Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop • Hacker News Board

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#111

Post by atribecalledqst » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 2:20 PM UTC

elcapitan wrote: post #5

What's everybody's favorite distribution on the Frame.Work 13? Getting it next week, and toying around with Arch/Debian/Ubuntu/Suse/NixOS/etc in VMs while waiting for it. I think I'll have to throw a coin (or just take Debian).

I have a Framework 16, but I installed Arch on it a couple months ago as a dual boot to play around with. Process was largely painless but I did end up disabling secure boot. (actually I partially started the process of getting secure boot working, decided 'nah' and just disabled it...)

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#112

Post by gessha » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 2:21 PM UTC

lukan wrote: post #19

moritzruth wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using Void Linux for the last 1.5 years because I wanted an Arch-like experience but without systemd. I haven't had any unsolvable problems.

"I haven't had any unsolvable problems." That sentence can have a lot of meanings, when one thinks that everything is possible with enough effort ..

Especially if they’re good at troubleshooting.

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#113

Post by topaz0 » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 2:21 PM UTC

elcapitan wrote: post #5

What's everybody's favorite distribution on the Frame.Work 13? Getting it next week, and toying around with Arch/Debian/Ubuntu/Suse/NixOS/etc in VMs while waiting for it. I think I'll have to throw a coin (or just take Debian).

I'm on a framework 13 AMD edition since early this year, running arch. There were issues early on but seemed to be mostly on the firmware side and would not have been distro specific. After then April(?) firmware updates I have not had any issues.

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#114

Post by gessha » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 2:24 PM UTC

geoka9 wrote: post #17

yndoendo wrote: post #12

I've had the same Arch installation between four laptops over 12 years. Boot from a USB Linux distro and enter command line. Partition the new laptop, setup disk encryption, rsync the file system via USB external enclosure, modify the ftab, crypttab, and refind.conf, reboot. Don't have to re-install any software or re-setup and sync any accounts.

Same, but with Debian for almost 20 years. Don't remember how I did it before, but the last few migrations were just `dd if=/dev/sda.old of=/dev/sda.new` and then gparted to enlarge the root partition to fill out the new disk.

Would this work when upgrading from one Ubuntu LTS to another one? I’ve been thinking of going from 22.04 to 24.04 but I just get lazy.

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#115

Post by vetinari » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 2:34 PM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #87

Jtsummers wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gatekeeping is an active effort to keep others out of something (out of a field, away from information, etc.). Where is the active effort to keep people out of Arch when the documentation is made available for free?

I think you're talking past the person you're replying to. Not sure why you use the word "active", as it's unnecessary. Gatekeeping is just erecting barriers of whatever sort in an effort to keep people out. Making install documentation that is very very detailed to the point that some people will be turned off by it and go away could very much be considered gatekeeping. Even if that documentation is objectively good…

> Making install documentation that is very very detailed to the point that some people will be turned off by it and go away could very much be considered gatekeeping.

In my times, we called such people lazy. No gatekeeping needed.

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#116

Post by vetinari » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 2:38 PM UTC

gessha wrote: post #114

geoka9 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same, but with Debian for almost 20 years. Don't remember how I did it before, but the last few migrations were just `dd if=/dev/sda.old of=/dev/sda.new` and then gparted to enlarge the root partition to fill out the new disk.

Would this work when upgrading from one Ubuntu LTS to another one? I’ve been thinking of going from 22.04 to 24.04 but I just get lazy.

No, it is cloning existing installation from one drive to another. Basically what clonezilla would do.

For upgrading ubuntu lts among releases, you go through their do-release-upgrade tool.

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#117

Post by megatron2009 » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 2:40 PM UTC

Levitating wrote: post #23

These types of posts are often more harfmul than helpful. ArchLinux already has proper installation instructions and those who cannot follow them aren't recommend to run it. The main installation issues the ArchLinux forum sees is from people following outdated third party installation guides.

The post by itself is not harmful, since it can be that the person posted it for their own blog because they like to write for themselves. Someone now finding it and using it for their own benefit/loss, that's a problem.

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#118

Post by GrantMoyer » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 2:48 PM UTC

elcapitan wrote: post #5

What's everybody's favorite distribution on the Frame.Work 13? Getting it next week, and toying around with Arch/Debian/Ubuntu/Suse/NixOS/etc in VMs while waiting for it. I think I'll have to throw a coin (or just take Debian).

If you prefer to understand how your OS work, and want a system simple enough that you can understand what it's doing, go with Arch. If you don't care about that and just want something that mostly works with little hassle, Debian, Ubuntu, Suse, or Fedora are all fine; there's little practical difference, except maybe Debian's software is always a little out of date.

I'd say only go with NixOS if you want to learn the Nix language, specifically need reproducible builds, or really hate mutable state.

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#119

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 4:10 PM UTC

Levitating wrote: post #23

These types of posts are often more harfmul than helpful. ArchLinux already has proper installation instructions and those who cannot follow them aren't recommend to run it. The main installation issues the ArchLinux forum sees is from people following outdated third party installation guides.

Most issues on any Linux forum are people using outdated/unofficial guides or going off the beaten path for god knows why.

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a Laptop

#120

Post by heywoodlh » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 4:35 PM UTC

Levitating wrote: post #23

These types of posts are often more harfmul than helpful. ArchLinux already has proper installation instructions and those who cannot follow them aren't recommend to run it. The main installation issues the ArchLinux forum sees is from people following outdated third party installation guides.

Interestingly, I’m not sure why more people don’t use archinstall, which is provided with the official live ISO: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Archinstall

I have no issue doing Arch installations by hand, but sometimes it’s nice to save time when you don’t have any special configurations. That being said, knowing how to do installations manually has been pivotal in me knowing how to recover borked Linux systems.