Before I install Arch w/XFCE on my old computer...

I'm installing Arch on an older computer and I want to keep it kind of lean. The computer is a PIII @ 1Ghz w/512MB RAM, so it isn't old-old; but it's just old enough that I don't want a lot of extra junk, which is precisely why XFCE was my choice of DE.
I'm doing my homework and read the Arch XFCE wiki and saw a package called "xfce-goodies." What is in that package?
Also, this computer has a wireless internet connection, so two questions:
1: Will I be able to connect to the web before I need to install xorg and networkmanager?
2: Will nm-applet work on the xfce-panel, or will I have to do tricks to get it to work. I know it works in Xubuntu, but that doesn't mean it works in default xfce.

pogeymanz wrote:Actually, my #1 question was the other way around from how you answered it. I know that I need to be online to get xorg, but I was asking if I will be able to GET online without installing netcfg2/whatever. And now that I think about it, probably not... I will just need to plug into the network for a few hours and then move back to where it belongs I guess.
A package called wireless_tools is included in the install CD which allows you to use the CLI to configure a wireless network. See the 'connect manually' section in this gentoo wiki article: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Wireless_C … nd_Startup
AFAIK this should be enough to get your wireless going.
[edit: Tigrmesh is right, the netcfg package is in core now, so get the new iso's]
Last edited by dyscoria (2008-03-27 23:39:43)

Similar Messages

Questions before I install Arch

Hi everyone. I decide to try Arch after using Ubuntu for almost a year. After reading the installing guide, I find the wireless network is the big problem. I am using wireless, and I can easily get connected with it by wicd. But installing Arch needs a wireless under command line, so I try that in terminal:
# ifconfig wlan0 up
# iwlist wlan0 scan ( and I see my target wireless network is there)
# iwconfig wlan0 essid "My_Network" key 0123456789
# dhclient wlan0
But it did not work. What I was sure was I managed to connect to this network with this key in Ubuntu Network Manager, or wicd, if using GUI. I later searched for this problem and it seemed that iwconfig recognized the key as hex by default. If using ascii, it should be:
# iwconfig wlan0 essid "My_Network" key s:0123456789
But even that I failed too. So I am just wondering how to get a hex key out of it? Is there any algorithm for this...?
I have downloaded the core version of Arch. But I am wondering if I need the internet by installing X windows and fluxbox, using pacman... If not, I can go directly with it and grab a GUI network manage like wicd and I will have no problems.
Thank you very much.
Last edited by shva (2009-04-25 15:51:59)

Does it post the same error? Try messing about with the different combinations of quotation marks taking them off both the key and network name, and then try with them on both the key and the network name.
iwconfig wlan0 essid "My_Network" key "0123456789"
iwconfig wlan0 essid My_Network key 0123456789
Last edited by jack.mitchell (2009-04-25 17:25:30)

I have successfully installed my creative suite to my old computer. I have a new one I would like to put it on. My serial number is not working. Please advise.

I need to install my program to my new computer. My serial number is not working.

Which Creative Suite version exactly?
Is your old computer Mac or Windows?
Is your new computer Mac or Windows?

What should be the proper steps to un-installed CS6 creative suite from an old computer and re-installed onto new computer ?

I would like to un-install and re-install CS6 Creative Suite onto a new computer.
What are the proper steps required; in particular for the license code ?
I worry if I don't do it properly I may not be able to re-activate on my new computer.
Thanks,

You do not need to uninstall though you can if you prefer to. Your license allows you to have two activated installations, so if having a backup installation available is something you could use, you might want to keep the original installation intact.
If you do not want the old installation in working order then the minimum you need to do is deactivate it by opening one of the programs and choosing Help -> Deactivate. This will deactivate the entire suite for that machine. You could leave it this way as the use of the applications is disabled at this point, except if you wish to you can reactivate it. If you wish to uninstall you should be sure that you perform the deactivation first.
As far as getting the software on the new machine goes, you install it the same way you did originally, using the serial number to activate it.

Before I Install Arch on My Laptop...

I have a couple of questions. I have a Dell 1420 that I take onto campus for notes in class and something to do between classes. I've gotten Arch working beautifully on my Desktop with FVWM finally all set. But I'd like to be sure that everything (at least almost certainly) work before I go to the trouble of resizing the windows partition and setting everything up. So, here are my questions:
1) I know this question is kind of ridiculous, but my university has these instructions for XP (https://hdc.tamu.edu/reference/document … ion_id=729) for connecting to the on campus wireless network. I've had difficulty in the past connecting to those networks with Ubuntu and Fedora because of the need for a username and password. I've never really known how to configure everything to make things work. So, will wicd (which I really like) support the correct configuration? Or will I need to find a new wireless network tool?
2) I have an Intel 3945 wireless card in the laptop, and the on campus network is WPA2, are both of those pretty well supported?
3) Is suspend/resume supported pretty well on the laptop? I've had (unresolved) difficulties with it on my desktop, and it's much more important on the laptop.
thanks,
progrock

1) Check out netcfg (in core) http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Netcfg
2) The 3945 card works fine here.
3) http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Suspend_to_Disk shows you a couple options to try (pm-utils takes the least setup). I've had problems getting an ATI video card to work coming back from a suspend to disk on a desktop, but none of the laptops I've tried have problems suspending (I'm just lucky?)

How can I install PS5 ( not CS5) On an old computer.

It will not install because it is looking for a prior PS. This is an older computer and I need PS5 to run Kai's power tools.

What operating system are you trying to install ps 5 on?
It sounds like you have an upgrade version of ps 5.
If you input the serial number of your older version of photoshop (the version that you upgraded from) that should work.
What version of kai's power tools (KPT)?

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.

Trying to install CS 5.5 on a newer computer (Windows 7) and I am told to "please restart computer." Restarting doesn't resolve anything

I am trying to install CS 5.5 on a newer computer and every time I go through setup the serial number comes back good (green check mark, etc.) but then when I proceed with install, I am told to "please restart computer." No error number just "please restart." After restarting 5 or 6 times I realized there must be a deeper issue. I first made a basic mistake (forgot to deactivate the serial#) so I went back on to the original device and, interestingly, when I re-installed InD CS5.5 on the old computer, there was no incident. It then proceeded to function normally and opened just fine, I deactivated the serial#, and went back to the new computer. After installing and trying again, I got the same message "please restart computer."
This was a license that allowed for multiple installs and I have put this program on a Win7 (pro) laptop before using the same serial number and had no issue. Now I am on an Asus Desktop running Win7 (home) and and am having this please restart problem. Could it be an OS issue? Any ideas of what to try?
Thank you all, I hope someone can help.
Tommy

I think you need to clean this machine before trying again, so run the cleaner tool (CS Cleaner Tool for installation problems | CCM, CS6, CS5.5, CS5, CS4, CS3), then run MSconfig and turn off all non-essential startup programs before you try to install again.
Also, be sure javascript is enabled. From the Start menu choose Run, then in the command field type regsvr32 jscript.dll and press Enter. You should get a confirmation.

How can I install Adobe PSE9 from my old computer to my new computer that doesn't have a disc drive?

Recently purchased a new PC with Windows 8 and doesn't have a disc drive. How do I install my Adobe PSE9 from my old computer to my new computer?
Thanks!

You do not install it from the older machine to the newer one. You just install it on the newer one, and if you prefer to you can deactivate it on the older one, though you are not required to since you are allowed to have the software activated on two machines.
You can download the trial version of the software thru the page linked below and then use your current serial number to activate it.
Be sure to follow the steps outlined in the Note: Very Important Instructions section on the download pages at this site or else the download will not work properly.
Photoshop/Premiere Elements 9:
http://prodesigntools.com/photoshop-elements-9-premiere-elements-9-direct-download-links.h tml

New computer w/windows 7 will not install back up disks from old computer

I have been trying to install my backup disks from my old
computer onto my new computer, which is Windows 7. It starts to
import, then after about 10 songs, it will not import any
more. I have an iPod touch, so I don't think I can use it to import the songs. Any ideas on how to solve this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!!

Why don't you try to first copy the contents for the CDs to your hard drive and then just add the files to your library?

Dual boot, installing arch before xp

Hi! I'm just wondering, how I can enable dualboot. I've heard that there is a way to enable dualboot even though I've installed archlinux before I installed xp. But now I cant choose whether I would like to use arch or xp. Any suggestions on how, or even an guide to enable dualboot?:P

well, if u have problem and for those who wonder what zenlord said...
boot to arch linux install CD.
when it loads and gives u a set of instructions. U wanna boot with this parameter.
root=/dev/sdxx
where xx is the partion of arch install. This will load the kernel from arch install CD and mount the file system on your HD. Once it loads u will have a CLI, login and then issue the command
grub-install /dev/sdx
x = the HD MBR u would want grub to be installed too.
then edit /boot/grub/menu.lst as u see fit to get windows working.
Last edited by jacko (2008-01-13 13:11:06)

Computer freezes before BIOS after arch linux install

This is my first time installing arch linux, I followed the beginners install guide word for word. However, after the install, my computer gets stuck before the BIOS. It identifies the RAM, GPU, and harddrive (all Diagnostic lights are ok on my MOBO). Before the install it booted fine, but now when I boot it up it wont go to the BIOS screen no matter how many times I press delete. However, when I remove the harddrive it boots to the arch linux install screen on my USB drive perfectly.
I know it is not my hardware because I did many different tests (mem-test, swapped out harddrives, tried 1 stick of RAM in different slots, etc). More importantly, my harddrive is brand new so I know it isn't dead because I could partition it when I was installing arch linux.
Computer specs:
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3700+
DFI LANPARTY nf4-d
ATI Radeon x800
2 GB DDR RAM
160 GB SSD
I have no idea what the problem is, I must have screwed something up with the bootloader or something. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Try clearing the CMOS settings either by removing the motherboard battery for some minutes or by using the relevant jumper on the motherboard. Check the manual of your motherboard for details.
Last edited by Foucault (2013-07-03 16:19:41)

Install Arch Before Windows?

