Installing Arch Linux


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Rabbit's Awesome beginner's guide to:

Installing Arch Linux

Guide can be found here: http://www.richardmccord.com/linux

(Coming soon, along with Part II)

PART I

Let me start by making some points here. I'm not going to go into your specific BIOS options, dual-booting, or anything like that. This guide will wipe your harddrive clean. If you're experienced enough to get into the fine details of a dual-boot system, or manually configuring your network card, choosing your own filesystem and desktop environment or living in the command line... this guide probably isn't for you, anyhow. It's to help the folks curious about trying out Linux jump in feet first and be successful.

So,if you are not in the habit of backing up your system- important documents, photos, music files, video/movie files and Internet favorites/bookmarks- then you are asking for trouble. If you take nothing else from this guide, learn that right now is the perfect time to backup your system.

Secondly, this is a straight-forward, no-nonsense walkthrough of getting Arch Linux installed. I suggest you print it out right now. If you have access to another computer, Google is your bestest friend in the whole world if you have questions. I can't possibly cover every possible scenario. What I have done, however, is point out with -->[]<-- symbols issues that I came across and seem fairly common. When you see info in those brackets, pay attention just in case it pertains to you. Otherwise, feel free to ignore it.

Lastly, don't let the size of this guide scare you. There are a LOT of steps because I tried to get as specific as possible just in case you know very little about Linux. Also note that this is NOT for dial-up folks. You can still do the install, but it would take a long time on dial-up. And laptop users, you may need some extra help getting your network card initialized during setup. Refer to the official forums for walkthough of those commands.

By the time we're done, here's what will be installed:

(01) Arch Linux

(02) The X Window System

(03) The GDM login

(04) The Gnome desktop

(05) The Avant Windows Navigator dock system

(06) Internet Broswer: firefox

(07) Torrent program: rtorrent

(08) Fonts for Open Office: ttf-dejavu

(09) Fonts for Open Office: artwiz-fonts

(10) Fonts for Open Office: ttf-ms-fonts

(11) Office Suite: openoffice-base

(12) HTML Editor: bluefish

(13) Chat Program: pidgin

(14) Image Editor: gimp

(15) Image Viewer: feh

(16) Movie Player: mplayer

(17) Firefox extension: gecko-mediaplayer

(18) Music Player: ncmpcpp

(19) Email Program: thunderbird

(20) Eye Candy: compiz-decorator-gtk

Here we go.

001. Download the appropriate image for your system. I have a 64-bit system so I use the net install 64-bit image.

http://www.archlinux.org/download/

002. Burn image to CD or DVD.

003. Reboot to the CD/DVD.

004. Choose the first option: Boot Arch Linux

{At this point you'll see all the background loading going on. In brackets, you'll notice Busy and Done appearing. If at any point you see FAIL, you will want to start over. The first question to ask at this point is if your system is overclocked. You want your system running as stable as possible during the initial install so enter your BIOS and switch to your default settings until the install is completed. If that doesn't help, refer to the official forums for Arch Linux to seek assistance. If everything goes well and you see Done down the line you will find yourself at a command line.}

005. At the command line Type: root

006. Hit Enter

007. Type: /arch/setup

008. Hit ENTER

009. Choose: Select Source

010. Choose: Net.

011. Hit ENTER

012. Hit ENTER

013. "Setup Network" should be highlighted. Hit ENTER.

014. Hit ENTER

015. "Yes" should be highlighted. Hit ENTER.

016. "The network is configured" should pop up in a window. Hit ENTER.

017. "Choose Mirror" should be highlighted. Hit ENTER.

018. Hit ENTER.

019. Hit ENTER.

020. "Return to Main Menu" should be highlighted. Hit ENTER.

021. Choose: Set Clock.

022. Continue choosing options which fit your needs: Country, then closest major city to you.

023. Choose: Local Time.

024. You'll be given a small window with the current time. If it's correct, Choose: Ok. If it's not, Choose: NTP and then Choose: Ok.

025. Choose: Return to menu.

{We're going to take complete control here and prepare your system from scratch... I hope you backed up!}

026. Choose: Prepare hard drive(s).

027. Choose: Manually Partition hard drives.

028. Hit ENTER

{Linux refers to harddrives in the following manner: I have two Sata drives, my first one shows up as sda, and my second as sdb. If I had a third, it would be sdc.}

029. Select the hard drive you plan to use. On my system it's sda.

030. Hit ENTER.

031. You will be taken into a program called CFDISK. This is a hard drive partitioning utility to prepare your hard drive for Linux.

