Filling my Technological Void|Learning to Adapt to new Technology…… The Hard Way.

Recently I had to reinstall my Windows box so I decided to reinstall my Archlinux box as well. So I started taking backups which I must say that backing up data is starting to hurt the wallet since I have about 20-35 GB of data I need to save. So continued on and backed up everything and reinstalled Windows first since I wanted a dual boot configuration on this system. My system has a IDE and SATA hard disk which tends to cause problems when I configure it for dual booting. Usually I end up with having to use the BIOS boot options to go to either Linux or Windows. Well with the help of a friend on IRC (Thanks Qwerty) I created a /boot partition on the IDE drive which Windows was installed and then the rest of the Linux partitions on the SATA drive and then installed the GRUB to sda instead of the boot partition like I was doing previously and now I have a perfectly configured Dual boot.

Now if you are wondering what does this have to do with Symlink errors, hold your horses I’m getting there. After continuing with the install I did a pacman -Syu and made sure I upgraded all base packages but after downloading the updates it just wouldn’t get upgraded but rather gave me the following error.


checking package integrity...
checking for file conflicts...
error: could not prepare transaction
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/Kbuild exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/a.out-core.h exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/a.out.h exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/acpi.h exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/agp.h exists in filesystem
............  (Couple 100 of errors deleted) ................
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/xor_32.h exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/xor_64.h exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

Checked around and found that without performing the following command would result in the above error.

rm /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm

Running this command fixed the problem and I was able to upgrade the packages with no problem. The reason for this is shown below as quoted per www.archlinux.com

Due to a limitation in pacman’s conflict checking and symbolic link resolution, the upgrade to klibc-1.5.14-1 requires manual removal of a symbolic link before updating. Please run the command “rm /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm” as root to remove the symbolic link that will otherwise cause a few hundred false file conflicts.

Source

There are quite a few things I love about Arch Linux. But the Main thing I love is its speed. I’ve never been on a faster Distro. That said I’ve never been on anythign else other than Ubuntu Hardy Heron, Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon, Mandriva , Sabayon  and Mint.

One of the main things I always had a problem with is getting updates. The highest speed I ever got from Ubuntu Mirrors was like 30-35 Kbps and that too from a mirror from Mongolia. As for the other distributions I had either lower or comparitively same speeds as well. Let me show you the time it took to do a 12 MB update on Arch Linux in the morning in India.

Every single update I make seems to get me good speeds and I’m just loving it.

I just changed the wallpaper and changed the Icon Set for my Arch Desktop. Screenshot included below.

Wallpaper from InterfaceLift.com

Icon Set from Gnome-look.org

“You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny.”
-Darth Vader

As some of you might of heard I recently decided to install Arch Linux due to the constant nagging of Kalpik and some others in the IRC channel. The summary of our discussions go like this:

[22:33:42] <@kalpik> krazzy, ArchWiki :: Arch Linux - ArchWiki [22:33:57] <@kalpik> krazzy, ArchWiki :: Arch Compared To Other Distros - ArchWiki [22:34:11] <amitava> BUT IF u want peace of mind: Get a mac, get a life [22:34:26] <Filled-Void> lol [22:34:33] <amitava> >.< [22:35:01] <Filled-Void> kalpik, is Arch also a compile and use distro? [22:35:11] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, it can be if you want [22:35:20] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, arch is superb! you MUST try! [22:35:41] <Filled-Void> kalpik, Oh ok. then never mind I was looking for a change. Ubuntu is gtting old for me, Arch , gentoo and crux bleh need compiling [22:36:37] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, binaries for everything are available! [22:36:38] <amitava> wtf Filled-Void try leopard.. [22:36:39] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, try na! [22:37:00] <Filled-Void> kalpik, how big is the download [22:37:14] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, 135 MB for ISO and about 300 MB for gnome [22:37:17] <munna-boi> Filled-Void,PIRATE!!! Blilly uncle loves you [22:37:42] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, ArchWiki :: Arch Compared To Other Distros - ArchWiki [22:37:44] <Filled-Void> kalpik, Wht if I choose fluxbox instead? [22:37:52] <@kalpik> Manan, lol.. [22:38:08] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, lesser downloads i think.. i’ve only tried gnome [22:38:20] <Filled-Void> kalpik, Is it possible to install kde on it if I need it? [22:38:26] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, the ISO only installs base system.. [22:38:30] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, yes! [22:39:25] <aditya> kalpik: you guys telling Filled-Void to use arch? [22:39:26] <munna-boi> Filled-Void is one crazy ******* [22:39:31] <@kalpik> aditya, yes

