyfile}
    fi
    Create /mnt/lib/initcpio/install/etwo:
    #!/bin/bash
    build() {
    local mod
    add_module dm-crypt
    if [[ $CRYPTO_MODULES ]]; then
    for mod in $CRYPTO_MODULES; do
    add_module "$mod"
    done
    else
    add_all_modules '/crypto/'
    fi
    add_dir "/dev/mapper"
    add_binary "cryptsetup"
    add_binary "dmsetup"
    add_binary "/usr/bin/gpg"
    add_file "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/10-dm.rules"
    add_file "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/13-dm-disk.rules"
    add_file "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/95-dm-notify.rules"
    add_file "/usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules" "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/11-dm-initramfs.rules"
    add_runscript
    help ()
    cat<<HELPEOF
    This hook allows for an encrypted root device with support for gpg encrypted key files.
    To use gpg, the key file must have the extension .gpg and you have to install gpg and add /usr/bin/gpg
    to your BINARIES var in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf.
    HELPEOF
    Edit /mnt/etc/mkinitcpio.conf (only relevant sections displayed):
    MODULES=”ext2 ext4” # not sure if this is really nessecary.
    BINARIES=”/usr/bin/gpg” # this could probably be done in install/etwo...
    HOOKS=”base udev usbinput keymap autodetect pata scsi sata usb etwo filesystems” # (usbinput is only needed if you have an usb keyboard)
    Copy the initcpio stuff over to the live cd:
    cp /mnt/lib/initcpio/hooks/etwo /lib/initcpio/hooks/
    cp /mnt/lib/initcpio/install/etwo /lib/initcpio/install/
    cp /mnt/etc/mkinitcpio.conf /etc/
    Verify your LOCALE, KEYMAP and TIMEZONE in /etc/rc.conf!
    Now reinstall the initcpio:
    mkinitcpio -g /mnt/boot/kernel26.img
    Make sure there were no errors and that all hooks were included.
    13. Decrypt the "var" key to the encrypted root
    mkdir /mnt/keys
    chmod 500 /mnt/keys
    gpg –output /mnt/keys/var -d /mnt/boot/var.gpg
    chmod 400 /mnt/keys/var
    14. Setup crypttab
    Edit /mnt/etc/crypttab:
    swap /dev/sda1 SWAP -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 -s 256 -h whirlpool
    var /dev/sda2 /keys/var
    15. Reboot
    We're done, you may reboot. Make sure you select the usb stick as the boot device in your bios and hope for the best. . If it didn't work, play with grub's settings or boot from the live cd, mount your encrypted devices and check all settings. You might also have less trouble by using uuid's instead of device names.  I chose device names to keep things as simple as possible, even though it's not the optimal way to do it.
    Make backups of your data and your usb stick and do not forget your password(s)! Or you can say goodbye to your data forever...
    Last edited by fabriceb (2013-01-15 22:36:23)

    I'm trying to run my install script that is based on https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=129885
    Decrypting the gpg key after grub works, but then "Devce root already exists." appears every second.
    any idea ?
    #!/bin/bash
    # This script is designed to be run in conjunction with a UEFI boot using Archboot intall media.
    # prereqs:
    # EFI "BIOS" set to boot *only* from EFI
    # successful EFI boot of Archboot USB
    # mount /dev/sdb1 /src
    set -o nounset
    #set -o errexit
    # Host specific configuration
    # this whole script needs to be customized, particularly disk partitions
    # and configuration, but this section contains global variables that
    # are used during the system configuration phase for convenience
    HOSTNAME=daniel
    USERNAME=user
    # Globals
    # We don't need to set these here but they are used repeatedly throughout
    # so it makes sense to reuse them and allow an easy, one-time change if we
    # need to alter values such as the install target mount point.
    INSTALL_TARGET="/install"
    HR="--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
    PACMAN="pacman --noconfirm --config /tmp/pacman.conf"
    TARGET_PACMAN="pacman --noconfirm --config /tmp/pacman.conf -r ${INSTALL_TARGET}"
    CHROOT_PACMAN="pacman --noconfirm --cachedir /var/cache/pacman/pkg --config /tmp/pacman.conf -r ${INSTALL_TARGET}"
    FILE_URL="file:///packages/core-$(uname -m)/pkg"
    FTP_URL='ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch'
    HTTP_URL='http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch'
