Table of Contents
*****************
1 Preface
1.0.0.1 Everything you ever wanted to know about installing Arch, but were afraid to ask
1.0.0.2 DON'T PANIC!
1.0.0.3 The Arch Way
2 Part I: Install the Base System
2.1 Obtain the latest Installation media
2.1.1 CD installer
2.1.2 USB stick
2.2 Boot Arch Linux Installer
2.3 Login and Changing the keymap
2.4 Documentation
2.5 Start the Installation
2.5.1 Select an installation source
2.6 Configure Network (FTP/HTTP)
2.6.1 Wireless Quickstart (If you need wireless connectivity during the installation process)
2.7 Prepare Hard Drive
2.7.1 Partition Hard Drives
2.7.1.1 Partition Info
2.7.1.2 Swap Partition
2.7.1.3 Partition Scheme
2.7.1.4 cfdisk
2.7.2 Set Filesystem Mountpoints
2.7.2.1 Filesystem Types
2.7.2.2 A note on Journaling
2.8 Select Packages
2.9 Install Packages
2.10 Configure the System
2.10.0.1 Can the installer handle this more automatically?
2.10.0.2 */etc/rc.conf*
2.10.0.3 About DAEMONS
2.10.0.4 /etc/fstab
2.10.0.5 */etc/mkinitcpio.conf and /etc/modprobe.conf*
2.10.0.6 /etc/resolv.conf (for Static IP)
2.10.0.7 /etc/hosts
2.10.0.8 /etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow
2.10.0.9 /etc/locale.gen
2.10.0.10 Root password
2.10.0.11 Pacman-Mirror
2.11 Install Bootloader
2.11.1 GRUB
3 The Base System
3.1 Configuring the network (if necessary)
3.1.1 Wired LAN
3.1.2 Wireless LAN
3.1.3 Analog Modem
3.1.4 ISDN
3.1.5 DSL (PPPoE)
4 Update, Sync and Upgrade the system with pacman
4.0.0.1 What is pacman ?
4.1 Configuring pacman
4.1.0.1 Package Repositories and /etc/pacman.conf
4.1.1 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
4.1.1.1 Ignoring packages
4.1.1.2 Ignoring Configuration Files
5 Update System
5.0.0.1 The beauty of the Arch rolling release model
5.0.0.2 Get familiar with pacman
5.1 Add a user and setup groups
5.1.0.1 Install and setup Sudo
6 Part II: Install X and configure ALSA
6.1 Configure the audio card with alsamixer
6.1.1 Sound Test
6.2 Installing and configuring X
7 Create /etc/X11/xorg.conf
7.0.0.1 What is /etc/X11/xorg.conf?
7.0.1 Alternative xorg.conf generation
7.1 Using proprietary Graphics Driver (NVIDIA, ATI)
7.1.1 NVIDIA Graphic Cards
7.1.2 ATI Graphic Cards
7.2 Simple baseline X test
7.2.0.1 ~/.xinitrc
8 Part III: Installing and configuring a Desktop Environment
8.1 Install Fonts
8.2 ~/.xinitrc (again)
8.3 GNOME
8.3.1 About GNOME
8.3.2 Installation
8.3.2.1 Useful DAEMONS for GNOME
8.3.3 Eye Candy
8.4 KDE
8.4.1 About KDE
8.4.2 Installation
8.4.3 Useful KDE DAEMONS
8.5 Xfce
8.5.1 About Xfce
8.5.2 Installation
8.5.3 Useful DAEMONS
8.6 LXDE
8.6.1 About LXDE
8.6.2 Installation
8.7 *box
8.7.1 Fluxbox
8.7.2 Openbox
8.8 fvwm2
9 Tweaks/Finishing touches
9.1 Install an AUR Helper
9.2 HAL
9.3 Backgrounding DAEMONS on startup
9.4 Beautifying Fonts for LCD's
9.5 Adjusting Mouse for scroll wheel
9.6 Get All Mouse Buttons Working
9.7 Configuring Touchpad for Laptops
9.8 Adjusting Keyboard Layout
9.9 Additional tweaks for laptops
9.10 Configuring CPU frequency scaling
9.11 Pm-Utils
9.12 Laptop-Mode
10 File and directory explanation
11 Boot Scripts
12 Useful Applications
12.1 Internet
12.1.0.1 Firefox
12.2 Office
13 Multimedia
13.1 Video Player
13.1.1 VLC
13.1.2 Mplayer
13.1.3 Xine
13.1.4 GNOME
13.1.4.1 Totem
13.1.5 KDE
13.1.5.1 Kaffeine
13.2 Audio Player
13.2.1 Gnome/Xfce
13.2.1.1 Exaile
13.2.1.2 Rhythmbox
13.2.1.3 Quod Libet
13.2.2 KDE
13.2.2.1 Amarok
13.2.3 Console
13.2.4 Other X-based
13.3 Codecs and other multimedia content types (i686 only)
13.3.1 DVD
13.3.2 Flash
13.3.3 Quicktime
13.3.4 Realplayer
13.4 CD and DVD Burning
13.4.1 GNOME
13.4.1.1 Brasero
13.4.2 KDE
13.4.2.1 K3b
13.4.2.2 (Todo) cdrecord, graveman...
13.5 TV-Cards
13.6 Digital Cameras
13.7 USB Memory Sticks / Hard Disks
14 Maintaining the system
14.1 Pacman
14.1.1 Useful commands
14.1.2 Files
15 Polishing & Further information
15.0.0.1 FAQs
15.0.0.2 Terminology
15.0.0.3 Where to go from here?
16 External links
1 Preface
*********
1.0.0.1 Everything you ever wanted to know about installing Arch, but were afraid to ask
........................................................................................
Welcome. This document will guide you through the process of installing
and configuring Arch Linux; a simple, agile and lightweight GNU/Linux
distribution, UNIX
-like operating system. Arch Linux
requires a certain level of intimate knowledge of its configuration and
of UNIX
-like system methodology and for this reason, extra
explanatory information is included. It is aimed at new Arch users, but
strives to serve as a strong reference and informative base for all.
Since GNU/Linux Distributions are fundamentally 'modular' by design,
the article is logically divided into 3 main components of a desktop
UNIX
-like operating system:
*Part I: Installing the Base system*
*Part II: Installing X and configuring ALSA*
*Part III: Installing a Desktop Environment*
1.0.0.2 DON'T PANIC!
....................
The Arch Linux system is assembled by the _user_, from the shell, using
basic command line tools. This is *The Arch Way.* Unlike the more rigid
structures of other distributions and installers, there are no default
environments nor configurations chosen for you. From the command line,
_you_ will add packages from the Arch repositories using the pacman
tool via your internet connection and manually configure your
installation until your system is customized to your requirements. This
method allows for maximum flexibility, choice, and system resource
control _from the base up_.
Arch Linux is aimed at GNU/Linux users who desire minimal 'code
separation' from their machine.
1.0.0.3 The Arch Way
....................
*"The design principles behind Arch are aimed at keeping it simple." *
'Simple', in this context, shall mean 'without unnecessary
additions, modifications, or complications'. In short; an elegant,
minimalist approach.
*Some thoughts to keep in mind:*
* _" 'Simple' is defined from a technical standpoint, not a
usability standpoint. It is better to be technically elegant with
a higher learning curve, than to be easy to use and technically
[inferior]." -Aaron Griffin_
* _Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem_ or "Entities
should not be multiplied unnecessarily." -Occam's razor. The term
_razor_ refers to the act of shaving away unnecessary
complications to arrive at the simplest explanation, method or
theory.
* _"The extraordinary part of [my method] lies in its simplicity..I
always believe that the simple way is the right way."_ - Bruce Lee
*Following this guide closely is essential in order to successfully
install a properly configured Arch Linux system, so "please" read it
thoroughly.*
* You may wish to make a print out of this guide which will serve as
a useful Arch Linux user reference.
* _If you would like to add to this wiki, please include the "Why"
as well as the "How", where appropriate. The best documentation
teaches us how, as well as why!_
* The Arch wiki is an excellent resource and should be consulted for
issues first (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page); IRC
(freenode #archlinux), and the forums (http://bbs.archlinux.org/)
are also available if the answer cannot be found.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to Arch! Now, let's get started.
2 Part I: Install the Base System
*********************************
2.1 Obtain the latest Installation media
========================================
You can obtain Arch's latest installation media from here
(http://archlinux.org/download/).
* Both the Core installer and the FTP/HTTP-downloads provide only
the necessary packages to create an *Arch Linux base system*.
_Note that the Base System does not include a GUI. It is mainly
comprised of the GNU toolchain, (compiler, assembler, linker,
libraries, shell, and a few useful utilities) the Linux kernel,
and a few extra libraries and modules._
* Expanding your Arch Linux system beyond the base system, to
include extra software, a Graphical User Interface, etc., is
achieved from the command line, _by the user_, via the pacman
package manager to grab i686/x86-64 binary packages. The process
is covered in detail below.
2.1.1 CD installer
------------------
Burn the .iso to a CD with your favorite burner. Generally, using a
maximum speed of no more than 8x is recommended for reliable burns, and
some users recommend speeds *"as low as 4x or 2x!*" If you are
experiencing unexpected behavior from the CD, try burning at the
minimum speed supported by your system.
2.1.2 USB stick
---------------
Insert an empty or expendable USB stick, determine its path, and dd the
.img to the USB stick like so:
dd if=archlinux-2008.06-[core_or_ftp]-i686.img of=/dev/sd''x''
where _if=_ is the path to the img file and _of=_ is your USB
device. Make sure to use /dev/sdx and not /dev/sdx1.
*Note:* _This will destroy all data on your USB stick._
2.2 Boot Arch Linux Installer
=============================
As you follow these directions, you may find the Official Arch Linux
Install Guide helpful as well.
Insert the CD or USB stick and boot from it. You may have to change
the boot order in your computer BIOS or press a key (usually DEL, F1,
F2, F11 or F12) during the BIOS POST phase.
Useful booting options:
* *ide-legacy* if you have trouble with IDE drives
* *noapic acpi=off pci=routeirq nosmp* if your system hangs during
the boot process
* *acpi=nommconf* if you experience a freeze after pci:mmconfig is
loaded
* *memtest86+* if you want to check your memory for errors
* *lowmem* is useful for older machines with limited RAM.
Memory requirements:
* CORE : lowmem boot image 64 MB RAM x86_64/i686 (all packages
selected, with swap partition)
* CORE : arch boot image 160 MB RAM x86_64/i686 (all packages
selected, with swap partition)
* FTP : 160 MB RAM x86_64/i686 (all packages selected, with swap
partition)
Choose Boot Archlive or Boot Archlive [legacy IDE] if you have
trouble with libata/PATA.
To change boot options press *e* for editing the boot lines. Many
users may wish to change the resolution of the framebuffer, for more
readable console output. Append:
vga=773
to the kernel line, followed by , for a 1024x768 framebuffer.
Hit *b* to boot.
The system will now boot and present a login prompt.
2.3 Login and Changing the keymap
=================================
Login as 'root'. If you have a non-US keyboard layout do:
km
at the prompt, and choose your keymap/console font.
That's right, the ever-popular *km* program is back as of 2008-06!
2.4 Documentation
=================
The guide you are now reading is available on the live system. Change
to vc/2 with -F2 and do:
less /arch/beginnersguide.txt
*Less* will allow you to page through the document. Change back to
vc/1 with -F1.
Change back to vc/2 if you need to reference the Beginner's Guide at
any time.
2.5 Start the Installation
==========================
As root, run the installer script from vc/1:
/arch/setup
2.5.1 Select an installation source
-----------------------------------
After a welcome screen, you will be prompted for an installation
source. Choose CD if you are using a Core ISO, or choose FTP/HTTP if
you are using the FTP/HTTP ISO.
* If you chose the CORE installer, continue below with Prepare Hard
Drive.
* FTP/HTTP only: You shall be prompted to load ethernet drivers
manually, if desired. Udev is quite effective at loading the
required modules, so you may assume it has already done so. You
may verify this by invoking ifconfig -a from vc/3. (Select OK to
continue.)
2.6 Configure Network (FTP/HTTP)
================================
Available Interfaces will be presented. If an interface and HWaddr is
listed, then your module has already been loaded. If your interface is
not listed, you may probe it from the installer, or manually do so from
another virtual console.
The following screen will prompt you to _Select the interface,
Probe,_ or _Cancel_. Choose the appropriate interface and continue.
The installer will then ask if you wish to use DHCP. Choosing Yes
will run *dhcpcd* to discover an available gateway and request an IP
address; Choosing No will prompt you for your static IP, netmask,
broadcast, gateway DNS IP, HTTP proxy, and FTP proxy. Lastly, you will
be presented with an overview to ensure your entries are correct.
2.6.1 Wireless Quickstart (If you need wireless connectivity during the installation process)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The wireless drivers and utilities are now available to you in the live
environment of the installation media.
If you need wireless functionality from the initial installation
(live installer environment) onwards, the basic procedure will be:
* Switch to a free virtual console, e.g.: -F3
* Identify your wireless card and appropriate module:
hwdetect --show-net
* Ensure udev has loaded the module:
lsmod | grep
* If not, probe it:
modprobe
* Ensure the driver has created a usable wireless kernel interface:
iwconfig
(Output should show an available wireless interface)
* Bring the interface up with ifconfig up
.
An example, using an atheros card and madwifi driver:
ifconfig ath0 up
(Remember, your interface may be named something else, depending on
your module (driver) and chipset: wlan0, eth1, etc.)
* Specify the id of the wireless network with iwconfig
essid key , e.g.:
iwconfig ath0 essid linksys key 0241baf34c
* Acquire an IP address with dhcpcd . e.g.:
dhcpcd ath0
* Ensure you can route:
ping -c 3 www.google.com
Done.
After the initial Arch installation is complete, you may wish to
refer to Wireless Setup to ensure a permanent configuration solution
for your system.
Return to vc/1 with -F1. Continue with Prepare Hard Drive
2.7 Prepare Hard Drive
======================
Select the first menu entry "Prepare Hard Drive".
* Option 1: Auto Prepare
Auto-Prepare divides your disk into the following configuration:
* ext2 /boot partition, default size 32MB. _You will be prompted to
modify the size to you requirement._
* swap partition, default size 256MB. _You will be prompted to
modify the size to you requirement._
* A Separate / and /home partition, (sizes can also be specified).
You may choose from ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs and jfs, but note
that _both / and /home must share the same fs type_ if choosing
the Auto Prepare option.
Be warned that Auto-prepare will completely erase the chosen hard
drive. Read the warning presented by the installer very carefully, and
make sure the correct device is about to be partitioned.
* Option 2: *(Recommended)* Partition Hard Drives (with cfdisk)
This option will allow for the most robust and customized
partitioning solution for your personal needs.
_At this point, more advanced GNU/Linux users who are familiar and
comfortable with manually partitioning may wish to skip down to
_'Select Packages_' below._
2.7.1 Partition Hard Drives
---------------------------
2.7.1.1 Partition Info
......................
Partitioning a hard disk drive defines specific areas (the partitions)
within the disk, that will each appear and behave as a separate disk
and upon which a filesystem may be created (formatted). There exist 3
types of disk partitions: *Primary, Extended, and Logical.*
*Primary* partitions can be bootable, and are limited to 4. If a
partitioning scheme requires more than 4 partitions, we are forced to
use an *extended* partition which will contain *logical* partitions.
Extended partitions are not usable by themselves; they are merely a
"container" for logical partitions. If required, a hard disk shall
contain only one extended partition; which shall then be sub-divided
into logical partitions.
When partitioning a disk, one can observe this numbering scheme by
creating primary partitions sda1-3 followed by creating an extended
partition, sda4, and subsequently creating logical partition(s) within
the extended partition; sda5, sda6, and so on.
2.7.1.2 Swap Partition
......................
A swap partition is a place on your hard drive where virtual ram
resides, allowing the kernel to easily use disk storage for data that
does not fit into physical RAM.
Historically, the general rule for swap partition size was 2x the
amount of physical RAM. Over time, as computers have gained ever larger
memory capacities, this rule has become increasingly deprecated.
Generally, on machines with up to 512MB RAM, the 2x rule is usually
quite sufficient. On machines with 1GB RAM, generally a 1x rule is
adequate. If you have gratuitous amounts of RAM (more than 1024 MB) it
may be possible to completely forgo a swap partition altogether, though
this is not recommended. We will create a 1 GB swap partition in this
example. If you plan on using suspend-to-disk, (hibernate) you must
have a swap partition at least *equal* in size to the amount of
physical RAM, and some Arch users even recommend oversizing it beyond
the amount of physical RAM by 10-15%, to allow for possible bad sectors.
2.7.1.3 Partition Scheme
........................
A disk partitioning scheme is a very personalized preference. Each
user's choices will be unique to their own computing habits and
requirements. Filesystem candidates for separate partitions include:
*/* (root) _The root filesystem is the primary filesystem from
which all other filesystems stem; the top of the hierarchy. All files
and directories appear under the root directory "/", even if they are
stored on different physical devices. The contents of the root
filesystem must be adequate to boot, restore, recover, and/or repair
the system._
*/boot* _This directory contains the kernel and ramdisk images as
well as the bootloader configuration file, stage1 and stage2. /boot
also stores data that is used before the kernel begins executing
user-mode programs. This may include saved master boot sectors and
sector map files._
*/home* _User data and user specific configuration files for
applications are stored in each user's home directory in a file that
starts with the '.' character (a "dot file")._
*/usr* _While root is the primary filesystem, /usr is the secondary
hierarchy, for user data, containing the majority of (multi-)user
utilities and applications. /usr is shareable, read-only data. That
means that /usr shall be shareable between various hosts and must not
be written to, except in the case of system update. Any information
that is host-specific or varies with time is stored elsewhere._
*/tmp* _directory for programs that require temporary files_
*/var* _contains variable data; spool directories and files,
administrative and logging data, pacman's cache, the ABS tree, etc._
It is generally considered good practice and more versatile to have
/ and /home on separate partitions. In this example, we shall use one
partition for /, one partition for /home, and a swap partition.
