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Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 04:45 AM
Hello. I have the guide for installing Arch linux, and all goes well, (so far).

I just don't know what to press when, I try to install GRUB with the installer, and it wants me to view the file before it installs it.
Then the black screen comes up showing me the text version of GRUB, but I don't know how to get out of it. I tried every button I can think of.
What am I missing here?

Locutus_of_Borg
September 5th, 2008, 04:59 AM
hold control and press X
then press Y
then press enter



if you dont know how to use nano, you really should not be trying to use Arch


maybe gentoo is more to your liking

;p

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 04:59 AM
So, this wasn't in my guide but,

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Quick_Archlinux_Install


"Press Strg-O, then Strg-X, and everything will be saved. "

What does that mean????

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 05:01 AM
hold control and press X
then press Y
then press enter



if you dont know how to use nano, you really should not be trying to use Arch


maybe gentoo is more to your liking

;p

Hey, paultag told me to jump in when the water's the coldest.
He mentioned LFS like it was possible for me to do it.

Thanks dude. :)

Locutus_of_Borg
September 5th, 2008, 05:02 AM
im sure it is possible

i only mentioned gentoo because it pwns arch linux

just be sure you are not installing either onto the only computer you can access the internet with.

handy
September 5th, 2008, 05:59 AM
Arch has great documentation, (so does Gentoo :-)) & is very quick & simple to install, especially when compared to a 3 day Gentoo installation.

You just need to use the console & a console driven text editor such as nano or vi(m).

As previously mentioned, it certainly helps to have another machine connected to the web to access information, the same machine with a web connection makes it a bit more inconvenient, but certainly possible, even if you have to use a liveCD to do it.

Enjoy.

crimesaucer
September 5th, 2008, 06:04 AM
So, this wasn't in my guide but,

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Quick_Archlinux_Install


This is not the best guide for installing Arch. It's say's that it's outdated.


Check out this guide: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide
and this guide: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide


and more Archlinux wiki info: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page


..... and one of my favorite guides (even though this is an old one also) is this 10 page "easy-to-follow" install tutorial that has pictures for most all of the important steps: http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=276


I also like to use the "FTP" install if you have hardware that you know works with Linux, and a working Internet connection.


The steps of a FTP install are basically the same, it's just faster and you don't have to upgrade anything after the install because you already install the newest packages from the FTP mirror instead of the base packages off of the disk.


Don't be scared of nano, it's really easy to use, just don't select vim. When you use nano, it's basically just moving your cursor with the up/down/left/right arrows, and when you want to save your edited file, press "control + o" and then the enter button to save the file as the name it already had when you opened it (for example: rc.conf), and then to exit from nano press "control + x".


That is about all you need to know about using nano. Read the 10 page tutorial and it will show you what files you have to edit with nano, and what to check for or add/edit.

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 06:10 AM
This is not the best guide for installing Arch. It's say's that it's outdated.


Check out this guide: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide
and this guide: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide


and more Archlinux wiki info: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page


..... and one of my favorite guides (even though this is an old one also) is this 10 page "easy-to-follow" install tutorial that has pictures for most all of the important steps: http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=276


I also like to use the "FTP" install if you have hardware that you know works with Linux, and a working Internet connection.


The steps of a FTP install are basically the same, it's just faster and you don't have to upgrade anything after the install because you already install the newest packages from the FTP mirror instead of the base packages off of the disk.


Don't be scared of nano, it's really easy to use, just don't select vim. When you use nano, it's basically just moving your cursor with the up/down/left/right arrows, and when you want to save your edited file, press "control + o" and then the enter button to save the file as the name it already had when you opened it (for example: rc.conf), and then to exit from nano press "control + x".


That is about all you need to know about using nano. Read the 10 page tutorial and it will show you what files you have to edit with nano, and what to check for or add/edit.

Funny, because that's what I selected the first time: vim.
That's why I didn't know what to do. I'm not scared of nano, it had all the keys to press at the bottom of the screen.
I've got all the links you showed me. Dude, thanks a lot! I'll post back with my experience. :)

--
I exited the grub file, and select the drive to boot from and I get an error. Check ttyl something.
I'm looking into it.

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 07:55 AM
Not for me, I hated it. (gentoo)
Took forever to install, and then rebooted into a virtual console.
Funny, because I specifically install a window manager, and I don't know what to do to get out of a virtual console, or start a window manager.
Why wouldn't it start with the system. Seems pretty common sense to me.
Every time I try something else I run back to ubuntu and cry myself to sleep. Not really.
But.

Yeh, I got the error, and I CANNOT INSTALL GRUB. Or Lilo.



im sure it is possible

i only mentioned gentoo because it pwns arch linux

just be sure you are not installing either onto the only computer you can access the internet with.

handy
September 5th, 2008, 08:25 AM
This great Arch installation video guide by miggols99 (http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=52327) is worth a look, even if as a primer for an Arch virgin:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6213347420565640601

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 01:56 PM
Well, I ended up doing it again, and I don't know why but this time I was able to install the GRUB bootloader. So yay to that.
Let's see here.

I followed through the installation, in updating, install xorg, creating a user, installing ALSA,
Now I'm at installing nvida. I run pacman -S nvida (Geforce 8500 what I have) and it installs, asks if I should delete this other thing because it conflicts, so I say yes.
And when I make the configuration file:

X -configure
and test it.
I get this image:
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2522/img3032bz9.th.jpg (http://img401.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img3032bz9.jpg)

So I go into the conf file and look, and all the info is there. The error is pointing elsewhere (you can see in the image) but I don't know what to do.
I updated. Didn't do anything. I reinstalled nvidia, didn't do anything.

Any suggestions?

I'm running on a live cd right now, I'll just leave this on until someone can get to this.
All the help is appreciated. I love being a part of this community.

kpkeerthi
September 5th, 2008, 02:03 PM
Here is what I did to get my xorg.conf setup:

1. Installed nvidia driver in Arch
2. Booted with Ubuntu Live CD and copied Ubuntu's xorg.conf to my flash drive.
3. Now booted into Arch and replaced the xorg.conf with Ubuntu's from the flash drive.
3. Ran nvidia-xconfig (in root's console) or you could just change "nv" to "nvidia" in the xorg.conf that you just copied over.
4. Reboot Arch
5. Nirvana!

Rumor
September 5th, 2008, 02:07 PM
How did you generate your xorg.conf file? If you have run
pacman -S nvidia xorg then you can run
nvidia-xconfig to generate the file.

Or you can try hwd to generate the file:

pacman -S hwd
hwd -u ##answer yes to the update questions##
hwd -xa

Let us know how you make out!

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 02:09 PM
Here is what I did to get my xorg.conf setup:

1. Installed nvidia driver in Arch
2. Booted with Ubuntu Live CD and copied Ubuntu's xorg.conf to my flash drive.
3. Now booted into Arch and replaced the xorg.conf with Ubuntu's from the flash drive.
3. Ran nvidia-xconfig (in root's console) or you could just change "nv" to "nvidia" in the xorg.conf that you just copied over.
4. Reboot Arch
5. Nirvana!

Sounds awesome. I don't have a flash drive, but i have another internal hard drive.
I'll see about trying it that way.
What do you mean "change "nv" to "nvidia" in the xorg.conf that you just copied over."

kpkeerthi
September 5th, 2008, 02:34 PM
What do you mean "change "nv" to "nvidia" in the xorg.conf that you just copied over."

See http://gentoo-wiki.com/TIP_Switching_between_the_nv_free_driver_and_the_3 D_nVidia_driver#Xorg_configuration

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 02:41 PM
How did you generate your xorg.conf file? If you have run
pacman -S nvidia xorg then you can run
nvidia-xconfig to generate the file.

Or you can try hwd to generate the file:

pacman -S hwd
hwd -u ##answer yes to the update questions##
hwd -xaLet us know how you make out!

Ok Rumor, thanks for that little pitch. (Missed it in the tutorial)
Worked.
I did the hwd way, and I tested the xorg and it worked.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide#Simple_baseline_X_test

I'm at this part now. And it doesn't work.
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9996/img3033di2.th.jpg (http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img3033di2.jpg)

Says there is no ~/.xinitrc file

mips
September 5th, 2008, 03:08 PM
Ok Rumor, thanks for that little pitch. (Missed it in the tutorial)

Says there is no ~/.xinitrc file

Please follow the wiki to the letter.

You have to create the .xinit.rc as per the wiki.



startx/xinit will start the X server and clients. To determine the client to run, startx/xinit will first look for a .xinitrc file in the user's home directory. In the absence of file ~/.xinitrc, it defaults to the global xinitrc in the xinit library directory; /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc, which defaults to using the TWM window manager. (Hence, if you invoke startx without a ~/.xinitrc file, a TWM session will start.) Switch to your normal, non-root user:
su yourusername


/etc/skel/ contains files and directories to provide sane defaults for newly created user accounts. The name skel is derived from the word skeleton, because the files it contains form the basic structure for users' home directories.

Copy the sample xinitrc file from /etc/skel/ to your home directory:
cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~/
Edit the file:
nano ~/.xinitrc
and add:
exec xterm
So that it looks like this:
#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)
#
exec xterm
# exec wmaker
# exec startkde
# exec icewm
# exec blackbox
# exec fluxbox
Be sure to have only one uncommented exec line in your ~/.xinitrc. Below, we shall edit this file again to specify the appropriate desktop environment/window manager of your choice.
Finally, test your configurations by starting X as normal, non-root user, with:
startx
or
xinit
You should have an xterm session open up. You can exit the X Server with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, or by typing "exit". If you have problems starting X, you can look for errors in the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file and on the console output of the console you started X from.

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 04:37 PM
Ok. So current situation is,
I got gnome installed. And I put the entry in the xinitrc file.
exec startgnome
didn't work
I tried exec startgnome-session

Didn't work. After restart and complete install of gnome.
When I do startx this error:
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/3147/img3037uk5.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img3037uk5.jpg)

It's kind of like nothing ever worked in the first place.

Rumor
September 5th, 2008, 04:55 PM
If you're running gnome, you can start it by adding gdm to the end of your daemons array in your /etc/rc.conf file

e.g.

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network blah blah blah gdm)

maniheer
September 5th, 2008, 07:01 PM
the gdm in rc.conf method will work, or, its



exec gnome-session

sub2007
September 5th, 2008, 07:16 PM
GNOME isn't working because it appears to me that you DON'T yet have a working X server. There's absolutely no point messing around with GNOME until you get your X server working.

It appears that you haven't installed the graphics drivers for your system yet. Did you follow the beginners guide in the wiki exactly?

crimesaucer
September 5th, 2008, 10:38 PM
the gdm in rc.conf method will work, or, its



exec gnome-session


This is the correct way to start gnome in the .xinitrc


This is all covered in this tutorial on this page, 6th section down, right below the section for installing all of the gnome packages, editing your Daemons, and then editing your inittab to work with GDM, : http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=276&pid=9



(Like I said earlier, this is an older guide so some things are a bit different like the top section about the pacman.conf..... pacman uses a mirrors list now that is different than these steps.... it's still the same about uncommenting/commenting your preferred repository.... it also is different here: http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=276&pid=7 on the 3rd section down, pacman uses 1 mirrors list now..... it's easier than having 5 different files to edit)


As for nvidia, and nvidia-utils this is correct (plus compositing for compiz):


nvidia-xconfig --composite

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Composite#NVIDIA_drivers

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 10:55 PM
GNOME isn't working because it appears to me that you DON'T yet have a working X server. There's absolutely no point messing around with GNOME until you get your X server working.

It appears that you haven't installed the graphics drivers for your system yet. Did you follow the beginners guide in the wiki exactly?

Yes I did. And I know I had a working X server because I tested it.
You know, the white box you move the X cursor around in?
Yes.

Elephantman5
September 5th, 2008, 10:58 PM
This is the correct way to start gnome in the .xinitrc


This is all covered in this tutorial on this page, 6th section down, right below the section for installing all of the gnome packages, editing your Daemons, and then editing your inittab to work with GDM, : http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=276&pid=9



(Like I said earlier, this is an older guide so some things are a bit different like the top section about the pacman.conf..... pacman uses a mirrors list now that is different than these steps.... it's still the same about uncommenting/commenting your preferred repository.... it also is different here: http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=276&pid=7 on the 3rd section down, pacman uses 1 mirrors list now..... it's easier than having 5 different files to edit)


As for nvidia, and nvidia-utils this is correct (plus compositing for compiz):


nvidia-xconfig --compositehttp://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Composite#NVIDIA_drivers

Ok. Yeh, I'm not quite sure why I got that message, I'll return with more news. I really appreciate the links, I'm printing them right now.

Elephantman5
September 6th, 2008, 11:27 PM
(Edit)
Please stop posting on this, I'm sorry for bothering you people.
I'm an idiot.