Arch Linux Install Guide

How to install Arch Linux

Intro

I wrote this guide to help me anytime I need to install Arch Linux. This guide is specific to my needs and may not be good for everyone, but can be helpful for those struggling with the Arch Linux install. I prefer XFCE, so that's what the conclusion of this guide will give you.

I've been running Linux off and on since 1998, but I am no expert with it. Arch Linux is my preferred distro, as I like the 'I only get what I want' approach, it runs best on not the most modern of computers, and it is a rolling release.

If you find any errors or would like to make suggestions for my guide, feel free to write me. I cannot provide any support for those who choose to follow this guide. You will be installing at your own risk.

Download the latest release

This guide will be updated to reference any changes in the install procedure.

Currently written for version: 2013.11.01

Download here: https://www.archlinux.org/download/

Partition the drive

# cfdisk

I create 2 partitions. A Swap partition and the rest of the drive dedicated to /.

Important: Make note of your partitions. Based on the way I do it, my / partition will is /dev/sda1 and the swap partition is /dev/sda2. If you do it differently, you will need to adjust the next steps based on what they are.

Format the filesystem

# mkswap /dev/sda2

# swapon /dev/sda2

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1

Mount the filesystem

# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

Install the base packages

# pacstrap /mnt base base-devel grub-bios

Generate fstab

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

Chroot

# arch-chroot /mnt

Set the Locale

# nano /etc/locale.gen

Uncomment your locales. For me, I uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and en_US ISO-8859-1

# locale-gen

Networking

# ls /sys/class/net

# systemctl enable dhcpcd@enp2s0.service

Configure bootloader

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

# grub-install /dev/sda

Set root password

# passwd

Exit chroot, unmount, and reboot

# exit

# umount /mnt

# reboot

Video Driver

Determine the card type

# lspci | grep VGA

For the system I'm using to generate this guide, I use the intel driver. Use the output from the above command to determine what driver you need.

# pacman -S xf86-video-intel

Install X

# pacman -S xorg-server xorg-server-utils xorg-xinit

Install Desktop Environment

I prefer XFCE

# pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies ttf-droid ttf-liberation chromium flashplugin

Sound

# pacman -S alsa-utils

Create a user and add to groups

# useradd -m -g users -G wheel -s /bin/bash username

# chfn username

# passwd username

Enable wheel group in sudoers file

# nano /etc/sudoers

Uncomment this line in that file

## Uncomment to allow members of group wheel to execute any command
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Set hostname

# hostnamectl set-hostname myhostname

Configure timezone

# timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago

Reboot and log in as your user and launch XFCE

# reboot

$ startxfce4

Install a display manager

$ sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk3-greeter xorg-server-xephyr accountsservice

$ sudo systemctl enable lightdm.service

First applications

$ sudo pacman -S pidgin transmission-gtk xchat xscreensaver

Installing from AUR

I am currently using pacaur as my main package management tool. Here is how to install it.

First install dependencies Note: sudo should already be installed and configured, if not, add it to the install below.

$ sudo pacman -S expac yajl bash-completion

Now download the tarballs for pacaur and cower.

Install cower first

$ tar zxvf cower.tzr.gz
$ cd cower
$ makepkg
$ sudo pacman -U cower-10-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

Now install pacaur

$ tar zxvf pacaur.tar.gz
$ cd pacaur
$ makepkg
$ sudo pacman -U pacaur-4.1.20-1-any.pkg.tar.xz

Customizing the look

$ pacaur -S xfce-theme-greybird elementary-xfce-icons xcursor-vanilla-dmz archlinux-artwork

XFCE time display

%a, %h %e %l:%M%p

Other applications

$ pacaur -S gnome-calculator file-roller unrar zip evince gigolo catfish mlocate system-config-printer

Docky

$ pacaur -S docky

Remove the anchor icon from Docky

$ gconftool-2 --type Boolean --set /apps/docky-2/Docky/Items/DockyItem/ShowDockyItem False

Tweaks

Disable IPv6

Networking with my system has issues with IPv6, so I need to disable it.

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Add ipv6.disable=1 to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line. Should look like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet ipv6.disable=1"

Then run this command

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

Preventing the webcam from becoming the default soundcard

$ sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Paste the contents below in to the that file and reboot.

options bt87x index=-2
options cx88_alsa index=-2
options saa7134-alsa index=-2
options snd-atiixp-modem index=-2
options snd-intel8x0m index=-2
options snd-via82xx-modem index=-2
options snd-usb-audio index=-2
options snd-usb-caiaq index=-2
options snd-usb-ua101 index=-2
options snd-usb-us122l index=-2
options snd-usb-usx2y index=-2
# Keep snd-pcsp from being loaded as first soundcard
options snd-pcsp index=-2
# Keep snd-usb-audio from beeing loaded as first soundcard
options snd-usb-audio index=-2

Really brief instructions

# pacman -Syyu
# cfdisk
# mkswap /dev/sda2
# swapon /dev/sda2
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
# pacstrap /mnt base grub git xorg-server xorg-server-utils xorg-xinit gnome gedit xf86-video-ati pavucontrol gnome-tweak-tool network-manager-applet networkmanager dnsmasq
# genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
# arch-chroot /mnt
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grug.cfg
# grub-install /dev/sda
# cd ~
# git clone git://github.com/tuxstorm/axf
# passwd
# exit
# umount /mnt
# reboot

# cd axf
# ./axf