    # Functions
    # I've avoided using functions in this script as they aren't required and
    # I think it's more of a learning tool if you see the step-by-step
    # procedures even with minor duplciations along the way, but I feel that
    # these functions clarify the particular steps of setting values in config
    # files.
    SetValue () {
    # EXAMPLE: SetValue VARIABLENAME '\"Quoted Value\"' /file/path
    VALUENAME="$1" NEWVALUE="$2" FILEPATH="$3"
    sed -i "s+^#\?\(${VALUENAME}\)=.*$+\1=${NEWVALUE}+" "${FILEPATH}"
    CommentOutValue () {
    VALUENAME="$1" FILEPATH="$2"
    sed -i "s/^\(${VALUENAME}.*\)$/#\1/" "${FILEPATH}"
    UncommentValue () {
    VALUENAME="$1" FILEPATH="$2"
    sed -i "s/^#\(${VALUENAME}.*\)$/\1/" "${FILEPATH}"
    # Initialize
    # Warn the user about impending doom, set up the network on eth0, mount
    # the squashfs images (Archboot does this normally, we're just filling in
    # the gaps resulting from the fact that we're doing a simple scripted
    # install). We also create a temporary pacman.conf that looks for packages
    # locally first before sourcing them from the network. It would be better
    # to do either *all* local or *all* network but we can't for two reasons.
    # 1. The Archboot installation image might have an out of date kernel
    # (currently the case) which results in problems when chrooting
    # into the install mount point to modprobe efivars. So we use the
    # package snapshot on the Archboot media to ensure our kernel is
    # the same as the one we booted with.
    # 2. Ideally we'd source all local then, but some critical items,
    # notably grub2-efi variants, aren't yet on the Archboot media.
    # Warn
    timer=9
    echo -e "\n\nMAC WARNING: This script is not designed for APPLE MAC installs and will potentially misconfigure boot to your existing OS X installation. STOP NOW IF YOU ARE ON A MAC.\n\n"
    echo -n "GENERAL WARNING: This procedure will completely format /dev/sda. Please cancel with ctrl-c to cancel within $timer seconds..."
    while [[ $timer -gt 0 ]]
    do
    sleep 1
    let timer-=1
    echo -en "$timer seconds..."
    done
    echo "STARTING"
    # Get Network
    echo -n "Waiting for network address.."
    #dhclient eth0
    dhcpcd -p eth0
    echo -n "Network address acquired."
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    umount "/packages/core-$(uname -m)"
    umount "/packages/core-any"
    rm -rf "/packages/core-$(uname -m)"
    rm -rf "/packages/core-any"
    mkdir -p "/packages/core-$(uname -m)"
    mkdir -p "/packages/core-any"
    modprobe -q loop
    modprobe -q squashfs
    mount -o ro,loop -t squashfs "/src/packages/archboot_packages_$(uname -m).squashfs" "/packages/core-$(uname -m)"
    mount -o ro,loop -t squashfs "/src/packages/archboot_packages_any.squashfs" "/packages/core-any"
    # Create temporary pacman.conf file
    cat << PACMANEOF > /tmp/pacman.conf
    [options]
    Architecture = auto
    CacheDir = ${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/cache/pacman/pkg
    CacheDir = /packages/core-$(uname -m)/pkg
    CacheDir = /packages/core-any/pkg
    [core]
    Server = ${FILE_URL}
    Server = ${FTP_URL}
    Server = ${HTTP_URL}
    [extra]
    Server = ${FILE_URL}
    Server = ${FTP_URL}
    Server = ${HTTP_URL}
    #Uncomment to enable pacman -Sy yaourt
    [archlinuxfr]
    Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/\$arch
    PACMANEOF
    # Prepare pacman
    [[ ! -d "${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/cache/pacman/pkg" ]] && mkdir -m 755 -p "${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/cache/pacman/pkg"
    [[ ! -d "${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/lib/pacman" ]] && mkdir -m 755 -p "${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/lib/pacman"
    ${PACMAN} -Sy
    ${TARGET_PACMAN} -Sy
    # Install prereqs from network (not on archboot media)
    echo -e "\nInstalling prereqs...\n$HR"
    #sed -i "s/^#S/S/" /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # Uncomment all Server lines
    UncommentValue S /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # Uncomment all Server lines
