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(08/12/2021) Forked from the excellently written bossley9's Arch install instructions with my own modifications and additions.

Meant as a companion guide to the official Arch guide. Some things are only covered there, while this gets you up to speed faster.

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Install instructions

Setup

  • Download the latest Archlinux image from the website. Given the option, I downloaded version 2021.07.01-x86_64. I would highly recommend using checksums to validate the integrity of the image.
  • Burn the downloaded disk image onto the usb. This can be done using a number of different tools:
    • Balena Etcher (cross-platform)
    • Rufus (Windows)
    • Mkusb (Linux/Ubuntu)
    • If you prefer command line like me (where $ denotes elevated privileges): 
      $ dd bs=4M if=/path/to/img of=/dev/sdx status=progress
  • Boot the computer from the live usb. This may require manual BIOS tweaking depending on your machine. Be sure to boot with UEFI (especially if you plan on dual booting with Windows).

Boot Start

The boot process should eventually land on a virtual terminal prompt where you can log in with the given credentials.

  • Use loadkeys [layout] to load a keyboard layout. Mine is br-abnt2.
  • Verify the boot mode is UEFI via ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars. If nothing is returned the boot mode might not be UEFI.

Internet

  • You can test for internet with the following command: 
    ping archlinux.org
    If an internet connection has already been established, you will see an incremental output of packets. If not, a DNS error will return. 
    ping: archlinux.org: Name or service not known.
    Type ctrl+c to stop the program. If an internet connection has been established, you can skip ahead to the next step.
  • Assuming no internet connection exists, use ip link to retrieve the names of all network cards. Remember the names of the cards that display. On most machines there are at least three types of network cards:
    • lo represents a loopback device, which is similar to a virtual network. This is how 127.0.0.1 and other localhost ports are accessed.
    • eth0 represents an ethernet (wired) network card. Usually the interface is given a more specific name, such as enp34s0.
    • wlan0 represents a wireless network card. As with ethernet, this usually passes under a specific name like wlp1s0. In this guide I use wlan0 to represent the wireless card name.
  • If you plan on using ethernet, internet should automatically be configured. Otherwise, you can connect to a network with iwd:
    • Enter the iwctl prompt. 
      iwctl
    • Verify the computer's wireless card. This should display the wireless card(s) you saw earlier with ip link. 
      device list
    • Scan for local networks. This command does not display any output and instead silently scans. 
      station wlan0 scan
    • List all scanned networks. 
      station wlan0 get-networks
    • Connect to an internet network, where SSID is the name of the network. This will prompt for a password if required. 
      station wlan0 connect SSID
    • Type exit to return to the original terminal prompt.
    • Verify ping archlinux.org produces a response. Do not proceed and repeat this section until a response appears.

Update the System Clock

  • Update the system clock. 
    timedatectl set-ntp true

Disk Partitioning

If using LVM/LUKS use my other guide.

In this guide I assume only one disk and that the full disk is being utilized. I use ext4 as my primary filesystem.

  • My partition scheme will be as follows:

    /efi - 200 MB (Doesn't need to be created if an EFI partition already exists)
[SWAP] - If hybernation is needed, the size of RAM or double. If not, half of RAM should suffice.
/ - 80 GB
/home - Remainder of space

  • Determine the size of the disk and the size of RAM memory. I will be using and referencing /dev/sda as my disk.

    fdisk -l
free -h

  • Use fdisk /dev/sda to enter a command-line disk partition editor. In this prompt you may type p to view the pending partition table.

  • Type g to create a new GPT partition scheme. This will also erase the old partition table along with any old partitions.

  • Create an efi partition. Create a new partition, use the default partition number and first sector, and size the partition.

    n
enter
enter
+200M

    If prompted to remove an existing filesystem signature, say yes. New signatures will be established for the new partitions. If you accidentally create a bad partition, you can always delete the partition using the d key.

  • Tag the new partition as EFI System:

    t
1

  • Create a SWAP partition. This never needs to be very big, especially if you never plan on hibernation.

  • Tag the SWAP partition as Linux swap:

    t
2
19

  • Create a root / partition.

    n
enter
enter
+80G

  • Create a /home home partition. This partition will use the remainder of the disk space.

    n
enter
enter
enter

  • Type p to view your partitions. Once you are satisfied with your partitioning, type w to permanently write the partitioning scheme to the disk. You will be returned to the virtual terminal prompt, where you will be able to run fdisk -l to view your newly created partitions.

