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

“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)

Its been quite a while since I posted anything. I guess the hectic schedules are taking its toll. But nonetheless I finally got my hands on the DVD edition of Ubuntu Hardy Heron 64 bit and with my fingers crossed installed it on my system.

All I have to say is that I’m quite impressed. Every single bug I had earlier in Gutsy Gibbon has not made its way over to Hardy Heron. The Install procedure went through without a hitch  and I believe that Ubuntu is getting really good with its Operating System over time.

While I was doing the install I took a few screenshots and also wrote up a document showing the Install procedure , but trust me when I say that the Installation was very easy. You can download the Install guide from the link below which I have included. if anyone feels that I should add something to it or someone does have something to add to it . Please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to included it.

Download it from here:

I’m one of those people who frequent quite a few forums to gather any kind of new information about technology. After a discussion which you can view here, lots of folks have decided to join in and contribute and help out maintain help out with the blog at www.freeme.in. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to add something which is worth while on it :). If you would like to contribute as well go ahaead and sign right up and take a peek at the Guidelines before you start posting. Hope to see ya all there.

There are sometimes that you need to get help from a live person or those Google searches aren’t doing you any good at all. In such a case your best bet is to try the Ubuntu IRC community for help. If you remember my first post about Ubuntu I mentioned about the community being a huge plus. Well if you enter the Ubuntu channel you can see that theres quite a few folks always there. To be frank, I’ve never seen the channel have any lesser than 1000 people in the channel . Now lets see on how we can use IRC to get some help.

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