    ${PACMAN} --noconfirm -Sy gptfdisk btrfs-progs-unstable libusb-compat gnupg
    # Configure Host
    # Here we create three partitions:
    # 1. efi and /boot (one partition does double duty)
    # 2. swap
    # 3. our encrypted root
    # Note that all of these are on a GUID partition table scheme. This proves
    # to be quite clean and simple since we're not doing anything with MBR
    # boot partitions and the like.
    echo -e "format\n"
    # shred -v /dev/sda
    # disk prep
    sgdisk -Z /dev/sda # zap all on disk
    #sgdisk -Z /dev/mmcb1k0 # zap all on sdcard
    sgdisk -a 2048 -o /dev/sda # new gpt disk 2048 alignment
    #sgdisk -a 2048 -o /dev/mmcb1k0
    # create partitions
    sgdisk -n 1:0:+200M /dev/sda # partition 1 (UEFI BOOT), default start block, 200MB
    sgdisk -n 2:0:+4G /dev/sda # partition 2 (SWAP), default start block, 200MB
    sgdisk -n 3:0:0 /dev/sda # partition 3, (LUKS), default start, remaining space
    #sgdisk -n 1:0:1800M /dev/mmcb1k0 # root.gpg
    # set partition types
    sgdisk -t 1:ef00 /dev/sda
    sgdisk -t 2:8200 /dev/sda
    sgdisk -t 3:8300 /dev/sda
    #sgdisk -t 1:0700 /dev/mmcb1k0
    # label partitions
    sgdisk -c 1:"UEFI Boot" /dev/sda
    sgdisk -c 2:"Swap" /dev/sda
    sgdisk -c 3:"LUKS" /dev/sda
    #sgdisk -c 1:"Key" /dev/mmcb1k0
    echo -e "create gpg file\n"
    # create gpg file
    dd if=/dev/urandom bs=512 count=4 | gpg -v --cipher-algo aes256 --digest-algo sha512 -c -a > /root/root.gpg
    echo -e "format LUKS on root\n"
    # format LUKS on root
    gpg -q -d /root/root.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v --key-file=- -c aes-xts-plain -s 512 --hash sha512 luksFormat /dev/sda3
    echo -e "open LUKS on root\n"
    gpg -d /root/root.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v --key-file=- luksOpen /dev/sda3 root
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    # NOTE2: actually this isn't required since we're mounting an encrypted root and grub2/initramfs handles this before we even get to rc.conf
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    # following swap related commands not used now that we're encrypting our swap partition
    #mkswap /dev/sda2
    #swapon /dev/sda2
    #mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3 # this is where we'd create an unencrypted root partition, but we're using luks instead
    echo -e "\nCreating Filesystems...\n$HR"
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    mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/root
    mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
    #mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/mmcb1k0p1
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    mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/lib/pacman
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    ${TARGET_PACMAN} -Su base
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    ${TARGET_PACMAN} -S curl
    ${TARGET_PACMAN} -S libusb-compat gnupg
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    sed -i "s/^\(127\.0\.0\.1.*\)$/\1 ${HOSTNAME}/" ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/hosts
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    #following replaced due to netcfg
    #SetValue interface eth0 ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/rc.conf
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    # the simplest approach and as long as your drives aren't changing values
    # randomly it should work fine.
    cat > ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/fstab <<FSTAB_EOF
    # /etc/fstab: static file system information
    # <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
    tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
    /dev/sda1 /boot vfat defaults 0 0
    /dev/mapper/cryptswap none swap defaults 0 0
    /dev/mapper/root / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
    FSTAB_EOF
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    mkdir -p /lib/initcpio/hooks/
    mkdir -p /lib/initcpio/install/
    cp /src/etwo_hooks /lib/initcpio/hooks/etwo
    cp /src/etwo_install /lib/initcpio/install/etwo
    mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/lib/initcpio/hooks/
    mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/lib/initcpio/install/
    cp /src/etwo_hooks ${INSTALL_TARGET}/lib/initcpio/hooks/etwo
    cp /src/etwo_install ${INSTALL_TARGET}/lib/initcpio/install/etwo
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    echo cryptswap /dev/sda2 SWAP "-c aes-xts-plain -h whirlpool -s 512" >> ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/crypttab
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    mv ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf.orig
    cp /etc/resolv.conf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf
    mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/tmp
    cp /tmp/pacman.conf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/tmp/pacman.conf
    # mount proc, sys, dev in install root
    mount -t proc proc ${INSTALL_TARGET}/proc
    mount -t sysfs sys ${INSTALL_TARGET}/sys
    mount -o bind /dev ${INSTALL_TARGET}/dev
    echo -e "umount boot\n"
    # we have to remount /boot from inside the chroot
    umount ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot
    # Create install_efi script (to be run *after* chroot /install)
    touch ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi
    chmod a+x ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi
    cat > ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi <<EFI_EOF
    # functions (these could be a library, but why overcomplicate things
