Category Archives: Arch

Arch Linux 2010.05 Installer Issue [FIXED]

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I reinstalled my Dell Latitude D630 this afternoon using the new Arch Linux installer (2010.05) netinstall. I had an issue however where the live image would start to boot and then I’d get a blank screen. I quickly realized what the problem was, and found a fix.

Note: it looks like it is a similar issue to the one found here.

Basically, the fix that I found, was to append the following to the kernel line at the initial boot prompt:

nomodeset

This is done by hitting the [TAB] key at the boot prompt of the installer and appending that text to the end.

I wanted to get this out in hopes that it’d help others with the same problem.

Good luck, and happy Arch’ing.

DVD Playback in Arch Linux

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I find that I run into this problem everytime I reinstall Arch, so I figured it was time to document those pesky missing peices. Considering Arch Linux is more of a “do-it-yourself” distribution there are more peices to the puzzle than you might find in Ubuntu or similar. In this short article I’ll outline everything required to playback DVDs on Arch Linux.

Required Packages

As is the problem with any major Linux distribution, DVD playback can’t be enabled by default for “potential patent issues“. The required packages have to be installed manually. This is done using the command:

sudo pacman -S libdvdcss libdvdread

Required Groups

In order to have required access to the audio, video and optical devices the user needs to be in the required groups. You can ensure your user is in the required groups for DVD playback with the command:

sudo gpasswd -a username audio,video,optical

You’ll have to logout and back in again for the group changes to take effect. After that you should be able to play DVDs as expected.

Media Application

My preferred application for playing back media, including DVD, .avi and general audio, is VLC. VLC works on each major platform and generally does not required extra codecs. You can install VLC using the command:

sudo pacman -S vlc

Conclusion

Arch Linux requires a little more work to get things going, but the reward for the granular control is nice. Your machine is never exactly like any other machine–each Arch Linux users installation is different. Enabling DVD playback takes this same amount of granular configuration, but following the required steps makes the process simple.

Feedback For Arch Linux AUR PKGBUILDs

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I’ve been spending some time building packages for Arch Linux (very easy, btw!). I’ve put together a package for Origami, the Folding@Home management tool, as I wrote about recently. I’m also now maintaining the Chromium Browser package for Arch Linux in AUR, which has been a lot of fun. Also, just last nite, I built a flashplugin-universal package, which installs both 64bit and 32bit flashplayer. I found that I needed this because I’m running x86_64 but I’m running both 32bit and 64bit browsers regularly. Having both flashplayer architectures installed allows me to have flash in any of the browsers, which is nice. Some of you Arch64 users might find it useful.

I’d love any feedback anyone can give me on the packages, particularly with PKGBUILD standards, efficiency and dependencies. Thank you.

Detect Conficker Worm With nmap 4.85BETA6 on Arch Linux

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As I’m sure you’ve all heard, today is April Fools and the day that the conficker worm is set to… well, do something.  I haven’t read any reports on just exactly what it has done, if anything today, but I was able to come up with a solution that will allow you to scan for it using Arch Linux and the latest-greatest build of nmap.  I just ran a scan on my home network and didn’t find anything (granted I only have Arch Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X machines here), but the same steps can be used to scan your office networks if you’re still wondering about being vulnerable.  I will outline below how to install the Arch Build System (ABS), update the PKGBUILD for nmap to install the latest nmap and finally how to scan a range of networks for the conficker worm.

Installation via ABS
To build the latest-greatest copy of nmap we’ll use the ABS and simply update the PKGBUILD information.  If you do not have ABS setup on your machine you’ll need to complete the following steps:

pacman -S abs
abs

These two commands will install the ABS on your system and then sync with the repository mirror.

Configuring nmap
Next you’ll want to copy the PKGBUILD from the ABS directory structure to your home directory for building.

mkdir ~/abs/
cp -r /var/abs/extra/nmap/ ~/abs/

Now head back to ~/abs/nmap/ and edit the PKGBUILD file with the following changes:

pkgver=4.85BETA6
md5sums=('33af2a98032b2e6617cea8de23808e64')

With those two changes saved you can now compile the latest nmap.  Use: makepkg -i

Detecting Conficker
Now that you have the latest nmap compiled and installed you can scan your network(s) for the Conficker worm.  Use the following command and look for any “INFECTED” or “VULNERABLE” lines in the output.

nmap -PN -d -p445 –script=smb-check-vulns –script-args=safe=1 [network_range]

(of course, replace network_range with your home/office network. ie; 192.168.0.0/24)

Conclusion
While I still don’t know what, if anything, the Conficker worm is going to do today (or ever), its best to make sure your machines are not vulnerable and that someone else does not have control of them.  If you administer a number of Windows machines, take a minute to scan them and verify that nothing is left vulnerable.  I hope these steps were helpful for anyone needing to verify security on their networks.

origami now available in Arch User Repository (AUR)

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If you’ve been following my other blog (ubuntu-tutorials.com) you know I’ve developed a management tool for running Folding@Home clients on Linux distributions.  It started out a bit Red Hat specific, but has since been ported to Debian families and finally Arch Linux.  I just finished applying my latest patches and put together a PKGBUILD for it.  I’m happy to be able to say that origami is now available to the general public in the community repository.

If you’re interested in trying it out, there are two methods you can use to install it:

Method 1 (manual):

wget -c http://aur.archlinux.org/packages/origami/origami/PKGBUILD
makepkg -si

Method 2 (yaourt):

yaourt -S origami

I would probably suggest the yaourt method, as it is a little more automated and will provide the dependencies you might need.  One of the dependencies (lsb-release) is only available via the AUR so, again, yaourt will take care of that for you.

If you have previously tried running Folding@Home on Linux, or would like to start competing with others in contribution to Stanford Universities research project, please give this package a try and give me any feedback you can.

Install Chromium Browser on Arch Linux

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Update: I’ve submitted a patch to the existing PKGBUILD in the AUR which brings the Chromium Browser up to yesterdays nightly build.  Much improved from the previous.

I saw a post recently on the Planet Ubuntu Users, again by Stefano Forenza, regarding installing and testing the latest daily Chromium browser builds.  That got me curious so I started poking around and found an available package for Arch Linux by way of the Arch User Repository.  Installation was simple enough and the browser works, but I should mention that it is *very* alpha quality.  None of the menu buttons worked for me and I wasn’t able to make use of tab functionality.  It is nice to see that some progress is being made though on the Linux platform.

Now that we’ve seen the obligatory screenshot I’ll outline the few simple steps to installing it on Arch.

Method 1

Using the yaourt tool you can install directly from the Arch User Repository.  There are a few packages available, but this appears to be the only native package, and not a variant requiring the use of Wine.

yaourt -S chromium-browser

Once this is installed you’ll be able to launch it from your Applications menu.  You should note that due to the alpha nature of this client it will also automagically launch with a debug window terminal.  If this is closed the browser will close as well.  During these early stages this is still a requirement due to the number of issues and amount of debugging required.

Method 2

The second method still requires installing the package from the Arch User Repository, but doesn’t require the yaourt frontend.  These steps are as follows:

  1. Download the chromium-browser tarfile from the Arch User Repository.
  2. tar xf chromium-browser.tar.gz
  3. cd chromium-browser/
  4. makepkg -i

At the time of this writing the Arch User Repository package is marked as out of date.  Again, install the package and use the browser at your own risk.  It is still very, very alpha.

Install Android Fonts (ttf-droid) on Arch Linux

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I read a blog post recently outlining how to install the ttf-droid package — Android Fonts — on Ubuntu.  Because I’m using Arch Linux on my two machines at work I decided to look into the possibility of installing them on that platform.  Turns out, thankfully, the ttf-droid package is available in the Arch User Repository.  I’ve now switched both of my office machines to this new font set and I really enjoy it.  It has a very clean, crisp look.  It’s not boxy or thick like a lot of other fonts I’ve seen used (I’m looking at you, Fedora).

Here are the instructions on installing the ttf-droid fonts on your Arch Linux machine:

Yet Another User Repository Tool (yaourt)

If you are using the unfortunately named yaourt package management frontend you can install directly from the AUR using the command:

yaourt -S ttf-droid

If you are simply using pacman you’ll need to grab the PKGBUILD from the AUR and manually install.  No worries if you’ve never used the AUR before.  It’s really pretty simple.

Manual Install from AUR

Download the ttf-droid tarball

Unpack: tar xf ttf-droid*.tar.gz

cd ttf-droid

makepkg -i

Find The Fastest Arch Linux Reposity Mirror(s) With Rankmirrors

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I setup a new Desktop at work today and I thought I’d try out Arch again.  I’ve had it running on my work Laptop for a few months now, but there were some things I wanted to figure out and learn, “The Arch Way”.  One of the little tips that I found in my continued reading and setting up was the use of the rankmirrors tool.  Rankmirrors will find and configure your system to use the fastest repository mirrors for your connection.

Getting Started

Let’s assume you’re on a fresh installation.  If not, the steps are really the same, you just likely don’t have to worry about resolving the dependencies.  So, on that note, the only dependency for the tool is python.  If you don’t have python installed (which is likely only the case if you’re on a fresh installation), you’ll need to install it:

pacman -S python

Running Rankmirrors

Rankmirrors will read a copy of the mirrorlist file and output an updated, ranked mirrorlist file.  To do this cleanly, in the fewest steps, well move the original file which is what we’ll read from and then output to the file we’ll end up using.

mv /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.orig
rankmirrors -n3 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.orig > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

This will take a little time to run through the list and compare the results, but when it is finished you’ll have a mirrorlist file that is optimized for your connection.  You’ll also notice that I used the “-n3″ option, which tells it to output the three fastest repository mirrors.  You can change this number based on your needs.

Also, anytime you update or change your repository mirror you’ll want to make sure pacman is updated accordingly.  Run the following command anytime you make changes to your mirror:

pacman -Syy