LaurentFough/arch-mac-mini.md

## arch-mac-mini.md

      
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              arch-mac-mini.md
            
          
    Install Arch Linux on Mac mini

We will be creating dual boot for OS X and Linux with no special boot loader. For other setup, refer to [1].
We will keep all data on an external hard drive, so we do not need huge amount of space for the linux system.
We will install from an USB thumb drive (will need at least 1GB in size), newer Minis do not have CD roms.
Prepare the disk in Mac OS X (El Capitan)


Open Disk Utility and select the disk (not partition), click Partition (top tool bar)
There are at least 3 partitions: EFI, OS X, Recovery. Only OS X will be shown.
Repartition your disk as follows:

OS X (size: ~ tens of GB, type HFS+, for OS X)
Arch tmp (size: ~ 10 GB, FAT, will be removed later)


Create LiveUSB that we will boot from


Download the .iso from download page
Open Terminal
$ diskutil list and find out its name (let's say it is /dev/disk2)
$ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2 to unmount the drive
# dd if=/path/to/arch-linux-image.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m (we replaced disk with rdisk which is the "raw" disk in OS X and a lot faster, it is not a typo)
$ diskutil eject /dev/disk2

Boot from LiveUSB


Hold Alt while booting
Select the USB disk
Welcome to Arch Linux installer ;-)

Installation


Connect to network

$ wifi-menu to setup wireless networking (assuming DHCP is available)


Setup time

$ timedatectl set-ntp true
Check its status $ timedatectl status


Partition the drive again ;-)

# cgdisk
Remove the Arch tmp partition we created earlier.
Remember to create 128 MB gap after OS X partitions, by typing +128M for the start of the partition.
Add new Arch boot partition (~ 100 MB)
Add new Arch root partition (fill the space)
Swap file can be created later if needed


Create file systems

# mkfs.ext2 /dev/<arch boot>
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/<arch root>


Mount the partitions

# mount /dev/<arch root> /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/<arch boot> /mnt/boot


Edit mirror list

# vim /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist it will be used pac the next step, so take good care of it here


Install the base packages

# pacstrap /mnt base


Configure the system

# genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
# arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
# echo <computer name> > /etc/hostname
# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/<zone>/<subzone> /etc/localtime
# nano /etc/locale.gen uncomment locales you want
# locale-gen
# echo LANG=<your_locale> > /etc/locale.conf
TODO: setup wireless networking
# mkinitcpio -p linux
# passwd
# pacman -S gptfdisk


Boot loader


# mkdir /boot/efi
# mount /dev/<EFI partition>
# pacman -S grub efibootmgr
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=arch
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Reboot


# exit or Ctrl + D
# umount -R /mnt
# reboot

Bluetooth


Install bluez bluez-libs bluez-utils


udev rule in /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules:
# Set bluetooth power up
ACTION=="add", KERNEL=="hci0", RUN+="/usr/bin/hciconfig hci0 up"


WiFi

Let's assume wlan is out interface for this setup.


Install b43-firmware from AUR


pacman -S wpa_supplicant


# vim /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlan.conf
ctrl_interface=/run/wpa_supplicant
update_config=1


# wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlan.conf


# wpa_cli
> scan
> scan_results
> add_network
> set_network 0 ssid "MYSSID"
> set_network 0 psk "passphrase"
> enable_network 0
> save_config


Or instead of wpa_cli, do wpa_passphrase MYSSID passphrase > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlan.conf 


# dhcpcd wlan


Use systemd to start the service:

# ln -s /usr/share/dhcpcd/hooks/10-wpa_supplicant /usr/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-hooks/
# systemctl enable dhcpcd@wlan

References


[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook
[2] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_flash_installation_media
[3] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide
[4] http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/7468.html
[5] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Broadcom_wireless