I am trying to install Arch on my laptop. I just returned my Vaio and got an HP. I expect the setup on the HP to be similar to setup on the Vaio...

I had successfully set up the wifi with iwconfig, and brought it up (I was able to ping google.com). When I started the install and chose ftp and a mirror, there was only 1 option. base-devel? Install seemed to go well, and I had grub installed, etc.

Then, when I booted into the freshly installed Arch, I had to again set up the wifi connection. When I try to run iwconfig, it cannot find the command. I'm not sure package I need to install to make sure my wifi tools are there. I guess I could just choose everything?

I will be attempting the install on my HP tonight, so as long as it goes the same way as the Vaio, I will be missing iwconfig again.



On a little aside, grub helped me ensure I could get a refund on the Vaio. I had installed over the original Vista to get rid of all the bloatware. I then realized I didn't have recovery discs. But, I was able to use the grub command line to boot into the recovery partition so I could fully restore the original settings!

This will install it:

I've never used Arch, so I am not completely familiar with pacman... wouldn't it need an internet connection to install anything? So, I need an internet connection to install the tools that will allow me to have an internet connection?

Reinstall arch with wireless-tools. You can choose it when you select packages.

Really!!!---I've installed Arch maybe 6 times in the last few months, and never saw that. Oh well...

For claudius;
This might be more help than you wanted, but I would always have my home network set up with wireless AND wired connections---very easy to do with a router.** I have gone through quite a few Linux installs on my HP laptop, and wireless is sometimes the last thing I get working.

**The last time we switched ISPs (to Verizon DSL), we got a combo DSL modem/wireless router as part of the package. It's one of the best things the system has ever done for us.....

I specifically chose something with centrino since it seems intel wireless is fairly well supported under linux, so hopefully it will work out of the box. I have the 5100, and according to intellinuxwireless.org, it should be supported in any kernel 2.6.26 and up.

I do have a router, but it's in the basement stashed away so it's not really convenient to use it wired, but I can if I really have to.

You also need an internet connection to post on this board, don't you? If you have another computer connected, you can grab that package on a USB stick or similar and install it with Here is the link to said package:
ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/core/os/i686...686.pkg.tar.gz

I was unaware that I could download packages directly to install later in Arch. Where would I download the packages, I found wireless_tools here, but I don't see a download link.

EDIT: Never mind, found it from ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/core/os/x86_64/. I will be attempting Arch again tonight, so if I can't get wireless_tools from the installation, I will get it from the ftp site and throw it on my USB flash drive. Also has the ucode in case I need that too.