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    CommentOutValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" FILEPATH="\$2"; sed -i "s/^\(\${VALUENAME}.*\)\$/#\1/" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
    UncommentValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" FILEPATH="\$2"; sed -i "s/^#\(\${VALUENAME}.*\)\$/\1/" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
    echo -e "mount boot\n"
    # remount here or grub et al gets confused
    mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /boot
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    # NOTE: intel_agp drm and i915 for intel graphics
    SetValue MODULES '\\"dm_mod dm_crypt aes_x86_64 ext2 ext4 vfat intel_agp drm i915\\"' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
    SetValue HOOKS '\\"base udev pata scsi sata usb usbinput keymap consolefont etwo encrypt filesystems\\"' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
    SetValue BINARIES '\\"/usr/bin/gpg\\"' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
    mkinitcpio -p linux
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    modprobe efivars
    modprobe dm-mod
    # locale-gen
    UncommentValue de_AT /etc/locale.gen
    locale-gen
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    #rm -rf /boot/grub
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    # set output to graphical
    SetValue GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT gfxterm /etc/default/grub
    SetValue GRUB_GFXMODE 960x600x32,auto /etc/default/grub
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    # copy font for grub2
    cp /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 /boot/grub
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    grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
    exit
    EFI_EOF
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    chroot ${INSTALL_TARGET} /install_efi
    rm ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi
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    UncommentValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" FILEPATH="\$2"; sed -i "s/^#\(\${VALUENAME}.*\)\$/\1/" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
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    pacman --noconfirm -Syu
    pacman --noconfirm -S base-devel
    pacman --noconfirm -S yaourt
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    pacman --noconfirm -S sudo
    cp /etc/sudoers /tmp/sudoers.edit
    sed -i "s/#\s*\(%wheel\s*ALL=(ALL)\s*ALL.*$\)/\1/" /tmp/sudoers.edit
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    sed -i "/^DAEMONS/ s/hwclock /!hwclock @ntpd /" /etc/rc.conf
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    mv /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf.orig
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    sed -i "/^DAEMONS/ s/ network / /" /etc/rc.conf
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    hyperreal_logic wrote:
    To the original poster: 
    If you want to chainload both Windows and Arch Linux using your preferred boot manager, you'd have to create a separate 'boot' partition when installing Arch Linux.  When you are in the Arch installation, create a separate partition of about 500 MB, then create the root partition of whatever size you need, and then create swap partition if necessary.  So your HD would resemble something like this:  /dev/sda5=boot partition of 500 MB; /dev/sda6=root partition of ## MB/GB; and /dev/sda7=swap partition of (RAM * 2) GB.  Then continue with the Arch installation procedure until you get to the end where you are prompted to install a boot loader.  Choose GRUB, and install it to the 'boot' partition on /dev/sda5.  This will allow you to chainload Arch via Easy BCD.  What happens is Easy BCD will pass the message to GRUB on /dev/sda5, and GRUB will then load your Arch root system on /dev/sda6. 
    I hope this helps.  I support your choice in using Easy BCD to chainload Windows and Linux.  Software is, after all, about choice.  Furthermore, you've presented a good reason to use Easy BCD as the main boot loader, which is to save you from unnecessary tinkering with the GRUB shell or Live CDs and whatnot.  However, if you don't want to create the separate 'boot' partition, then you'll have no other choice but to use GRUB or syslinux on the MBR.
    Thanks. Yes...I followed the procedure just like you described. I figured that my problem was that I didn't create a separate /boot partition, so I reformatted the partitions I created and redid the install. However, I was not able to install GRUB in the AIF; I had to reboot into the Live CD and install GRUB to my boot partition manually. All is good now as I have a working dual-boot now. Arch Linux has been a sort of learning curve for me, but I have gained valuable knowledge and experience by using this distro.
    Yes. I didn't want to mess with GRUB or NTLDR. I know that reinstalling NTLDR is not that difficult, but I didn't want to mess with it at all. It just seemed easier to chainload GRUB to NTLDR using EasyBCD. I'm a sort of "distro-hopper" anyhow, and using this method allows me to cleanly remove any distro I install without having to mess with GRUB or reinstalling NTLDR.
    Thanks!
    Glad to hear!  Yes, Arch Linux is a wonderful distribution, and one of my favorites.  It's great for not-so-newbie beginners to learn from.  pacman is one of my favorite package managers, as there is always the latest stable software available in the Arch repos.  Glad everything worked out.  Have fun with Arch!