/var contains many small files. You may wish to take this into
consideration when choosing a filesystem type for it.
2.7.1.4 cfdisk
..............
Start by creating the primary partition that will contain the *root*,
(/) filesystem.
Choose *N*ew -> Primary and enter the size you want (something
between 4 and 12 GB is a good choice for a full-featured Linux system).
Put the partition at the beginning of the disk.
Also choose the *T*ype by designating it as '83 Linux'. The created
/ partition should appear as sda1.
Next, create a partition for swap. Select an appropriate size and
specify the *T*ype as 82 (Linux swap / Solaris). The created swap
partition should appear as sda2.
Lastly, create another partition for your /home directory. Choose
another primary partition and set the desired size.
Likewise, select the *T*ype as 83 Linux. The created /home partition
should appear as sda3.
Example:
Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
sda1 Primary Linux 10240 #root
sda2 Primary Linux swap / Solaris 1024 #swap
sda3 Primary Linux 26480 #home
Choose *W*rite and type *'yes*'. Beware that this operation may
destroy data on your disk. Choose *Q*uit to leave the partitioner.
Choose Done to leave this menu and continue with "Set Filesystem
Mountpoints".
Since the latest developments of the Linux kernel which include the
libata and PATA modules, all IDE, SATA and SCSI drives have adopted the
sd_x_ naming scheme. This is perfectly normal and should not be a
concern.
2.7.2 Set Filesystem Mountpoints
--------------------------------
First you will be asked for your swap partition. Choose the appropriate
partition (sda2 in this example). You will be asked if you want to
create a swap filesystem; select yes. Next, choose where to mount the /
(root) directory (sda1 in the example). You will be asked what kind of
filesystem you want.
2.7.2.1 Filesystem Types
........................
Again, a filesystem type is a very subjective matter which comes down
to personal preference. Each one has its own advantages and
disadvantages, and differences in performance are often more likely to
be attributable to placebo than to human-perceivable measurements. Here
is a very brief overview of supported filesystems:
1. *ext2* _Second Extended Filesystem_- Old, reliable GNU/Linux
filesystem. Very stable, but _without journaling support_. May be
inconvenient for root (/) and /home, due to very long fsck's. _An ext2
filesystem can easily be converted to ext3._
2. *ext3* _Third Extended Filesystem_- Essentially the ext2 system,
but with journaling support. ext3 is completely compatible with ext2.
_Extremely_ stable, mature, and by far the most widely used, supported
and developed GNU/Linux FS.
*High Performance Filesystems:*
3. *ReiserFS* - Hans Reiser's high-performance journaling FS uses a
very interesting method of data throughput. ReiserFS is touted as very
fast, especially when dealing with many small files. ReiserFS is fast
at formatting, yet comparatively slow at mounting. Quite mature and
stable. ReiserFS is not actively developed at this time (Reiser4 is the
new Reiser filesystem).
4. *JFS* - IBM's *J*ournaled *F*ile*S*ystem- the first filesystem to
offer journaling has had many years of use in the IBM AIX® OS before
being ported to Linux. JFS currently uses the least CPU resources of
any Linux filesystem. Very fast at formatting, mounting and fsck's, and
very good all-around performance, especially in conjunction with the
deadline I/O scheduler. (See JFS.) Not as widely supported as ext or
ReiserFS, but very mature and stable.
5. *XFS* - Another early journaling filesystem originally developed
by Silicon Graphics for the IRIX OS and ported to Linux. XFS is best
suited for very fast throughput on large files. Very fast at formatting
and mounting. Generally benchmarked as slower with many small files, in
comparison to other filesystems. XFS is very mature and is currently
the only available stable Linux FS with online defragmentation ability.
2.7.2.2 A note on Journaling
............................
All above filesystems, except ext2, utilize journaling
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journaling_file_system). Journaling file
systems are fault-resilient file systems that use a journal to log
changes before they're committed to the file system to avoid metadata
corruption in the event of a crash. Note that not all journaling
techniques are alike; specifically, only ext3 offers _data-mode
journaling_, (though, not by default), which journals _both_ data _and_
meta-data (but with significant speed penalty). The others only offer
_ordered-mode journaling_, which journals meta-data only. While all
will return your filesystem to a valid state after recovering from a
crash, _data-mode journaling_ offers the greatest protection against
file system corruption and data loss but can suffer from performance
degradation, as all data is written twice (first to the journal, then
to the disk). Depending on how important your data is, this may be a
consideration in choosing your filesystem type.
Choose and create the filesystem (format the partition) for / by
selecting *yes*. You will now be prompted to add any additional
partitions. In our example, only sda3 is remaining. Choose a filesystem
type and mount it as /home. Again, create the filesystem and choose
Done. Return to main menu.
2.8 Select Packages
===================
* Core ISO: Choose CD as source and select the appropriate CD drive
if you have more than one.
* FTP ISO: Select an FTP/HTTP mirror. _Note that archlinux.org is
throttled to 50KB/s_.
Package selection is split into two stages. First, you will select
package categories, then you will be presented will the full lists of
packages in the selected categories, allowing you to fine-tune your
selections. The space bar selects and unselects the categories.
* *BASE:* Contains the minimal GNU/Linux package set; just enough
for a barebones environment; The linux kernel, GNU, fsprogs,
bootloader, editor, bash, etc.
* *SUPPORT:* Additional convenience packages for networking and
filesystems, etc; gpm, fuse, dnsutils, wireless drivers,
ndiswrapper, ntfs-3g, and so forth.
* *DEVEL:* Critical software compiling tools such as GCC, autoconf,
automake and make.
* *LIB:* A thimbleful of various extra libraries such as gmp,
lebelf, libevent, etc.
Choose OK to continue and then choose 'yes' for 'Select all packages
by default', for now.
The next screen will present you with the selected packages within
your selected categories. Leaving all selected is a safe choice for
beginners, while more experienced users will wish to trim a few
unnecessary packages. (For instance, an unneeded filesystem type
utility, unneeded drivers, etc.)
2.9 Install Packages
====================
Next, choose 'Install Packages'. You will be asked if you wish to keep
the packages in the pacman cache. If you choose 'yes', you will have
the flexibility to downgrade to previous package versions in the
future, so this is recommended (you can always clear the cache in the
future). The installer script will now install the selected packages,
as well as the default Arch 2.6 kernel, to your system.
* FTP ISO: The Pacman package manager will now download and install
your selected packages. (See vc/5 for output, vc/1 to return to
the installer)
* CORE ISO: The packages will be installed from the CD.
Note: For Arch 2007.08 FTP installation: after 'Install Packages'
you have to upgrade pacman (+F3, pacman -Sy pacman) and again
'Install Packages'.
2.10 Configure the System
=========================
_Closely following and understanding these steps is of key importance
to ensure a properly configured system._
The installer will ask if you want to choose hwdetect to gather
information for your configuration. Beginners should choose 'yes'.
Advanced users who are thoroughly familiar with their hardware,
required modules, and who are able to manually configure /etc/rc.conf,
/etc/mkinitcpio and /etc/fstab, etc. from scratch may wish to choose
'no'. (Needless to say, this option is very involved, beyond the scope
of this guide, and therefore is not covered.)
Next, you will be asked if you need support for booting from USB
devices, FireWire devices, PCMCIA devices, NFS shares, software RAID
arrays, LVM2 volumes, encrypted volumes, and DSDT support. Choose yes
if you need it; in our example nothing is needed.
Now you will be asked which text editor you want to use; choose nano
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nano_%28text_editor%29) or vi/vim
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vim_%28text_editor%29) (recommended). You
will be presented with a menu including the main configuration files
for your system.
2.10.0.1 Can the installer handle this more automatically?
..........................................................
Hiding the process of system configuration is in direct opposition to
The Arch Way. While it is true that recent versions of the kernel and
hardware probing tools offer excellent hardware support and
auto-configuration, Arch presents the user all pertinent configuration
files during installation for the purpose of _transparency_. By the
time you have finished modifying these files to your specifications,
you will have learned the simple method of manual Arch Linux system
configuration and become more familiar with the base structure, leaving
you better prepared to use your new installation productively.
2.10.0.2 */etc/rc.conf*
.......................
Arch Linux follows in the **BSD* tradition of utilizing */etc/rc.conf*
as the principal location for system configuration. This one file
contains a wide range of configuration information, principally used at
system startup. As its name directly implies, it also contains settings
for and invokes the /etc/rc* files, and is, of course, sourced _by_
these files. /etc/rc.conf offers a simple, elegant method of
streamlining system resource configuration by encompassing a wide range
of control, readily accessible for the Arch user.
* *LOCALIZATION* section
* *LOCALE*=: This sets your system locale, which will be used
by all i18n-aware applications and utilities. You can get a
list of the available locales by running 'locale -a' from the
command line. This setting's default is fine for US English
users.
* *HARDWARECLOCK*=: Specifies whether the hardware clock, which
is synchronized on bootup and on shutdown, stores *UTC* time,
or the *localtime*. UTC makes sense because it greatly
simplifies changing timezones and daylight savings time.
localtime is necessary if you dual boot with an operating
system such as Windows, that only stores localtime to the
hardware clock.