----->[

In the event that you get an error message at the bottom of your screen warning that a partition is using the end cylinder, or some such nonsense, then your current partitions are jacked up as far as Arch Linux is concerned. Fear not, you can fix this without the need for seperate tools. Simply follow these steps:

A. Return to the main menu and choose the first option: Automatically partition the drive.

B. Arch Linux will create it's "Default" setup partitions. Just go through the motions of using all the default options it gives.

C. When it's done, choose: Exit Installation.

D. At the command line type: reboot

E. Hit ENTER

F. Start over at Step 1.

It should be smooth sailing from there.

]<-----

{If you are using a brand new drive you should only see one line at the top which reads Free Space. Otherwise, your old partitions will show up. Linux refers to partitions by number. Since my drive is sda, my partitions show up as: sda1, sda2, etc. During this process it is imperative that you keep track of the name of the partitions you create. Grab something to write with and take notes where I tell you.}

032. You should have either multiple lines of partitions, or just one line which reads Free Space. At the bottom of your screen you will notice a menu which you can navigate with your left and right arrow keys. Use your up and down arrow keys to highlight the partitions. You will want to highlight each partition and select the Delete menu option. (You can't Delete the Free Space, so don't worry.) When all partitions are gone, you will have just one line left which reads Free Space. Now you can continue to step 33.

033. Free space should be highlighted. On the menu, Choose: New.

034. Choose: Primary.

035. It will ask you how much space to give it. Do NOT try to delete the numbers there with your backspace key or delete key. Make sure your NUM LOCK is on and Type: 150

036. Hit ENTER

037. Choose: Beginning

038. You should now show your first partition. In my case, it's sda1. Write down yours and put /boot next to it. We made this partition only 150 megs because it's sole purpose is to hold your /boot directory. As such, this partition doesn't need to be very large. It does, however, need to be bootable. Hightlight this partition and on your menu choose: Bootable. You should see Boot appear next to the partition in the Flags column.

{Next, we'll create our Swap file. Maybe you need one, maybe you don't. Here's my philosophy: it doesn't take up much hard drive space and it's better to have it but not use it than to have your system fail because it wasn't there the one time you did need it. A good rule of thumb for your Swap file is two times your RAM memory, but that's based on most people not having a lot. If you have at least 1gig of RAM just go with a 2gig swap file. Let's create that.}

039. Hightlight Free Space.

040. Choose: New.

041. Choose: Primary.

042. Type: 2000

043. Press ENTER

044. Choose: Beginning.

045. You should now show a second partition. Mine is sda2. Write down yours and put Swap next to it.

{The Swap partition has to be specifically designated as being used for Swap. That's what this next step is for.}

046. Make sure the Swap partition is highlighted and from the menu choose: Type

047. Type: 82

048. Hit ENTER.

049. We now have our Swap file.

{Next, we'll create our / directory. Yes, this directory is just a forward-slash.}

050. Hightlight Free Space.

051. Choose: New.

052. Choose: Primary.

053. Hit ENTER. (This will use the rest of your hard drive)

054. You should now show a third partition. Mine is sda3. Write down yours and put / next to it.

{Excellent. Now your hard drive should be devoted to your Linux install. It's just not permanent yet. To make it permanent, we have to write our setup to the harddrive.}

{It does not matter which partition is highlighted for this next part.}

055. Choose: Write.

056. Type: yes

057. Hit ENTER

058. Choose: Quit.

059. Choose: Done.

{We're back to the Menu screen. We created our partitions, but we did not tell the system how to use them. That's what the next section is for: choosing our Linux filesystem and assigning /mount points.}

060. Choose: Manually configure block devices, filesystems and mountpoints.

061. Choose: UUID {This should protect the mountpoints when the Linux kernel gets updated.)

{We only created three partitions. However, you may see more options on this menu. We will ONLY be assigning the partitions we created so ignore the rest. You have your note sheet, right?}

062. First, we'll set the /boot partition. Choose your boot partition in the menu- for me, it was sda1.

063. Choose: Yes.

064. Choose: ext4

065. Choose: /boot

066. Hit ENTER until you return to the menu.

067. Next, Choose your Swap partiton- for me, it was sda2.

068. Choose: Yes

069. Choose: ext4

070. Choose: Swap

071. Hit ENTER until you return to the menu.

072. Next comes /

073. Choose your / partition- for me, it was sda3.

074. Choose: Yes

075. Choose ext4

076. Choose / {It says Root next to it}

077. Hit ENTER until you return to the menu.

078. Choose Return to main menu.

079. Choose: Done.

080. Watch as your drive is partitioned. Choose: Ok when it's done.

081. Choose: Return to the main menu.

{Now we're going to install the initial drivers and utilities used by your system.}

082. Choose: Select Packages

083. "Base" should have an asterisk next to it. Choose: Ok.