  • Arch Linux running on Asus Transformer T100/T100TA... sort of.

    I'm not really asking for help here (can't find an appropriate place to put this post), but more to show off my accomplishment with this tablet.
    As the thread title says, I've gotten Arch Linux to run on the Asus T100TA which is a quite annoying little thing. I haven't documented the steps myself, however, I remember exactly what I have done, and in order to get the live image to at least run on this tablet, here are the steps I did:
    (you'll maybe need 2 USB drives, seems to be the easiest way)
    1. Create an ISO using the archiso set as you normally would (except you won't really need the ISO itself) OR if you can figure it out yourself, install the base image to the USB drive (either architecture will do, but I recommend i686 since the processor is 32 bit as well)
    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Archiso
    This step will be unnecessary as of May, as the live images onwards on the main download site will already contain the 3.14 or newer kernels.
    2. After the image building successfully finishes, copy all the contents from (PROFILE)/work/iso/ (except root-image squashfs files) to a FAT32 formatted USB drive (1). This is to simply create a bootloader drive that will allow us for later swapping the USB drives.
    3. Download an ia32 version of grub. Any will do as long as it can boot up on the tablet.
    http://www.supergrubdisk.org/category/download/supergrub2diskdownload/
    This one works, download the standalone IA-32/i386 EFI and paste it in (USB Drive (1))/EFI/boot/bootia32.efi .
    (use latest versions, no matter if it's unstable)
    4. Now you need to make a grub.cfg. The one I made looks like this
    menuentry 'Arch Linux i686'{
    echo 'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
    linux /arch/boot/i686/vmlinuz noefi nomodeset archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201404
    echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd /arch/boot/i686/archiso.img
    menuentry 'Arch Linux x86_64'{
    echo 'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
    linux /arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz noefi nomodeset archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201404
    echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd /arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img
    NOTE: If you're using a later live image build, I advise to change the date accordingly. It's not necessary to do so, since the mount by label doesn't work, however, I like to keep everything intact.
    noefi flag seems unnecessary as well, though I have added it to prevent some kernel panics from happening, for just in case. It works without it, still, however you need the nomodeset flag or else you'll get a black screen!
    I'm not entirely sure where the grub.cfg goes, but I've put it in USB Drive(1)/boot/grub/ , /EFI/grub/ and in /EFI/boot/grub/ just to make it sure that it works.
    5. Create an ext2/3/4 (recommended ext2 for flash drives, not to wear it out) USB drive (2) and copy the arch folder to the root of the USB drive (2)
    ---- BOOT PROCESS ----
    Before this step, ensure that Secure Boot is set to OFF in the Aptio setup. Otherwise it will throw up an error in a red box crying it's not signed.
    6. Plug in the USB drive (1) into a USB port and while powering on the tablet, tilt the escape key to pop up a boot menu.
    7. Select UEFI: (your USB drive (1))
    8. GRUB 2 will pop up. If you're running the SuperGrubDisk version, you're gonna have to go to Everything and then scroll down until it says something like
    (hd0, msdos1)/boot/grub/grub.cfg
    and click on it to open the configuration data manually created.
    9. Simply select your desired version of Arch Linux live distro to boot.
    10. VOILAaa, not really... It'll pop up with a mount error saying it's a wrong FS to mount. This is where you plug in your USB drive (2) in place of the first one.
    11. Type in:
    # mount /dev/sda1 /run/archiso/bootmnt
    # exit
    12. Congratulations, you're running Arch Linux on your ASUS Transformer T100TA tablet!
    This is as far as I have went into running it. Installing it on a HDD would require mounting the mmcblk partitions, which I haven't looked into yet. For a start, I'd just recommend installing it on a USB drive, though you'd have to own one of the USB OTG converters or a USB hub. The screen is spammed with the mmcblk0rpmb timeout errors though and that is annoying. It stops after a while when it stops trying. Reboot doesn't work either, seems like acpi is broken.
    You could do it with a single usb drive, though it requires some knowledge of this tablet's EFI because it disallowed me from running a kernel on another partition other than FAT32. Grub pops up with an error:
    can't unload EFI services
    or something like that.
    I've also tried putting the USB Drive (2) in during grub and it pops up with an error with invalid sector sizes. That was to be expected.
    btw I know it's my first post, I'm just here to share this with you. I never had the need to ask for help but when absolutely necessary.
    PICS OF IT RUNNING
    Some USB devices aren't visible, like the camera.
    A custom partition layout without the recovery partitions. Yours may differ.
