New installations
2024-04-29


Installation guide on ArchWiki describes basics in more details.
This list is just an overview, in practice the basic installation is mostly covered by `archinstall`.
In the past I wrote a post about partitioning for fully encrypted installations, check it out first if that's what you're aiming for.
<ol>
<li> partition the hard drive </li>
<li> format partitions </li>
<li> mount all the partitions </li>
<li> $ pacstrap -ci /mnt base </li>
<li> $ genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab </li>
<li> arch-chroot into the new installation </li>
<li> install kernel, run $ mkinitcpio -P </li>
<li> set up a bootloader like grub or systemd-boot </li>
<li> install additional packages: vim tmux networkmanager</li>
<li> set up a user account with sudo privileges </li>
<li> reboot </li>
</ol>

At this point you should have a basic working system installation, but there is a lot more to do.
<ol>
<li> set hostname, locales, keymaps, timezone </li>
<li> install additional drivers (microcode, nvidia, r8168) and load kernel modules you might need </li>
<li> regenerate mirrorlist with reflector </li>
<li> set up a desktop manager (lightdm) with a greeter (lightdm-gtk-greeter) </li>
<li> install a desktop environment (cinnamon) or a window manager (i3, sway) </li>
<li> install some AUR helper (paru, yay) </li>
<li> install your preferred set of packages </li>
<li> enable your preferred set of services </li>
<li> add your user to preferred groups </li>
<li> set up a firewall (ufw, gufw) </li>
<li> restore your dotfiles and custom configurations </li>
<li> change themes (mint-l-theme) and icons (papirus-icon-theme) </li>
<li> tweak your desktop environment settings just right </li>
<li> change your input method to fcitx with mozc </li>
<li> disable actions on lid close (/etc/systemd/logind.conf) and automatic suspend </li>
<li> install vim-plug and vim plugins </li>
<li> monitor filesystem integrity with AIDE </li>
</ol>

For some of these topics you can find helpful info on my blog.

Here's the reflector command that you can use for refreshing your mirrorlist:
$ reflector --verbose --latest 100 --fastest 30 --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

As a bonus, here's my `lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf`. I couldn't decide where else to store it.
<pre>
[greeter]
background = /usr/share/backgrounds/lain-on-black.png
user-background = false
theme-name = Mint-L-Dark-Red
icon-theme-name = Papirus-Dark
font-name = Liberation Sans 12
indicators = ~power;~spacer;~separator;~clock;~separator;~spacer;~session
clock-format = %H:%M:%S - %a %d %h %Y
position = 5%,start -5%,end
a11y-states = ~contrast
hide-user-image = true
</pre>

Happy hacking!