Advanced Arch Linux Installation

18th Sep 2020

guide linux arch

Arch Base System Installation

Download Arch ISO, use Rufus software to flash Disk.

Use cfdisk -l, use cfdisk /dev/nvmeXn1, check which partitions p5, p6. Create UEFI by +256M, change partition type to EFI System (type 1), root partition set to Linux system.

Create filesystem:

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

If wifi:  wifi-menu, ping google.com (8.8.8.8)

Select the arch mirror

pacman -Syy
pacman -S reflector
cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak

select your country in reflector to find nearest point: US, CZ, DE etc.

reflector -c "US" -f 12 -l 10 -n 12 --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

pacman -Syu  => Just for check that the mirrors works! Do NOT start this installation to flash disk :-)

Install Arch Linux

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

I prefer just linux, without linux-lts:

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-headers linux-firmware vim neovim nano

For full linux and linux-lts you can use this:

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-headers linux-firmware linux-lts linux-lts-headers vim nano

Configure the installed Arch system

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Go to your system by chroot, this line can be used for repair system, fixing damages etc.

arch-chroot /mnt

This command is possible to use for repair system too! Boot with flash disk and use arch-chroot and correct or reinstall software is possible!

Setting Timezone

timedatectl list-timezones
timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Prague
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Prague /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc    (will generate /etc/adjtime)

Setting up Locale

Edit file /etc/locale.gen contains all the local settings and system language in a commented format. Use en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

locale-gen
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Network configuration

echo r7arch > /etc/hostname

touch /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.1.1 r7arch

Set up root passwd

passwd

My Fundamental Software

pacman -S openssh networkmanager wpa_supplicant netctl
systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl enable sshd

mkinitcpio -p linux
pacman -S amd-ucode  or pacman -S intel-ucode
pacman -S xorg

Select mesa for amdgpu cards and nvidia nvidia-utils for nvidia gpus (with lts suffix for linux-lts kernels)

pacman -S mesa  or nvidia nvidia-utils nvidia-lts nvidia-utils-lts

pacman -S virtualbox-guest-utils xf86-video-vmware  (for virtualbox installation)

NVIDIA TTY not show

sudo vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

Inside file add this MODULES=(nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm)

sudo mkinitcpio -P

In /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

MODULES="nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm"

FILES="/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf"

And /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf

options nvidia_drm modeset=1

I've also added nvidia-drm.modeset=1 to the kernel parameters. Works great. (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/kernel_parameters)

lspci -vnn | grep VGA

Linux User Addition

useradd -m -g users -G wheel,storage,power -s /bin/bash box
passwd box
pacman -S sudo
EDITOR=vim visudo,  uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Install Grub bootloader

Make sure that you are still using arch-chroot. Install required packages:

pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools

Create the directory where EFI partition will be mounted:

mkdir /boot/efi

Now, mount the ESP partition you had created

mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi

Install grub like this:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=ARCH --efi-directory=/boot/efi --recheck

One last step:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Install Window Manager

yay -S awesome-git

pacman -S i3  (select all, except 2 i3wm)

sudo pacman -S qtile

Additional all thousands lines 

sudo pacman -S --needed git wget yajl go
mkdir temp
cd temp/
=> yay is deprecated now, use paru
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-git.git
cd yay-git && makepkg -i
makepkg -i
yay -S pamac-aur
pamac is used for selection of all OPTIONAL dependencies by 1-14,5,8 syntax
sudo pamac install mc
sudo pamac install xorg-xinit
sudo pamac install rxvt-unicode
sudo pamac install termite alacritty firefox volumeicon picom rofi xdotool parcellite
yay -S numix-gtk-theme
yay -S ttf-font-awesome-4
sudo pamac install pulseaudio-alsa
sudo pamac install conky neofetch
sudo pacman -S grub-customizer
sudo pamac install plasma
sudo pamac install kde-applications
sudo pamac install gnome gnome-extra
sudo pamac install kvantum-qt5
sudo pamac install polkit-gnome
sudo pamac install polkit-kde-agent
sudo pamac install ntfs-3g
sudo pamac install lxappearance gnome-tweaks
sudo pamac install ranger
reboot
activate aur in pamac
sudo pamac install mpv
sudo pamac install awesome-git
sudo pamac install krusader
sudo pamac install jdk11-openjdk openjdk11-src jdk8-openjdk openjdk8-src maven terminator gnome-disk-utility
sudo pamac install zsh zsh-completions
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
startx
: 1597611658:0;git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k
: 1597611671:0;vim ~/.zshrc
: 1597611695:0;sudo pamac install neovim
: 1597611887:0;git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
: 1597612161:0;git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
: 1597612170:0;~/.fzf/install
: 1597612524:0;git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting
: 1597612570:0;git clone https://gitlab.com/dwt1/shell-color-scripts.git
: 1597612575:0;cd shell-color-scripts
: 1597612597:0;makepkg -cf
: 1597612614:0;sudo pacman -U shell-color-scripts-0.1-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
: 1598020959:0;sudo pamac install opensvn
: 1598021967:0;sudo flatpak install slack
: 1598022179:0;sudo flatpak install spotify
: 1598022469:0;git clone https://github.com/vinceliuice/grub2-themes.git
: 1598022482:0;cd grub2-themes
: 1598022499:0;sudo ./install.sh --vimix --2k
: 1598022613:0;yay -S videoinfo
: 1598022676:0;sudo pamac install hwinfo
: 1598022684:0;sudo hwinfo --framebuffer
: 1598023009:0;sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
: 1598023129:0;sudo pamac install ntfs-3g
: 1598023213:0;sudo pamac install samba
: 1598023229:0;sudo pamac install cifs-utils
: 1598023650:0;sudo systemctl status nfs-server.service
: 1598023658:0;sudo systemctl enable nfs-server.service
: 1598023669:0;sudo systemctl enable nfs-client.target
: 1598023696:0;sudo systemctl start nfs-server.service
: 1598023703:0;sudo systemctl start nfs-client.target
: 1598024033:0;cat /etc/fstab
: 1598024084:0;sudo pacman -S nfs-utils
: 1598024092:0;sudo mount ~/nfs/photo
: 1598025197:0;yay -S numlockx
: 1598026349:0;sudo pamac install xdg-utils
: 1598644414:0;sudo pamac install xorg-server-xephyr
: 1598644432:0;Xephyr -br -ac -noreset -screen 1980x1024 :1
: 1598644465:0;DISPLAY=:1 awesome
: 1598645098:0;sudo pacman -S network-manager-applet
: 1598645132:0;yay -S alttab-git
: 1598645154:0;yay -S copyq
: 1598645163:0;yay -S xautolock
: 1598645473:0;Xephyr -br -ac -noreset -screen 1980x1024 :1 &
: 1598645483:0;DISPLAY=:1 awesome
: 1598727885:0;yay -S xinit-xsession
: 1616787490:0;Xephyr :1 -ac -br -noreset -screen 2048x1080 & 
: 1616787526:0;DISPLAY=:1.0 awesome -c ~/.config/awesome/rc.lua.test
: 1616927376:0;cat .config/awesome/autorun.sh
: 1616927387:0;sudo pamac install copyq
: 1616927399:0;sudo pamac install clipmenu
: 1616927420:0;sudo pamac install xautolock
: 1616927424:0;cat .config/awesome/autorun.sh
: 1616927458:0;cat .config/awesome/autorun.sh
: 1616927468:0;sudo pamac install remmina
: 1616927823:0;rofi-theme-selector
: 1616927855:0;startx ~/.xinitrc awesome
: 1616927940:0;startx ~/.xinitrc kde
: 1616932499:0;cat xmenu.sh
: 1616932510:0;xmenu ./xmenu.sh
: 1616932712:0;cd git/github/xdg-xmenu
: 1616932723:0;./xdg-xmenu -i Papirus-Dark > menu
: 1616932765:0;cp xmenu.sh ~/.config/xmenu
: 1616932950:0;sudo pamac install kitty
: 1616947863:0;sudo pamac install imagemagick
: 1616948298:0;sudo ./install.sh -t slaze
: 1616950114:0;sudo pamac install kbd
: 1616950136:0;sudo pamac install terminus-font
: 1616950177:0;cat /etc/vconsole.conf
: 1616950352:0;showconsolefont
: 1616950477:0;setfont lat2-16 -m 8859-2
: 1616950487:0;setfont lat2-10 -m 8859-2
: 1616950491:0;setfont lat2-8 -m 8859-2
: 1616956523:0;sudo systemctl status systemd-logind.service
: 1616956546:0;cat /etc/sddm.conf.d/kde_settings.conf
: 1616956837:0;sudo systemctl status display-manager.service
: 1616956854:0;file /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
: 1616957321:0;sudo systemctl enable sddm.service
: 1616957326:0;file /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
: 1616957550:0;sudo systemctl disable sddm.service
: 1616957554:0;file /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
: 1616957562:0;startx ~/.xinitrc kde
: 1616957811:0;sudo systemctl enable sddm.service
: 1616999374:0;ls -1 /usr/share/xgreeters/
: 1616999465:0;ls -1 /usr/share/lightdm-webkit
: 1616999469:0;ls -1 /usr/share/lightdm-webkit/themes
: 1616999522:0;cat /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
: 1616999528:0;subl /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
: 1616999633:0;subl /etc/lightdm/lightdm-webkit2-greeter.conf
: 1616999840:0;sudo systemctl enable lightdm
: 1617052291:0;sudo pamac install nvidia-settings
: 1617052303:0;sudo nvidia-settings --assign CurrentMetaMode="nvidia-auto-select +0+0 { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On }"
: 1617052364:0;sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf
: 1617094705:0;ln -s /mnt/hdd1t/data/Videos ~/Videos/sdc-videos
: 1617094806:0;youtube-dl -f bestvideo+bestaudio --merge-output-format mkv https://www.youtube.com/watch\?v\=UAsueiktITI\&t\=656s