Installation

Condensed step by step instructions: txt pdf

First steps

Keyboard layout:

# loadkeys es

If UEFI mode is enabled on an UEFI motherboard, Archiso will boot Arch Linux accordingly via systemd-boot. To verify this, list the efivars directory:

# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

Configure WiFi:

# wpa_passphrase MOVISTAR_CFCD QlatrCMgyBpDGySYSek > /etc/wpa_supplicant/foo.conf
# wpa_supplicant -B -i wlp3s0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/foo.conf
# dhcpcd wlp3s0

Update system clock:

# timedatectl set-ntp true

Format partition:

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdbX

Mount the file system:

# mount /dev/sdaX /mnt

Install the base packages

Optional and recommended: select the six fastest mirrors for downloading:

# cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.backup
# sed -i 's/^#Server/Server/' /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.backup
# rankmirrors -n 6 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.backup > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Mandatory: Install the base packages:

# pacstrap /mnt base base-devel

Configure the system

Fstab

Generate an fstab file (use -U or -L to define by UUID or labels, respectively):

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

Check the resulting file in /mnt/etc/fstab afterwards, and edit it in case of errors.

Chroot

Change root into the new system:

# arch-chroot /mnt

Time zone

Set the time zone:

# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime

Run hwclock(8) to generate /etc/adjtime:

# hwclock --systohc

This command assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC. See Time#Time standard for details.

Locale

Uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed localizations in /etc/locale.gen, and generate them with:

# locale-gen

Set the LANG variable in locale.conf(5) accordingly, for example:

/etc/locale.conf
LANG=en_US.UTF-8

If you set the keyboard layout, make the changes persistent in vconsole.conf(5):

/etc/vconsole.conf
KEYMAP=es

Enable periodic TRIM service (for SSD drives):

# systemctl enable fstrim.timer

Extra packages for auto completion and wifi configuration

# pacman -S bash-completion wpa_supplicant dialog

Fancy command-line calculator

# pacman -S bc

Root password and user setup

First set a password for root with:

# passwd

Now add a default user with:

# useradd -m -g users -G wheel,storage,power,audio -s /bin/bash someusername

and set a pass for that user:

# passwd someusername

Setting up sudoers

Now we have to edit the sudoers file to give this user the much needed sudo powers. Don't open this file with a regular editor; it must be edited with visudo command.

# EDITOR=nano visudo

Uncomment:

%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

And we’re going to make sudoers require typing the root password instead of their own password by adding this line at the end of the file:

Defaults rootpw

Save and close the file

Graphic Card (i915)

# pacman -S mesa

Xorg

# pacman -S xorg-server xorg-apps xorg-xinit xorg-twm xorg-xclock xterm

press enter (default)

GUI option 1

LXDM and XFCE

Install LXDM and XFCE:

# pacman -S lxdm xfce4 xcfe4-screenshooter

Start LXDM at boot:

# systemctl enable lxdm.service

Configure LXDM to launch XFCE by editing /etc/lxdm/lxdm.conf:

Edit and uncomment line # session=/usr/bin/startlxdm and convert it to session=/usr/bin/startxfce4

GUI option 2

XDM and Openbox

If display manager XDM is used:

# pacman -S xorg-xdm openbox

Start XDM at boot:

# systemctl enable xdm.service

Configure XDM to launch Openbox after login:

$ echo openbox-session > ~/.xsession
$ chmod 700 ~/.xsession

If display manager XDM is not used:

Be sure that XDM is not enabled. You can disable it by issuing the command: systemctl disable xdm.service

Configure xinitrc to launch Openbox when launching startx:

$ cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc

Edit ~/.xinitrc and add exec openbox-session above any other exec line in the file (the first exec line will be executed, the rest will be ignored)

To configure Openbox

$ cp -R /etc/xdg/openbox ~/.config/
$ vi .config/openbox/menu.xml

Sound

Install ALSA , PulseAudio and PulseAudio Plugin for XCFE4:

# pacman -S alsa-utils pulseaudio xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin Right click on desktop panel ➡️ Panel ➡️ Add new items ➡️ Select PulseAudio Plugin ➡️ Add

WiFi

For the sake of having a simple graphical interface that works across Desktop Environments, we’ll install NetworkManager:

# pacman -S networkmanager network-manager-applet

enable network manager:

# systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

Install trayer (if using TWM so the NetworkManager applet appears):

# pacman -S trayer

Install stalonetray if using LXDE/XCFE/KDE so the NetworkManager applet appears:

# pacman -S stalonetray

BIOS Installation with GPT Partitioning

Partition the disk

# gdisk /dev/sda
o ➡️ y ➡️ enter
n ➡️ enter ➡️ enter ➡️ enter ➡️ +8M ➡️ ef02 ➡️ enter
n ➡️ enter ➡️ enter ➡️ enter ➡️ +500M ➡️ 8300 ➡️ enter
n ➡️ enter ➡️ enter ➡️ enter ➡️ +20G ➡️ 8300 ➡️ enter
n ➡️ enter ➡️ enter ➡️ enter ➡️ +4G ➡️ 8200 ➡️ enter
w ➡️ enter ➡️ y ➡️ enter

Format the partitions

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3
# mkswap /dev/sda4
# swapon /dev/sda4

Mount the file system

# mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot

Continue with installation from step "Install the base packages" further up. Once you followed all the steps and finished "WiFi" installation, continue below for GRUB installation and configuration:

GRUB

# pacman -Sy grub intel-ucode
# grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Useful Utilities

• bc (CLI calculator)
• galculator (GTK+ scientific calculator)
• xfce4-screenshooter (screenshot utility)
• gnome-screenshot (screenshot utility)
• ristretto (image viewer utility)
• stalonetray (system tray)
• transmission-gtk (torrent client)
• leafpad (text editor)

XFCE Customization

• Right click on the Panel ➡️ Panel ➡️ Panel Preferences ➡️ Panel drop down menu ➡️ Panel 2 ➡️ Delete (substract icon)
• Right click on the Panel ➡️ Panel ➡️ Panel Preferences ➡️ Panel drop down menu ➡️ Panel 1 ➡️ Display tab ➡️ Mode: Deskbar
• Settings ➡️ Appearance ➡️ Style tab ➡️ Xcfe-flat
• Settings ➡️ Window Manager ➡️ Style tab ➡️ Linea

Web Browsers

Firefox

# pacman -S firefox

Opera

# pacman -S opera opera-ffmpeg-codecs

Midori

# pacman -S midori gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-libav

Falkon

# pacman -S falkon

Elinks (text based)

# pacman -S elinks