Arch Linux intall

Thread Starter

Teljkon

Joined Jan 24, 2019
267
I figured some one here may be able to help me out. I grabbed a copy of a arch linux live cd last year from a website called www.linuxcollections.com. It sat in a draw for a while but I decided to go down the rabbit hole and do an arch install. Now the main problem I am facing is I can't get the wifi to work. It is a usb adapter wifi that sits on the desk threw one of those desktop hubs.

the Command lsusb does show the usb device as "netgear" but none of the network commands I use show it as being an available wifi device. If its possible? I could just skip this part for now. The package fdisk works fins as dose cfdisk. Grub is also on the live cd so I am thinking I might be able to just pacstrap & chroot from the live environment. Thats fine for now I just want to get to the point where i am booting from the local machine.

As for the wifi, I am thinking that I should bark up usb_modeswitch tree, metaphorically speaking of course.

Any help would be appreciated thanks in advance?
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,071
I figured some one here may be able to help me out. I grabbed a copy of a arch linux live cd last year from a website called www.linuxcollections.com. It sat in a draw for a while but I decided to go down the rabbit hole and do an arch install. Now the main problem I am facing is I can't get the wifi to work. It is a usb adapter wifi that sits on the desk threw one of those desktop hubs.

the Command lsusb does show the usb device as "netgear" but none of the network commands I use show it as being an available wifi device. If its possible? I could just skip this part for now. The package fdisk works fins as dose cfdisk. Grub is also on the live cd so I am thinking I might be able to just pacstrap & chroot from the live environment. Thats fine for now I just want to get to the point where i am booting from the local machine.

As for the wifi, I am thinking that I should bark up usb_modeswitch tree, metaphorically speaking of course.

Any help would be appreciated thanks in advance?
Two questions:

Why did you choose Arch, and why didn’t you download the latest ISO?
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,071
Challenge myself, and 2 lazy | also refer to one
Well, if you are just starting with Linux (are you?) I would probably suggest that you use Ubuntu for it's very broad hardware support and ease of use.

If you are just interested in Arch, I would suggest making sure you have the latest version so the drivers are as up to date as possible.

WiFi troubles are very common, and they are distort specific much of the time. If you aren't using the latest version you may be spending quite a bit of time reinventing the wheel.
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,071
Debian is my standard distro but they are pushing my patience with the systemd for everything crap.
init.d was good enough for my grandfather, it’s good enough for me.

Wait, I’m the grandfather. Well, my point still stands.

systemd has a lot of potential but I am unconvinced it is currently being realized and so far as my use is concerned it has added complexity without proportional improvement.

Hopefully, it will improve.
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,237
Debian is my standard distro but they are pushing my patience with the systemd for everything crap.
I had to build an Ubuntu Server router a few weeks ago. I discovered that there is a new networking config system: netplan. Caught be completely by surprise -- had to learn another configuration language: YAML.

But it unifies the networking setup and, ultimately, is far simpler given that all config settings are in one place.

Here is my config for two network adapters: one on the WAN side with a single port, and a 4 port card on the LAN side with the ports bridged:

YAML:
network:
    version: 2   
    renderer: networkd
    ethernets:
      eno1:
        addresses: []
        dhcp4: true
        dhcp6: true
      enp4s0:
        dhcp4: false
        dhcp6: false
      enp5s0:
        dhcp4: false
        dhcp6: false
      enp6s0:
        dhcp4: false
        dhcp6: false
      enp7s0:
        dhcp4: false
        dhcp6: false
    bridges:
      br0:
        interfaces:
          - enp4s0
          - enp5s0
          - enp6s0
          - enp7s0
        addresses: [10.90.0.1/24]
        nameservers:
          addresses:
            - 8.8.8.8
            - 8.8.4.4
          search: []
        dhcp4: no
        dhcp6: no
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,071
I had to build an Ubuntu Server router a few weeks ago. I discovered that there is a new networking config system: netplan. Caught be completely by surprise -- had to learn another configuration language: YAML.
YAML is not bad, but significant whitespace can cause problems that aren't easy to find.

I would have preferred something with delimiters other than whitespace.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,087
init.d was good enough for my grandfather, it’s good enough for me.

Wait, I’m the grandfather. Well, my point still stands.

systemd has a lot of potential but I am unconvinced it is currently being realized and so far as my use is concerned it has added complexity without proportional improvement.

Hopefully, it will improve.
I don't really have a problem with Systemd on desktops that are shutdown and reconfigured often. For servers without fancy desktops and added functionality I want simplicity (vi,ed type text editors) of tools needed to fix errors, separate system modularity (The Unix Way), familiarity with known solutions and long term stability. Systemd is far too unstable to trust on my most critical systems.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,087
I had to build an Ubuntu Server router a few weeks ago. I discovered that there is a new networking config system: netplan. Caught be completely by surprise -- had to learn another configuration language: YAML.

But it unifies the networking setup and, ultimately, is far simpler given that all config settings are in one place.

Here is my config for two network adapters: one on the WAN side with a single port, and a 4 port card on the LAN side with the ports bridged:

YAML:
network:
    version: 2  
    renderer: networkd
    ethernets:
      eno1:
        addresses: []
        dhcp4: true
        dhcp6: true
      enp4s0:
        dhcp4: false
        dhcp6: false
      enp5s0:
        dhcp4: false
        dhcp6: false
      enp6s0:
        dhcp4: false
        dhcp6: false
      enp7s0:
        dhcp4: false
        dhcp6: false
    bridges:
      br0:
        interfaces:
          - enp4s0
          - enp5s0
          - enp6s0
          - enp7s0
        addresses: [10.90.0.1/24]
        nameservers:
          addresses:
            - 8.8.8.8
            - 8.8.4.4
          search: []
        dhcp4: no
        dhcp6: no
It's now a single point of failure for several systems if you have no idea how the seperate systems interact. No thanks, I'll keep the old way with Sysvinit and debian style ifupdown.
 

Thread Starter

Teljkon

Joined Jan 24, 2019
267
Truly the interest in arch is just for interests sake. I have a laptop with debian already and a spare box that might get mageia just because i have the disk laying around or maybe this box gets mageia idk. For the most part its just to learn Unix systems better. No reason to hop off of arch without at least having a go at it. I may consider the solution of burning a new disk in etcher. I can see the problem clear as day though I just don't know the commands to fix it. It is not clear that drivers are the problem until I declare the device a wifi dongle or try to declare it a wifi dongle. I am convinced that something in the USB state could be changed and I have 50/50 of it working.

The really low tech solution not yet touched on is a really long Ethernet cable. LoL

I would like to try bashing it out thought just get in the ring and see what I can do to use a fight uphamisim. I am still not sure i want legacy or uefi. My mother board supports this strange UEFI/legacy boot where it just picks depending on the OS requirements. I can force UEFI boot from the BIOS but it seems to like legacy mode. Then the question of encryption comes up.

Am I correct that as long as I partition a boot swap and root. I can always come back and encrypt root latter? Not that this is best practice but it seems to be a good way to break it up.
 
Last edited:
Top