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@thacoon
Last active March 22, 2024 06:48
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Install a minimal gnome setup and some more useful things
# 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
# set the system locale
localectl set-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8
# 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 -Sy networkmanager gnome-keyring
sudo systemctl start NetworkManager
sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager
# Install Firefox
sudo pacman -Sy firefox
# Screen sharing in the browsers may not work if you use Wayland. To fix this install:
sudo pacman -Sy xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
# Firefox supports this by default, for Chromium you need to enable the flag chrome://flags/#enable-webrtc-pipewire-capturer
@ale-big
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ale-big commented Mar 2, 2022

to solve gnome-terminal error:
Error constructing proxy for org.gnome.Terminal:/org/gnome/Terminal/Factory0: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.Terminal:
#localectl set-locale LANG="en_US.UTF-8" # after locale-gen

@njsack
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njsack commented May 19, 2022

Great guide! As far as locales, it's also a good idea to set the system locale at /etc/locale.conf or use localectl to do it.

@thacoon
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thacoon commented May 25, 2022

@ale-big @njsack thanks for the suggestion, I have added it to the guide: localectl set-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8

@AntonPostolyuk
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best guide, thx

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