From KdjWiki

1 How I installed ArchLinux 0.7.1 (Noodle) on my Sony Vaio VGN-S48GP Laptop
2 NOTE: This is pretty incomplete because after a couple of days playing with this I trashed it and reverted back to Ubuntu. The main reason was that this was like a binary version of Gentoo (which is good) but without the same level of commuinity/support. Maybe if this picks up I will revisit.

How I installed ArchLinux 0.7.1 (Noodle) on my Sony Vaio VGN-S48GP Laptop

NOTE: This is pretty incomplete because after a couple of days playing with this I trashed it and reverted back to Ubuntu. The main reason was that this was like a binary version of Gentoo (which is good) but without the same level of commuinity/support. Maybe if this picks up I will revisit.

0) Pre-Work

a) Hardware

Device	Details	Module
HDD	60GB SATA	sata (?)
DVD	DVDRW (Dual Layer)	ide (?)
Ethernet	Intel	e100 (?)
Wireless	Intel Corp. PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05)	ipw2200
Video card	nVidia GeForce 6200	nvidia
Sound card	Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)	hda_intel
Bluetooth	xxx	bluetooth (?)
Touchpad	xxx	xxx
Firewire	xxx	ieee1394 (?)
PCMCIA	xxx	pcmcia (?)
Sony Buttons	xxx	xxx
Power Management	xxx	xxx

Additional modules to consider:

cpufreq_powersave
cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_userspace
intel_agp
sony_acpi
sonypi
speedstep_centrino

b) Configuration

HDD

Device	Size	Filesystem	Mount
/dev/sda1	50 MB	ext2	/boot
/dev/sda2	1 GB	swap	swap
/dev/sda3	50 GB	reiserfs	/home
/dev/sda4	9 GB	ext3	/

Network

IP Address	192.168.1.70
Subnet Mask	255.255.255.0
Gateway	192.168.1.1
Netword Card Module	e100

Xorg
Screen (WXGA - 1280x800)
Touchpad ALPS/Synaptic

1) Base Installation

I am installing initially disconnected from the Internet.

Boot from CD

Download the .iso file and burn to CD. Stick in drive and boot.

Run Setup

Select 'CD-ROM' as installation source

Prepare Hard Drive

NOTE: Don't use the Auto-Prepare

Partition Hard Drives : /dev/sda
Configure as table above

Set Filesystem Mountpoints
Configure as table above

Select Packages

Select Mount CD option (using /dev/hda)
Select all packages
Select all packages by default = 'no'
Select the additional packages:

ntp (daemons)
openssh (daemons)
alsa-driver (multimedia)
alsa-lib (multimedia)
alsa-utils (multimedia)
curl (network)
rsync (network)
smbclient (network)
rar (system)
screen (system)
sudo (system)
unzip (system)
zip (system)

Install Packages

Configure System

I use nano because of familiarity

/etc/rc.conf

  HARDWARECLOCK="UTC"
  TIMEZONE=Australia/Sydney
  MOD_BLACKLIST=( {to be updated when I determine invalid modules} )
  HOSTNAME="plague"
  eth0="eth0 192.168.1.70 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255"
  gateway="default gw 192.168.1.1"
  ROUTES=(gateway)

/etc/hosts

  192.168.1.70    plague.kdjonline.com    plague

/etc/fstab

  #/dev/fd0 ...
  /dev/sda1   /boot  ext2   noauto,noatime  1 2

/etc/mkinitrd.conf No changes required

/etc/modprobe.conf

  install e100 modprobe -i e100 ; true

/etc/resolv.conf

  search kdjonline.com
  nameserver 192.168.1.1

Install Kernel

Select the 2.6 kernel

Install Bootloader

Select GRUB

/boot/grub/menu.lst

  kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda4 vga=773 devfs=nomount acpi=off ro

Boot device:
/dev/sda

Finish Install

Exit install
Reboot (remove CDROM)

2) Initial Setup / Administration

Login (as root - no password)

Set root password:

  # passwd

Prepare user shell:

  # nano -w .bashrc

  alias ll='ls --color -lh'
  alias slocatel='slocate -i'
  HISTCONTROL=ignoredups

  # cp .bashrc /etc/skel/

Create user:

  # adduser

  Additional groups: wheel,audio,video

Configure user for sudo:

  # nano -w /etc/sudoers

  %wheel   ALL=(ALL)   ALL

Logout and login as regular (new) user

Configure Audio

  $ sudo alsaconf
  Select hda-intel

Configure Networking

Wired
Should be working already

Wireless
TODO:

Configure NTP

TODO:

Update System

Synchronise database and update system:

  $ sudo mount /boot
  $ sudo pacman -Su
  $ sudo umount /boot

You may have to run this a couple of times before it's fully updated.

Schedule this for a weekly activity:

  $ sudo nano -w /etc/cron.weekly/update_system.cron

  #!/bin/bash
  different() {
    src="${1}"
    dst="${2}"
    diff=`diff "${src}" "${dst}" | wc -w`
    if [ "${diff}" = "0" ]; then
      return 0
    fi
    return 1
  }
  mount /boot
  /usr/bin/pacman -Syu > /var/log/update_system.log 2>&1
  umount /boot

  $ sudo chmod +x /etc/cron.weekly/update_system.cron

Install Xorg

  $ sudo pacman -S xorg
  $ sudo pacman -S xf86-video-nv

Configure:

  $ xorgconfig

Mouse = 7 (IMPS/2)
Mouse device = /dev/input/mouse0
Video = 12 (NV)

Install Gnome

  $ sudo pacman -S gnome
  $ sudo pacman -S gnome-extra

Test it works:

  $ nano -w ~/.xinitrc

  #exec wmaker
  exec gnome-session

  $ startx

Set as auto starting:

  $ sudo pacman -S gdm
  $ sudo nano -w /etc/inittab

  id:3:initdefault:

becomes

  id:5:initdefault:

and

  x:5:respawn:/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon