[SOLVED] Arch install from net install image, using USB 3G modem?

Hi.

Would anyone happen to know how I can do an install from a Arch net install disc (burned from the latest stable)?

The difference being that the disc network connection wizard only has an option for Ethernet. This is a very poor design in my opinion, because not everyone uses the same internet connection type.

Has anyone else ran into this issue before

On a side note, I was warned about not having '/Boot' set, when manually partitioning my drive. Can this be safely ignored? I've only set '/Home', and '/' (root) with other distros...

Internet setup in the installer only supports regular wifi and ethernet connections. You can, however, manually configure your 3G modem, but you'd need either an internet connection to install the necessary packages, or to download all of the necessary packages from a different computer to a USB stick and transfer them to your Arch box for installation.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_3G_Modem

The /boot partition warning can be safely ignored.

Any chance someone knows how to setup ppp, or wvdial, to work for dialing out.

I've installed the base 'ppp' package followed by 'wvdial', but wvdial isn't auto-detecting the correct settings like it did in Debian. I have no idea how to do this in Arch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WhoIsThere

Any chance someone knows how to setup ppp, or wvdial, to work for dialing out.

I've installed the base 'ppp' package followed by 'wvdial', but wvdial isn't auto-detecting the correct settings like it did in Debian. I have no idea how to do this in Arch.

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Did you read the wiki link I posted above? Is has info on wvdial. There is also a wvdial specific entry in the Arch wiki.

EDIT: Actually, the latter doesn't look that useful for. But there is info in the former.

Okay. It must have been related the 'usb_modeswitch' package I had downloaded manually.

After downloading a different version, I was able to succesfully connect to the internet, and updated the correct modeswitch package through pacman to be sure.

I hate to keep comparing Debian, and Arch. But..., it's the only other Linux I've attempted in the last few days.

1. Does Arch Linux's pacman have a feaures similar to aptitude's 'remove' vs 'purge'?

2. If I install xorg, xinit, my gfx card driver, openbox, and then run 'xstart' ...

... in Debian, I get a basic desktop with a right-click context menu.
... in Arch, I get a desktop, where there are 3 boxes with "root@myhost:~" showing.

In this install of Arch, I actually tried installing chromium first, but it gave me a font error when I attempted to load it. I'm now posting this from Firefox, which is in a window that I can't maximize/close from that window. It has 'Namoroka' in the window's title bar. I can't even close the internet popups.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WhoIsThere

1. Does Arch Linux's pacman have a feaures similar to aptitude's 'remove' vs 'purge'?

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The Arch wiki covers pacman usage pretty well:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman

Additional options for using it can be found by checking the manual page:

Code:

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man pacman

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I ran Debian for a while myself, but after getting used to Arch, I've never looked back.

Quote:

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1. Does Arch Linux's pacman have a feaures similar to aptitude's 'remove' vs 'purge'?

2. If I install xorg, xinit, my gfx card driver, openbox, and then run 'xstart' ...

... in Debian, I get a basic desktop with a right-click context menu.
... in Arch, I get a desktop, where there are 3 boxes with "root@myhost:~" showing.

In this install of Arch, I actually tried installing chromium first, but it gave me a font error when I attempted to load it. I'm now posting this from Firefox, which is in a window that I can't maximize/close from that window. It has 'Namoroka' in the window's title bar. I can't even close the internet popups.

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1. Remove package

Code:

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pacman -R <package>

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Force remove

Code:

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pacman -Rd <package>

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Remove with dependencies except those needed by other packages

Code:

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pacman -Rs <package>

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Remove and delete saved configuration files. (Not from /home though, pacman never touches that.)

Code:

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pacman -Rn <package>

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2. Doesn't sound like you're starting openbox. Edit ~/.xinitrc and add

Code:

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exec ck-launch-session openbox-session

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Then start with startx.

Can you give the chromium error specifically?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reed9

2. Doesn't sound like you're starting openbox. Edit ~/.xinitrc and add

Code:

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exec ck-launch-session openbox-session

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Then start with startx.

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I did a 'find / -name .xinitrc' search, and the only match was '/etc/skel/.xinitrc'. I added the line to that, and restarted x. Nothing had changed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reed9

Can you give the chromium error specifically?

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Never-mind on this. After installing other packages, it no longer asks for missing fonts. I'm not quite sure what package(s) satisfied it.

Copy /etc/skel/.xinitrc to your user's home directory or just create the file in your user's home.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinitrc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reed9

Copy /etc/skel/.xinitrc to your user's home directory or just create the file in your user's home.

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No go.

After I did some more messing around, I ended up typing 'openbox' in the open X session. I got a return of a window manager was already running in x session 0, or some such stuff. I then found out that holding down the left mouse button brought up a menu, where I discovered there was a windows manager named Twm installed. I uninstalled it, and reinstalled OpenBox to make sure.

After starting with 'startx', I was still brought to a screen with three open terminals. I could close the two on the right, but closing the one on the left closed the x session as well. Typing in 'openbox works now, but I'm left with the 3 terminal oddity (at least to me).

Anyways, thanks for the help. Any other questions I may have belong in separate threads.