084. Use your down arrow key to scroll down the long list of utilities until you find "pacman-mirrorlist".

085. When it's highlighted, hit your spacebar to select it. It should now have an asterisk by it.

086. Continue scrolling down until you find "sudo".

087. When it's hightlighted, hit your spacebar to select it. It should now have an asterisk by it.

088. Hit ENTER

089. Choose: Install packages.

090. Hit ENTER

{Waiting...waiting... this part takes a bit of time regardless of which mirror you choose to download from.}

091. When the downloads are done you will see "Continue" at the bottom of the screen. Hit ENTER.

{Now we start the Configure System section. You really have to pay attention here because you'll be dealing with actual system files. Like every other Linux distro, Arch Linux is pretty smart. But also like every Linux Distro, if you specifically tell it to do something wrong it will still do what you tell it. For that reason, if you don't need to make changes... don't. The defaults are pretty intuitive, overall.}

092. Choose: Configure system

093. Choose: Yes

094. Choose: nano

{The menu will list all the files you have access to. We need to open each and every one... even if we don't edit them. This forces the system to create the file, thus helping to prevent errors down the line.}

095. Hightlight rc.conf

096. Hit ENTER

097. Use the down arrow until you get to the line which reads: MODULES=()

098. Use the right arrow to move the cursor over the ) bracket symbol.

099. Type: fuse

100. The line should now looke like: MODULES=(fuse)

--->[

I have a Radeon video card. My system seems to work by adding "radeon" to my modules list. Therefore, my line looks like:

MODULES=(radeon fuse)

Your mileage may vary.

]<---

101. Use the down arrow until you see DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs crond).

102. Use the right arrow until the cursor covers the ) bracket symbol. Hit the space bar and then type: hal alsa gdm

103. The line should now look like this: DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs crond hal alsa gdm)

104. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

105. Choose: /etc/fstab

106. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

107. Choose: mkinitcpio.conf

108. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

109. Choose: /etc/modprobe.d

110. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

111. Choose: /etc/resolve.conf

112. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

113. Choose: /etc/hosts

114. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

115. Choose: /etc/hosts.deny

116. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

117. Choose: /etc/hosts.allow

118. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

119. Choose: /etc/locale.gen

120. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

121. Choose: /etc/pacman.conf

122. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

123. Choose: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

124. Hit CTRL-O. Then hit ENTER. Then hit CTRL-X.

125. Choose: Root-Password

{At the bottom-left of your screen is a prompt. It's waiting for you to type your password. Note that you will not see anything while you type it- no asterisks, nothing. So type slowly, carefully, and make sure you can remember this password.}

126. Type your password.

127. Hit ENTER

128. Type it again.

129. Hit ENTER

130. Choose: Done

131. Choose: Install Bootloader.

132. Choose: Grub.

133. Hit ENTER.

134. Use the down arrow key until you find some variation of:

# (0) Arch Linux

title Arch Linux

root (hd0,0)

kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/9859e1ce-af49-4e4d-9f57-9971368281df ro

initrd /kernel26.img

135. There will be two more that start with (1) and (2). Leave those alone! The only thing you're going to add here is the number 5 at the end of the kernal line. Like so:

kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/9859e1ce-af49-4e4d-9f57-9971368281df ro

136. That section would now read:

# (0) Arch Linux

title Arch Linux

root (hd0,0)

kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/9859e1ce-af49-4e4d-9f57-9971368281df ro 5

initrd /kernel26.img

137. Hit CTRL-O

138. Hit ENTER

139. Hit CTRL-X

140. Choose the option for your hard drive. If your partitions are sda1, sda2, sda2 then you will choose sda. (Look at your note sheet. The first three digits are what you're looking for here. So if your notes show hda1, hda2 and hda you would choose hda from this menu.

141. Hit Enter

142. Choose: Exit Install.

143. Hit ENTER

144. Remove the CDROM or DVD.

145. Type: reboot

146. Hit ENTER.

Congrats. Your shiny, new Arch Linux install is booting up. You'll find yourself at a command prompt when it's done loading. You can only log in at root at the moment so:

1. Type: root

2. Hit ENTER

3. Type the password you chose.

4. Hit ENTER.

Here's an extra bit to walk you through some important initial commands.

