TechHeart's 2023 Vanilla Arch Linux (w/ Sauce!) Install Guide

Melodia - Vlad

What’s included after installation?

Howdy, TechHearters! We’ll show you how to install Arch Linux step-by-step in this guide!

But, what’s included?? At the end of the installation you’ll have a Vanilla Arch Linux machine ready to add a Desktop Environment, or any other software, to. It’s root partition will be LUKS encrypted. It will use GRUB to unlock, and boot into, that partition. We’ll use a swap file to add 16GB (or your desired swap size) of SWAP memory.

Also, we’ll install some TechHeart Sauce:

Hacker dedsec GRUB2 theming; Makes GRUB look awesome and graphical. You can choose from a dozen hacker styled themes!

Spyware dedsec GRUB theme

"Spyware" dedsec GRUB theme

An Optimus Prime Plymouth theme; Makes the LUKS encryption unlocking graphical instead of text-based!

Optimus Prime Plymouth theme

"Optimus Prime Plymouth theme

OPTIONAL: A TUI Window Manager, Ly. If you’re going to install a Desktop Environment like GNOME, Plasma or Cinnanom you might not want this - but it’s a great retro-styled Window Manager (Login Manager).

Ly Window Manager

Ly Window Manger

Let’s gOOO!!!

Prerequisites

You’ll need an Arch Linux .iso burned to a USB stick, and know how to boot to it on your computer. I use BalenaEtcher to burn the .iso and if you’re on a Windows platform an application named Rufus can help. Then you’ll just have to select to boot to your USB device in BIOS, or select a temporary boot device through BIOS - on a ThinkPad, the user just presses [ENTER] when the Lenovo logo appears, presses F12 to choose a temporary boot device and can then select the USB stick to boot from!

The Arch Linux Installation Medium will boot up, and we’ll then install Arch - and all our sauce - with the following command line commands!

Note, commands in [BRACKETS] may be different for your location, hardware setup, etc.

Installation Commands

Set system locale / keyboard settings

localectl list-keymaps | grep [us]
loadkeys [us]

Check for internet connection; connect to Wi-Fi if not present

ip a
(if no ethernet connection:)
iwctl --passphrase [WIFI PW] station [DEVICE; wlan0] connect [SSID]

Set fast mirrors on installation medium

pacman -Sy reflector
reflector -c [US] -a 12 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
pacman -Syy

Get drive info and partition drive

We will create a new partition label, add a 200MB EFI boot partition and use the remaining disk space for a root partition

lsblk
gdisk /dev/[xxx]
n, 1, [ENTER], +200M, L, efi, ef00, n, [ENTER], [ENTER], [ENTER], [ENTER], w, y

Create, and unlock, LUKS encrypted root partition

lsblk
cryptsetup -y -v [luksFormat] /dev/[xxx]
YES
[PW]
[PW]
cryptsetup open /dev/[xxx] [luksroot]
[PW]

Format boot and root partitions

mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/[luksroot]
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/[xxx]
lsblk

Mount partitions for Arch installation

mount /dev/mapper/[luksroot] /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/xxx /mnt/boot
lsblk

Pacstrap; install needed packages prior to chroot

pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim [amd]/[intel]-ucode

Generate fstab

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

Chroot into Arch

arch-chroot /mnt

Create, mount and add swap file to fstab

fallocate -l 8GB /[swap_file]
chmod 600 /swap_file]
mkswap /[swap_file]
swapon /[swap_file]
vim /etc/fstab
 - add line (Using TABs):
/[swap_file]	none	swap	defaults	0	0

Locale and time settings

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/[America]/[Los_Angeles] /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc
vim /etc/locale.gen
 - unhash en_US line
locale-gen
echo LANG=[en_US.UTF8] >> /etc/locale.conf
echo KEYMAP=[us] >> /etc/vconsole.conf
echo [arch] >> /etc/hostname
vim /etc/hosts
 - add lines (using TABs):
127.0.0.1	localhost
::1		localhost
127.0.0.1	[arch].localdomain	[arch]

Set root password

passwd [ROOT PW]

Install system packages

pacman -S base-devel bluez bluez-utils cups dialog dosfstools efibootmgr git grub linux-headers mtools network-manager-applet networkmanager os-prober pulseaudio-bluetooth reflector wireless_tools wpa_supplicant xdg-user-dirs xdg-utils

Add LUKS encryption unlock

vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
 - add HOOK;
(After 'autodetect') keyboard keymap (After 'block') encrypt
mkinitcpio -p linux

Install GRUB, create GRUB config

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Add LUKS encrypted partition’s UUID to cryptdevice line in grub config and rebuild grub config

blkid
(Find, and note, crypto_LUKS UUID (Not PARTUUID)...)
vim /etc/default/grub
 - add to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX between ""s:
cryptdevice=UUID=[UUID]:[luksroot] root=/dev/mapper/[luksroot]
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Systemctl setup

systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl enable bluetooth

Add sudo user

useradd -mG wheel [USERNAME]
passwd [USERNAME]
EDITOR=vim
visudo
 - unhash %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL line

Reboot VANILLA Linux install!!

exit
reboot now

Login to user account after first boot
Check for internet connection; connect to Wi-Fi if not present

ip a
(If no Ethernet connection:)
nmtui
 - activate wifi

Install paru / yay

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru.git
cd paru
makepkg -si
cd ..
rm -rf paru
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si
cd ..
rm -rf yay

Install graphics drivers

sudo pacman -S [xf86-video-intel]/[xf86-video-amdgpu]/[nvidia nvidia-utils nvidia-settings]
([Arch Wiki - NVIDIA](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA) if you have older NVIDIA GPU...)

Install dedsec GRUB theming; choose a theme from dedsec Gitlab Site

git clone --depth 1 https://gitlab.com/VandalByte/dedsec-grub-theme.git
cd dedsec-grub-theme
sudo python3 dedsec-theme.py --install
cd ..
rm -rf dedsec-grub-theme

Install Plymouth-git and Optimus Prime theme

paru -S plymouth-theme-optimus-git
paru -S plymouth-git
sudo vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
 - add to HOOKS line, before encrypt;
plymouth
sudo vim /etc/default/grub
 - add to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT;
quiet splash
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
sudo plymouth-set-default-theme -R optimus

OPTIONAL: Install Ly TUI Display Manager (Login Manager)

sudo pacman -S ly
sudo systemctl enable ly.service
sudo systemctl disable getty@tty2.service
sudo vim /etc/ly/config.ini
 - make edits for animation, big clock, etc..
sudo vim /usr/lib/systemd/system/ly.service
 - ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/sleep .5

Reboot, and enj0y the sauce!

sudo shutdown now

PR0FIT$

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