Hi Everyone,
Last few months I was occupied with learning SQL and Power BI so was
unable to post.
I will be posting this blog in sections as i am updating when ever i have
spare time.
so by the time it will be published some app features may
change/differ.
earlier i was reluctant to install Arch/Gentoo as i was not ready to
spend a day entering commands, installing and post install tasks.
Gentoo would take a week to compile , install and reach the Desktop
setup.
There are many Linux distros forked or based on Arch, their whole point
of existence was they offered users a Graphical installer to install Arch
so that users could experience the Arch Linux.
But they do not provide Pure Arch experience as we are fully not in
control of apps which are getting installed and often you get a customized
Arch Linux.
Now With ARCHINSTALL shell script it is very easy to install Arch
Linux.
Lets Begin!
Getting installation image is very simple, Arch linux can be installed
via netboot or also has an installation ISO.
i choose to install via ISO which is around 820MB.
if you are already running Arch You can simply use Pacman update command
to update.
Pre Install Tasks
- Verify Checksums after download, its really important to check when you are downloading from torrent.
md5sum archlinux-2022.05.01-x86_64.iso
- Create USB Installation media.
we can use DD if we are on
Linux.
get the USB device name by using the lsblk command and use DD to copy
image.
my USB device is named as 'sdb'
dd bs=4M if=path/to/archlinux-version-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdb conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress
- Disable Secure Boot
Installation
power on the system with USB media connected and enter the Boot Menu to
select the USB drive.
upon selecting Arch Linus x86_64,BIOS we will get a terminal with links
to Man page,Arch Wiki and how to configure WiFi.
we get 'iwctl' tool to configure WiFi which is good.
First lets get the details of Network interface and its status by using
command "ip link"
once we get the details about our Wifi device we can configure WiFi, i
will use the device name as "wlan0" to demonstrate here.
type command iwctl and hit enter.
then use below commands to scan and connect to a network.
station wlan0 scan
station wlan0 get-networks
station wlan0 connect XYZ
once its connected exit the iwctl and check network using ping
command.
Note : archinstall will not work if you are not connected to
internet.
using ip link and lsblk commands to check network and HDD info.
as i took this snap in Virtual machine manager the net is already setup,
so i am skipping the iwctl part here.
entering ARCHINSTALL brings up the installer.
defaults for language , keyboard layout and mirror region should work
fine for most of the users unless if you are using a different KBD
layout/language.
Next is selecting the HDD to install, i always choose entire disk for
install as all my data is backed up in external HDD/Cloud.
i will select Wipe all selected drives and use a best-effort default
partition layout here with BTRFS scheme.
Next lest select SWAP, we get the option to set ZRAM - an efficient swap
system.
and keep Grup-install as default boot loader.
change Hostname.
i will leave Root password field blank, instead i will set up my account
as super user.
select Desktop profile as i will use this OS for Home setup.
we get various kinds of desktop environment to install.
i suggest to select either Gnome or KDE if you are trying Arch for 1st
time.
reason being post install tweaks are less and you will get a usable
desktop after install.
rest of them needs a bit of tweaking to get network/Login session/sound
to get working.
i have a laptop with intel graphics card, so i select accordingly.
select the audio driver, we have an option to choose between new pipewire
and old time tested pulseaudio sound server.
next select the desired Linux kernel edition to use.
Linux kernel is best and supports most new hardware.
if something is not working well in linux use linux-lts.
e.g. i had issues with wifi while using linux kernel so i switched to
linux lts and it was resolved.
you can select multi kernels also to install here.
if you are setting up your system for gaming you can choose linux-zen
kernel.
if you are setting up system for production/server and need more secure
kernel with less vulnerability use linux-hardened.
lastly select use network manager to handle internet connection post
install.
we also have option to install any additional packages to install while
Arch downloads the setup files, usually entering a web browser like
firefox and media player like vlc is recommended.
finally you will get a shell script with options you have selected.
quickly go through the details and press enter when ready.
we also have the option to save the install config details in case if
there are any install errors or it cannot complete due to network failure.
if you have a net speed of 40 MBps install will complete at around 20~30
mins or even less based on install file size.
POST INSTALL
Once the install is finished i installed some basic apps/features.
you can refer Arch wiki for list of apps.
First run
pacman -Syu
to update
then install below apps.
Pacman install command as below.
pacman -S ntfs-3g vlc firefox qbittorrent packagekit-qt5
okular ufw gwenview spectacle sweeper kamoso
partitionmanager libreoffice-fresh fprintd spectacle
Enable Bluetooth
check if BT is active and running by command
sudo systemctl status bluetooth
if its not then enable and start the bluetooth service,
sudo systemctl enable bluetooth
sudo systemctl start bluetooth
sudo systemctl start bluetooth
apart from this i customized theme and wallpaper, power management
settings, firewall and others in settings option.
thats it, now we have set up Arch Linux for Home desktop.
thats it, now we have set up Arch Linux for Home desktop.
i will share details on how to configure fprint, AUR, libvirt in next
post.
Bye!
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