1. Type: pacman -Syy

2. Type: pacman -Syu

{Now we're going to create your account on this machine. Replace USERNAME with the name you want to go by. It must be all lowercase, no capital letters, and no spaces.}

3. Type: useradd -g users -G audio,floppy,network,optical,storage,video,wheel -m USERNAME

4. Hit ENTER

5. Type: passwrd USERNAME

6. Hit ENTER

7. Type your password

8. Hit ENTER

9. Type it again.

10. Hit ENTER

11. Now we need to give your account Root priviledge for installing software and so forth.

12. Type: export EDITOR=nano

13. Hit ENTER

14. Type: visudo

15. Hit ENTER

16. Arrow down until you see:

root ALL=(ALL) All

17. Under that line, add:

USERNAME ALL=(ALL) ALL

18. Hit CTRL-O

19. Hit ENTER

20. Hit CTRL-X

21. Time to do some installing! This extremely long line of data will install everything at once, so feel free to go take a nap, pop some popcorn and watch a movie, whatever. You won't have to sit there waiting for each thing to install to get the next one started.

{Before you being typing this all out, notice the last entry: xf86-video-ati. If you have an ATI video card, stick with that. If you have an nvidia card, change it to xf86-video-nvidia. And if you have an on-board Intel video chip change it to xf86-video-intel.}

22. Type:

pacman -S fuse hal alsa-utils gamin mesa xf86-input-mouse xf86-input-keyboard xf86-input-evdev linux-firmware xorg gnome gnome-extra gnome-system-tools gdm gksu avant-window-navigator awn-extras-applets firefox rtorrent ttf-dejavu artwiz-fonts ttf-ms-fonts openoffice-base bluefish pidgin gimp feh mplayer gecko-mediaplayer ncmpcpp thunderbird compiz-decorator-gtk xf86-video-ati

23. Hit ENTER

24. When it askes yes or no, just Type: y and Hit ENTER.

25. If you typed it all correctly, the download should begin. If you typed something wrong, you'll get an error message saying the package you mis-typed can't be found. Just hit your Up Arrow key to re-display what you typed and use the Left-Right Arrow keys to move to that section and fix it.

26. Remember to Hit ENTER once you've changed what was wrong.

27. Now go pop your popcorn. It's going to be a while.

28. Once it's (Finally!) done, Type: reboot

29. Hit ENTER.

Arch_Linux.txtFetching info...

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Thanks! Something like this is always better because as with many "official guides" you get told "just do this", "just do that" and voil? everything works! Most of the time it does not, and it is good to see where other have stumbled and found ways around the problems. Cheers!

Well, in all fairness, my guide is pretty much "Do this, do that" including when to hit the "ENTER" key.

The difference is that I didn't fill it with a lot of needless bloat- like the history of Linux and such. If

you're looking for a guide to tell you HOW to do something, that is exactly what it should say.

I did add to it some pitfalls to lookout for that I ran across. One of which being a step in the official

guide that the guide didn't go into it... it just assumed you would know to do it. The benefit of the

guide, to me, is that it was written BY ME. Not to say I'm awesome, but to say that I wrote it as

I was installing, and I still pretty much being a Linux newb means that I assume nothing. Most

folks don't move into Arch until they're pretty comfortable with Linux. Therefore, when they

"give help" to others, they assume those others are either Linux experts and talk to them as such,

or decide you're an idiot and spend more time giving you an attitude than help.

When I get home, I'll see about getting it posted. Right now, I'm at work.

I would be interested in reading this guide as well. I've managed to get Arch installed previously, albeit on a desktop with an on-board video controller.

I may have missed it in your previous posts, but is this on a laptop or desktop? The only issue I have had with my laptop is installing the notorious bfwcutter driver for my Broadcom wireless chip.

Good luck. Sorry that you experienced the elitist subculture of the Linux users. I promise we're not all like that. ;)

No, sorry. I haven't had to deal with Wireless or laptops yet.

I don't add it to my guide unless I'm actually DOING it. I hate when folks read something someplace and

then treat it like gospel without verifying first.

It's coming shortly. I had a LONG work schedule. Right now I'm touching up some extra install stuff, then I'll be posting it.

I have query! I am a regular linux user (*mind you, just a user), and i have fair knowledge of whatever u wrote; tell me why on earth should i go for this distro?

I am not being sarcastic or anything but i really wanna know! What's the benefit of using Arch Linux over Ubuntu or Fedora!?

  On 21/07/2010 at 14:34, pers3us said:

I have query! I am a regular linux user (*mind you, just a user), and i have fair knowledge of whatever u wrote; tell me why on earth should i go for this distro?

I am not being sarcastic or anything but i really wanna know! What's the benefit of using Arch Linux over Ubuntu or Fedora!?

