Arch QUESTION

[spincricket]

Can you install the "base" install and get the rest of the packages on a wireless connection? Or must it be a wired connection?

I tried to install and use wireless, but Arch gave me ASS!!!

I did ipconfig and saw that eth1 wasnt loaded, which is my wireless. I naively assumed that the wireless would work.

So, i added eth1 to /etc/rc.conf
#: /etc/rc.conf -------->
#: lo="127......"
#: eth0="dhcp"
#: eth1="dhcp"
#: INTERFACES=(lo eth0 eth1)


And #: /etc/rc.d/network restart

and still no luck, it wasnt recognized by iwconfig as a wireless extension.

So i checked #: /etc/conf.d/wireless
and saw that eth0 was set as my wireless so i changed it to
#: wlan_eth1="eth1.........."

And i was going to try that, but i reset my computer, and then grub wouldnt load, and idk why, i didnt mess with grub.conf. So, i reinstalled ubuntu to get internet and partitions back.

I thought the ipw2200 drivers where in the kernel already.

If you have to install arch wired, it will present issues. I share my connection with my neighbor since the cable company forgot to run cable to my house, so we share 6 Mbps which is not too bad. Anywyas, i connect wirelessly to the network, he wouldnt have an issue with me going over and pluggin in, i bet it only takes less than an hour, but i would like to know. Thanks for the help guys.:banana:

[abf]

as the official arch guru of these forums, you may use wireless to install. that is exactly what i did and highly enourage others as the method of installation.

that said, according to the wiki:
<wiki>-------------------------------

ipw2100 and ipw2200

To install the correct firmware with pacman do a:
<snip />
For the ipw2200 chipset you should use:
pacman -Sy ipw2200-fw

After pacman has installed the firmware make sure that it is loaded. If you don't know how, I suggest a reboot.
<snip />.

</wiki>------------------------


so it would seen you need to do some outside work. solution #1 is you connect wired. solution number 2 get a PCMCIA card from somebody and most of those work by default... use the card to install ipw2200 package and continue from there.

also... don't bother with the .wireless config file if you use dhcp, its pointless. simply in rc.conf add your device to the list (comment out every other device to save time on boot) then add it to the list (remove all others from the list)

so in my case, my default card is ath0 i'd look something like:
ath0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(ath0)

thats it... don't change anything else.

you might find problems connecting, in that case also take out lo (notice i didn't include lo in my example above b/c i had to disable it for my config)


alternative solution: while you're in ubuntu or on some other computer download the files needed to get it to run, drop them on a flash drive, then mount the flash drive in text mode to install the stuff, and continue from there.

this is the method i have to do to get my wifi going. i keep source code for madwifi svn (take the latest snapshop like once a month) on my flash so that i have a handy copy when i need it most.

http://bughost.org/firmware/ipw2200-fw-3.0.tgz <---this is what you want. (note its just the stuff, not an arch package that you install with pacman)

[spincricket]

Holy Ish. I read that friggen wiki, and totally oversaw the ipw2200 part! :saywhat:

With that said thanks for the help and teh link ABF!! :banana:

I like your alternative installation idea, as i can try that later tonight. SWEETNESS.

Ill remember to leave the wireless conf file alone.

Ok, so ill just keep eth1="dhcp" / INTERFACES=(eth1), ill try with and without lo.

Man, thank you so much,im so excited im going to try this right now.
*runs for arch base install c.d* :banana:

[abf]

sweet. have fun. to save you time reading the pacman WIKI here is a brief howto pacman.

What is pacman? File manager for Arch linux.

How to set it up? the file is called /etc/pacman.conf. you wanna make sure [current] [extra] and [community] are uncommented (no #) you might also wanna add cimi and shadowhand as you see fit.

commands:
-S : similar to apt-get install, syncs (installs/updates) package from repo
-U : similar to dpkg -i, installs a local packagename.pkg.tgz package (cd to dir first)
-Sy : similar to apt-get update, just loads fresh data from repos
-Su : similar to apt-get upgrade, updates all out of date packages from repo
-R : remove, uninstall

pacman can exec more than 1 command at a time, so something like "pacman -Syu" is possible. in this case it will sync with the repos and upgrade all your fiels to latest versions.

[spincricket]

I wanted to ask, once I installed Arch, and rebooted, grub only shows Arch, and not my windows partition.

Is now a good time to add
# My Windows Partition
title Microsoft Windows XP
rootnoverify (hda0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

To my menu.lst? Or should i wait till arch is completely up and running?

[abf]

feel free to mod your menu.lst at any time.

in fact what i recommend you do now is install the linux26-beyond kernel, then update your menu.lst

granted with the new kernel you'll have to reinstall your wireless, so make sure you still have the source files for that around.

the write-up for the beyond kernel looks like:


# (0) Arch Linux Beyond
title Arch Linux Beyond
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26beyond root=/dev/hda1 ro
initrd /boot/initramfs-beyond.img


in fact, just look at this thread i made a few weeks ago http://www.notebookforums.com/thread157374.html

yes i am aware there are a few typos and errors in there... but you're smart enough to figure them out.