Arch Linux with BTRFS Installation + UEFI + systemd boot + KDE Plasma

instruction.txt

Arch Wiki has a great article on installing Arch Linux that you can refer while following this guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation_guide

Step 1:
Verify the boot mode
If the command shows the directory without error, then the system is booted in UEFI mode

# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

Step 2:
Connect to the wifi internet using iwd (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Iwd#iwctl)

# iwctl
[iwd]# device list
[iwd]# station wlan0 scan
[iwd]# station wlan0 get-networks
[iwd]# station wlan0 connect SSID
[iwd]# exit

Step 3:
Checking internet connection

# ping -c 5 archlinux.org

Step 4:
Update the system clock

# timedatectl status

Step 5:
Partition the disks

# fdisk -l
# fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

Create boot partition

* g (to create GPT partition table)
* n
* 1
* enter
* +500M (size of efi partition)
* t
* 1 (change type of partition to EFI)

Create root partition

* n
* 2
* enter
* enter
* w (write changes)

Vierifying Changes

# fdisk -l

Step 6:
Creating Filesystems

# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/nvme0n1p1
# mkfs.btrfs /dev/nvme0n1p2

Step 7:
Mounting the root partition

# mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt

Step 8:
Create subvolumes for btrfs

# btrfs su cr /mnt/@root
# btrfs su cr /mnt/@home
# btrfs su cr /mnt/@var
# btrfs su cr /mnt/@opt
# btrfs su cr /mnt/@tmp
# btrfs su cr /mnt/@.snapshots
# umount /mnt

Step 9:
Mounting the partitions

# mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,subvol=@root /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/{boot,home,var,opt,tmp,.snapshots}
# mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,subvol=@home /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/home
# mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,subvol=@opt /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/opt
# mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,subvol=@tmp /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/tmp
# mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,subvol=@.snapshots /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/.snapshots
# mount -o subvol=@var /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/var
# mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot

Verify that you have mounted everything correctly

# lsblk

Step 10:
Installing the base system

# pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware intel-ucode btrfs-progs neovim

Step 11:
Generate fstab

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

Verify fstab entries

# cat /mnt/etc/fstab

Step 12:
Chroot into install

# arch-chroot /mnt

Step 13:
Seting timezone

# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Prague /etc/localtime
# hwclock --systohc

Step 14:
Setting System Locale

# nvim /etc/locale.gen

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

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

Step 15:
Network Configuration

# echo ThinkPad >> /etc/hostname
# nvim /etc/hosts

Arch Wiki states the format for this:

127.0.0.1	localhost
::1		localhost
127.0.1.1	ThinkPad.localdomain	ThinkPad

Step 16:
Setting password for root user

# passwd

Step 17:
Installing remaining essential packages

# pacman -S efibootmgr base-devel linux-headers networkmanager git sudo sof-firmware htop mc

Step 18:
Adding btrfs module to mkinitcpio 
MODULES=(btrfs)

# nvim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

Recreate the image

# mkinitcpio -p linux

Step 19:
Creating a User

# useradd -mG wheel tahir
# passwd tahir

Uncomment the line which says %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

# EDITOR=nvim visudo

Step 20:
Enabling services

# systemctl enable NetworkManager

Step 21:
Installing the EFI boot manager

# bootctl install

Step 22:
Systemd-boot loader configuration

# nvim /boot/loader/loader.conf

Insert these lines:

default arch.conf
timeout 3
console-mode max

Adding loader:

# nvim /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /intel-ucode.img
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options root=PARTUUID=814f745c-d45e-6047-ad70-a0b26338143e rootflags=subvol=@root rw

Step 23:
Restarting into Arch

# exit
# umount -l /mnt
# reboot


Instalation of KDE Plasma

Step 24: 
Updating your system

# sudo pacman -Syu

Step 25:
Installing a video driver and xorg

# sudo pacman -S xf86-video-intel xorg

Step 26:
Installing Plasma Desktop

# sudo pacman -S plasma-meta

Step 27:
Installing KDE Applications

# sudo pacman -S kde-applications

Or you may install required applications separately

# sudo pacman -S ark dolphin dolphin-plugins kcalc

Step 28:
Enabling SDDM

# sudo systemctl enable sddm

Step 29:
Reboot into Plasma

# reboot