This is a summary of my installation of Arch Linux on my AMD 5800X3D CPU/RX 7800XT GPU PC in Dec 2023.
It should only be considered an approximate guide and probably has errors in. You may not want to follow it exactly, eg you may not want to set up encryption or logical volumes (LVs).
It sets up (on a single SSD) two partitions: one small, unencrypted
partition will be mounted as /boot. The second is a
LUKS-encrypted partition occupying the rest of the drive. Inside this
will be logical volumes for the rest of the system, eg /,
/home, /usr, /var, and swap
(/tmp will use a temporary file system
tmpfs).
See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide for more details of installation of Arch Linux in general. Many of my steps below are copied/adapted from there 1.
Feel free to email me at ルーキー@エボ猫.コム if you have a question, or if I have made an error. David.
See https://archlinux.org/download/.
Use bittorrent, or download arch linux from a nearby mirror as listed in above page, eg (for UK):
(where VERSION is the current latest version date).
Compare sha256sum of iso with that on download page
(sha256sum archlinux-VERSION-x86_64.iso). Check gpg sig
(gpg --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify archlinux-VERSION-x86_64.iso.sig).
Burn iso to usb stick, eg on a linux system:
sudo dd bs=4M if=archlinux-VERSION-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress(replace X by the usb device letter).
Boot off usb stick (secure boot must be off on PC - this is the default initial state for the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite AX V2 motherboard I built this PC with).
Boot options are:
Suggest connect to network via ethernet cable.
If available, I recommend ssh in from other computer on network to
complete setup (need to first set root password on system being setup
with passwd).
Verify boot mode:
cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_sizeshould give “64”. (See [1] if other value given.)
Check internet connection, eg
ping archlinux.orgCheck time and date:
timedatectlRun
fdisk /dev/nvme0n1g”).n”):
t”) of partition 1 to be of
type 1 (=“EFI System”)w”)(note, I don’t create a swap partition here, as I want it to be inside the encrypted container).
cryptsetup --cipher aes-xts-plain --key-size 512 --hash sha512 -v luksFormat /dev/nvme0n1p2(follow instructions, including entering a passphrase).
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/nvme0n1p2 nvme0n1p2_crypt
pvcreate /dev/mapper/nvme0n1p2_cryptFire up bash shell (ie don’t use the default zsh)
bash
vgname=MYVGNAME # volume group name, change as needed
vgcreate $vgname /dev/mapper/nvme0n1p2_crypt
# The LVs to create. `lvs` has elements: <name of lv> <size of lv in GiB>
# (change the logical volumes to be created and their sizes as needed)
lvs=(root 1 swap 64 usr 20 usr_local 10 usr_src 80 var 40 var_tmp 15 home 200 opt 15 games 400 music 60 videos 60)
for ((j=0; j<${#lvs[*]}; j+=2)); do lvcreate -L ${lvs[$j+1]}g $vgname -n ${lvs[$j]}; donevgname and lvs above as
needed.# what will be /boot
mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1
# all the remaining (non-swap) filesystems. "-m 1" specified to reserve 1% for root user on each fs (not default 5%)
for ((j=0; j<${#lvs[*]}; j+=2)); do if [[ ${lvs[$j]} != swap ]]; then mkfs.ext4 -m 1 /dev/$vgname/${lvs[$j]}; fi; done
# set up the swap partition
mkswap /dev/$vgname/swap(with $vgname, $lvs as defined above, and still running under bash)
mount /dev/$vgname/root /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
swapon /dev/$vgname/swap
# mount non-root, non-swap LVM volumes to under /mnt, eg usr->mnt/usr, usr_local to mnt/usr/local (use IFS to "split" volume names on "_", then rejoin with "/")
IFS_bak="$IFS"; for ((j=0; j<${#lvs[*]}; j+=2)); do if [[ ${lvs[$j]} != root && ${lvs[$j]} != swap ]]; then IFS=_ pArray=(${lvs[$j]}); IFS=/ p="${pArray[*]}"; mount --mkdir /dev/$vgname/${lvs[$j]} /mnt/"$p"; fi; done; IFS="$IFS_bak"(May be safest to be running under default zsh shell of the archlinux
installation image, so exit bash if have been running under it (run
exit).)