My profession requires that I triple boot Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. I have purchased a Macbook Pro and know this is possible. I want to do anything possible to avoid Vista and have decided to download the Windows 7 RC this coming Tuesday. I would like to start making my Arch system right now, however. I know it is more than advised you install Windows first, but does anyone know how I could install Arch, then Windows, and not have a big mess on my hands?

If you want to dual/triple boot on a mac you need to boot from the EFI bootloader first, and most people install rEFIt. From there you can boot into your OS's. Remember your partition table will be a dual gpt/mbr, so you can only have four primary partitions.
Also, I don't see how the order of installing the OS's would matter at all.
Last edited by Stythys (2009-05-01 22:32:43)

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 read-only filesystem

Hi to all, I have an idea about installing arch in a particular way, a way that makes the system more secure.
I want to install a host archlinux system on a hard disk or ssd but I want no data can be written to the storage. The host system will have a predefined set of programs and should use a ramdisk to store temporary data. It is something very similar to a ISO.
The real computation will be handled through a series of virtualbox instances of linux ( the virtualbox images will be stored on an external hard disk, a read/write volume ).
How could I achieve this? Through unionfs? AUFS? or some other thing?
Last edited by pabloski (2011-02-16 16:18:11)

I want to mount my sda2 read-only and union it with a tmpfs, so the machine is secure and the file system is the same every boot.
I installed aufs3 with 3.2.6-1-aufs_friendly, I made a hook (as some-guy94 adviced), but it doesn't work.
The code is:
1. mkdir -p /root/ro /root/rw
2. mount /dev/sda2 /root/ro
3. mount -t tmpfs root.rw /root/rw
4. mount -t aufs -o "dirs=/root/rw=rw:/root/ro=ro" root.union /
At 2. it says: "mount: mounting /dev/sda2 on /root/ro failed: No such file or directory" Both files exist - I can list them just before the mount.
3. & 4. work, but it doesn't matter as sda2 gets mounted rw on / right after (by initramfs's init, I gues).
Can you help me with this, or point some useful howtos?
Btw: is there a better way of debugging a hook, other than making the image and rebooting each change?
Update: This is how they did it in larch: http://git.berlios.de/cgi-bin/gitweb.cg … cpio/hooks
mount -t ext3 /dev/sda2 /root/ro works now.
I used exec /sbin/switch_root as in larch3 hook and for loop from /lib/initcpio/init:109 to move /proc /dev /sys /run to the new root
So the union mount works just fine now, my sda2/sbin/init & sda2/etc/rc.sysinit run, but the latter fails with following:
* Mounting Root Read-Only - this is actually quite acceptable
* Starting UDev Daemon
* Loading Modules
* Remounting Root Read/Write - acceptable as well
After boot X opens and system freezes immediately (no reaction to keyboard, doesn't ping). No useful information in logs. I don't think system can run well without udev/modules. So this is udev not liking / mounted rw (as tmpfs is rw) or maybe /dev /proc /sys /run fault.
I tried to make union mount only in rc.sysinit when /dev/sda2 is already mounted on /, but mount --move / other-dir fails.
Any ideas what can be wrong?
My code:
run_hook ()
read -p "Union mount root (y/N)? " answer
if [[ "$answer" == "y" ]]; then
modprobe aufs
ro="/root/ro"
rw="/root/rw"
un="/root/un"
rob="${un}/ro"
rwb="${un}/rw"
mkdir -p $ro $rw $un
mount -t ext3 /dev/sda2 $ro
mount -t tmpfs -o "size=20%" root.rw $rw
mount -t aufs -o "dirs=${rw}=rw:${ro}=ro" root.union $un
mkdir -p $rob $rwb
mount --bind $ro $rob
mount --bind $rw $rwb
mkdir ${un}/media
mkdir ${un}/sys
mkdir ${un}/proc
mkdir ${un}/dev
/bin/mknod ${un}/dev/console c 5 1
echo "rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0" >${un}/etc/mtab
[ -z "${init}" ] && init="/sbin/init"
if [ -e "${un}/${init}" ]; then
mount
read
for d in proc sys dev run; do
if [ -d ${un}/${d} ]; then
mount --move /${d} ${un}/${d}
else
umount /${d}
fi
done
exec /sbin/switch_root -c /dev/console ${un} ${init} ${CMDLINE}
fi
fi
Last edited by kaos (2012-02-22 17:14:18)

Before I install Arch w/XFCE on my old computer...

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