    Last edited by xan1242 (2014-04-13 22:54:46)

    I haven't tried much other than getting this live image to run on this machine. I'll attempt to install the base image using my desktop computer with the appropriate drivers and see how that goes. (or just install the wifi driver)
    That guy really made it to work much better than I imagined it to work at all! I'll see what can be done using the same drivers, though running Ubuntu seems tempting as well. He even got the touchscreen to work, which is really awesome. It seems that he also merged the drivers into the kernel image, which is going to be a challenge in Arch.
    Since he's using the 64 bit build of Ubuntu, I'll try it with x86_64 Arch as well to try and use his guide to make the drivers to work.
    EDIT: I have successully installed the base to an external drive and booted it on the tablet, however since the base was installed externally on another machine, I need to regenerate initrd. It boots on the fallback ramdisk, but still no wifi and the screen is spammed even more with the timeout errors. I've seen topics on Raspberry Pi having a similar issue and that it was repaired using some kernel flags, but I am not sure if those will work with the tablet. Also, using the bootflags jfwells used on Ubuntu work here as well, and gives full resolution output now. Wifi doesn't work. ip link doesn't give any signs of a wifi card present.
    EDIT2: Got Arch up and running relatively nicely on the tablet now. Though it is in the same state as the last edit in terms of functionality, it works I'd say well enough to be considered usable. I couldn't make the wireless card to work, for some strange reason, so I got a RT73 USB card (Edimax EW-7318USg to be precise, had to use 2 USB ports) and installed stuff on to the tablet. I ran X without a desktop manager, and the X apps worked fine, even with the touch screen (emulating a mouse, no right click) and I ran XFCE4 on it without a problem (with compositing).
    It simply needs more developed drivers on it, that's mostly it. The state is exactly the same as Ubuntu 14.04 that jfwells made to work (minus the wifi). I haven't played with the sound, either, due to the warning he posted, but I believe it works as it does in Ubuntu.
    The steps I made are as follows:
    1. Simply made another live ISO with the archiso set
    2. dd'd the image to a USB drive
    3. On the second USB drive I created two GPT partitions (200 - 300 MB for ESP, everything else ext2)
    4. Booted the live archiso USB drive
    5. Installed the base to the second USB drive while being mounted like this: ext2 partition -> /mnt and ESP -> /mnt/boot
    6. Installed GRUB x86_64-efi to simply generate a configuration
    7. Installed wireless utilities as well as everything else needed to make it to work
    8. To ensure bootability on the tablet, again, I put the IA32 GRUB to the ESP in /EFI/boot/bootia32.efi
    9. I have edited the grub.cfg, can't exactly remember with what, but this is what it looks like
    ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
    menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux core repo kernel' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-core repo kernel-true-(hd0,gpt2)' {
    set gfxpayload=keep
    insmod gzio
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='hd0,gpt1'
    echo 'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
    linux /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda2 video=VGA-1:1368x768e reboot=pci,force sdhci.debug_quirks=0x8000 rw quiet
    echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd /initramfs-linux.img
    menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux core repo kernel (Fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-core repo kernel-fallback-(hd0,gpt2)' {
    set gfxpayload=keep
    insmod gzio
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='hd0,gpt1'
    echo 'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
    linux /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda2 video=VGA-1:1368x768e reboot=pci,force sdhci.debug_quirks=0x8000 rw quiet
    echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
    ### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
    I simply added the kernel flags jfwells added. It needs that root flag, or else it will not boot. I can't figure out the UUIDs though. It will reboot, but it will not shut down.
    10. Boot up your second USB drive on the tablet and... IMPORTANT - Boot with the fallback ramdisk - or else you're going to experience non functional input
    11. After booting it, you'll get the annoying mmcblk timeout spamming the screen. I haven't figured out how to fix it, but to hide it, type in
    # dmesg -n 1
    12. Generate another ramdisk (forgot the command, but search function should serve you)
    13. Reboot with the normal ramdisk now.
    14. After setting up the wireless connection, rock on with the pacman!
    At this point I installed a bunch of stuff, like Intel GPU drivers, xorg, xfce4, ntfs-3g, gparted,  and among other stuff I personally test stuff with.
    I couldn't mount the mmcblk partitions to at least somehow be able to edit data on the Windows partitions or the disk as a whole.
    Anybody willing to help getting Arch to run on this tablet is welcome.
    EDIT3: Internal WiFi working! Simply added "sdhci.debug_quirks=0x8000" flag.
    Last edited by xan1242 (2014-04-13 23:35:26)

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