Just my own opinion, I prefer it because you "build up", starting from scratch, instead of a kitchen-sink distro and "tearing down", if you get me. It's a rolling release distro, so no six-month upgrade cycles.. you're always current.. install it once and you're done. (Not always a good thing though, once in a long while there's breakage than can be a problem if you're not paying attention.. but this is fairly rare.) You get the exact setup you want, as once you're done installing, all you have is a barebones terminal. No desktop environment, no X server, nada; you build it up from the bottom. Has a system very similar to Gentoo's Portage if you're familiar with it, which is a plus for me. Their repository is very "pure"; the source is pretty much exactly as the developers made it upstream, no modifications typically. Canonical for example has some interesting additions to the various packages, but it's not always perfect.

On the downside though, it can be pretty intimidating if you're new to it. As I said, you'll be sitting at a terminal prompt once it's done installing. Their wiki is top notch though, and pretty simple to follow.. have it open on another system if its your first time. (Or install the console browser Lynx and use that in a different terminal session.) If anything, try it in a VM before you commit to an actual installation. It's really not that hard; install, install video drivers, install X, install an audio system, install your DE of choice, off you go.. but it can be messy the first time around. If you like to tinker, this is an awesome distribution; if you prefer to just "install and go", you're probably better off looking elsewhere.

Edit:I did forget to mention the Chakra Project, by the same team that does KDEMod. It's a live CD based on Arch and KDEMod, worth a look too.

Personal preference.

I'm sticking with learning it because it's a rolling distro, instead of a re-install every 6 months.

Also, because I'm learning it. Ubuntu and the like do everything for you, whereas this has been a HUGE learning experience for me.

Granted, I just wrote a step-by-step guide so that not everyone goes through what I did to get this up and running... but if you WANT to do it yourself and learn, then by all means ignore the guide and install from scratch on your own.

Speaking of which, my guide has folks installing a BUNCH of stuff in order to get the full desktop experience. But, it's MY stuff. Arch Linux on it's own doesn't install anything as you can see from the guide. You're free to install ONLY what you want instead of going with another distro that fills your system with bloat. I guess you could call the install for my guide My Distro. Don't let it put you off to Arch just because I like to install all that stuff.

  On 21/07/2010 at 14:51, McCordRm said:
Also, because I'm learning it. Ubuntu and the like do everything for you, whereas this has been a HUGE learning experience for me.

This is another excellent point. If you're fairly new to the *Nix scene, this is another great reason to use Arch, as you're going to get a crash course into not only what to do, but why. It's very helpful to understand how the guts of the system works, so you can make intelligent decisions on changes or troubleshooting.

As Jen Smith and McCordRm have already stated, the rolling release model works great for me. I like having all of my applications and services updated as soon as an update is available. Building the system up from a base installation is fun to me. Yes, indeed I am a geek. If I were to install Ubuntu or most other Linux distributions out there, I would feel it necessary to spend hours stripping down the system to get what I want, and nothing more. The idea of having full control of what is on my installation appeals to me. Often, I find that even after being an Arch user for a few months now, I come across more and more pieces of software that I am so glad my system did not pre-install for me. No, my computer is not ten years old and I am trying to squeeze everything out of it that is possible. My specs are slightly dated now, but I think they are still above average:

Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.0 (Stock)

8 GB DDR2 RAM (800 MHz)

ATI 4870x2 Graphics Card (Yes, I play some games on Linux - such as Aion)

640 GB Western Digital HD @ 7200 RPM

So please, do not use that argument with me (not aiming that towards you, pers3us - some other people like to make this argument). So to sum it up - I enjoy full control. My ex-girlfriend was correct, I am a controlling jerk. Yay!

  On 21/07/2010 at 15:43, pers3us said:
I once had a bad experience with Gentoo and since then i have been scared. But i will try it again! :shifty:

Heh everybody's first time with Gentoo is typically a bad experience :D It's a great distro and all, but it's pretty high up on the difficulty level if you're unprepared for it. I'd say Arch is a healthy medium on difficulty; it's not going to hold your hand, but there's plenty of help available. Between the guide posted by the OP on the first page of this thread and the beginner's guide on the Arch wiki, you should be able to get through it pretty easily as long as you understand the basics, namely what's in your system, how your network is set up, etc etc. Again, if you're unsure, fire it up in a VM. Excellent way to try out various distros until you find the one for you.

Oh, and another reason I love Arch, it's init system/rc.conf, can't believe I forgot those. I so prefer the BSD style to the SysV style, and the single configuration of rc.conf is absurdly easy to manage. Again personal preference.

  On 21/07/2010 at 22:37, Behemoth said:

Nice job on the guide. (Y) I may finally make the jump this weekend on my laptop (even thought I'm dreading the wireless setup). Anyone with a how to for wireless on a Broadcom chip will be greatly appreciated. ;)

Here's some lite reading for you. There's also a page specifically on Broadcom, depending on which one you're using.

  On 21/07/2010 at 22:42, Jen Smith said:

Here's some lite reading for you. There's also a page specifically on Broadcom, depending on which one you're using.

Thanks (Y). Although I've never found anything on the Arch wiki to be light reading. ;) Thanks for the help - I will definitely use the guide this weekend (if I get time to make the jump).

Thanks a lot for the guide!

I'm seriously considering diving into Arch (I even have the iso downloaded) so this guide should be a great help.

Update:

I followed the guide and was able to successfully install Arch in a virtual machine! I think I'm ready to install it on my hard drive for real this time. :p

The first time around I had made a mistake, so I opted to just start over for the sake of familiarizing myself with the process further. I was able to complete about 95% of it by myself without looking at the guide the second time. :)

Thanks!

respect! very detailed and long "how to".

after i was playing arround with mandriva and fedora, i now feel very tempted to ditch ubuntu again (after just one day :laugh: ) and give arch linux a try. :p

Thanks.

The biggie for me was putting "radeon" in the modules section. Arch down-right hates my system without that entry. Thus what started me on creating the guide.

Plus, like Boneyard discovered, having a helpful walk-through the first time leads to doing it on your own.

@McCordRm

thanks to your guide i installed arch yesterday.

there are however some small mistakes in your guide:

  Quote

5. Type: passwrd USERNAME

has to be: passwd not passwrd

and

  Quote

14. Type: visudo

didnt work for me! it said unknown command or so.

  On 27/07/2010 at 11:34, mclaren2 said:

@McCordRm

thanks to your guide i installed arch yesterday.

there are however some small mistakes in your guide:

has to be: passwd not passwrd

and

didnt work for me! it said unknown command or so.

visudo should have worked unless you didn't have vi installed. I prefer to use nano instead to vi to edit files so you would type EDITOR=nano visudo.

More on sudo here: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide#Step_5:_Install_and_setup_Sudo_.28Optional.29

  On 27/07/2010 at 11:34, mclaren2 said:

@McCordRm

thanks to your guide i installed arch yesterday.

there are however some small mistakes in your guide:

has to be: passwd not passwrd

and

didnt work for me! it said unknown command or so.

Good catch, thanks. I'll get that fixed.

As for visudo not working... yea, that's odd. EVERY install I did it worked like a champ. I don't understand how your install missed that one.

  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for your guide. I installed Arch yesterday. Some useful parts (got me out of some tricky spots).

I think you summarized the Arch Beginner's guide quite well. One thing I found was lacking about the great Arch documentation was post-install which you covered a little on (common programs). I hope this is the first of many guides for Arch users. I'm trying to figure out how to watch some common video formats and get music players running.

