General Linux Chat and Small Questions v. Install Arch
4,946 replies, posted
Okay, I'll have a look at Arch. I was told by a friend that uses linux that Arch only gives you a terminal upon a completed installation and reboot (i.e. it being very lightweight). Will the install package give me an option to install a desktop environment as well? Or will I need something like [url=http://www.xfce.org/]this[/url]?
[QUOTE=wootmonster;35203636]Okay, I'll have a look at Arch. I was told by a friend that uses linux that Arch only gives you a terminal upon a completed installation and reboot (i.e. it being very lightweight). Will the install package give me an option to install a desktop environment as well? Or will I need something like [url=http://www.xfce.org/]this[/url]?[/QUOTE]
The installation will only install the very base packages, including a select few devel packages you can select.
After that, it's all up to you.
Just a little tip for you guys, when I was installing Arch I decided to use one of the daily snapshot ISOs rather than using the current release (2011.08.19). It's much easier and faster. Everything is pretty much upgraded for you and all you really have to do is connect to the internet and install the stuff you want. Of course, they're not tested that much, but if you're paranoid you can go ahead and do a test install in VirtualBox first.
[url]http://releng.archlinux.org/isos/[/url]
[QUOTE=Rayjingstorm;35194493]How would a GUI make pacman any better?[/QUOTE]
My dad keeps asking me what the command was for installing stuff, so I thought it'd be easier for him to use a GUI.
[QUOTE=FlamingSpaz;35204475]My dad keeps asking me what the command was for installing stuff, so I thought it'd be easier for him to use a GUI.[/QUOTE]
Make some aliases in bash that are more simple, something like
"installsoftware firefox"
Or maybe make a script that on launch of the terminal displays a list of the common commands he needs.
[QUOTE=BBgamer720;35206031]Make some aliases in bash that are more simple, something like
"installsoftware firefox"
Or maybe make a script that on launch of the terminal displays a list of the common commands he needs.[/QUOTE]
Or print out a reference sheet. Or people could learn how to use the systems instead of having the system learn to be used differently.
Unless this person has some kind of learning problem or disability, I see no reason not to just use the built-in stuff.
[QUOTE=T3hGamerDK;35206154]Or print out a reference sheet. Or people could learn how to use the systems instead of having the system learn to be used differently.
Unless this person has some kind of learning problem or disability, I see no reason not to just use the built-in stuff.[/QUOTE]
I actually never thought of that. He's not dumb, just that the last distro he used was RHEL2. I'll edit his conky config and add some help.
You could easily create some aliases to make the basic pacman functions the same as yum.
[QUOTE=Larikang;35213142]You could easily create some aliases to make the basic pacman functions the same as yum.[/QUOTE]
I'm not sure if RHEL2 had yum.
But yum does have an easier interface than pacman in my opinion.
yum install *package* would be easier to remember than pacman -S *package*
I'm not even sure if I got the pacman one right because it's been so long since I've used it. But what does a capital S have to do with installing anything? I don't know.
It stands for sync. You're syncing your installation with the repository. Or more specifically the specified package.
The latest Linux Mint is actually really nice.
[QUOTE=nos217;35219563]The latest Linux Mint is actually really nice.[/QUOTE]
I tried installing it in a virtual machine, but that thing is a HOG! Even the CD installation of Lisa took too long for me to wait until the installation was done. Ubuntu was 10 times faster than that.
I really liked their idea of using the Gnome shell with extensions and everything, but the entire system was just too slow for me :(
Anyone here do some GFS stuff with Centos 6? Mostly for Active/Active SAN setups?
[QUOTE=T3hGamerDK;35219606]I tried installing it in a virtual machine, but that thing is a HOG! Even the CD installation of Lisa took too long for me to wait until the installation was done. Ubuntu was 10 times faster than that.
I really liked their idea of using the Gnome shell with extensions and everything, but the entire system was just too slow for me :([/QUOTE]
Weird, it's really speedy here.
I must have been doing something very wrong with Arch, I'm getting a much bettery battery life with Mint.
[QUOTE=nos217;35219563]The latest Linux Mint is actually really nice.[/QUOTE]
I can't get it to boot on my PC (Tried UnetBootin, UniversalUSBinstaller, Win32diskimager).
[QUOTE=BBgamer720;35232473]I can't get it to boot on my PC (Tried UnetBootin, UniversalUSBinstaller, Win32diskimager).[/QUOTE]
got a spare CD/DVD?
CD's always work out for me, when my USB stick doesen't boot a distro for some reason.
[QUOTE=kaukassus;35232688]got a spare CD/DVD?
CD's always work out for me, when my USB stick doesen't boot a distro for some reason.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't have thought it'd be a USB problem. Probably something to do with graphics drivers. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm content with Arch/Ubuntu for now though.
[QUOTE=kaukassus;35232688]got a spare CD/DVD?
CD's always work out for me, when my USB stick doesen't boot a distro for some reason.[/QUOTE]
Stange. It's the exact opposite for me.
Question for you guys: What's your favorite interface?
I'm personally fond of openbox because of its simplistic, straight-edged design, and hate KDE and its silly bubbly interfaces. I see a lot of love for some of the tiling interfaces, but I could never really get into those when I could operate openbox much faster than dwm or awesome. Besides, I never really understood how to navigate them.
Hello I am a first year computer science major, and I am wanting to use linux. The first question is, how do i know whis os is appropriate for me? It seems everyone I know uses Unbuntu, but it also seems redhat is very popular. The main question is, how do i install it onto my external hard drive. The install instructions that seem most appropriate are found here [url]http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download[/url] but it says for cd and usb stick, not external hard drive. Any help / insight is very appreciated.
You download it, load it up on a CD or USB and reboot into the system. THEN you install it.
The installer will help you and guide you through installing it where you want.
So I can download it onto my computer, then put the actual OS on my external drive? So when I want to use the os I would boot from the external drive, correct?
[QUOTE=Chezhead;35241856]Question for you guys: What's your favorite interface?
I'm personally fond of openbox because of its simplistic, straight-edged design, and hate KDE and its silly bubbly interfaces. I see a lot of love for some of the tiling interfaces, but I could never really get into those when I could operate openbox much faster than dwm or awesome. Besides, I never really understood how to navigate them.[/QUOTE]
Openbox, Awesome, XFCE, Gnome-Shell(only if heavily customized, and with cinnamon)
[QUOTE=Relaxation;35242392]So I can download it onto my computer, then put the actual OS on my external drive? So when I want to use the os I would boot from the external drive, correct?[/QUOTE]
Correct.
[QUOTE=Relaxation;35242349]Hello I am a first year computer science major, and I am wanting to use linux. The first question is, how do i know whis os is appropriate for me? It seems everyone I know uses Unbuntu, but it also seems redhat is very popular. The main question is, how do i install it onto my external hard drive. The install instructions that seem most appropriate are found here [url]http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download[/url] but it says for cd and usb stick, not external hard drive. Any help / insight is very appreciated.[/QUOTE]
Try several in a virtual PC. You should have the capabilities to figure out how shit works.
Try mint, fedora, Ubuntu, Suse. Then try the more difficult ones like Gentoo or Arch.
Then pick your flavor.
[QUOTE=Chezhead;35241856]Question for you guys: What's your favorite interface?
I'm personally fond of openbox because of its simplistic, straight-edged design, and hate KDE and its silly bubbly interfaces. I see a lot of love for some of the tiling interfaces, but I could never really get into those when I could operate openbox much faster than dwm or awesome. Besides, I never really understood how to navigate them.[/QUOTE]
I like KDE. I don't think it's bubbly. :/
I've tried using Openbox, and I could do it, but it was too time consuming to set up and I didn't like the mishmash of programs I had to install to get things like a volume mixer on my taskbar which I also had to install seperately.
I like having an interface that doesn't take ages to setup. I don't like to think of myself as a GUI "power user". If I want to do "power user" type stuff I do it in the terminal. I just want an interface that works with no effort.
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;35245013]I like KDE. I don't think it's bubbly. :/
I've tried using Openbox, and I could do it, but it was too time consuming to set up and I didn't like the mishmash of programs I had to install to get things like a volume mixer on my taskbar which I also had to install seperately.
I like having an interface that doesn't take ages to setup. I don't like to think of myself as a GUI "power user". If I want to do "power user" type stuff I do it in the terminal. I just want an interface that works with no effort.[/QUOTE]
just write a python/shellscript, so you only have to set it up once, and then everytime you need an openbox set up, you can execute the script, and it will set up everything for you. Thats what I do.
[QUOTE=FPtje;35242922]Try several in a virtual PC. You should have the capabilities to figure out how shit works.
Try mint, fedora, Ubuntu, Suse. Then try the more difficult ones like Gentoo or Arch.
Then pick your flavor.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. I'd personally recommend either Ubuntu or Mint, they're the best beginner distributions at the minute. If you're thinking of using Ubuntu, wait 35 days or so and the new version will be out (saves you the hassle of upgrading). Mint should be fine to just get going!
I wouldn't recommend Fedora, it's suited more to a geekier audience and isn't tested that well (Fedora 15's liveCD had a broken installer for crying out loud).
Don't bother with Gentoo, it's interesting but seems rather pointless. (So much compiling). Arch on the other hand is awesome and once you've played with Ubuntu, I recommend giving it a go. Even if just in a[URL="http://virtualbox.org/"] Virtual Machine[/URL]. The wiki is fantastic, check the [URL="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide"]beginners guide[/URL]. Installing Arch is rather easy, but on the way through it you'll learn the basic ins and outs of GNU/Linux (Commands, CLI interface etc.) and how everything works together to make the complete system.
Hope that helps. If you need any more advice feel free to ask.
[QUOTE=Relaxation;35242392]So I can download it onto my computer, then put the actual OS on my external drive? So when I want to use the os I would boot from the external drive, correct?[/QUOTE]
There is a very common problem people run into when installing ubuntu on an external hard drive.
I don't know how familiar you are with the boot process, so I'll make this simple.
When you install any os. It needs to put some code on the MBR which is the first thing read and run from the hard drive at boot time. Ubuntu uses GRUB.
What happens when you install ubuntu is that it will put it's own bootloader (GRUB) on the MBR. This means that it will overwrite whatever was on there previously. This is fine for an external HDD because their MBRs are often empty because they're not being booted. It becomes a bit of a larger issue if you put the MBR on your main disk (where you have windows installed). GRUB, in that case would overwrite the windows bootloader. Windows should be able to boot because GRUB is able to make windows boot.
The problem with installing on an external HDD is that ubuntu has a tendency to want to put GRUB on the MBR of the first disk. (Your main HDD, most probably) Like I said above windows should still be able to boot because GRUB knows how to make it boot. The problem arises when you remove the external hard drive. GRUB keeps a bunch of files that it needs to operate in the /boot/grub directory. When you remove the external hard drive GRUB will not be able to do anything because it is lacking those files.
This can be prevented. Ubuntu, like all other distros will allow you to choose where you want to put GRUB. In your case you're going to want to make sure that you put it on the MBR of the external hard drive. You should be given the option before the installation when the installer asks you a bunch of questions. Make sure you don't miss it and make sure that GRUB will be installed on your external hdd before you proceed with the installation.
[QUOTE=BBgamer720;35245942]Agreed. I'd personally recommend either Ubuntu or Mint, they're the best beginner distributions at the minute. If you're thinking of using Ubuntu, wait 35 days or so and the new version will be out (saves you the hassle of upgrading). Mint should be fine to just get going!
I wouldn't recommend Fedora, it's suited more to a geekier audience and isn't tested that well (Fedora 15's liveCD had a broken installer for crying out loud).
Don't bother with Gentoo, it's interesting but seems rather pointless. (So much compiling). Arch on the other hand is awesome and once you've played with Ubuntu, I recommend giving it a go. Even if just in a[URL="http://virtualbox.org/"] Virtual Machine[/URL]. The wiki is fantastic, check the [URL="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide"]beginners guide[/URL]. Installing Arch is rather easy, but on the way through it you'll learn the basic ins and outs of GNU/Linux (Commands, CLI interface etc.) and how everything works together to make the complete system.
Hope that helps. If you need any more advice feel free to ask.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't go with Ubuntu as the beginner distro anymore, especially not with the dumb 'HUD' feature coming up in 12.04.
Disregarding beginner distributions, Gentoo has very good points. Even if it does take a little time to compile some of the packages (gcc and chromium takes my top 2), it also allows you to NOT compile in extra 'features'. As such, I can create my own system without any support for mp3 and other proprietary formats that I never ever use anyway, or compile support for IRC chat into IM programs, and a whole lot of other things too!
If you want the best of both worlds (Arch with binary builds, and the entirety of Gentoo's system, including the portage system), you can have it too! Sabayon is the system I use everywhere, pretty much.
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