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boot/loader

boot/loader

 
 

etc

etc

 
 

home/your_user_name/.config/fastfetch

home/your_user_name/.config/fastfetch

 
 

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minimal /\rch Linux installation starting right now
installation
configuration

installation

.Make bootable USB and Boot live environment

        sha256sum /directory/archlinux.iso
  • use either GUI utility like rufus and etcher or use dd to write your image file to your USB flash drive
        dd if=/directory/archlinux.iso of=/dev/usb_flash_drive_file_name status=progress
  • boot your built bootable USB then select *Arch Linux install medium (x86_64, UEFI)

.Partition, Format, Mount and genfstab for your drive

  • create new partition for drive
    • use lsblk to print your drive name first, then
    • use cfdisk to open TUI partition editor then select GPT
    • then create partition on your drive as suggested as table below
Partition Mount on Size Purpose
/dev/your_drive_name1 /boot 256M minium for Kernel, Bootloader, EFI and Firmware
/dev/your_deive_name2 [SWAP] 512M minium for Swaping
/dev/your_drive_name3 / rest of drive for whole /\rch base

you can make [SWAP] partition as twice bigger as your total system memory size
use grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo to check your total memory size
if you have multiple fast drives, then create multiple smaller [SWAP] partitions on multiple fast drives instead of using one giant [SWAP] partition on one drive

  • format partions
        mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/your_drive_name1
        mkswap /dev/your_drive_name2
        mkfs.ext4 /dev/your_drive_name3
  • mount partitions
        mount /dev/your_drive_name3 /mnt
        mount --mkdir /dev/your_drive_name1 /mnt/boot
        swapon /dev/your_drive_name2

the Order to mount your Partitions or Drives must obay the Hierarchy of File System
mount / Root-partition to /mnt/ first, then mount Sub-partition next, and so on

  • generate fstab ( File System TABle ) file
        mkdir /mnt/etc
        genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab

.connect internet

Just Wire In

.install Arch linux

  • install essential packages
        pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware sof-firmware amd-ucode networkmanager

base is minimal Arch
linux is kernel. Arch base + linux kernel = Arch linux
you can omit linux-firmware if you install arch linux on VirtualBox
sof-firmware for some newer laptops to get working audio, it's optional for minimal system to run
amd-ucode provides AMD microcode. instead use intel-ucode if you use intel chip
you can omit networkmanager if you only use systemd [ o < ] to configure network
by this step, you can install other packages such as dust, btop, vim, tmux, calc, gcc, cmatrix, fastfetch, wget, rtorrent, elinks, cmus and whatever you need

.install Bootloader and enable Microcode updates

  • write your boot-entry-file for boot-loader
        mkdir -P /mnt/boot/loader/entries
        vim /mnt/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

example minimal entry-file contents:

linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /amd-ucode.img
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw

linux takes path to kernel; path is NOT /boot/... because we previously created partition for /boot
initrd initial ram disk; you need to load amd-ucode.img xor intel-ucode.img to RAM first before load initial ram file system image
options takes kernel parameters; replace UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX to your own / partition UUID, which you can find in previously generated fstab file

  • write your systemd-boot config file
        vim /mnt/boot/loader/loader.conf

example minimal systemd-boot config file contents:

default arch.conf
editor no

this set default entry file to previously wrote arch.conf, and no boot-entry-editor.
you can write more entry files with more kernels than just one

  • install systemd boot-loader
        arch-chroot /mnt
        bootctl install

.finish the installation

  • set root password
        passwd
  • reboot
        exit
        reboot

congratulation, minimal Arch Linux is successfully installed. you can login as root and configure your brand new Arch Linux now

configuration

.user setup

  • set hostname
        echo 'your_new_hostname' > /etc/hostname
  • create unpriviliged user
        useradd -m your_user_name
        passwd user_name

then switch to unpriviliged user and create .config directory

        su -c "mkdir /home/your_user_name/.config" your_user_name

then symbolically link unpriviliged user's .config to root's one

        ln -s /home/your_user_name/.config /root/.config

also you can remove entire /root directory and link entire /home/your_user_name to /root

.network

  • network manager
        systemctl enable NetworkManager
        systemctl restart NetworkManager
        nmtui

the connection config file generated by nmtui be placed at /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections

        pacman -Syu hblock
        hblock

you can update hblock file by run hblock again

  • improve network performance and security
net.core.netdev_max_backlog=16384
net.core.somaxconn=8192
net.core.default_qdisc=cake
net.core.rmem_default=16777216
net.core.rmem_max=33554432
net.core.wmem_default=16777216
net.core.wmem_max=33554432
net.core.optmem_max=65536
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range=30000 65535
net.ipv4.udp_rmem_min=8192
net.ipv4.udp_wmem_min=8192
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem=8192 262144 536870912
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem=8192 262144 536870912
net.ipv4.tcp_fastopen=3
net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog=8192
net.ipv4.tcp_max_tw_buckets=2000000
net.ipv4.tcp_tw_reuse=1
net.ipv4.tcp_fin_timeout=10
net.ipv4.tcp_slow_start_after_idle=0
net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_time=60
net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_intvl=10
net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_probes=6
net.ipv4.tcp_mtu_probing=1
net.ipv4.tcp_sack=1
net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control=bbr
net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies=1
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter=1
net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter=1
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects=0
net.ipv4.conf.all.send_redirects=0
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects=0
net.ipv4.conf.default.send_redirects=0
net.ipv4.conf.all.secure_redirects=0
net.ipv4.conf.default.secure_redirects=0
net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_all=1

add above contents to your /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf file; then

        sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf

.PACkage MANager

edit /etc/pacman.conf file:
uncomment Color xor insteadly add alias pacman='pacman --color=always' to your /etc/bash.bashrc file
uncomment ParrallelDownloads = 5 and change the number as you wish
add ILoveCandy

improve Booting performance

open /boot/loader/loader.conf file
add kernel parameters quiet and loglevel=0 to options

options root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw quiet loglevel=0

you can manually update systemd-boot by run command bootctl update or you can enable systemd-boot-update service for auto updates

        systemctl enable systemd-boot-update

.improve Storage performance

  • trim for SSD
        systemctl enable fstrim.timer
  • abandon core dump
kernel.core_pattern=/dev/null

add above contents to your /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf file; then

        sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf

.improve Memory performance

  • improve Virtual Memory performance
vm.dirty_background_ratio=16
vm.dirty_ratio=32
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=32

add above contents to your /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf file; then

        sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf
  • turn on swap memory compression

open /boot/loader/loader.conf file
add zswap.enabled=1 to options

options root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw quiet loglevel=0 zswap.enabled=1

.improve CPU performance

  • irq balance
        pacman -Syu irqbalance
        systemctl enable irqbalance

open /boot/loader/loader.conf file
add mitigations=off to options

options root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw quiet loglevel=0 zswap.enabled=1 mitigations=off

language and timezone

these are optional configurations

  • set language

generate and use your appropriate locale

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

replace C.UTF-8 UTF8 and C.UTF-8 to your appreciation

  • set console font
        ls /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts               # print available bitmap font files
        setfont font_name                            # test font temporary
        echo 'FONT=font_name' >> /etc/vconsole.conf  # set font persistenct

pacman -Syu terminus-font to install terminus console font

  • set input keyboard layout
        echo 'KEYMAP=us' >> /etc/vconsole.conf

replace us to your appreciate keyboard layout

  • timezone

first to list the timezone file you'd like to pickup

        ls -alh /usr/share/zoneinfo | more

then pick one and symbolically link it to /etc/localtime

        ln -sf /usr/share/your_picked_race_zone_file /etc/localtime

.make linux console more awesome and cooler

  • login shell

change your /etc/issue file contents to

\e[0;0H\e[0;30;45m <\l> [/\\rch Linux \r]\e[K\e[m

then you can append your login text art in /etc/issue file

\e[1;36m                                  __,.-------..._
\e[0;36m                            ,.-+'"" _,..+++++++._`" +._
\e[0;32m                          ,/" ,.-+'"            '""+-._`'+.
\e[1;32m                        ./" ,/        __,.--+""+--..__ `+. `'+
\e[1;33m                      ,/' ,/      _,-_;:--+''""''+-.._`-. `+. `'
\e[0;33m                     ,/ ,/      /',+'                 '+.`.  `+.`'
\e[0;31m                    ,/ ,/     /'./     ,_.-.++'""'++._   `.`+. `+.`'
\e[1;31m                  ,/' ,/.    /'.'   ./' _,.-++""+--.._`+.  `. +  `.`'
\e[1;35m             ___,/',----.`. /./    /','"     _....._  `+.`.  `.`. `.`'+
\e[0;35m          ,/'"___ /      `.' |.   /,/      ,'       `'.  +.`. `.`   `.`'
\e[0;34m        ,|' ./,__`__ ,_ __ l. ^--' _`.____/.           `.___`. `.`.  `.`+
\e[1;34m       ./  ,l | ,', || v / / ,-.  (_)  _-_   _-_  ,-.  ,---. `. `;`.  `.`+  @
\e[1;36m       '|  'l |_"_"_/^7 / /' | |  | | (_ _) (_ _) | |  ( ^__; `.__;`_   _ `+---.
\e[0;36m        `+. `.       (Y/ /'  |__) |_|  |__)  |__) |__) `.__,' ,-==-. "+"  ,-==-."+.
\e[0;32m           `> `+.     ` /',-+^^^^+-.      ,-====-.     ,-=-.  `.   `. '   /    |;`|;
\e[1;32m      _,.-+"_,--_ `+. ,/''          `.   /       `.   /     |. `.   `.   /    /' /'
\e[1;33m   ,;' ,.-'"     `.  '  /      .     '.  |         ;  |     |;  `.   `. /    /' /'
\e[0;33m  / ,/'            `.  .     .' `.    '; |      .   ; |     |;   `.    v    /' /'
\e[0;31m,',/.'      _._     `..|    /  .  ;    ;.|      |`.  '|     |;    `.   '   /' /'
\e[1;31m| |.      /'   `.    `.|    '--^--     |,|      |;`.  '     |;     `.     /' /'
\e[1;35m`.`.     |'  .   |    ||              /, |      |; `.       |;      )    /' /'
\e[0;35m `.`.    `.__^__/'   /, `.____.-.___,/,  |      |;  `.      |;     /    /' /'
\e[0;34m  `.`.             _/,   ,.-+- .  '      |      |;   `.     |;    /    /' /'
\e[1;34m   `.`.      _,.-'"    ,/        `+.     |      |;    `.___,'    /    /' /'
\e[1;36m    `.`.     `.      ,/             `.   `.____,'       """   ,.'    /' /'
\e[0;36m     `.`.     `.    ,|        ,,==._   "+-......__       _,.-"     ," /"
\e[0;32m      `.`.     `.   |        //    `."+__        '""""""'      _,+' ,"
\e[1;32m       `.`.    /',  '|       K       |.  '''--+...__   _,.=--'"  ,/'       _,.-=+"""""++-..
\e[1;33m        `.`.__/',^.  `.      "       |'            '""''      ,+'       ,+'         ,-.    `+.
\e[0;33m         `._'','   +. `.      `._,   /' .__    _.      _     <       ,+'   ,+-.     `. |     '`+.
\e[0;31m           ``'      `. `.          /',  `. """" |     (_)  ___`+._.+'      | /' ___  | |     _  '`+.
\e[1;31m                     `.   +-___-+"' ,^.  | c===-'_  _ ,-. / _ `+,-._    __ | |/'   `.| |__  (_)___.`'.
\e[1;35m                       `+.__  _...+'   | | ,--.|| |' )| || (_) || ,.`.,/  `| |(  C==<| '  `.,-.|  `+. +.
\e[0;35m                           '''       ,'  | |    | ./" | || ._,-;| || ||  ()  |>==u  )| ,^. || || D  ). `.
\e[0;34m                                   ,/   /__|.  ,|_|.  |_| `.__/,|_||_| `._/|_|.`._./'|_| |_||_|| ._/+   '.
\e[1;34m                                 ,'          +  _  ,-.   ,-.  ,--.   ,++-.-+. _                | |'     '.
\e[1;36m                                .|           I [_' | `+ / , ||_--.`.(  ()  ./(_) .---.         | |      /.
\e[0;36m                                +.           I ._] | . ` /| | ,--' | +___; | ,-./'   `+       ,|_|.    ,+
\e[0;32m                                `+                 | |`./ | ||  () |. __,+ | | ||  C==<               ,+
\e[1;32m                                 `|.              ,|_|.  ,|_|`.__/|_||___,/' |_|`+.__./             ,+
\e[1;33m                                    +.........._________________________________________________,.+'\e[m
  • system wide profile configuration open /etc/profile and change contents to
append_path() {
  case ":$PATH:" in
    *:"$1":*)
      ;;
    *)
      PATH="${PATH:+$PATH:}$1"
  esac
}

export PATH='/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin'
if [[ -d /etc/profile.d/ ]]; then
  for profile in /etc/profile.d/*.sh; do
    [[ -r $profile ]] && . "$profile"
  done
  unset profile
fi
[[ $- == *i* ]] && [[ -z $POSIXLY_CORRECT ]] && [[ ${0#-} != sh ]] && [[ -r /etc/bash.bashrc ]] && . /etc/bash.bashrc
unset -f append_path
unset TERMCAP
unset MANPATH
  • enhance bash tab completion
set show-all-if-unmodified on
set show-all-if-ambiguous on
set colored-stats on
set visible-stats on
set mark-symlinked-directories on
set colored-completion-prefix on
set menu-complete-display-prefix on

add above contents to your /etc/inputrc file

  • use mouse in console
        systemctl enable gpm
        systemctl start gpm
  • tmux terminal multiplexer

install tmux

        pacman -Syu tmux

create system wide config file for tmux

        vim /etc/tmux.conf
set -g pane-border-status bottom
set -g pane-border-style fg=white
set -g pane-active-border-style fg=brightcyan
set -g pane-border-format ""
set -g status-style bg=black
set -g status-justify centre
set -g status-right "#[fg=brightblue]%I:%M %p "
set -g status-left " #[fg=brightblue]TMUX-#S"
set -g window-status-current-format "#[fg=brightmagenta]#{?window_zoomed_flag,( #I ),(#I)}"
set -g window-status-format "#[fg=magenta] #I "
set -g message-style bg=black,fg=white
set -g clock-mode-colour magenta

add above contents to your /etc/tmux.conf file
then

        tmux source-file /etc/tmux.conf
  • fastfetch

install fastfetch

        pacman -Syu fastfetch

generate config file to /home/your_user_name/.config/fastfetch/config.jsonc

        fastfetch --gen-config

and Change the config.jsonc file contents to

{
  "modules": ["os","separator","kernel","shell","terminal","terminalfont","display","cpu","gpu","memory","swap","disk","packages","localip","uptime","battery","separator","colors"]
}
  • system wide bash configuration

remove all user specific config bash file ~/.bashrc then open /etc/bash.bashrc and clear up all default contents inside follow the configuration below

  • general command alias
alias ip='ip --color=always'
alias grep='grep --color=always'
alias diff='diff --color=always'
alias rm='rm -f'
alias dd='dd status=progress'
alias ps='ps -uf'

ls() {
        command ls --color=always -alh $@ | sort | grep '^b\|:\|\.\|root\|' | GREP_COLORS='ms=01;34' grep '^d\|-\|>\|/\|_\|' | GREP_COLORS='ms=01;32' grep '^total\|' | GREP_COLORS='ms=01;36' grep '^l\|' | GREP_COLORS='ms=01;33' grep '^c\|'
}

cd() {
        command cd $@; ls
}

file() {
        command file $@ | grep '/\|-\|+\|' | GREP_COLORS='ms=01;34' grep ':\|\.\|,\|#\|)\|(\|_\|'
}

cat() {
        command cat $@ | grep '\.\|,\|;\|:\|_\|}\|{\|)\|(\|]\|\[\|\\\|\$\|#\|?\|!\|@\|`\|"\|' grep "'\|" | GREP_COLORS='ms=01;34' grep '+\|-\|*\|/\|%\|=\|>\|<\|&\||\|^\|~\|'
}

lsblk() {
        command lsblk $@ | grep ']\|\[\|RM\|RO\|FS\|disk\|%\|' | GREP_COLORS='ms=01;34' grep '^NAME\|SIZE\|TYPE\|SWAP\|\.\|:\|/\|-\|VER\|AVAIL\|UUID\|USE\|'
}

lspci() {
        command lspci -tv $@ | grep ']\|\[\|+\|-\||\|\\\|/\|' | GREP_COLORS='ms=01;34' grep '\.\|:\|,\|'
}

add above alias to your /etc/bash.bashrc file
then . /etc/bash.bashrc to see the changes

  • make command prompt awesome

open /etc/bash.bashrc file
change original PS1 configuration to

PS1="\[\e[2B\e[4C\e[0;36;40m__\e[1;35;44m \u \e[0;36;40m\]\n   |__> \[\e[s\e[0;0H\e[0;34;47m <\l> [\w]\e[K\e[u\e[0;36;40m\]"
PS0='\e[12C\e[1;32m|\\/|\n\e[12C\e[1;36m|  |\e[1;32;44m \h \e[1;34;40m\n\e[13C\\/\n\e[1;37m'
if [[ $EUID == 0 ]]
then
        PS1="\[\e[2B\e[4C\e[1;33;40m__\e[0;31;43m \u \e[1;33;40m\]\n   |__> \[\e[s\e[0;0H\e[0;34;47m <\l> [\w]\e[K\e[u\e[1;33;40m\]"
        ps0='\e[12C\e[1;33m|\\/|\n\e[12C\e[1;31m|  |\e[1;32;43m \h \e[0;31;40m\n\e[13C\\/\n\e[1;37m'
else
        clear
fi

then . /etc/bash.bashrc to see the changes

.other packages

  • generate top command config file
        top # open top task manager first

suggested configuration:
press key Z once to turn on color view and
press Shift + Z to toggle your color favor
press key T twice to get solid CPU usage graph
press key M once to get Memory usage graph
press Shift + M to show tasks by Memory usage
press Shift + V to get COMMAND hierarchy view
press key D once to set refresh delay, lower to 0.1 or higher above 3.0
press key B once switch to hilight mode then
press key X once to hilight tasks sorting column
press Shift + W to generate config file for current user

install wget

        pacman -Syu wget

useful wget alias to add into /etc/bash.bashrc

alias wget='wget -c'
  • vim minimal configuration
:set number
:set nowrap
:set cursorline
:set foldmethod=indent
:set expandtab
:set tabstop=4
:set shiftwidth=4
:set incsearch
:set hlsearch

add above contents to your /etc/vimrc file

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

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