We want MOAR! :D

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    • Microsoft commits to upskill 1 million UK workers in AI this year by Paul Hill Microsoft has partnered with the UK government in the latter’s ambitious plan to train 7.5 million workers in AI skills over the next five years. Specifically, Microsoft has committed to upskilling 1 million of those workers by the end of this year. This represents a significant portion of the overall target and within a very short timeframe. The education drive by Microsoft builds on its previous “Get On” program, which has given 1.5 million people basic digital skills. The effort to train up 1 million British workers in AI is part of Microsoft’s broader £2.5 billion investment in UK AI infrastructure. Ensuring workers have the skills to leverage AI tools is important. Microsoft CEO UK Darren Hardman said recently that two-thirds of business people wouldn’t hire someone lacking AI skills, showing just how vital it is to get people’s skills up to date. Microsoft's approach to AI skills development Microsoft has several platforms to offer AI training, including Microsoft Learn, AI Skills Navigator, and through partnerships with non-profit organisations such as Catch22 in the UK. Its educational materials cover everything from the basics of generative AI to helping you prepare for advanced roles like being an AI engineer. With Catch22, Microsoft helps to train people who face various challenges to getting tech skills, including gender and ethnicity barriers, homelessness, mental health issues, school exclusion and disability. Microsoft is also trying to get more women into tech fields through programmes like TechHer, where it has trained thousands of women across UK government departments. Many of the courses that Microsoft offers come complete with certificates that you can show off on your CV when applying for a job to impress potential employers and land a job. Who else is partnering with the UK government? While Microsoft is playing a massive role in the government’s plans, it’s not the only big tech giant helping out. The firms that have partnered with the government are: Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage, SAS, and Salesforce. While all of these firms are helping to train workers, Microsoft’s planned efforts are the most notable. This initiative by the government will help the country brace for the changes AI is expected to bring to the economy. In April, the United Nations said that AI will affect 40% of all jobs, so being ready is a must.
    • Microsoft has an update on Exchange Online Basic Auth removal for Office 365 by Sayan Sen Back in 2022, Microsoft announced the retirement of Basic Authentication as it was moving to modern OAuth 2.0 token-based authentication. The reason was simple, to move away from such simple username-password authentication to more secure sign-ins. While Microsoft had previously planned to "permanently remove support for Basic authentication with Client Submission (SMTP AUTH) in September 2025", the company has now updated this timeline, adding a final delay. Perhaps this was on the cards given that Microsoft recently extended Basic Auth support for High Volume Email to 2028. On the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, a new message has been posted that details the changes regarding SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) AUTH Client Submission. The message says: Thus, starting March 1, 2026, Exchange Online will begin phasing out Basic authentication for sending emails via SMTP AUTH. At first, fewer attempts will be blocked, but by April 30, 2026, this older method will be fully disabled. After that, any apps or devices that want to send email this way will need to use OAuth. The message further adds how admins can proceed with the changes in case OAuth is not supported: Users who have access to the M365 Admin Center can view the message under ID MC786329.
    • Weekend PC Game Deals: Total War grabs, management freebies, demos to try, and more by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Weekend PC Game Deals is where the hottest gaming deals from all over the internet are gathered into one place every week for your consumption. So kick back, relax, and hold on to your wallets. The Humble Store brought out a couple of fresh bundles this week, and up first is the Narrative Arc collection. This comes with Mutazione, Venba, and Frank and Drake in the starting tier with an $8 price tag. Going up a rung will cost you $14, and this adds on Season: A Letter to the Future and Dustborn. Lastly, paying $20 gets you Harold Halibut and Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out. Next, the Case and Consequences Collection landed. This bundle comes with Heavy Rain, Song of Farca, Lacuna, and Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments in the starting tier for $6. The second and final tier of this bundle costs $10, adding on Murders on the Yangtze River, BROK the InvestiGator, and Between Horizons. Both bundles will come to an end two weeks from now, so you have plenty of time to decide. The Epic Games Store's mystery giveaways came to an end this week, but the standard promotion has already returned, touting a freebie from Sega. The Two Point Studios-developed construction and sim experience Two Point Hospital is now yours to claim. Arriving as a spiritual successor to the classic title Theme Hospital, this also offers a humorous take on hospital management and patient treatment. You'll be creating treatment rooms, hiring doctors, and taking care of financials, all the while patients with the wildest illnesses pass through looking for cures. The Two Point Hospital giveaway will last until Thursday, June 19. This is also when The Operator will become the next free game on the platform. Free Events The demo festival that Valve hosts three times a year, Steam Next Fest, is back with a brand-new selection of games to try out. This promotion is slated to last until June 16, giving you just a few more days to try out gameplay slices from upcoming games. Several standard free events are currently active too. This includes the colony sim Stardeus, the dungeon-crawler roguelite Barony, the WW2-set hardcore first-person shooter Hell Let Loose, the building and management sim Construction Simulator, as well as the side-scrolling looter brawler Towerborne. Big Deals The Steam Summer Sale is just days away, but plenty of publishers already having big promotions on their games. This includes a Total War historical sale, Konami classics, 505's early summer promotions, and others. With those and more, here's our hand-picked big deals list for this weekend: SILENT HILL 2 – $41.99 on Steam Forza Horizon 5 – $29.99 on Steam Hell Let Loose – $24.99 on Steam Wasteland 3 – $19.99 on Steam Resident Evil 4 – $19.99 on Steam Metro Awakening – $19.99 on Steam Halo Infinite (Campaign) – $19.79 on Steam Mind Over Magic – $18.74 on Steam Castlevania Dominus Collection – $17.49 on Steam DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT – $15.99 on Steam Blasphemous 2 – $14.99 on Steam Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced – $14.99 on Steam Total War: THREE KINGDOMS – $14.99 on Steam Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition – $14.99 on Steam DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT – $12.99 on Gamesplanet DREDGE – $12.49 on Steam Fable Anniversary – $12.24 on Steam METAL GEAR SOLID V: The Definitive Experience – $11.99 on Steam Total War: ROME REMASTERED – $10.19 on Steam Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – $9.99 on Steam Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night – $9.99 on Steam Ghostrunner 2 – $9.99 on Steam METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater - Master Collection Version – $9.99 on Steam METAL GEAR SOLID 2: Sons of Liberty - Master Collection Version – $9.99 on Steam Barony – $9.99 on Steam Total War: PHARAOH – $9.99 on Steam DRAGON BALL FighterZ – $9.59 on Steam Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor – $9.09 on Steam The Callisto Protocol – $8.99 on Steam Quantum Break – $7.99 on Steam Oxygen Not Included – $7.49 on Steam The Ascent – $7.49 on Steam Ghostrunner – $7.49 on Steam Total War: SHOGUN 2 – $7.49 on Steam Overcooked! 2 – $6.24 on Steam Human Fall Flat – $5.99 on Steam Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition – $5.99 on Steam Don't Starve Together – $5.09 on Steam Last Day of June – $4.99 on Steam ABZU – $4.99 on Steam Super Meat Boy Forever – $4.99 on Steam Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition – $4.99 on Steam Legend of Grimrock 2 – $4.79 on Steam Golf With Your Friends – $4.49 on Steam Rise of the Tomb Raider – $4.49 on Steam Golf It! – $4.49 on Steam Sunset Overdrive – $3.99 on Steam Super Meat Boy – $3.74 on Steam Tomb Raider – $2.24 on Steam Crime Boss: Rockay City – $1.99 on Steam Mortal Shell – $1.49 on Steam Crypt of the NecroDancer – $1.49 on Steam This War of Mine – $0.99 on Steam Two Point Hospital – $0 on Epic Store DRM-free Specials The DRM-free discounts from the GOG store this weekend include open-world adventures, story-rich titles, indies, publisher sales, and more. Here are some highlights: No Man's Sky - $23.99 on GOG The Thaumaturge - $19.24 on GOG INDIKA - $16.24 on GOG Against the Storm - $14.99 on GOG Shadows of Doubt - $14.99 on GOG EVERSPACE 2 - $14.99 on GOG Core Keeper - $13.99 on GOG art of rally - $12.49 on GOG Shadowrun Trilogy - $10.07 on GOG Cold Waters - $9.99 on GOG Disco Elysium - The Final Cut - $9.99 on GOG Streets of Rage 4 - $9.99 on GOG Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition - $8.99 on GOG Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator - $7.99 on GOG Little Nightmares - $4.99 on GOG Edge Of Eternity - $4.49 on GOG Epistory - Typing Chronicles - $4.49 on GOG This War of Mine: Complete Edition - $4.07 on GOG Graveyard Keeper - $3.99 on GOG Alba: A Wildlife Adventure - $3.39 on GOG Chroma Squad - $2.24 on GOG EVERSPACE - $0.99 on GOG Keep in mind that availability and pricing for some deals could vary depending on the region. That's it for our pick of this weekend's PC game deals, and hopefully, some of you have enough self-restraint not to keep adding to your ever-growing backlogs. As always, there are an enormous number of other deals ready and waiting all over the interwebs, as well as on services you may already subscribe to if you comb through them, so keep your eyes open for those, and have a great weekend.
    • I've had the opposite honestly Linux always just works except for games with drm/anti cheat Windows is sometimes corrupted on first install Windows update downloading wrong drivers ...
    • Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks now integrated in OneNote on Windows by Paul Hill Microsoft has announced that Enterprise customers with Microsoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint, or OneDrive licenses can now use Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks integrated directly with OneNote on Windows. Copilot Notebooks are AI-powered and bring together different resources such as Copilot Chat, files, notes, and links into a single space to make you more productive. The Redmond giant wants to make it easier for customers to gather content, understand complex topics, and create “smarter content” with Copilot Notebooks. This integration is squarely aimed at Enterprise customers, not Personal or Family subscribers. How Copilot Notebooks enhance productivity in OneNote When you open OneNote on Windows, you should see Copilot Notebooks in the left-hand sidebar, from here you can view or edit existing notebooks or you can create one by going to Home > Create Copilot Notebook or New notebook. During the creation of your new notebook, you can give it a name and add references such as OneNote pages, .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .pdf, or .loop files. This gives Copilot extra context to provide you with more refined answers. Once you have created a notebook and added your reference documents, you can use Copilot Notebooks to help you gather insights from your documents, draft summaries, and generate audio overviews. An important caveat to mention about these notebooks is that you can only add 20 files as references and only individual OneNote pages, as opposed to sections and notebooks, can be added. Microsoft could add support for these in the future, but you can’t add them yet. Another limitation right now is that some OneNote features aren’t functional within Copilot Notebooks, including tags, section groups, inking, templates, password protection, Immersive Reader, and offline support. Availability and what it means for enterprise users Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks in OneNote for Windows are available for Enterprise customers with an appropriate license (anyone with a Microsoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint, or OneDrive license) running OneNote Version 2504 (Build 18827.20128) or later. If you have any other feedback to give to Microsoft, you can give it via Help > Feedback. As an Insider preview, Microsoft will likely improve this before declaring it stable so let Microsoft know of any issues you have. Now that the feature is available as a preview, it’s the perfect time for IT admins and other decision-makers to evaluate the feature to see how it could benefit their wider organization.
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