Cheatsheet by install and using Arch Linux

arch.md

Arch Linux

Install Arch Linux with EFI

1. Download ISO from official site
2. Burn the ISO to a USB flash using Rufus with Partition Scheme = GPT, Target = EFI (non CSM).
3. Boot to BIOS/UEFI, disable CSM.
4. Boot from USB flash with EFI.
5. Check connection with Internet

   ping -c 2 google.com

   • If using wifi, select network

     wifi-menu

6. Find out which disk (/dev/sdX, where X - letter (e.g., a, b, c, etc.), in case of NVMe, name will be like /dev/nvmeX) to install the system on: lsblk:

   NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
   sda      8:0    0 232.9G  0 disk 
   ├─sda1   8:1    0   260M  0 part /boot/efi
   ├─sda2   8:2    0    50G  0 part /
   └─sda3   8:3    0 182.6G  0 part /home
   sdb      8:16   0 931.5G  0 disk 
   └─sdb1   8:17   0 931.5G  0 part /mnt/TOSHIBA
   

   In my case it sda. It is device /dev/sda. Next in text, instead of sdX, you need to write your own disk, for example, sda.
7. Create partitions on disk (ALL DATA ON DISK WILL BE PERMANENTLY DELETED AND LOST):

   cfdisk /dev/sdX

   • Delete all partitions on /dev/sdX;
   • Create a new FAT32 partition with 260MB at the beginning of disk;
   • Create a new ext4 partition for root with 50GB (51220MB) of disk;
   • Create a new ext4 partition for home dir with all the remaining space;
   • Write;
   • Quit.
8. Create file systems on partitions:
   • EFI partition:

     mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdX1

   • root partition:

     mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX2

   • home partition:

     mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX3

9. Mount root:

   mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

10. Create home dir and mount home partition:

    mkdir /mnt/home
    mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/home

11. Install
    • Install all:

      pacstrap -i /mnt base linux linux-firmware sudo nano

    • Create fstab:

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

12. Set up system:
    • Change root:

      arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

    • Enable needed locales:
      • Open locale.conf and uncomment (remove # at the beginning of line) locale:

        nano /etc/locale.gen

      • Then Ctrl+O for save, Ctrl+X for exit;
    • Generate locales:

      locale-gen

    • Generate locale.conf:

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

    • Setup timezone: instead Europe/Moscow select your timezone by double clicking Tab after zoneinfo/:

      ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Moscow /etc/localtime

    • Set date and time from hardware:

      hwclock --systohc --utc

    • Check date and time:

      date

    • Write hostname of machine:

      echo name > /etc/hostname

    • Open hosts:

      nano /etc/hosts

      and write

      127.0.0.1 localhost
      

      then save (Ctrl+O) and exit (Ctrl+X);
    • Install network manager:

      pacman -S networkmanager

    • Enable network manager:

      systemctl enable NetworkManager

    • Set password for root: passwd, enter twice password;
    • Install AMD drivers:

      pacman -S mesa

13. Install and set up GRUB:
    • Install:

      pacman -S grub efibootmgr

    • Create directory for mount:

      mkdir /boot/efi

    • Mount efi partition:

      mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi

    • Check if mount correctly:

      lsblk

    • Install grup:

      grub-install /dev/sdX

    • Make GRUB config:

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

14. Exit from root:

    exit

15. Unmount:

    umount -R /mnt

16. Reboot to just installed system:

    reboot

17. Log in to system (username: root, your password);
18. Add user:

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

    (change last username);
19. Set password for new user:

    passwd username

20. Pass sudo-privelegies for new user:

    EDITOR=nano visudo

21. Find # %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL and remove # at the beginning of line, Ctrl+O, Ctrl+X;
22. Set up drivers and desktop environment:
    • Setup drivers:

      pacman -S pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pavucontrol xorg xorg-xinit xorg-server

    • Setup XFCE4:

      pacman -S xfce4 lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter

    • On start computer start X11:

      echo "exec startxfce4" > ~/.xinitrc

    • Enable Desktop Manager:

      systemctl enable lightdm

23. Reboot;
24. Arch with XFCE4 successfully installed.

Windows dualboot

It's assumed that windows has already been installed.

1. Get and save two parameters for GRUB menuentry (source):
   1. Mount EFI-partition:

      sudo mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi

   2. Get filesystem UUID (further in the text as $fs_uuid):

      sudo grub-probe --target=fs_uuid /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

   3. Get hints strings (further in the text as $hints_string):

      sudo grub-probe --target=hints_string /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

2. Open custom grub config:

   sudo nano /etc/grub.d/40_custom

   and insert the following content into it, previously replace two variables ($hints_string and $fs_uuid):

   cat << END
   menuentry "Windows" {
       insmod part_gpt
       insmod fat
       insmod chain
       search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root $hints_string $fs_uuid
       chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
   }
   END

3. Remake grub config:

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

4. PROFIT

Small things

Bash completion

sudo pacman -S bash-completion

JetBrains Mono font

sudo pacman -S ttf-jetbrains-mono

Emoji font support

sudo pacman -S noto-fonts-emoji

Xfce4 preferences

Interactive app menu

Install package:

# pacman -S xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

Notifications

Install package:

# pacman -S xfce4-notifyd

Media buttons

Install package:

# pacman -S xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin

Put to any panel PulseAudio Plugin.

Task manager

Install package:

# pacman -S xfce4-taskmanager

Network GUI manager

Install package:

# pacman -S network-manager-applet

gvfs support

# pacman -S gvfs gvfs-mtp

NTFS support

# pacman -S ntfs-3g

Synaptics touchpad (sensor panel) for laptops

1. Install

   # pacman -S xf86-input-synaptics 

2. Copy example config

   # cp /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-synaptics.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

3. Set options

   Section "InputClass"
       Identifier "touchpad catchall"
       Driver "synaptics"
       MatchIsTouchpad "on"
           Option "TapButton1" "1"
           Option "TabButton2" "2"
           Option "TabButton3" "3"
           Option "RBCornerButton" "3"
   EndSection
   

4. Restart X11 or reboot.

Others

Using AUR

For comfortable use AUR, you may install cli tool yay.

1. Packages, needed for install yay:

   # pacman -S --needed git base-devel

2. Change directory to temp:

   $ cd /tmp

3. Clone repo:

   $ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git

4. Change directory to respositry:

   $ cd yay

5. Build and install it:

   $ makepkg -si

After it, you can install packages from AUR only with:

$ yay -S PACKAGE_NAME

Logitech Mouse with side buttons

By default, these keys are responsible for navigating through history. But IMHO, it's more convenient to control the sound volume with them. For this you need:

1. Install packages:

   # pacman -S xbindkeys xdotool

2. Run xev and in opened window click needed buttons on mouse. In terminal find key codes. In my case it 8 = volume down, 9 = volume up.
3. Create ~/.xbindkeysrc file and put config like this:

"xdotool key XF86AudioLowerVolume"
    b:8
"xdotool key XF86AudioRaiseVolume"
    b:9

1. In ~/.bashrc add line at the end: xbindkeys

Sublime Text 4

1. Add keys

   curl -O https://download.sublimetext.com/sublimehq-pub.gpg && sudo pacman-key --add sublimehq-pub.gpg && sudo pacman-key --lsign-key 8A8F901A && rm sublimehq-pub.gpg

2. Add repository

   echo -e "\n[sublime-text]\nServer = https://download.sublimetext.com/arch/stable/x86_64" | sudo tee -a /etc/pacman.conf

3. Install

   sudo pacman -Syu sublime-text