I just go Arch installed and my network working (yay). And now i have no idea what to do. I inserted my Arch cd and typed mount /mnt/cdrom and it said it couldn't find in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab. Did i forget something during install?? Also, how do i install xfree86 and gnome (i really want a gui!!). Can i use pacman to get and install these?? or do i have to download and compile them??

ps. when i installed i installed only the 'base' packages like it recomended in the manual

Abe_The_Man,

Help me with this question if you will. Had you read any of the installation documentation at the Arch website either before or during installation? One of the very best features of Arch is its easy to comprehend and well ordered documentation. I'd ask that you review this documentation on-line and relate it to what you did during the install. If any item strikes you glaringly as something you missed doing, we can fix that. There are a number of configuration files at the end of the install that potentially need attention, /etc/rc.conf, the one you edited to get your network going, is one of them. I'd like to make sure that you feel comfortable with having completed this aspect of the install. I say this not because I'm convinced you've missed something, but rather because you may have missed something. Perhaps you can type out the bottom portion of your /etc/fstab for me, specifically the lines that start /dev. This just to make sure we're sound.

Next step, if you haven't done it is setting a root password. Login, type passwd and follow the instructions. Then each time you boot up into run level 3, you can login securely. Initially you'll function as root, adding users at any time but most probably after you've gotten more packages installed.

Now the very best way to learn how to add packages is through the documentation I described above. The pacman command is covered there in all of it's aspects. To make sure you get off the ground properly, however, it can't hurt to run pacman -Syu to update all of your installed packages right off the bat. Since the CD was introduced, - July I think it was - a very significant number of packages have been updated. Just follow the prompts as they're presented to you. But if you're to go much beyond the base packages it will be important that you edit /etc/pacman.conf to allow for the inclusion of other package groups, "unofficial" for example. I'll help you with that if you need it when you get there.

Getting XFree86 on your machine can be done quite easily with pacman. Simply run pacman -S xfree86 at the command line and on it'll go. Next run xf86config to setup your mouse, keyboard, monitor and video card. If you've never configured X before we probably ought to confer at this point. There are important questions to ask about resolution values and the like. Assuming a successful configuration of X, run startx and you've got gui, inadequate though it may be at this step in the process. It's at this point that some decisions will need to be made also. But enough for right now.

Keep me advised and take one step at a time.

Jlowell

I went through the install again "slowly". I made sure to take my time with all the config files. Everything works fine now. THanks for taking the time to give me such an involved answer! I'm really looking forward to using Arch! Anyway, thanks again and if i have anymore questions i'll post back here.

ps. Sorry if i waisted your time lol!

There's nothing every lost by trying to be helpful to another human being, Abe_The_Man. I'm pleased to hear that you feel well enough prepared to proceed on your own.

If you hit snags or find anything beyond your experience, write again.

Very best regards.

jlowell

If your networking is up you can install any package a la:

pacman -S packagefoo

If you want to install packages from the 'unofficial' repository, be sure to uncomment the appropriate lines in pacman.conf