So lets see I understand this much at this point.

* I need to download about 300 MB
* You start out with Nothing other than a CLI.
* Loads of configuration.
* Looking forward towards lots of pain and aggravation

Interesting. Good enough for me to become cannon fodder for this reckless experiment. Although I must say that kalpik and some others did say they would help me out when I install it. Well hell with that, I thought how hard could be to install it myself. (The previous line in correct words mean backup your data cause you are so screwed .)

Here is a certain link which may explain why Arch might have some benefits over other distros. Please don’t start a distro war here. If you plan on come in riding on your horse guns blazing be free to do so on IRC in #ArchLinux or their forums. As for other Windows users and Mac users I am in no way asking you to change and I pray you don’t the configuration changes don’t justify your change to the platform unless you are so sick with the platform you are using. Of course you could try it in a VM though if you would like.

Answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Here are two Install Guides you will find very very handy. Follow these word by word and you should be fine.
Beginner’s Guide
Install Guide

Anyway I’m going to be quite short and say I downloaded the File needed for the base system from here..

Went on installing and I’ll be very frank it wasn’t hard at all. As long as you follow the Beginners Guide Step by Step. You want to be adventurous knock yourself out, but don’t throw your CPU out once you find out that you just overwrote your Windows/Linux partition.

Step 1 : Read the Beginner Guide.
Step 2 : If you didn’t do Step 1 then go back to Step 1 and read it.
Step 3 : Pick an Environment (Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox etc) you will be happy with and continue from there. You can install others later but lets first get this baby up and running.
Step 4 : Once you have decided which environment you want read the guide from the portion corresponding to the respective environment you have selected.
Step 5 : Install “yaourt” you can find the wiki for it here.Yaourt - ArchWiki
Step 6 : Install any or all the other programs you need. Remember this is Arch the only thing you have is probably your terminal and very basic utilities. Mainly you would want Multimedia Players, Chat programs, Codecs, Java, Flash. This should give you a fully functional system. Also you might want to install HAL and FAM. Each one of these are documented in the various wikis which I have linked below.

At this point you could call it or you could keep on customizing your system to your liking. Currently I have all the above installed and the rest is still coming. So you will see a couple of updates in this here and there.

Pros :

* You only get what you want. Theres no extra bloat.
* It is damn fast. Wouldn’t you love 12-15 second boot ups as well as shutdown . No I dont mean from CLI I mean from Gnome 2.22.2.
* You don’t have to sit all day waiting for your computer to compile all day long.
* Its a rolling release . No more waiting for your friends courier or favorite magazine to come out with the next release.

Cons :

* Arch is a bit of a pain getting it configured from scratch.
* You need a broadband connection . Considering that this is a base system you will need tons of downloads tog et your computer up to date.
* Arch is intended for Intermediate to advanced users. No, I’m not either I’m a beginner with this and if it weren’t for help I’d probably be still with a CLI.

Image of resources Being used:

Wikis for Everything you need :
Although you can google or find this on Arch Linux’s Website I’m goign to link this for the benefit of the user.
Beginner’s Guide
Installation
of a Desktop Environment
Java and Flash
Yaourt
Audio Codecs
All you need to know about Pacman
Compiz Fusion
openOffice.org (Don’t forget to install libsndfile)