  • Change all partition signatures.

    mkfs.fat -F 32 -n BOOT /dev/sda1
mkswap -L SWAP /dev/sda2
swapon /dev/sda2
mkfs.ext4 -L ROOT /dev/sda3
mkfs.ext4 -L HOME /dev/sda4

  • Mount the partitions.

    mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/efi
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/efi
mkdir /mnt/home
mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/home

    You can use the lsblk -f command to verify that your partitions have been mounted correctly.

Operating System Installation

  • Install the kernel and operating system base. This usually takes some time to complete depending on your internet stability. I also recommend installing a text editor. Additionally, you may consider linux-zen over linux on desktops for performance reasons. Setting up Reflector can also provide better download speeds. 
    pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware neovim networkmanager man-db man-pages texinfo

Fstab

  • Generate an Fstab file. This is a file that dictates how partitions are mounted when the system boots. 
    genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
    You can double check that /mnt/etc/fstab is formatted according to your needs and modify any mount options if needed.

Chroot

  • Change root into the new system. You will now be within your newly-formatted disk. 
    arch-chroot /mnt

Localization

  • Set the time zone, where REGION and CITY pertain to your local area. These values can be tab-completed. 
    ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/REGION/CITY /etc/localtime
  • Sync the clock to the time zone specified. 
    hwclock --systohc
  • Edit /etc/locale.gen to enable necessary locales. 
    en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
pt_BR.UTF-8 UTF-8
ja_JP.UTF-8 UTF-8
    Then generate locales. 
    locale-gen
  • Edit /etc/locale.conf to set the system language: 
    LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=pt_BR.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=pt_BR.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=pt_BR.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=pt_BR.UTF-8
LC_TIME=pt_BR.UTF-8
  • Edit /etc/vconsole.conf to permanently set the console keyboard layout: 
    KEYMAP=br-abnt2

Network Configuration

  • Name your system in /etc/hostname. I will name mine ghost. 
    ghost
  • Create the corresponding host entries in /etc/hosts: 
    127.0.0.1     localhost
::1           localhost
127.0.1.1     ghost.localdomain    ghost
  • Enable network manager. 
    systemctl enable NetworkManager

Password

  • Set the root password. 
    passwd

Boot Loader

I use Grub as a bootloader because it is simple, quick, and works on both UEFI/BIOS systems. It also has a customizeable appearance. The commands below only work for UEFI systems, if using BIOS please check the wiki.

If going along with my LVM/LUKS guide, use /boot instead of /efi in the following commands.

  • Install the bootloader. 
    pacman -S grub efibootmgr
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB
    Generate the configuration file. 
    grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Installation Wrapup

At this point, we have completely installed everything needed for a fully functional system.

  • Exit chroot and umount the partitions.

    exit
umount -R /mnt

  • Shutdown the system.

    shutdown now

    Then remove the usb drive.

  • Power on the machine. You likely need to change the BIOS settings of your machine in order to tell your motherboard the location of the efi boot partition.

    If it boots into a bootloader menu, then stops at a login prompt, you've just successfully completed a standard Archlinux installation! However, this specific installation is anything but standard - we still have some work to do.

  • Log in to root using root as the username and the password you created earlier.

Post-Install Internet

  • Connect to internet.
  • If you use network manager, you can use utilities such as nmcli or nmtui.
  • Verify internet connection with ping archlinux.org.

Creating a User

  • Create a new user. This will be the main user. 
    useradd -m -G video,wheel sam
passwd sam
  • Install sudo and configure the sudoers file. Uncomment the wheel group permissions line. 
    pacman -Syu --needed sudo
EDITOR=/usr/bin/nvim visudo
  • Then logout and log back in as the newly created user.

Core

  • Enable the multilib repos in /etc/pacman.conf: 
    [multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
  • Run a system upgrade to update any packages that were not up to date when the system was installed. It's a good practice to do this on a clean install even if no packages need updating. 
    sudo pacman -Syu
  • Install git and other core utilities. 
    sudo pacman -S git python

Cloning

  • Clone this repository to your home folder using the steps outlined below. 
    cd $HOME
git clone https://github.com/Vinesma/.dotfiles.git
  • Run the install script I have created: 
    cd $HOME/.dotfiles/install
python main.py

Custom install script

  • Go to ~/.dotfiles/install
  • Edit main.json in the data folder. Put the name of the package group you wish to install inside the array, like so: 
    # 'initial' should always be first
[
  "initial",
  "wm_qtile",
  "display_manager",
  "term_kitty"
]
  • Run python main.py and choose Full install.
  • Leave to get a coffee or stay and watch. If any errors happen the script will show them and then stop for 30 seconds. Make a note of what happened and if it is concerning enough to warrant stopping the installation with ctrl+c.
  • To resume the install, remove the already installed groups from main.json and choose the Full install option again. Alternatively, choose the Select group option from the menu to install package groups individually.

Drivers

Finally, we may reboot the machine and make use of Arch Linux!

Extra guides

NeoVim

Neovim is my terminal editor of choice.

  • Run :checkhealth for a overview of what is supported, like python support and others.

Plugins:

  1. Install vim-plug

  2. Run :PlugInstall in nvim to install the plugins already declared inside init.vim.

  3. To upgrade plugins, run :PlugUpdate.

  4. Remove plugins by removing their lines in the config file, restarting nvim and then running :PlugClean.

VSCode integration:

  1. For using neovim inside vscode, you need to install a vscode extension.

  2. Run nvim -v and check if your version is higher than 0.5.0. If it is ignore the next step and just add the path to your nvim to the extension config. You can run command -v nvim to find the path.

  3. If the distro repositories don't package nvim 0.5.0+, the easiest way to get it is by downloading the appimage running: chmod u+x on it, then adding the path to it in the extension config. This hasn't really been needed in a while, but I'll keep this part of the guide up for now.

VirtualBox

VirtualBox runs virtual machines in an easy way.

  1. Run the command:
LC_ALL=C lscpu | grep Virtualization

to check if Virtualization is supported. If nothing is shown then Virtualization is not supported

  1. Enable virtualization in the BIOS

  2. Guide

libvirt + KVM/QEMU + virt-manager

  • Check if KVM is enabled: 
    LC_ALL=C lscpu | grep Virtualization
  • Check if the necessary modules are available, they must be set to either y or m: 
    zgrep CONFIG_KVM /proc/config.gz
  • Verify if the kernel modules are automatically loaded with: 
    lsmod | grep kvm
    The command should return something. If not, you will need to manually load the modules. Check the wiki.
  • Install: libvirt qemu virt-manager
  • Install: iptables-nft dnsmasq for default networking via NAT/DHCP, and no, just iptables does not work.
  • Install: edk2-ovmf for UEFI support, be sure to check Customize before install in virt-manager.
  • Add yourself to the libvirt group: 
    sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" libvirt
  • Enable libvirtd: 
    systemctl enable --now libvirtd
  • Now you can run and use virt-manager, click the + button and follow the instructions to create a VM.
  • More info

Android Studio

Android Studio can be installed from the AUR.

Flutter

Flutter can be installed from the AUR.

  1. Run flutter doctor to verify missing dependencies

  2. Install the VSCode Flutter extension

  3. Guide

SSH

For ssh, we have to identify what machine you want to use as a client and which you want to use as a server. Most configuration will be done in the server.

server:

  • Install openssh (It's probably already installed)

  • Enable the server:

    systemctl enable --now sshd

client:

  • Create a key pair using ssh-keygen

  • Copy the newly generated pair to the server using:

    ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub $USER@$IP_ADDR

$USER = The username to login at the server
$ADDR = The server ip. Can be found by running `ip -br -c address` at the server

  • Connect to the server using:

    ssh $USER@$ADDR

server:

  • Configure /etc/ssh/sshd_config, important settings to change are Port, changing PermitRootLogin to no and adding PasswordAuthentication no to force key based authentication. This can be done remotely. Don't forget to restart the server afterwards using: 
    systemctl restart sshd.service

client:

  • Configure ~/.ssh/config using the examples located at ~/.dotfiles/files/ssh_config. This enables faster connection to the server by simply typing ssh $HOST instead of ssh -p $PORT $USER@IP_ADDR

Tips:

  • The keys can be named however you want for ease of identification. You can also pass the -t flag to the ssh-keygen command to use different cryptographic algorithms, such as 'ed25519' which is more secure and has a smaller string to pass around.

  • A ssh-agent user file is included in the install, this will cache ssh passwords so that they only have to be typed once every user session. To use it, enable the service with systemctl enable --user --now ssh-agent.service and add your private keys with ssh-add ~/.ssh/KEY_NAME. To make all ssh clients store keys in the agent on first use, add the configuration setting AddKeysToAgent yes to ~/.ssh/config.

TLP

Provides power saving capabilities. More relevant if using a laptop.

To check the status of TLP run: tlp-stat -s

More info

Multiple monitors

  • Run xrandr --listmonitors and grab the identifier for each monitor you wish to set up:

  • Example output:

    Monitors: 2
0: +\*eDP1 1366/310x768/170+1920+0 eDP1
1: +HDMI1 1920/520x1080/290+0+0 HDMI1

  • Edit the example file: X11/10-monitor.conf accordingly for each monitor you have, then copy the file to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d.

Anacron

Anacron is included with cronie.

Edit the config file in /etc/anacrontab to add new jobs.

# period in days    delay in minutes    job-identifier    command

@weekly    5    test-job    /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp -q 'myfavplaylist'

If the jobs don't seem to run, check if /etc/cron.hourly/0anacron is preventing jobs when on battery power.

PulseAudio

PulseAudio uses rather conservative settings by default so it can run fine on most hardware. Changing these defaults may increase audio quality substantially.

  • Copy /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to ~/.config/pulse/ and use the resources below:
  • A rather extensive guide on configuring PulseAudio
  • A small snippet of good options to change: 
    # ~/.config/pulse/daemon.conf
avoid-resampling = yes # might distort audio
resample-method = speex-float-6 # higher uses more cpu, 7 is transparent, use -fixed instead -float on ancient cards
flat-volumes = no
default-sample-format = float32le # based on endianness: $ lscpu | grep 'Byte'
default-sample-rate = 48000
alternate-sample-rate = 44100 # windows-computers default

Problems & fixes

A script run via cron fails to send notifications via notify-send

Solution: cron has no access to the DBUS address and the DISPLAY variable, they have to be set inside your script or before the notify-send call.

The clock is wrong

Solution (run timedatectl to check, can also be used to set time)

Run this to enable clock synchronization:

  • timedatectl set-ntp true

I dual boot and Windows' clock is wrong

Windows uses localtime by default. To make it use UTC a registry fix is required. Open regedit and add a DWORD value with hexadecimal value 1 to the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation\RealTimeIsUniversal

UTC in Windows

pywal has no support for dunst

Solution: For pywal to work with dunst, copy the template file in ~/.dotfiles/pywal-templates/colors-dunst to ~/.config/wal/templates/. Edit the template accordingly and then run wal with a path to your desired wallpaper in a terminal. The template will be parsed and spit out at ~/.cache/wal/colors-dunst which can then be linked to ~/.config/dunst/dunstrc. You will only need to do this if something goes horribly wrong, since my install scripts should be able to take care of it.

This also applies to anything else unsupported by pywal.

Laptop only boots or runs when charging, as soon as it gets unplugged the laptop freezes half a second later

Solution: Disabling tlp in /etc/tlp.conf by editing the line TLP_ENABLE=1 to TLP_ENABLE=0. Afterwards, edit /etc/default/cpupower and set governor to "performance". This fixes the problem but leaves the laptop without any power saving capability.

TLP debugging

Laptop won't shutdown or reboot completely. Screen goes black but external lights stay on and the fan keeps spinning no matter how long I wait

Unsolved: Never found a solution, but reinstalling the system a few months later resolved the issue.

Wrong resolution upon startup

Solution 1: Do the instructions in "Multiple monitors", they can maybe fix the problem, even if you have only one monitor.

Solution 2: Add xrandr --output OUTPUT --mode WIDTHxHEIGHT to the line that starts with greeter-setup-script in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf. You can find the values needed by running xrandr with no arguments. In my experience, the resolution is correct about 30% of the time when I boot. The only real solution I've found is to immediately shutdown your WM and login again. This works but is quite annoying.

Autostart is not working

Solution: Run chmod +x ~/.autostart.

Something else went kaput

Solution: I hope you had timeshift configured because it'll be the thing to save you. Find a pen drive with a liveCD to boot with, install timeshift on the live environment and let it restore from your timeshift snapshot directory (usually /run/timeshift/backup/timeshift/snapshots/).

Links/Resources

Things that had their own section and were moved or removed, along with other resources that don't fit anywhere else:

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Personal Arch install script rewritten in Typescript

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