Install a minimal gnome setup and some more useful things

arch-linux-gnome-install

# Install Gnome and some other useful thins
# The official installation guide (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_Guide) contains a more verbose description.
# And based on https://wiki.archlinux.de/title/Anleitung_f%C3%BCr_Einsteiger

# I have just copied commands from https://wiki.archlinux.de/title/Anleitung_f%C3%BCr_Einsteiger#Weitere_notwendige_Dienste
# It's just to have it with one view after doing a [fresh installation](https://gist.github.com/thacoon/05d5a39606ab554455d6713e8a714b2c)

# Some useful services
pacman -S acpid ntp dbus cups cronie

systemctl enable acpid
systemctl enable ntpd
systemctl enable org.cups.cupsd.service

# nano /etc/ntp.conf # not needed
# For german time server de.pool.ntp.org
ntpd -gq
date # verify correct time
hwclock -w

# GUI installation
pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit

# Find out your graphics drivers
lspci | grep VGA
pacman -Ss xf86-video | less #

pacman -S YOUR_DRIVER
pacman -S xorg-drivers # For all if you do not know

# For labtops
pacman -S xf86-input-synaptics

# Minimal gnome installation
pacman -S gnome-shell nautilus gnome-terminal guake gnome-tweak-tool gnome-control-center xdg-user-dirs gdm

# The gnome terminal manager needs en_US.UTF-8 uncommented in locale.gen
# For guake you have to change the keyboard and format used in the Gnome settings
# If guake cannot display chars like: ä,ö,ü then regenerate the locales, like:
nano /etc/locale.gen # uncomment the needed lines like: de_DE.UTF-8 or en_US.UTF-8
locale-gen
# you need to restart gnome so gnome knows about the change or just reboot


# If you do not want a graphical user login
cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc /home/MYUSERNAME
# If there is no such file use:
cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc /home/MYUSERNAME
mv ~/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc
nano ~/.xinitrc # As a normal user
# Add exec gnome-session but only one exec should be used
startx # Start Gnome session

# If you want to use a graphical user login
systemctl start gdm
systemctl enable gdm # If everything works fine, to use gdm automatically

# Install NetworkManager
# Gnome-keyring is needed to store the wifi passwords encrypted
sudo pacman -S networkmanager gnome-keyring
sudo systemctl start NetworkManager
sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager