Arch Install

Arch Install

This is a page for me to record install archlinux.

Arch Linux is an independently developed, x86-64 general-purpose GNU/Linux distribution that strives to provide the latest stable versions of most software by following a rolling-release model. The default installation is a minimal base system, configured by the user to only add what is purposely required.

Launch Installation Image

We need to prepare an installation image, we can download it from here.

Note: you should verify the image signature. See here.

Then boot the live environment, and verify the boot mode, run this:

cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size

If the command returns 64, then system is booted in UEFI mode and has a 64-bit x64 UEFI. If the command returns 32, then system is booted in UEFI mode and has a 32-bit IA32 UEFI.

Disable Reflector service

The service reflector will be launched in livecd, I recommend you disable it manually!

In most cases, the mirror source it provides is not the fastest

systemctl stop reflector.service

Connect To Network

For Wifi, we can use iwctl to connect it:

iwctl # Enter the interactive command line
device list # List the wireless network card device name, for example, the wireless network card is called wlan0
station wlan0 scan # Scan network
station wlan0 get-networks # List all available network
station wlan0 connect wifi-name # Make connection, we can only input english here.
exit # Exit after successful connection.

For Mobile broadband modem, use nmcli.

Update the system clock

In the live environment systemd-timesyncd is enabled by default and time will be synced automatically once a connection to the internet is established.

Speed Up Downloading

Change the software store image source to speed up downloading, use editor vim to edit the file /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist, choose the mirror source you need and place it to the top.

Partition the disks

We use cfdisk to part the disk, cfdisk supports GUI! Use it like this:

cfdisk /dev/neme0n1

Then part the disk, it is recommended to partition one swap(filesystem is Linux swap), one boot(filesystem is EFI System), and one root(filesystem is Linux filesystem).

About the partition layout, see this.

Note: we use btrfs filesystem in here!

Format EFI Partition

Only format the EFI system partition if you created it during the partitioning step. If there already was an EFI system partition on disk beforehand, reformatting it can destroy the boot loaders of other installed operating systems.

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/efi_system_partition

Format Swap 

mkswap /dev/swap_partition

Format Root 

mkfs.btrfs -L arch /dev/btrfs_partition

Note, for Multi-device, you can use this to format them as a device:

mkfs.btrfs -d single -m raid1 /dev/btrfs_partition1 /dev/btrfs_partition2 ...
# when you mount partition, you just need to mount one partition!

If we use multi-device, we must add udev hook, systemd hook or the btrfs hook in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

Create subvolume

First, mount the btrfs partition to /mnt:

mount -t btrfs -o compress=zstd /dev/btrfs_partition /mnt

Then, create subvolume:

btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@ # create subvolume for / path
btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@home # create subvolume for /home path
btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@snapshots # create subvolume for snapshots.

umount btrfs partition:

umount /mnt

Mount

Now, we mount the partition:

mount -t btrfs -o subvol=/@,compress=zstd /dev/btrfs_partition /mnt # mount / path
mkdir /mnt/home
mount -t btrfs -o subvol=/@home,compress=zstd /dev/btrfs_partition /mnt/home # mount /home path
mkdir /mnt/.snapshots
mount -t btrfs -o subvol=/@snapshots,compress=zstd /dev/btrfs_partition /mnt/.snapshots # mount /.snapshots path
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/efi_system_partition /mnt/boot # mount /boot part
swapon /dev/swap_partition # enable swap

Install basic software

Install basic package:

pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware btrfs-progs
# -K will initialize an empty pacman keyring in the target
# btrfs-progs is user space utilities!

Install some hardware tools:

pacstrap /mnt intel-ucode
# For amd, please use amd-ucode
pacstrap /mnt sof-firmware # for onboard audio
pacstrap /mnt linux-firmware-marvell # for Marvell wireless and any of the multiple firmware packages for Broadcom wireless

Then install some tools:

pacstrap /mnt networkmanager vim sudo zsh

Generate fstab file: 

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

Basic config

Chroot to new system:

arch-chroot /mnt

Set hostname:

vim /etc/hostname

Set timezone:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Shanghai /etc/localtime
# Note: I set timezone to Asia/Shanghai

Run hwclock to generate /etc/adjtime:

hwclock --systohc

Set localization:

Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed UTF-8 locales. Generate the locales by running:

locale-gen

Set the default locale:

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

Set root user password:

passwd root

Install bootloader: 

pacman -S grub efibootmgr os-prober

Then install GRUB to EFI:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=ARCH

Edit vim /etc/default/grub line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, remove quiet, set loglevel to 5, add nowatchdog.

Then generate GRUB config:

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

Enable networkmanager service:

systemctl enable NetworkManager

Set default EDITOR, edit ~/.bash_profile, add this:

export EDITOR='vim'

Prepare non root user: 

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

Set new user password:

passwd username

Edit sudoers config file:

EDITOR=vim visudo

Find a line like the following and remove the comment symbol # in front of it:

%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Enable 32 bits supporting library, edit file /etc/pacman.conf, Eemove the comments on the two lines in the [multilib] section!

Install Desktop Environment 

pacman -S plasma-meta konsole dolphin

Then enable sddm:

systemctl enable sddm

Now, exit the chroot and reboot into the new system!

Install basic GUI software 

sudo pacman -S sof-firmware alsa-firmware alsa-ucm-conf
sudo pacman -S ntfs-3g
sudo pacman -S adobe-source-han-serif-cn-fonts wqy-zenhei
sudo pacman -S noto-fonts noto-fonts-cjk noto-fonts-emoji noto-fonts-extra 
sudo pacman -S firefox chromium
sudo pacman -S ark 
sudo pacman -S packagekit-qt6 packagekit appstream-qt appstream 
sudo pacman -S gwenview

Then change system language to Chinese!

Install Fcitx5:

sudo pacman -S fcitx5-im # 输入法基础包组
sudo pacman -S fcitx5-chinese-addons # 官方中文输入引擎

Set environment, edit /etc/environment and write there:

GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx
SDL_IM_MODULE=fcitx
INPUT_METHOD=fcitx
GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus

After setting these, we need to reboot system!

Enable bluetooth:

sudo systemctl enable --now bluetooth

TODO add more!