• Static

  • About Me
    • Copyright Policy
  • Links
• Domain Sale! $7.49*.com at GoDaddy.com
• Click here for Free IT - Software & Development Resources!

• Blogrovr!

  want this on your blog?

• Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org
• 

Due to lack of time, I have been sticking with the “easier” distros lately. I love Slackware, and at one time Arch Linux was my absolute favorite. I recently upgraded to an Athlon64 3200. I tried a variety of distros, only to run into problems I didn’t have time to fix. Fedora gave me a messed up Grub. Mandriva Free gave me problems with my video driver. Ubuntu Edgy has been fine. I saw that Arch Linux had a 64bit version and decided it was time to revisit it. If the easy distros were making me get into config files, why not just jump in fully with Arch64.

The installation documentation is thorough, but will drop you off at a command prompt with no Gui to log into. Make sure you know what you are doing, or do your homework first. If you feel like kickin’ it real old school, they even give you the option of a floppy install. You boot up, then type “/arch/setup”, which brings up the installer program. The steps are:

1. Prepare Hard Drive. You have an option to Auto-Prepare, which gives you a /boot, swap and root partition. It creates the file systems and mounts the partitions. Partition Hard Drives lets you do the partitioning via cfdisk and set the mount points yourself.
2. Select Packages. Packages are set up in different categories. I chose to only install BASE. It keeps things lean and mean.
3. Install Packages. This does exactly what it says. It installs the packages.
4. Configure System. This allows you to edit your configuration files. Usually the defaults will work, but the point of using Arch is to set things up your way. The rc.conf file is the main configuration file, where you set modules and daemons load, you define your network interface settings and other stuff. A nice addition here is MOD_AUTOLOAD which scans your hardware and automatically loads your modules with hwdetect. In the past I had forgotten to put the proper USB modules. Using a usb mouse and keyboard, that was a problem. Make absolutely sure you check lilo.conf if you use lilo, /boot/grub/menu.1st if using grub.
5. Install Kernel. Your choices are a stock 2.6.x kernel, 2.4 IDE or 2.4 SCSI. The documentation notes that Arch uses 2.6 by default, and to quote a line that made me laugh, “We are phasing out support for the 2.4 kernel, so you should only use it if 2.6 just isn’t working out for you”
6. Install Bootloader. You have the option of Lilo or Grub. The documentation has a great tip here. It says that if you multiboot, it might be better to install the bootloader into your root or /boot partition, and refer to that from the bootloader on your Master Boot Record. I did that and it worked like a charm. This is after I had Grub nightmares from a Fedora install. Post install, I updated Grub on my MBR easily
7. Exit Install. This makes you remove the disk and type reboot.

You reboot into a command prompt, logged in a root. I set up my root password and added a user. The docs say to set up your internet connection, but mine was ready to go. From here, you can use the package manager pacman to install xorg, KDE and/or Gnome and anything else you wish. I was a little to cocky, based on my previous experience, and hadn’t taken into consideration that xorg had changed. I installed xorg through pacman, but could not get a video driver module to load. My stupid mistake, it was as easy as installing the XF86-video-nv package since I have an Nvidia card. You can pull down all the drivers by installing the xorg-video-drivers package. I installed Kde, started x and was in my system. It was very clean and very fast. If you are unsure about how to do any of this, be sure to check out the ArchWiki before installing. It tells you how to set up just about anything you need. Be careful though, some advice is outdated. YMMV.Unless you are a super-genius, you will be using the wiki regularly. You have to set everything up yourself. Sound, cups, whatever. There are no graphical utilities to help you out, it is all command line. It is not as scary as that may sound.

The beauty of Arch is that you only install what you want. You only load the modules you want to, run the daemons you choose. Free as in freedom, baby. The result of this is a system that flies. I can’t give you hard numbers, but Arch boots a hell of a lot faster than other distros I have used. Arch64 is hardcore in that the philosophy is to be a true 64 bit operating system. To quote:
“BUT: Our goal is to be the most bleeding edge distribution around! 32-bit is old fashioned. We want Arch64 to be modern and pure 64-bit. So we don’t have a Multilib system. We won’t take any package into the repos improving 32-bit compatibility. Maybe we will place them into the AUR or community repo. Don’t expect any support from the devs getting 32-bit apps running on Arch64!”
I respect that. If you cannot live without flash, some W32 codecs,Opera or Skype you can run 32 bit apps inside Arch64 with a bit of work. It hasn’t been an issue for me. Mplayer has played everything I have thrown at it so far, including WMV files. I can do without flash to save some weird hack-y stuff or chrooting. (Arch64 does have the nspluginwrapper ready to go in the community repositories, so you can run flash on a 64bit browser.) It is hard for me to say if my system is faster due to the 64bits or if it is due to Arch itself. Maybe the combo. From what I read at the Arch64 FAQ you don’t gain much of an advantage using X64 except in multimedia or databases. Some reports have 32bit apps running faster than 64bit on a 64bit machine. I think it is worth any extra bit of hassle to run in 64. If anyone has an opinion on 32bit vs. 64bit, please leave a comment.