# change this list of "essential" packages as needed
pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware \
dosfstools exfatprogs e2fsprogs \
lvm2 \
cryptsetup \
man-db man-pages texinfo \
vim \
pacman-contrib pkgfile \
sudo \
base-devel gitRun
genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab
# -U means use UUIDs in fstab to identify the filesystems
# Take a look at /mnt/etc/fstab to check it looks ok
# change root to new system
# (arch-chroot calls chroot(1), but also mounts /dev etc so they are available to the chrooted system)
# (runs bash unless a command to run is specified)
arch-chroot /mnt
# set time zone
# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime, eg
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime
# set hardware clock and generate /etc/adjtime
hwclock --systohc
# set localization
# Edit /etc/locale.gen,
# uncomment locales to support, eg
# (note: recommend always install en_US.UTF-8 locale)
cd /etc
cp locale.gen locale.gen.orig
for lang in en_US.UTF-8 en_GB.UTF-8; do sed -E -i -e "s/^#($lang )/\1/" /etc/locale.gen; done
locale-gen
# Create /etc/locale.conf - this defines environment variable assignments, and is read at early boot by systemd (see locale.conf(5))
cat <<+ > /etc/locale.conf
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
+
# (change LANG value as needed)
# Set console keyboard layout if not US, eg
echo "KEYMAP=uk" > /etc/vconsole.conf
# Set hostname (change as needed)
echo MYHOSTNAME > /etc/hostname(All run as root)
See
Specify (in addition to default hooks):
Remove from default hooks:
cd /etc
cp mkinitcpio.conf mkinitcpio.conf.orig
sed -i -e 's/^HOOKS=.*/HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf kms keyboard keymap consolefont block encrypt lvm2 filesystems resume fsck usr)/' mkinitcpio.conf
mkinitcpio -P(See the grub section below re passing of kernel parameters specifying the swap partition and encrypted partition via grub.)
(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB.)
(All run as root)
pacman -S grub efibootmgrNote I will reinstall grub later (see Secure Boot).
Find what partition is the EFI System partition, and the directory it is mounted on:
efi_part=$(fdisk -l -o device,type /dev/nvme0n1 | grep EFI | awk '{print $1}') # expect = /dev/nvme0n1p1 for this AMD system
efi_d=$(mount | grep -F "$efi_part" | awk '{print $3}') # expect = /boot for this AMD systemInstall grub:
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=$efi_d --bootloader-id=GRUBcd /etc/default
cp grub grub.orig
# Find UUID of crypto_LUKS partition with:
uuid=$(blkid | grep crypto_LUKS | sed -E -e 's/^.* UUID="([a-z0-9-]+).*/\1/')
vgname=MYVGNAME # volume group name, change as needed (see earlier)
# Set the kernel command line via GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX (ie for all kernel boots).
# resume=<device> specifies the location of the swap partition (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt/System_configuration).
# cryptdevice=UUID=$uuid specifies the location of the device to be decrypted.
# Option "cryptlvm" means the decrypted partition will be available at /dev/mapper/cryptlvm
# "allow-discards" enables TRIM for the decrypted device.
# (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt/Encrypting_an_entire_system#LVM_on_LUKS)
# (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt/Specialties)
# NOTE: only use allow-discards option if the encrypted partition is on an SSD (remove ":allow-discards" if not on an SSD). See also below for enabling the fstrim timer.
sed -i -e "s|^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=.*|GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=\"resume=/dev/$vgname/swap cryptdevice=UUID=$uuid:cryptlvm:allow-discards\"|" grub
# Turn off "quiet" option for default kernel boot
sed -i -E -e 's/^(GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=".*) quiet([ "].*)/\1\2/' grub
# Disable watchdog timers (no need on non-server system, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Improving_performance#Watchdogs)
sed -i -E -e 's/^(GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=.*)"/\1 nowatchdog"/' grub
# Disable graphical terminal
sed -i -E -e 's/^#(GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT)/\1/' grubgrub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg(All run as root)
useradd -m USERNAME # change USERNAME to username of user to add
passwd USERNAME
# Add to wheel group
usermod -aG wheel USERNAME# Allow members of wheel group to run commands as root
# (The default /etc/sudoers has a commented out line allowing this already, so just uncomment it)
cd /etc
sed -i -e 's/^# \(%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL\)$/\1/' sudoerspasswd --lock rootUSERNAME abovesudo -i -u USERNAME(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Wpa_supplicant.)
sudo pacman -S iw wpa_supplicant
# Configure wpa_supplicant:
# (run as root)
# (setting update_config to 1 allows wpa_supplicant to overwrite the configuration file)
sudo -s
cat <<+ > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=/run/wpa_supplicant
update_config=1
+
exit # leave root# Get wifi interface name (assuming there is only one), eg wlan0
iwdev=$(iw dev | grep Interface | awk '{print $2}')
# Run:
sudo wpa_supplicant -B -i $iwdev -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
# Run
sudo wpa_cli> scan
> scan_results
> add_network
(get reply eg "0")
> set_network 0 ssid "MYSSID"
> set_network 0 psk "passphrase"
> enable_network 0
(replace "0" with reply from add_network, replace MYSSID and passphrase as needed)
> save_config
> quitnetwork={
ssid="MYSSID"
psk="passphrase"
mesh_fwding=1
}to /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
(See below re starting wpa_supplicant automatically with dhcpcd.)
Can use wpa_cli to add additional network sections (or just do it with a text editor).
If have more than 1 possible ssid to connect to, consider adding a
priority value within the network section (an integer,
starting at 0, the higher the value, the greater the priority) eg
priority=2(Note: suggest put a working
/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf on the arch linux
live usb stick at
/tmp/sda2/local/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
(mount the second partition of the usb stick at /tmp/sda2), and create
an executable script at
/tmp/sda2/local/sh/run_wpa_supplicant.sh:
#!/bin/bash
iwdev=$(iw dev | grep Interface | awk '{print $2}')
echo "iwdev=$iwdev"
mkdir -p /etc/wpa_supplicant
cp ../etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf /etc/wpa_supplicant
wpa_supplicant -B -i $iwdev -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.confThen if need to reboot off live usb stick, can mount this partition, and run the script (from the directory the script is in) to set up wifi. )
(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dhcpcd.)
sudo pacman -S dhcpcd# (as root)
sudo -s
cd /etc
cp dhcpcd.conf dhcpcd.conf.orig
grep -q '^noarp' dhcpcd.conf || echo -e "\nnoarp" >> dhcpcd.conf
exit # leave rootFor a desktop system (which this AMD system is) do the following 2 steps. For a laptop system, suggest skip these steps and install NetworkManager later (see below).
sudo ln -s /usr/share/dhcpcd/hooks/10-wpa_supplicant /usr/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-hooks/sudo systemctl enable dhcpcd.serviceReboot system, booting off SSD (will probably need to press key on boot to go into boot device menu).
Log in as USERNAME.
127.0.0.1 localhost
# Hosts on this LAN. Only possible if they have fixed ip addresses.
# The LAN router may also provide ip addresses (possibly with a "domain" of .lan or .local).
192.168.1.1 router.MYDOMAIN router # change MYDOMAIN to the domain I am giving this LAN
192.168.1.19 MYHOSTNAME.MYDOMAIN MYHOSTNAME # (change MYHOSTNAME to this system's hostname) this host
192.168.1.20 foo.MYDOMAIN bar # consider adding for other hosts on network with permanent ip addrs
1.2.3.4 someserver # shortname for system on other network(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/OpenSSH.)
sudo pacman -S opensshsudo systemctl enable sshd.servicemkdir ~/.ssh
chmod 700 ~/.sshtouch ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
# add ssh public keys from remote systems to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Solid_state_drive.)
# Non-zero values for a device's DISC-GRAN and DISC-MAX indicate TRIM support
# (check that they make sense -- ie only SSDs should have TRIM enabled)
lsblk --discardsudo systemctl --now enable fstrim.timersudo fstrim --listed-in /etc/fstab:/proc/self/mountinfo --verbose(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-timesyncd.)
cd /etc/systemd
sudo cp timesyncd.conf timesyncd.conf.orig
# enable the default ntp fallback servers
sudo sed -i -E -e 's/^#(FallbackNTP=)/\1/' timesyncd.confsudo systemctl --now enable systemd-timesyncd.servicetimedatectl statustimedatectl timesync-statussudo -scat <<+ > /root/.gitconfig
[user]
name = root
email = root@localhost
+(still as root user)
cat <<+ > /etc/.gitignore
*.swp
*-
*~
.updated
ld.so.cache
resolv.conf
lvm/archive/
lvm/backup/
+(still as root user)
cd /etc
pacman -Q > pacman.lst # I keep a list of the currently installed packages here
git init
git add .
git commit -m 'initial commit'exitI run
sudo bash -c "pacman -Q > /etc/pacman.lst"after updating/installing packages to maintain a list of current packages installed.
Can run
cd /etc
sudo git statusafter anything that might change files in /etc to see which files there have changed.
Can run
cd /etc
sudo git add .
sudo git commit -m 'package foo added' # egto record the changes.
(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Microcode.)
sudo pacman -S amd-ucodeor
sudo pacman -S intel-ucodesudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg(grub automatically detects
/boot/<cpu_manufacturer-ucode>.img and will load it
before the normal initramfs.)
NOTE: if grub is updated in the future, need to re-sign it (see end of this section)
(See
Will enable secure boot with “shim” (using shim from ubuntu which is signed with the Microsoft key). Shim then loads grub. Grub needs to be signed with a Machine Owner Key (MOK) I generate (which needs to be enrolled with shim).
shim-signedshim-signed is in the Arch Linux User Repository (AUR). See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_User_Repository for how to install an AUR package.
eg
mkdir -p ~/build/aur/
cd ~/build/aur/
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/shim-signed.git
cd shim-signed
makepkg
sudo pacman -U shim-signed-15.7+ubuntu+1.56-1-any.pkg.tar.zst # change version to whatever tar.zst file was created
git clean -dfx(Can later check for updates with
cd ~/build/aur/shim-signed
git pulland rerun
makepkg
sudo pacman -U shim-signed-...tar.zst
git clean -dfxif git pull reports the package had been updated.
Recommended though to use aur-check-updates (see below)
regularly to check if package has been updated. )
(This needs to be repeated whenever shim-signed is updated.)
(these instructions differ slightly from [2] - as my
grub installation installed grub into
$efi_d/EFI/GRUB/grubx64.efi and not into
/boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTx64.EFI as suggested in [2]:
Find what partition is the EFI System partition, and the directory it is mounted on:
efi_part=$(sudo fdisk -l -o device,type /dev/nvme0n1 | grep EFI | awk '{print $1}') # expect /dev/nvme0n1p1 for this AMD system
efi_d=$(mount | grep -F "$efi_part" | awk '{print $3}') # expect /boot for this AMD systemCopy shim and MokManager:
sudo cp /usr/share/shim-signed/shimx64.efi $efi_d/EFI/GRUB/
sudo cp /usr/share/shim-signed/mmx64.efi $efi_d/EFI/GRUBsudo pacman -S sbsigntools# make a note of any `BootXXXX` entries
sudo efibootmgrFind the disk and partition number of the EFI System partition:
[[ $efi_part =~ (/dev/nvme0n[0-9]+)p([0-9]+) ]]
efi_disk=${BASH_REMATCH[1]} # expect /dev/nvme0n1 on this AMD system
efi_p=${BASH_REMATCH[2]} # expect 1 on this AMD systemCreate nvram entry:
sudo efibootmgr --unicode --disk $efi_disk --part $efi_p --create --label "shim" --loader /EFI/GRUB/shimx64.efibootXXXX=$(sudo efibootmgr | grep -iF grubx64.efi | awk '{print $1}' | sed -E -e 's/^Boot([0-9]+).*/\1/') # eg '0000' if Boot0000 was the grubx64.efi entry added when grub was first installed (above)
[[ -n $bootXXXX ]] && sudo efibootmgr -b $bootXXXX -Bsudo efi_d=$efi_d -s # become root, setting efi_d (from above) in root's environment
hostname=$(cat /etc/hostname)
mkdir /root/mok
chmod 700 /root/mok
cd /root/mok
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout $hostname.key -new -x509 -sha256 -days 3650 -subj "/CN=$hostname/" -out $hostname.crt
openssl x509 -outform DER -in $hostname.crt -out $hostname.cer
sudo chmod 600 $hostname.key
# Save cer to under $efi_d/EFI/GRUB/$hostname.cer (can be publicly readable)
cp $hostname.cer $efi_d/EFI/GRUB
# sign the kernel
sbsign --key $hostname.key --cert $hostname.crt --output /boot/vmlinuz-linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux
exit # leave root(adapted from [2])
sudo -s # become root
hostname=$(cat /etc/hostname)
cat <<+ > /etc/initcpio/post/kernel-sbsign
#!/usr/bin/env bash
kernel="\$1"
[[ -n "\$kernel" ]] || exit 0
# use already installed kernel if it exists
[[ ! -f "\$KERNELDESTINATION" ]] || kernel="\$KERNELDESTINATION"
keypairs=(/root/mok/$hostname.key /root/mok/$hostname.crt)
for (( i=0; i<\${#keypairs[@]}; i+=2 )); do
key="\${keypairs[\$i]}" cert="\${keypairs[(( i + 1 ))]}"
if ! sbverify --cert "\$cert" "\$kernel" &>/dev/null; then
sbsign --key "\$key" --cert "\$cert" --output "\$kernel" "\$kernel"
fi
done
+
exit # leave root
sudo chmod +x /etc/initcpio/post/kernel-sbsign(Need to repeat this if grub is updated.)
(Note I do not copy $efi_d/EFI/GRUB/grubx64.efi to
$efi_d/EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi as in [2])
sudo -s # become root
PATH=/usr/bin
efi_part=$(fdisk -l -o device,type /dev/nvme0n1 | grep EFI | awk '{print $1}') # expect /dev/nvme0n1p1 for this AMD system
efi_d=$(mount | grep -F "$efi_part" | awk '{print $3}') # expect /boot for this AMD system
GRUB_MODULES="all_video boot btrfs cat chain configfile echo efifwsetup efinet ext2 fat font gettext gfxmenu gfxterm gfxterm_background gzio halt help hfsplus iso9660 jpeg keystatus loadenv loopback linux ls lsefi lsefimmap lsefisystab lssal memdisk minicmd normal ntfs part_apple part_msdos part_gpt password_pbkdf2 png probe reboot regexp search search_fs_uuid search_fs_file search_label sleep smbios squash4 test true video xfs zfs zfscrypt zfsinfo"
GRUB_MODULES+=" play cpuid tpm"
GRUB_MODULES+=" cryptodisk luks lvm"
# --bootloader-id=GRUB so that grubx64.efi is installed to $efi_d/EFI/GRUB/
# --no-nvram option so that it does not add a boot entry
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=$efi_d --bootloader-id=GRUB --no-nvram --modules="${GRUB_MODULES}" --sbat /usr/share/grub/sbat.csv
hostname=$(cat /etc/hostname)
sbsign --key /root/mok/$hostname.key --cert /root/mok/$hostname.crt --output $efi_d/EFI/GRUB/grubx64.efi $efi_d/EFI/GRUB/grubx64.efi
exit # leave root(Recommend put the above (except for the initial sudo -s
and final exit) into a script eg
/root/sh/grub-post-upgrade.sh. Add at the end:
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfgCan run the script under sudo after any update of grub.)
hostname=$(cat /etc/hostname)
sudo sbverify --cert /root/mok/$hostname.crt /boot/vmlinuz-linux
sudo sbverify --cert /root/mok/$hostname.crt $efi_d/EFI/GRUB/grubx64.efiExpect output Signature verification OK for each
sbverify.
Reboot into BIOS, enable Secure Boot 2,
boot into linux. On first boot after grub was signed, MokManager will
launch so <hostname>.cer can be enrolled.
<hostname>.cer (it lives at
$efi_d/EFI/GRUB/<hostname>.cer).Check secure boot is enabled with
bootctlShould be line:
Secure Boot: enabled(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Keyboard_shortcuts#Kernel_(SysRq), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key.)
The Alt-SysRq-X (or Alt-PrtScn-X) key
combinations can be useful to grab control of the keyboard and then
possibly kill all processes/reboot.
Under systemd, only a filesystem sync is allowed (Alt-SysRq-s) by default. To enable all functionality:
sudo bash -c 'echo "kernel.sysrq=1" > /etc/sysctl.d/100-sysrq.conf'(it will then be available after the next boot).
Run
sudo bash -c 'echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq'to enable immediately (but the previous command is needed for this change to persist on a reboot).
Note that this presents a small security risk if physical access is available to the system.
(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Official_repositories#multilib.)
Multilib is needed for eg steam.
[multilib] section in /etc/pacman.conf:sudo sed -i -e '/^#\[multilib\]$/ {s/^#//; n; s/^#//}' /etc/pacman.confsudo pacman -Syu(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg.)
sudo pacman -S xorg(when asked which members in group xorg to install, just press “enter”, so all members are installed)
(Note this will also install wayland.)
(check above link for notes on how to choose a driver)
sudo pacman -S xf86-video-amdgpu mesa lib32-mesa vulkan-radeon lib32-vulkan-radeon # for amd rdna and latersudo pacman -S mesa-utils(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager.)
Note: I did not install NetworkManager on this AMD 5800X3D/7800XT system, as it is a static desktop.
However, as this document is referred to by other documents (eg Arch Linux installation on my Razer Stealth 13 (early 2020) laptop), installation instructions are given here.
sudo pacman -S networkmanagereg
sudo systemctl stop dhcpcd
sudo systemctl stop wpa_supplicantsudo systemctl –now enable NetworkManager
Under gnome (installed below), the wifi network to connect to can be set up under Settings -> Wi-Fi.
(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GNOME.)
Gnome provides a graphical desktop environment. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_environment for other environments supported by Arch Linux.
sudo pacman -S gnome(when asked which members in group gnome to install, just press “enter”, so all members are installed)
(I chose noto-fonts-emoji (not ttf-joypixels) as provider for emoji-font (no particular reason), pipewire-jack as provider for jack (not jack2, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/JACK_Audio_Connection_Kit#Comparison_of_JACK_implementations, but no particular reason))
(Not essential, but can be useful to see settings available for gnome.)
sudo pacman -S dconf-editorsudo systemctl enable gdm.serviceReboot system. Should boot up into gnome.
Log in. Bring up Settings (eg Windows key -> [Search
for Settings]).
Check Keyboard -> Input Sources lists the correct
keyboard layout. Change if needed.
I prefer to set other settings manually, eg:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences focus-mode sloppy # windows will get focus when mouse cursor is moved to it (don't have to click)
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences audible-bell false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface clock-show-weekday true
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power sleep-inactive-ac-type nothing # Disable suspend when on AC power
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.lockdown disable-lock-screen false # enable screen locking
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay 1200 # time before screen goes blank (in secs)
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.screensaver lock-delay 0 # time after blanking screen before locking screen (in secs)Set up a custom key-combination (Ctrl-Alt-t) to open a Gnome Console:
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys custom-keybindings "['/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/']"
# kgx is the Gnome Console
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ name Console
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ command kgx
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ binding "<Primary><Alt>t"(add further custom keys by replacing custom0 above by
custom1 etc).
I also like to be automatically logged in to my account on power up (since I already have to enter the LUKS-encryption password).
Edit /etc/gdm/custom.conf. In section
[daemon], add:
AutomaticLoginEnable = True
AutomaticLogin = USERNAMEwhere USERNAME is the username of who should be logged in.
Note: (2024-01-26) Temporarily disabled automatic
login on this system (by commenting out the above lines) as am regularly
getting boot stuck on Started Session 1 of User USERNAME
before gnome session starts. Have to then remote log in, then
sudo pkill gdm. (2024-06-02) Reenabled automatic login
which seems to work ok now (have linux-6.9.3.arch1-1, gdm 46.2-1,
wayland-1.23.0-1).
(See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI.)
I usually have the system connected to a 28” 3840x2160 monitor, but occasionally connect instead to a 27” 2560x1440 monitor where I find the windows and fonts too large. I want to scale everything to be smaller. To do this:
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features '["scale-monitor-framebuffer", "xwayland-native-scaling"]'Force a ~/.config/monitors.xml file to be created.
Eg Settings->Displays: set Scale to 125% -> Apply -> Keep
Changes.
Edit ~/.config/monitors.xml. Find the
<configuration> section for the monitor to change. Set
<scale>...</scale> to eg
<scale>0.8</scale>. (See note below re allowed
scales.)
Log out, then log back in.
The above assumes gnome is running under wayland.
Not everything works right. Eg Elder Scrolls Online running under steam/proton in full screen mode does not work properly (but windowed mode runs fine).
The value for <scale> must be chosen such that
<width>/<scale> and <height>/<scale> are
integers (where <width> and <height> are as appear in
~/.config/monitors.xml). Else get error in log “Scaled
logical monitor size is fractional”, and the config file will be ignored
(see code in https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-flashback/-/blob/master/backends/gf-logical-monitor-config.c).
Gnome reads the scale as a float (via read_float defined in https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-flashback/-/blob/master/backends/gf-monitor-config-store.c), and the width and height as ints. Then <scale> must be such that
floorf(width/scale) == width/scaleand
floorf(height/scale) == height/scalewhere floorf(x) is a c function returning the integer
value ≤x. So for example, if width=1366 and
height=768, it is ok to set scale=0.66666666:
width/scale will be calculated as
2049.0000000000000000 and height/scale will be
calculated as 1152.0000000000000000 (ie they are integers
to within float precision).
GDM (Gnome Display Manager) handles the initial graphical user login (amongst other things).
It has its own gsettings database.
By default the system will suspend if the gdm user login screen is displayed without a user logging in for more than 900s. To prevent this when on AC power (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GDM#GDM_auto-suspend_(GNOME_3.28)) :
sudo -u gdm dbus-launch gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power sleep-inactive-ac-type 'nothing'(If have printers.)
(See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/CUPS.)
sudo pacman -S cupssudo pacman -S cups-pdf# HP DeskJet, OfficeJet, Photosmart, Business Inkjet and some LaserJet
sudo pacman -S hplip# Change output directory from default of /var/spool/cups-pdf/${USER} to {$HOME}/Documents
sudo sed -i -E -e 's/^#Out (.*)/Out ${HOME}\/Documents/' /etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf(So the service will not always run, it will just start up for each print job.)
sudo systemctl enable cups.socket
sudo systemctl start cups.socketUse eg web interface at
http://localhost:631 -> Administration -> Find New Printers
sudo bash -c 'echo "cups/printers.conf" >> /etc/.gitignore'
sudo bash -c 'echo "cups/printers.conf.O" >> /etc/.gitignore'
sudo bash -c 'echo "cups/subscriptions.conf" >> /etc/.gitignore'
sudo bash -c 'echo "cups/subscriptions.conf.O" >> /etc/.gitignore'
sudo bash -c 'echo "*.socket" >> /etc/.gitignore'(A sketch of some initial configuration to do.)
~/.ssh/authorized_keys on remote systems as needed)[core]
editor = /usr/bin/vim
[user]
name = MYNAME
email = NAME@DOMAIN
[alias]
log-with-tags = log --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit --graph --decoratechange MYNAME etc as needed; I’ve set up an alias so
git log-with-tags gives an abbreviated git log also showing
tags).
This is a list of packages I find useful. See https://archlinux.org/packages/ for the list of Arch Linux packages.
I run
sudo paccache -roccasionally to clear the cache in
/var/cache/pacman/pkg/ (leaving the latest 3 versions of
any package).
~/.tmux.conf.)sudo setcap "cap_net_admin,cap_net_raw,cap_dac_read_search,cap_sys_ptrace+pe" /usr/bin/nethogs
)/usr/sbin/sendmail)/usr/bin/mail)extension=intl in
/etc/php/php.ini)memory_limit = 256M in
/etc/php/php.ini (change from default 128M)sage-data-conway_polynomials seems to have
removed from the repo - I removed from system with
pacman -R sage-data-conway_polynomials(See https://aur.archlinux.org/packages)
sudo pacman -R aur-check-updates), update pacman, then
reinstall aur-check-updates.sudo systemctl --now enable pcscd.serviceextension=luasandbox.so in
/etc/php/conf.d/luasandbox.ini)[P]: must be reinstalled if python is upgraded to a new minor version.
systemd got a new dependency: dbus-units,
which could be provided by either dbus-broker-units (the
default), or dbus-daemon-units. https://archlinux.org/news/making-dbus-broker-our-default-d-bus-daemon/
recommends dbus-broker-units, which is what I chose.
This caused a lot of problems. Most boots, it would not get past “Triggering uevents” in the initramfs stage of the boot. If it did get past that stage, wifi would generally not work. Kernel version is linux 6.7.arch3-1.
I downgraded the packages back to their earlier versions, and added
IgnorePkg = amd-ucode linux-firmware linux-firmware-whenceto /etc/pacman.conf. This seemed to fix the issue.
(2024-01-24 (after kernel upgraded to linux 6.7.1.arch1-1): removed the above IgnorePkg line, and reupgraded amd-ucode, linux-firmware, linux-firmware-whence. Boots more reliably now.)
The ALL_microcode option in /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset is now
deprecated (see https://archlinux.org/news/mkinitcpio-hook-migration-and-early-microcode/).
I removed it and recreated the initramfs with
sudo mkinitcpio -P . (The microcode is still loaded by grub
- see /boot/grub/grub.cfg, see the line
initrd /amd-ucode.img /initramfs-linux.img. So there’s no
need to use the microcode hook in
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf.)
gnome-shell dumped core, and got a forced logout. Even after a restart, could not play Elder Scrolls Online (game froze during login). Downgraded back to earlier version, and added
IgnorePkg = linuxto /etc/pacman.conf.
See also https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/packaging/packages/linux/-/issues/47.
python-exceptiongroup has been dropped (https://archlinux.org/todo/drop-python-exceptiongroup/). Remove with
sudo pacman -R python-exceptiongrouplinux 6.9.1 has been released, which hopefully fixes problem of
2024-05-04. Removed IgnorePkg = linux from
/etc/pacman.conf and upgraded system. System seems fine
now.
See https://blogs.gnome.org/carlosg/2024/07/14/goodbye-tracker-hello-tinysparql-and-localsearch/.
qemu-common-9.1.0-2 and qemu-system-nios2-9.0.2-1 reported as in conflict. Remove qemu-system-nios2 when prompted. See https://wiki.qemu.org/ChangeLog/9.1 (the NIOS II target has been removed).
System misbehaved (in particular, browsers would not start up, ssh did not work). Downgraded back to earlier version, and added
IgnorePkg = linuxto /etc/pacman.conf.
linux 6.12.4 has been released, which hopefully fixes problem of
2024-11-24. Removed IgnorePkg = linux from
/etc/pacman.conf and upgraded system. System seems fine
now.
qemu-common-9.2.0-1 and qemu-system-cris-9.1.2-1 reported as in conflict. Responding “y” to “Remove qemu-system-cris?” during attempted update fails (as qemu-system-cris is a dependency of qemu-emulators-full).
Force removal of qemu-system-cris with
sudo pacman -Rdd qemu-system-cris. Can then proceed with
sudo pacman -Syu.
Many of the steps were taken/adapted from [1], and so this document is released under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 or later.↩︎
For the motherboard for this build (Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite AX V2), to enable secure boot: