Arch Linux installation procedure [2020.08]

Follow the whole deployment procedure through the official installation guide.

1. Set the keyboard layout and system clock:

# loadkeys es
# timedatectl set-ntp true

2. Partition the disk and mount the partitions (example with nvme0n1p5):

# lsblk
# cfdisk
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p5

2.1 Swap partition (example with nvme0n1p6):

# mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p6
# swapon /dev/nvme0n1p6
# mount /dev/nvme0n1p5 /mnt

2.2 Swap file:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/swap bs=1M count=20 status=progress
chmod 600 /mnt/swap
mkswap /etc/swap
swapon /etc/swap

2.3 Verify your boot mode:

# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

2.3.1 UEFI mode. Create boot directory and mount your EFI partition (example with nvme0n1p1):

# mkdir /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /boot

3. Deploy essential packages and configure the filesystem:

# pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware vim
# genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

4. Take control of the new filesystem and finish the installation:

# arch-chroot /mnt
# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Madrid /etc/localtime
# hwclock --systohc
# vim /etc/locale.gen
# locale-gen
# vim /etc/locale.conf
# vim /etc/vconsole.conf

5. Set the root password:

# passwd

6. Configure the network:

# vim /etc/hostname
- - -
  hostname
- - -
# vim /etc/hosts
- - -
  127.0.0.1 localhost
  ::1		    localhost
  127.0.1.1 `hostname'.localdomain	`hostname'
- - -

7. Complete the network configuration checking wireless section if needed.

8. Choose and install a Boot loader. GRUB or systemd-boot are good options.

8.1. systemd-boot (UEFI boot assumed. See 2.3 and 2.3.1):

# pacman -S efibootmgr
# bootctl --path=/boot install
# vim /boot/loader/loader.conf
# vim /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
# bootctl
# bootctl update

9. Enable microcode updates (intel in my case):

pacman -S intel-ucode

10. Exit and reboot:

# exit
# umount -R /mnt
# reboot

11. Extra packages:

# pacman -S dosfstools ntfs-3g

11.1. Terminus font:

# pacman -S terminus-font
# pacman -Ql terminus-font
# setfont ter-v32n

11.2. Xorg and dwm:

# pacman -S xorg xorg-xinit git
# cd /usr/src
# git clone git://git.suckless.org/dwm
# git clone git://git.suckless.org/dmenu
# git clone git://git.suckless.org/st
# cd dwm
# make clean install
# cd ../dmenu
# make clean install
# cd ../st
# make clean install
# cd
# echo dwm > .xinitrc
# startx

11.3. Sound:

# pacman -S alsa-utils
# amixer sset Master unmute
# amixer sset Speaker unmute
# amixer sset Headphone unmute
# alsamixer

11.4. Internet browsers:

# pacman -S chromium
# pacman -S firefox