Once inside my system, I set up printing and audio. It was a breeze. Using Arch gives you an appreciation for the disdain people have for Gui tools. It is very simple to work from the command line, and the power you have over things is nice. If something goes wrong, you learn what the problem is and how to fix it. Arch, like Slackware and Gentoo, is a great learning tool.

Arch64 tries to stay very close to the Arch current and extra repositories. There aren’t as many developers, which means there is no unstable repo available. There is an list, updated hourly, comparing package versions for Arch32 and Arch64. Arch current port is finished and extra looks to be almost done. Community seems to be coming along. As X64 picks up steam, hopefully more developers will be moving here.

One of the biggest strengths of Arch Linux is its software manager, pacman. It is a command line utility, but there are graphical front ends available. Updating your system is as simple as typing “pacman -Syu”. Installing packages is as simple as “pacman -Sy packagename”. S = sync, y = refresh, u= sysupgrade. All dependencies are pulled down automatically. By editing the file pacman.conf, you can tell the system to not upgrade certain packages and what repositories to use. Another strength is that you can build and use your own repositories with pacman.

The Arch Build System (ABS) gives you the ability to build your own packages from source and rebuild Arch packages with your own customizations. The documentation covers everything. You run the command “abs” as root, which synchronizes the ABS tree with the current and extra repositories. You make a new directory for the package you are going to create. I decided to build Katapult, an alternative KDE launcher, so i made a /var/abs/local/katapult directory. I built my PKGBUILD file, ran makepkg and bingo, I had a package ready to go. I typed “pacman -A katapult-0.3.1.4-2.pkg.tar.gz” and it installed flawlessly. The AUR (Arch User Repository) is filled with PKGBUILD files for almost any program you might need. Nspluginwrapper resides here. ABS really sets Arch Linux apart.

I highly recommend Arch64. If you are looking for a great 64bit system and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, this is the system for you. You only need a fast connection and some time. Pacman is the best package manager out there. ABS gives you freedom to create your own packages or customize packages for your machine. The community is great and very helpful. If you aren’t running a 64bit system, this review would work for Arch32 with the added bonus of having the unstable tree available to you. There is a new project called Lowarch for older computers, so you can breathe life into an old machine.(If it is so old it only has a floppy drive, you are in luck.) Arch is an excellent way to learn. It forces you to. The outstanding documentation and wiki teaches you how to do whatever you may need. Arch is fast and gives you the freedom to run Linux the way you want. It remains my favorite distro. This review may seem fanboyish, but I honestly can’t find a bad thing to say about it.

Final Note: I didn’t include screenshots, because I think my readers know what KDE looks like. If you want them, let me know, and I can provide them.

Mandriva continues to make improvements. They have added some repositories, testing and backports, and they have added an updates repository to Contrib. The announcement is here:

Mandriva Announcement at Mandriva Club.

Unfortunately, non-free packages remain only available to club members. If you aren’t a club member, check out PLF (Penguin Liberation Front). They provide just about anything you could want.

You can add these repositories using smarturpmi or easyurpmi. There is also Mandriva’s official Mirror Finder.
Updates in main are handled by Mandriva’s QA team. Updates in contrib are community maintained. Backports could work out nicely to keep programs up to date. This is all covered in TFA, I mention it here in case you chose not to R. This may not qualify as news, but I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere.

Novell has issued an open letter to the free software community. Interestingly, the letter claims that Novell is receiving such a large payment from Microsoft because of its patent portfolio. Does someone more knowledgeable than me know if Microsoft might violate Novell’s patents? A key sentence in the letter states, “When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.” Ron Hovsepian, CEO of Novell, goes on to remind us of Novell’s committment to free software and action it has taken in support of it.

The letter ends with this paragraph:

“In closing, we wish to be extremely clear that Novell is committed to protecting, preserving and promoting freedom for free and open source software. We recognize that the community of open source developers is essential to all our activities in Linux, and we welcome dialog with the community as to how we can continue to work together toward these common goals.”

This is a positive first step. Novell is now on record stating that Linux does not violate Microsoft’s patents. It is good to see a reaffirmation of their commitment to free software. The community loses if we alienate Novell. They have made a mistake, but they may have done us a service. Microsoft has finally come out and publicly threatened free software. A lot more of us are awake to the dangers of the United States’ lousy patent system and hopefully doing something about it.

The Open Invention Network also released a statement regarding the Novell/Microsoft deal. It points out that it is great that Linux is being recognized as the world class operating system that it is. They key paragraph is this:

“Unfortunately, embedded in Microsoft’s recent endorsement of Linux are claims regarding customers’ needing protection from patent attack. Those claims are baseless. In fact, there have been no patent suits against Linux. While patent disputes are not unheard of between and among software developers and distributors, they are almost always resolved between these commercial entities – not by dragging in end-user customers. Isn’t the real issue the fact that Microsoft is making such a threat against its own customers?”

I haven’t seen much made of that threat in everything I have read. It is a good point and one we should be sure to get out there. The Open Invention Blog has a post talking about collaboration and innovation, quite different than Microsoft’s take. IBM has commented that they have never seen any need for patent protection for Linux, and do not see a need for it now. That is good to hear.
2007 will be an interesting year. The SCO debacle may end up looking like small potatoes. Novell really went to bat against SCO, it is too bad that they have damaged themselves by apparently not thinking this deal through, or underestimating the reaction from the community. It is clearer and clearer that software patents are a real problem. We need to take action to effectively deal with them. Signing Bruce Peren’s petition to Novell. What else do you think we can do?

I started running FVWM-Crystal on Ubuntu 6.10. Tired of the KDE/Gnome wars? Looking for something different? FVWM Crystal is absolutely beautiful, lightweight and fast. If it were a quarterback, it would be Micheal Vick to Gnome’s Joey Harrington. I was going to review it, but in my research I found a fantastic review that I cannot beat. It covers it all. Here it is:

Read the review at Polishlinux.org.

Since that review covered everything, eliminating the need for another, I decided to get back to my Fedora Core 6 review. I just couldn’t get excited about it, no fault to Fedora. Does the world really need the 67th review of Fedora 6? I couldn’t convince myself it did. Instead, I will give a micro-review.

• Installation was painless. It took 20 minutes and went exactly like a modern distro install should.
• Option to add repositories during install is new and a nice addition.
• I liked the new graphics. I am tired of the icons. Me and every other reviewer on earth.
• 55 updates greeted my install. They took forever. This was 2 weeks after the release.
• The package manager acted flakey. Yumex (an alternative graphical installer) crashed often. Yum on the command line worked well.
• Post Novell’s announcement, I appreciated the Free as in Freedom stance of Fedora.
• That said, I installed the Nvidia beta drivers, MP3 codecs, etc… from freshrpms.net. It was as easy as doing it as any other distro. No problems.
• I found out there is an alternate KDE for Fedora, I installed that. More on that soon, it is a whole article.
• I still do not care for Fedora’s administrative packages. I couldn’t find them using KDE. It is probably my fault, but it should be easy.
• Compiz and the 3D desktop did not work well for me at all. For lack of a better term, it seemed half-assed.

Overall, Fedora has done a very nice job. Graphical package management still is flakey after all these years. It is fine from the command line. If you are a new user and looking for an easy distribution, I can easily recommend it. Personally, I just could not get into it. It seems to lack something that I cannot define other than “excitement”. I constantly found myself going back to Ubuntu. When I do figure it out I will give it a short write up.

Finally:

If you use Beryl and are excited with it, I would like to encourage you to donate to the team. They are doing a great job. I am having fun using the eye-candy. I find it hard to work outside of the 3D environment now, something I completely did not expect. Here is a link to the thread that has donation information.

Beryl Donations.

New content is slower to come than I thought. I am focused on reviews and interviews at the moment. I am trying to integrate a forum into the site. I thank all of you that visit this site. If there is anything you would like to see here, drop me a line.

Next Page →