* *TIMEZONE*=: Specify your TIMEZONE. (All available zones are
under /usr/share/zoneinfo/).
* *KEYMAP*=: The available keymaps are in
/usr/share/kbd/keymaps. Please note that this setting is only
valid for your TTYs, not any graphical window managers or X!
* *CONSOLEFONT*=: Available console fonts reside under
/usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ if you must change. The default
(blank) is safe.
* *CONSOLEMAP*=: Defines the console map to load with the
setfont program on bootup. Possible maps are found in
/usr/share/kbd/consoletrans, if needed. The default (blank)
is safe.
* *USECOLOR*=: Select "yes" if you have a color monitor and
wish to have colors in your consoles.
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
TIMEZONE="US/Eastern"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"
* *HARDWARE* section
* *MOD_AUTOLOAD*=: Setting this to "yes" will utilize *udev* to
automatically probe hardware and load the appropriate modules
during boot-up, (convenient with the default modular kernel).
Setting this to "no" will rely on the user's ability to
specify this information manually, or compile their own
custom kernel and modules, etc.
* *MOD_BLACKLIST*=: This has become deprecated in favor of
adding blacklisted modules directly to the *MODULES=* line
below.
* *MODULES*=: Specify additional MODULES if you know that an
important module is missing, (*hwdetect* should have filled
in the most important modules). Also specify any blacklisted
modules by prefixing them with a bang (!). Udev will be
forced NOT to load blacklisted modules. In the example, the
IPv6 module as well as the annoying pcspeaker are blacklisted.
# Scan hardware and load required modules at bootup
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
# Module Blacklist - Deprecated
MOD_BLACKLIST=()
#
MODULES=(e100 eepro100 mii slhc snd-ac97-codec snd-intel8x0 soundcore !net-pf-10 !pcspkr)
* *NETWORKING* section
* *HOSTNAME*=:Set your HOSTNAME to your liking.
* *eth0*=: 'Ethernet, card 0'. Adjust the interface IP address,
netmask and broadcast address _if_ you are using *static IP*.
Set eth0="dhcp" if you want to use *DHCP*
* *INTERFACES*=: Specify any/all interfaces here. If you do not
use DHCP to configure a device, just keep in mind that the
value of the variable (whose name must be equal to the name
of the device which is supposed to be configured) equals the
line which would be appended to the ifconfig command if you
were to configure the device manually in the shell.
* *gateway*=: If you are using *static IP*, set the gateway
address. Ignore this entry if using *DHCP*
* *ROUTES*=: If you are using static *IP*, remove the *!* in
front of 'gateway'. Leave the *!* if using *DHCP*
Example, using *DHCP*:
HOSTNAME="arch"
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
Arch uses the *dhcpcd* DHCP client. Alternatively, *dhclient* is
available from the [extra] repository via pacman.
* *DAEMONS* section
This array simply lists the names of those scripts contained in
/etc/rc.d/ which are to be started during the boot process, and the
order in which they start.
DAEMONS=(@network syslog-ng netfs crond)
* If a script name is prefixed with a bang (!), it is not executed.
* If a script is prefixed with an "at" symbol (@), then it will be
executed in the background; the startup sequence will not wait for
successful completion of each daemon before continuing to the
next. (Useful for speeding up system boot).
* Edit this array whenever new system services are installed, if
starting them automatically during bootup is desired.
This 'BSD-style' init, is the Arch way of handling what others
handle with various symlinks to an /etc/init.d directory.
2.10.0.3 About DAEMONS
......................
You do not have to change the daemons line at this time, but it is
useful to explain what daemons are, because we need them later in this
guide.
Analogous to a Windows service, a _daemon_ is a program that runs in
the background, waiting for events to occur and offering services. A
good example is a webserver that waits for a request to deliver a page
or an SSH server waiting for someone trying to log in. While these are
full-featured applications, there are daemons whose work is not that
visible. Examples are a daemon which writes messages into a log file
(e.g. syslog, metalog), a daemon which lowers your CPU's frequency if
your system has nothing to do (e.g.:cpufreq), and a daemon which offers
you a graphical login (e.g.: gdm, kdm). All these programs can be added
to the daemons line and will be started when the system boots. Useful
daemons will be presented during this guide.
Historically, the term _daemon_ was coined by the programmers of
MIT's Project MAC. They took the name from _Maxwell's demon_, an
imaginary being from a famous thought experiment that constantly works
in the background, sorting molecules. UNIX
systems
inherited this terminology and created the backronym *d*isk *a*nd
*e*xecution *mon*itor.
* *"Tip: All Arch daemons reside under /etc/rc.d/*"
2.10.0.4 /etc/fstab
...................
The *fstab* (for *f*ile *s*ystems *tab*le) is part of the system
configuration listing all available disks and disk partitions, and
indicating how they are to be initialized or otherwise integrated into
the overall system's filesystem. The */etc/fstab* file is most commonly
used by the *mount* command. The mount command takes a filesystem on a
device, and adds it to the main system heirarchy that you see when you
use your system. *mount -a* is called from /etc/rc.sysinit, about 3/4
of the way through the boot process, and reads /etc/fstab to determine
which options should be used when mounting the specified devices
therein. If *noauto* is appended to a filesystem in /etc/fstab, *mount
-a* will not mount it at boot.
An example */etc/fstab*:
#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
#
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
#/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0
#/dev/dvd /media/dvd auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0
#/dev/fd0 /media/fl auto user,noauto 0 0
/dev/disk/by-uuid/0ec-933.. / jfs defaults,noatime,nodiratime 0 1
/dev/disk/by-uuid/7ef-223.. /home jfs defaults,noatime,nodiratime 0 2
/dev/disk/by-uuid/530-1e-.. swap swap defaults 0 0
Modify your *fstab* to your requirements. As of 2008-04rc, Arch is
now utilizing the UUID, or Universally Unique Identifier naming
convention, for consistent device mapping. This is due to active
developments in the kernel and also udev, which may randomly change the
ordering in which drivers for storage controllers are loaded, yielding
an unbootable system/kernel panic. Nearly every motherboard has several
controllers (onboard SATA, onboard IDE), and due to the aforementioned
development updates, /dev/sda may become /dev/sdb on the next reboot-
hence the persistent device naming convention of UUID has been adopted
for reliability. _If you do not need nor wish to use UUID, simply
change your fstab to use whatever naming convention desired._ (See
this wiki article for more information on persistent block device
naming. )
ls -lF /dev/disk/by-uuid/
Will list all partitions by uuid.
* If you plan on using *hal* to automount media such as DVDs, you
may wish to comment out the cdrom and dvd entries in preparation
for *hal*, which will be installed later in this guide.
*"The 'noatime' and 'nodiratime' options may safely be appended to /
and /home regardless of your specified filesystem type for increased
speed, performance, and power efficiency, for laptops as well as
desktops.*"
Expanded information available in the Fstab wiki entry.
2.10.0.5 */etc/mkinitcpio.conf and /etc/modprobe.conf*
......................................................
Editing these configurations is unnecessary at this point.
* *mkinitcpio.conf* This file allows you to fine-tune the initial
ram filesystem (also commonly referred to as the initial ramdisk
or "initrd") for your system. The initrd is a gzipped image that
is read by the kernel during bootup. The purpose of the initrd is
to bootstrap the system to the point where it can access the root
filesystem. This means it has to load any modules that are
required for devices like IDE, SCSI, or SATA drives (or USB/FW, if
you are booting off a USB/FW drive). Once the initrd loads the
proper modules, either manually or through udev, it passes control
to the Arch system and your bootup continues. For this reason, the
initrd only needs to contain the modules necessary to access the
root filesystem. It does not need to contain every module you
would ever want to use. The majority of your everyday modules will
be loaded later on by udev, during the init process.
* *modprobe.conf* can be used to set special configuration options
for the kernel modules
2.10.0.6 /etc/resolv.conf (for Static IP)
.........................................
The _resolver_ is a set of routines in the C library that provide
access to the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). One of the main
functions of DNS is to translate domain names into IP addresses, to
make the Web a friendlier place. The resolver configuration file, or
/etc/resolv.conf, contains information that is read by the resolver
routines the first time they are invoked by a process.
* _If you are using DHCP, you may safely ignore this file, as by
default, it will be dynamically created and destroyed by the
dhcpcd daemon. You may change this default behavior if you wish.
(See Network)._
If you use a static IP, set your DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf
(nameserver ). You may have as many as you wish, e.g.:
nameserver 4.2.2.1
nameserver 4.2.2.2
If you are using a router, you will probably want to specify your
DNS servers in the router itself, and merely point to it from your
*/etc/resolv.conf*, using your router's IP (which is also your gateway
from */etc/rc.conf*), e.g.:
nameserver 192.168.1.1
If using *DHCP*, you may also specify your DNS servers in the
router, or allow automatic assignment from your ISP, if your ISP is so
equipped.
2.10.0.7 /etc/hosts
...................
This file associates IP addresses with hostnames and aliases, one line
per IP address. For each host a single line should be present with the
following information:
[aliases...]
Add your _hostname_, coinciding with the one specified in
/etc/rc.conf, as an alias, so that it looks like this:
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost '''''yourhostname'''''
_This format, _'including the 'localhost' and your actual host
name_', is required for program compatibility! Errors in this entry may
cause poor network performance and/or certain programs to open very
slowly, or not work at all. This is a very common error for beginners._
If you use a static IP, add another line using the syntax:
e.g.:
192.168.1.100 '''''yourhostname'''''.domain.org '''''yourhostname'''''
* *TIP*: For convenience, you may also use /etc/hosts aliases for
hosts on your network, and/or on the Web, e.g.:
64.233.169.103 www.google.com g
192.168.1.90 media
192.168.1.88 data
The above example would allow you to access google simply by typing
'g' into your browser, and access to a media and data server on your
network by name and without the need for typing out their respective IP
addresses.
2.10.0.8 /etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow
.............................................
Modify these configurations according to your needs if you plan on
using the ssh daemon. The default configuration will reject all
incoming connections, not only ssh connections. Edit your
*/etc/hosts.allow *file and add the appropriate parameters:
* let everyone connect to you
sshd: ALL
* restrict it to a certain ip
sshd: 192.168.0.1
* OR restrict for an IP range
sshd: 10.0.0.0/255.255.255.0
If you do not plan on using the ssh daemon, leave this file at the
default, (empty), for added security.
2.10.0.9 /etc/locale.gen
........................
The *locale-gen* command reads from */etc/locale.gen* to generate
specific locales. They can then be used by *glibc* and any other
locale-aware program or library for rendering "peculiar" text,
correctly displaying regional monetary values, time and date formats,
alphabetic idiosyncrasies, and other locale-specific standards. The
ability to setup a default locale is a great built-in privilege of
using a UNIX
-like operating system.
By default /etc/locale.gen is an empty file with commented
documentation. Once edited, the file remains untouched. *locale-gen*
runs on every *glibc* upgrade, generating all the locales specified in
/etc/locale.gen.
Choose the locale(s) you need (remove the # in front of the lines
you want), e.g.:
en_US ISO-8859-1
en_US.UTF-8
The installer will now run the locale-gen script, which will
generate the locales you specified. You may change your locale in the
future by editing /etc/locale.gen and subsequently running 'locale-gen'
as root.
*"If you fail to choose your locale, this will lead to a "The
current locale is invalid..." error. This is perhaps the most common
mistake by new Arch users, and also leads to the most commonly asked
questions on the forum.*"
2.10.0.10 Root password
.......................
Finally, set a root password and make sure that you remember it later.
Return to the main menu and continue with installing bootloader.
2.10.0.11 Pacman-Mirror
.......................
Choose a mirror repository for *pacman*.
* _archlinux.org is throttled, limiting downloads to 50KB/s_
Return to the main menu.
2.11 Install Bootloader
=======================
Because we have no secondary operating system in our example, we will
need a bootloader. GNU GRUB (http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/) is the
recommended bootloader. Alternatively, you may choose LILO
(http://lilo.go.dyndns.org/).
2.11.1 GRUB
-----------
The provided *GRUB* configuration (*/boot/grub/menu.lst*) should be
sufficient, but verify its contents to ensure accuracy. You may want to
alter the resolution of the console by adding a vga= kernel
argument corresponding to your desired virtual console resolution. (A
table of resolutions and the corresponding numbers is printed in the
menu.lst.)
Example:
title Arch Linux (Main)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/0ec1-9339.. ro vga=773
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
*"The linux kernel, 'vmlinuz', is so named because it incorporated
*v*irtual *m*emory capability early in its development. The *z* denotes
a zipped (compressed) image.*"
Explanation:
Line 1: *title*: A printed menu selection. "Arch Linux (Main)" will
be printed on the screen as a menu selection.
Line 2: *root*: *GRUB*'s root; the drive and partition where the
kernel (/boot) resides, according to system BIOS. (More accurately,
where GRUB's stage2 file resides). *NOT necessarily the root* (/) file
system, as they can reside on separate partitions. GRUB's numbering
scheme starts at 0, and uses an hd_x,x_ format regardless of IDE or
SATA, and enclosed within parentheses.
The example indicates that /boot is on the first partition of the
first drive, according to BIOS, or, (hd0,0).
Line 3: *kernel*: This line specifies:
* The path and filename of the kernel *"relative to GRUB's root*".
In the example, /boot is merely a directory residing on the same
partition as / and *vmlinuz26* is the kernel filename;
*/boot/vmlinuz26*. _If /boot were on a separate partition, the path and
filename would be simply _'/vmlinuz26*, being relative to *GRUB_"s
root._
* The root= argument to the kernel statement specifies the partition
containing the root (/) directory in the booted system, (more
accurately, the partition containing */sbin/init*), _according to
the UUID numbering scheme_ as of 2008-04rc, which uses the
/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx format.
* An easy way to distinguish the 2 appearances of 'root' in
/boot/grub/menu.lst is to remember that the first root statement
_informs GRUB where the kernel resides_, whereas the second root=
kernel argument _tells the kernel where the root filesystem (/)
resides_.
* Kernel options.
In our example, *ro* mounts the filesystem as read only during
startup, and the *"vga=773"* argument will give a 1024x768 framebuffer
with 256 color depth.
Line 4: *initrd*: (For Initial RAM disk) The path and filename of
the initial RAM filesystem *relative to GRUB*'s root. Again, in the
example, /boot is merely a directory residing on the same partition as
/ and *kernel26.img* is the initrd filename; */boot/kernel26.img*. _If
/boot were on a separate partition, the path and filename would be
simply _'/kernel26.img*, being relative to *GRUB_"s root._
Install the *GRUB* bootloader to the master boot record, (sda in our
example).
That's it; You have configured and installed your Arch Linux base
system. Exit the install, and type the magic word:
reboot
(Be sure to remove the installer CD)
Your new Arch Linux system will boot up and finish with a login
prompt (you may want to change the boot order in your *BIOS* back to
booting from hard disk).
*Congratulations, and welcome to your shiny, new Arch Linux base
system!*
3 The Base System
*****************
Your new Arch Linux base system is now a functional GNU/Linux
environment ready for customization. From here, you may build this
elegant set of tools into whatever you wish or require for your
purposes.
Login with the root account. We will configure pacman and update the
system as root, then add a normal user. Virtual consoles 1-6 are
available.
3.1 Configuring the network (if necessary)
==========================================
* _This section will assist you in configuring most types of
networks, if your network configuration is not working for you._
If you properly configured your system, you should have a working
network. Try to ping www.google.com to verify this.
ping -c 3 www.google.com
_If you have successfully established a network connection, continue
with _'Update, Sync and Upgrade the system with pacman_'._
If, after trying to ping www.google.com, you get an "unknown host"
error, you may conclude that your network is not properly configured.
You may choose to double-check the following files for integrity and
proper settings:
*/etc/rc.conf* # Specifically, check your HOSTNAME= and NETWORKING
section for typos and errors.
*/etc/hosts* # Double-check your format. (See above.)
*/etc/resolv.conf* # If you are using a static IP. If you are using
DHCP, this file will be dynamically created and destroyed by default,
but can be changed to your preference. (See Network.)
Advanced instructions for configuring the network can be found in
the Network article.
3.1.1 Wired LAN
---------------
Check your Ethernet with
ifconfig -a
All interfaces will be listed. You should see an entry for eth0, or
perhaps eth1.
* *Static IP*
If required, you can set a new static IP with:
ifconfig eth0 netmask up
and the default gateway with
route add default gw
Verify that /etc/resolv.conf contains your DNS server and add it if
it is missing. Check your network again with ping www.google.com. If
everything is working now, adjust /etc/rc.conf as described above for
static IP.
* *DHCP*
If you have a DHCP server/router in your network try:
dhcpcd eth0
If this is working, adjust /etc/rc.conf as described above, for
dynamic IP.
3.1.2 Wireless LAN
------------------
Detailed setup guide: Wireless Setup
3.1.3 Analog Modem
------------------
To be able to use a Hayes-compatible, external, analog modem, you need
to at least have the ppp package installed. Modify the file
/etc/ppp/options to suit your needs and according to man pppd. You will
need to define a chat script to supply your username and password to
the ISP after the initial connection has been established. The manpages
for pppd and chat have examples in them that should suffice to get a
connection up and running if you're either experienced or stubborn
enough. With udev, your serial ports usually are /dev/tts/0 and
/dev/tts/1. Tip: Read Dialup without a dialer HOWTO.
Instead of fighting a glorious battle with the plain pppd, you may
opt to install wvdial or a similar tool to ease the setup process
considerably. In case you're using a so-called WinModem, which is
basically a PCI plugin card working as an internal analog modem, you
should indulge in the vast information found on the LinModem
(http://www.linmodems.org/) homepage.
3.1.4 ISDN
----------
Setting up ISDN is done in three steps:
1. Install and configure hardware
2. Install and configure the ISDN utilities
3. Add settings for your ISP
The current Arch stock kernels include the necessary ISDN modules,
meaning that you will not need to recompile your kernel unless you're
about to use rather odd ISDN hardware. After physically installing your
ISDN card in your machine or plugging in your USB ISDN-Box, you can try
loading the modules with modprobe. Nearly all passive ISDN PCI cards
are handled by the hisax module, which needs two parameters: type and
protocol. You must set protocol to '1' if your country uses the 1TR6
standard, '2' if it uses EuroISDN (EDSS1), '3' if you're hooked to a
so-called leased-line without D-channel, and '4' for US NI1.
Details on all those settings and how to set them is included in the
kernel documentation, more specifically in the isdn subdirectory, and
available online. The type parameter depends on your card; a list of
all possible types can be found in the README.HiSax kernel
documentation. Choose your card and load the module with the
appropriate options like this:
modprobe hisax type=18 protocol=2
This will load the hisax module for my ELSA Quickstep 1000PCI, being
used in Germany with the EDSS1 protocol. You should find helpful
debugging output in your /var/log/everything.log file, in which you
should see your card being prepared for action. Please note that you
will probably need to load some USB modules before you can work with an
external USB ISDN Adapter.
Once you have confirmed that your card works with certain settings,
you can add the module options to your /etc/modprobe.conf:
alias ippp0 hisax
options hisax type=18 protocol=2
Alternatively, you can add only the options line here, and add hisax
to your MODULES array in the rc.conf. It's your choice, really, but
this example has the advantage that the module will not be loaded until
it's really needed.
That being done, you should have working, supported hardware. Now
you need the basic utilities to actually use it!
Install the isdn4k-utils package, and read the manpage to isdnctrl;
it'll get you started. Further down in the manpage you will find
explanations on how to create a configuration file that can be parsed
by isdnctrl, as well as some helpful setup examples. Please note that
you have to add your SPID to your MSN setting separated by a colon if
you use US NI1.
After you have configured your ISDN card with the isdnctrl utility,
you should be able to dial into the machine you specified with the
PHONE_OUT parameter, but fail the username and password authentication.
To make this work add your username and password to
/etc/ppp/pap-secrets or /etc/ppp/chap-secrets as if you were
configuring a normal analogous PPP link, depending on which protocol
your ISP uses for authentication. If in doubt, put your data into both
files.
If you set up everything correctly, you should now be able to
establish a dial-up connection with
isdnctrl dial ippp0
as root. If you have any problems, remember to check the logfiles!
3.1.5 DSL (PPPoE)
-----------------
These instructions are relevant to you only if your PC itself is
supposed to manage the connection to your ISP. You do not need to do
anything but define a correct default gateway if you are using a
separate router of some sort to do the grunt work.
Before you can use your DSL online connection, you will have to
physically install the network card that is supposed to be connected to
the DSL-Modem into your computer. After adding your newly installed
network card to the modules.conf/modprobe.conf or the MODULES array,
you should install the rp-pppoe package and run the pppoe-setup script
to configure your connection. After you have entered all the data, you
can connect and disconnect your line with
/etc/rc.d/adsl start
and
/etc/rc.d/adsl stop
respectively. The setup usually is rather easy and straightforward,
but feel free to read the manpages for hints. If you want to
automatically 'dial in' on boot-up, add adsl to your DAEMONS array.
4 Update, Sync and Upgrade the system with pacman
*************************************************
Now we will update the system using pacman.
4.0.0.1 What is pacman ?
........................
Pacman is the *pac*kage *man*ager of Arch Linux. Pacman is written in C
and is fast, simple, and extremely versatile. It manages your entire
package system and handles installation, removal, package downgrade
(through cache), custom compiled package handling, automatic dependency
resolution, remote and local searches and much more. Arch uses the
.tar.gz package format, which further enhances pacman's speed; Gzipped
tarballs, though slightly larger, are decompressed much faster than
their Bzipped counterparts, and are therefore generally installed more
expediently.
We will use pacman to download software packages from remote
repositories and install them onto your system.
Pacman is the most important tool in your Arch Linux toolbox for
building the base system into whatsoever you please.
4.1 Configuring pacman
======================
4.1.0.1 Package Repositories and /etc/pacman.conf
.................................................
Arch currently offers the following repositories readily accessible
through pacman:
*[core]*
The simple principle behind [core] is to provide only one of each
necessary tool for a base Arch Linux system; The GNU toolchain, the
Linux kernel, one editor, one command line browser, etc. (There are a
few exceptions to this. For instance, both vi and nano are provided,
allowing the user to choose one or both.) Developer maintained.
* _The Core installation cd simply contains an installer script, and
a snapshot of the core repository._
*[extra]*
The [extra] repository contains all Arch packages that are not
themselves necessary for a base Arch system, but contribute to a more
full-featured environment. *X*, KDE and GNOME, for instance, can be
found here. Developer maintained.
*[unstable]*
The [unstable] repository contains experimental and unstable
software, especially if the development version of a package has become
popular for some reason. For example, perhaps the upstream stable
version is hopelessly out of date, or the unstable version has some
groundbreaking changes that a lot of users seem interested in, like
experimental kernel drivers or -svn package versions. Developer
maintained.
*Contrary to popular belief, it is perfectly safe to enable the
unstable repository, as there are no name collisions with [core],
[community] or [extra]. Packages from [unstable] are only installed if
you explicitly do so. If there is a conflict between an [Unstable]
package and an installed package, pacman will warn you and resolve the
conflict, if prompted, by removing the installed package.*
The [unstable] repository is currently not maintained for _x86_64_.
*[testing]*
The [testing] repository contains packages that are candidates for
the [core], [extra] or [unstable] repositories. New packages go into
[testing] if:
* they are expected to break something on update and need to be
tested first
* they require other packages to be rebuilt. In this case, all
packages that need to be rebuilt are put into [testing] first and
when all rebuilds are done, they are moved back to the other
repositories. Developer maintained.
[testing] is the only repository that can have name collisions with
any of the other official repositories. If enabled, it has to be the
first repo listed in your _pacman.conf_ file.
*"Be careful when enabling [testing]. Your system may break after
you update with [testing] enabled. Only experienced users should use
it.*"
*[community]*
The [community] repository is maintained by the _Trusted Users
(TUs)_ and is part of the _Arch User Repository (AUR)_. It contains
binary packages from the _AUR_ that have enough votes and were adopted
by a _TU_. Like all repos listed above, [community] may be readily
accessed by pacman.
The *AUR* also contains the *unsupported* branch, which cannot be
accessed directly by pacman*. [unsupported] contains more than 8
thousand PKGBUILD scripts for building packages from source, that may
be unavailable through the other repos.
* *"AUR Helpers*" can help you seamlessly access
AUR.
*/etc/pacman.conf*
pacman will attempt to read /etc/pacman.conf each time it is
invoked. This configuration file is divided into sections, or
repositories. Each section defines a package repository that pacman
can use when searching for packages. The exception to this is the
options section, which defines global options.
nano /etc/pacman.conf
Example:
[core]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[extra]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
#[unstable]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[community]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Enable all desired repositories (remove the # in front of the
'Include =' and '[repository]' lines).
* *"When choosing repos, be sure to uncomment both the repository
header lines in [brackets] as well as the 'Include =' lines.
Failure to do so will result in the selected repository being
omitted! This is a very common error." *
4.1.1 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
------------------------------
Faster mirrors will dramatically improve pacman performance, and your
overall Arch Linux experience.
Edit /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist:
nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Remove all mirrors which are not on your continent, or are extremely
distant. (Using nano, you may use CTRL-K to cut each unneeded line.)
Edit /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist by placing the best mirror at the top
of the list. (Recall that archlinux.org is throttled to 50KB/s). If
using nano, you can cut a line with CTRL-K and paste with CTRL-U.
After changing mirrors, issue the following command:
pacman -Syy
This will force pacman to resynchronize with the new repo. Issuing
pacman -Syy _whenever a mirror is changed_, is good practice and will
avoid possible headaches.
4.1.1.1 Ignoring packages
.........................
When you execute the command "pacman -Syu", your entire system will be
updated. It is possible that you want to prevent a package from being
upgraded. An example could be the kernel (kernel26) or a package for
which an upgrade may prove problematic for your system. In this case,
you have two options; indicate the packages you want to skip in the
pacman command line using the -ignore switch (do pacman -S -help for
details) or permanently indicate the packages you want to skip in your
/etc/pacman.conf file:
IgnorePkg = kernel26
The typical way to use Arch is to use pacman to install all packages
unless there is no package available, in which case you can build your
own package using ABS. Many user-contributed packages are available in
the Arch User Repository. You are expected to keep your system up to
date with pacman -Syu, rather than selectively upgrading packages. Use
of *IgnorePkg* in /etc/pacman.conf is therefore discouraged, and should
be used sparingly, if you know what you are doing.
You may diverge from this typical usage as you wish; just be warned
that there is a greater chance that things will not work as intended
and that it could break your system. The majority of complaints happen
when selective upgrading or unusual compilation is performed.
4.1.1.2 Ignoring Configuration Files
....................................
In the same vein, you can also "protect" your configuration/system
files from being overwritten during "pacman -Su" using the following
option in your /etc/pacman.conf
NoUpgrade = etc/lilo.conf boot/grub/menu.lst
5 Update System
***************
Update, sync, and *upgrade* your entire new system with:
pacman -Syu
pacman will now fetch the latest information about available
packages and perform all available upgrades. (You may be prompted to
upgrade pacman itself at this point. If so, say yes, and then reissue
the pacman -Syu command when finished.) Reboot if a kernel upgrade has
occurred. *"Occasionally, configuration changes may take place
requiring user action during an update; read pacman's output for any
pertinent information.*"
If the messages go by too fast to read, you can look at them later
at /var/log/pacman.log.
5.0.0.1 The beauty of the Arch rolling release model
....................................................
Keep in mind that Arch is a *rolling release* distribution. This means
there is never a reason to reinstall or perform elaborate system
rebuilds to upgrade to the newest version. Simply issuing *pacman -Syu*
periodically keeps your entire system up-to-date and on the bleeding
edge. At the end of this upgrade, your system is completely current.
Reboot if a kernel upgrade has occurred.
5.0.0.2 Get familiar with pacman
................................
Pacman is the Arch user's best friend. It is highly recommended to
study and learn how to use the pacman tool. Try:
man pacman
Check out the bottom of this article, and look up the pacman wiki
entries at your leisure.
5.1 Add a user and setup groups
===============================
You should not do your everyday work using the root account. It is more
than poor practice; it is dangerous. Root is for administrative tasks.
Instead, add a normal user account using:
adduser
While most default options are safe to use, you may want to add
audio, optical, storage, video, and wheel when prompted for additional
groups (separate them with a comma and no space) - especially if you
are planning on having a full-featured desktop environment.
Groups and users thereof are defined in /etc/group.
They include:
* *audio* - for tasks involving sound card and related software
* *floppy* - for access to a floppy if applicable
* *lp* - for managing printing tasks
* *optical* - for managing tasks pertaining to the optical drive(s)
* *storage* - for managing storage devices
* *video* - for video tasks and 3d acceleration
* *wheel* - for using sudo
See the Groups article to understand what groups you need to be a
member of.
Check the man pages for usermod and gpasswd for more information.
5.1.0.1 Install and setup Sudo
..............................
See Sudo
6 Part II: Install X and configure ALSA
***************************************
6.1 Configure the audio card with alsamixer
===========================================
The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (known by the acronym *ALSA*) is
a Linux kernel component intended to replace the original Open Sound
System (OSS) for providing device drivers for sound cards. Besides the
sound device drivers, *ALSA* also bundles a user space library for
application developers who want to use driver features with a higher
level API than direct interaction with the kernel drivers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
udev will automatically probe your hardware on boot-up, loading the
corresponding module for your audio card. Your sound should already be
working, but you cannot hear anything because it is muted by default.
The alsa-utils package contains alsamixer, which will allow us to
configure the sound device from the console. (You may also run
alsamixer from an *X* environment later.)
Install the alsa-utils package: pacman -S alsa-utils Did you add
your normal user to the audio group? If not, now would be a good time.
As root do:
gpasswd -a yourusername audio
Log out the root user, and login as non-root user.
As *"normal, non-root*" user, do:
'''$''' alsamixer
Unmute the Master and PCM channels by scrolling to them with cursor
left/right and pressing *M*. Increase the volume levels with the
cursor-up key. (70-90 Should be a safe range.) Some machines, (like the
Thinkpad T61), have a *Speaker* channel which must be unmuted and
adjusted as well. Leave alsamixer by pressing ESC.
6.1.1 Sound Test
----------------
Test your sound configuration as normal user using aplay:
aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
You should hear a very eloquent woman say, "Front, center."
_Note: If you still cannot hear any sound, try checking (by running
alsamixer) if Speaker is muted. If so, press _'M_' to unmute it and
then try playing the test sound again._
Then run alsactl as root:
alsactl store
This will create '/etc/asound.state', saving the alsamixer settings.
Also, add the alsa _daemon_ to your DAEMONS section in /etc/rc.conf
to automatically restore the mixer settings on boot-up.
nano /etc/rc.conf
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond '''alsa''')
_Note that the alsa daemon merely restores your volume mixer levels
on boot up by reading /etc/asound.state. It is separate from the alsa
audio library (and kernel level API)._
Expanded information available in the ALSA wiki entry.
6.2 Installing and configuring X
================================
The *X* Window System (commonly *X11*, or just simply *X*) is a
networking and display protocol which provides windowing on bitmap
displays. It provides the standard toolkit and protocol to build
graphical user interfaces (GUIs) on UNIX
-like operating
systems.
*X* provides the basic framework, or primitives, for building GUI
environments: drawing and moving windows on the screen and interacting
with a mouse and/or keyboard. *X* does not mandate the user interface —
individual client programs handle this.
*X* is so named because it was preceded by the *W* Window System,
originally developed at Stanford University.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you plan on using an *open-source* video driver, and need 3d
acceleration, it is recommended to install the libgl library before
installing Xorg:
pacman -S libgl
_(Proprietary video drivers provide their own gl library
implementations.)_
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now we will install the base Xorg packages using pacman. This is the
first step in building a GUI.
pacman -S xorg
3d utilities such as glxgears are included in the *mesa* package:
pacman -S mesa
Now we have the base packages we need for running the *X* Server.
You should add the driver for your graphics card now (e.g.
xf86-video-). The easiest way to configure X.org is by installing
the correct driver packages first, and then generating
/etc/X11/xorg.conf using an autoconfiguration script, like Xorg
-configure.
You will need knowledge of which video chipset your machine has. If
you do not know, use the lspci program:
lspci | grep VGA
If you need a list of all *open-source* video drivers, do:
pacman -Ss xf86-video | less
Here is a list of *open source* drivers, and the corresponding video
chipsets.
* *xf86-video-apm* Alliance ProMotion video driver
* *xf86-video-ark* ark video driver
* *xf86-video-ati* ati video driver
* *xf86-video-chips* Chips and Technologies video
driver
* *xf86-video-cirrus* Cirrus Logic video driver
* *xf86-video-dummy* dummy video driver
* *xf86-video-fbdev* framebuffer video driver
* *xf86-video-glint* GLINT/Permedia video driver
* *xf86-video-i128* Number 0 i128 video driver
* *xf86-video-i740* Intel i740 video driver
* *xf86-video-i810* Intel i810/i830/i9xx video
drivers (deprecated - use -intel)
* *xf86-video-intel* Newer Version of Intel
i810/i830/i9xx video drivers
* *xf86-video-imstt* Integrated Micro Solutions
Twin Turbo vidoe driver
* *xf86-video-mga* mga video driver (Matrox
Graphics Adapter)
* *xf86-video-neomagic* neomagic video driver
* *xf86-video-nv* nvidia nv video driver
* *xf86-video-rendition* Rendition video driver
* *xf86-video-s3* S3 video driver
* *xf86-video-s3virge* S3 Virge video driver
* *xf86-video-savage* savage video driver
* *xf86-video-siliconmotion* siliconmotion video driver
* *xf86-video-sis* SiS video driver
* *xf86-video-sisusb* SiS USB video driver
* *xf86-video-tdfx* tdfx video driver
* *xf86-video-trident* Trident video driver
* *xf86-video-tseng* tseng video driver
* *xf86-video-unichrome* Unichrome video drivers
* *xf86-video-v4l* v4l video driver
* *xf86-video-vesa* vesa video driver
* *xf86-video-vga* VGA 16 color video driver
* *xf86-video-via* via video driver
* *xf86-video-vmware * vmware video driver
* *xf86-video-voodoo * voodoo video driver
* Note that the *vesa* driver is the most generic, and should work
with almost any modern video chipset. If you cannot find a
suitable driver for your video chipset, vesa *should* work.
* If you have an NVIDIA or ATI video adapter, you may wish to
install the proprietary NVIDIA or ATI drivers. *Installing
proprietary video drivers is covered below.*
Use pacman to install the appropriate video driver for your video
card/onboard video. e.g.:
pacman -S xf86-video-savage
(for the Savage driver.)
7 Create /etc/X11/xorg.conf
***************************
7.0.0.1 What is /etc/X11/xorg.conf?
...................................
/etc/X11/xorg.conf is the main configuration file for your *X* Window
System, the foundation of your *G*raphical *U*ser *I*nterface. It is a
plain text file ordered into sections and subsections. Important
sections are _Files, InputDevice, Module, Monitor, Modes, Screen,
Device, and ServerLayout_. Sections can appear in any order and there
may be more than one section of each kind, for example, if you have
more than one monitor, or if your laptop has a trackpoint as well as a
mouse.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By default, you will not have an Xorg config file, as the newest
versions of Xorg feature autodetection. _If_ the autodetection _works
satisfactorily_ and you do not need to specify special features such as
aiglx, compositing and so forth, you may forgo creating an xorg.conf
file.
_Most people will still find that they need to generate a config
file, however._
Advanced users may wish to manually create their own xorg.conf file.
You may also use the Xorg -configure script to generate a basic config
file. As root, do:
Xorg -configure
This will create a config file at /root/xorg.conf.new
To test the server, run:
X -config /root/xorg.conf.new
*X* should start with the white hollow vector *X* in the center of
the screen, which should respond to mouse, trackpoint or touchpad
movement. Use CTRL-Alt-Backspace to exit *X*.
Inspect your config file in case of errors:
nano /root/xorg.conf.new
Ensure the Xorg -configure script has correctly specified your video
driver. e.g.:
Section "Device"
...
Driver "savage"
...
EndSection
Ensure there are horizontal sync and vertical refresh specs under
section "Monitor". If not, add them:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 30.0 - 130.0 # Safe for LCD's
VertRefresh 50.0 - 100.0 # Safe for LCD's and most CRT's.
EndSection
(If you do not know these specs, consult your monitor's
documentation.)
Specify your default color depth under section "Screen":
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
(Typically, this will be set to 24 for true color.)
Also add your desired Modes to your "Display" subsection, at least
under the Depth 24 header, e.g.: SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0 Depth 24 Modes
"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" Add the following section, if you wish
to enable eye candy which requires the composite extension:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
Try your config again, after modifying:
X -config /root/xorg.conf.new
Ensure an *X* session opens, without errors, and move the generated
config file to /etc/X11/:
mv /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Detailed instructions in the Xorg article.
7.0.1 Alternative xorg.conf generation
--------------------------------------
If Xorg -configure is not generating a usable xorg.conf, you may
alternatively use the hwd tool. Install with:
pacman -S hwd
And run with
hwd -xa
You may also try the xorgcfg script:
xorgcfg
Lastly, you may choose xorgconfig, which will interactively prompt
you for hardware information to create a basic xorg.conf:
xorgconfig
Continue with *Simple baseline X test*
7.1 Using proprietary Graphics Driver (NVIDIA, ATI)
===================================================
You may choose to use the proprietary video drivers from NVIDIA or ATI.
7.1.1 NVIDIA Graphic Cards
--------------------------
The NVIDIA proprietary drivers are generally considered to be of good
quality, and offer 3D performance, whereas the open source *nv* driver
offers only 2d support at this time.
Before you configure your Graphics Card you will need to know which
driver fits. Arch currently has 3 different driver packages that each
match a certain subset of Cards:
*1. nvidia-71xx* _for very old Cards like TNT and TNT2_
*2. nvidia-96xx* _slightly newer cards up to the GF 4_
*3. nvidia* _newest GPUs after the GF 4_
Consult the NVIDIA-Homepage to see which one is for you. The
difference is only for the installation; Configuration works the same
with every driver.
Select and install the appropriate NVIDIA driver _for your card_,
e.g.:
pacman -S nvidia-96xx
The NVIDIA package has a utility for updating your existing
/etc/X11/xorg.conf for use with the NVIDIA driver:
nvidia-xconfig
It also has several options which will further specify the contents
and options of the xorg.conf file. For example,
nvidia-xconfig --composite --add-argb-glx-visuals
For more detailed information, see nvidia-xconfig(1).
Some useful tweaking options in the device section are (beware that
these may not work on your system): Option
"RenderAccel" "true" Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "AGPFastWrite" "true" Option
"EnablePageFlip" "true" Make sure all instances of DRI are commented
out:
# Load "dri"
Double check your /etc/X11/xorg.conf to make sure your default
depth, horizontal sync, vertical refresh, and resolutions are
acceptable.
Update kernel module dependencies:
depmod -a
Advanced instructions for nvidia configuration can be found in the
NVIDIA article.
Continue with *Simple baseline X test*
7.1.2 ATI Graphic Cards
-----------------------
ATI owners have two options for drivers. If you are unsure which driver
to use, please try the open-source one first. The open-source driver
will suit most needs along with being generally less problematic.
Install the *proprietary* ATI Driver with
pacman -S catalyst
Use the aticonfig tool to modify the xorg.conf.
Install the *open-source* ATI Driver with
pacman -S xf86-video-ati
Currently, the performance of the open-source driver is not on par
with that of the proprietary one. It also lacks TV-out, dual-link DVI
support, and possibly other features. On the other hand, it supports
Aiglx and has better dual-head support. The latest proprietary driver
does support AIGLX now. To use Compiz or Beryl add Option "AIGLX"
"True" to Section ServerFlags and Option "Composite" "True" to Section
Extensions.
Advanced instructions for ATI configuration can be found in the ATI
wiki.
7.2 Simple baseline X test
==========================
At this point, you should have xorg installed, with a suitable video
driver and an /etc/X11/xorg.conf configuration file. If you want to
test your configuration quickly, to ensure your ability to start *X*
from the command line before installing a complete desktop environment,
you can do so by invoking *xterm*. Xterm is a very simple terminal
emulator which runs in the *X *Server environment; it is installed as
part of the base xorg packages. More advanced users who are comfortable
with *X* configuration may choose to skip this optional step.
Prepare for the test by configuring a ~/.xinitrc:
7.2.0.1 ~/.xinitrc
..................
This file dictates what *X* Window client is invoked with the *startx*
and/or *xinit* command _on a per-user basis_. (The *startx* script is
merely a front end to the more versatile *xinit* command.) It also can
contain other startup items for the *X* environment. *.xinitrc* is a
so-called 'dot' (.) file. Files in a UNIX filesystem which are preceded
with a dot (.) are 'hidden', and will not show up with a regular 'ls'
command, usually for the sake of keeping directories tidy. Dot files
may be seen by issuing *ls -a*. The 'rc' denotes _Run Commands_ and
simply indicates that it is a configuration file. Since it controls how
a program runs, it is (although historically incorrect) also said to
stand for "Run Control".
*startx/xinit* will start the *X* server and clients. To determine
the client to run, *startx/xinit* will first look for a .xinitrc file
in the user's home directory. In the absence of file ~/.xinitrc, it
defaults to the global xinitrc in the xinit library directory;
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc, which defaults to using the TWM window manager.
(Hence, if you invoke startx without a ~/.xinitrc file, a TWM session
will start.)
Switch to your *"normal, non-root*" user:
su yourusername
* /etc/skel/ contains files and directories to provide sane defaults
for newly created user accounts. The name *skel* is derived from
the word *skeleton*, because the files it contains form the basic
structure for users' home directories.
Copy the sample xinitrc file from /etc/skel/ to your home directory:
cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~/
Edit the file:
nano ~/.xinitrc
and add:
exec xterm
So that it looks like this:
#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)
#
exec xterm
# exec wmaker
# exec startkde
# exec icewm
# exec blackbox
# exec fluxbox
_Be sure to have only one uncommented _'exec_' line in your
~/.xinitrc at this time_. Below, we shall edit this file again to
specify the appropriate desktop environment/window manager of your
choice.
Finally, test your configurations by starting *X* as *normal,
non-root* user, with:
startx
or
xinit
You should have an *xterm* session open up. You can exit the *X*
Server with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, or by typing "exit". If you have
problems starting *X*, you can look for errors in the
/var/log/Xorg.0.log file and on the console output of the console you
started *X* from.
If you prove a properly configured /etc/X11/xorg.conf by
successfully running the test, you can be assured that your DE/WM of
choice will work smoothly.
Advanced instructions for Xorg configuration can be found in the
Xorg article.
8 Part III: Installing and configuring a Desktop Environment
************************************************************
While The *X* Window System provides the basic framework for building a
_graphical user interface_ (GUI), a *Desktop Environment* (DE), works
atop and in conjunction with *X*, to provide a completely functional
and dynamic GUI. A DE typically provides icons, applets, windows,
toolbars, folders, wallpapers, applications and abilities like drag and
drop. The particular functionalities and designs of each DE will
uniquely affect your overall environment and experience. Therefore,
choosing a DE is a very subjective and personal decision. Choose the
best environment for _your_ needs.
* If you want something full-featured and similar to Windows and
Mac OSX, *KDE* is a good choice
* If you want something slightly more minimalist, which follows the
K.I.S.S. principle more closely, *GNOME* is a good choice
* *Xfce* is generally perceived as similar to GNOME, but lighter and
less demanding on system resources, yet still visually pleasing
and providing a very complete environment.
* *LXDE* is an even lighter choice than Xfce. It provides the most
things you need for a modern desktop while keeping relatively low
system resource usage. It's not yet as powerful or as complete as
GNOME or Xfce, but it can serve your daily needs well.
If you desire a lighter, less demanding GUI, you may choose to
simply install a *Window Manager*, or WM. A WM controls the placement
and appearance of application windows in conjunction with the X Window
System but does NOT provide such additions as panels, applets, icons,
applications, etc.
* Lightweight floating WM's include: *Openbox, Fluxbox, fvwm2*,
*Windowmaker, Pekwm, and TWM*.
* If you need something completely different, try *Awesome, ion,
wmii, dwm, or xmonad*.
8.1 Install Fonts
=================
At this point, you may wish to install visually pleasing, true type
fonts, before installing a desktop environment/window manager. Dejavu
and bitstream-vera are good, general-purpose font sets. You may also
want to have the Microsoft font sets, which are especially popular on
websites.
Install with:
pacman -S ttf-ms-fonts ttf-dejavu ttf-bitstream-vera
8.2 ~/.xinitrc (again)
======================
As *non-root user*, edit your /home/username/.xinitrc to utilize the DE
you wish to use. This will allow you to use *startx/xinit* from the
shell, in the future, to open your DE/WM of choice:
nano ~/.xinitrc
Uncomment or add the *'exec* ..' line of the appropriate desktop
environment/window manager. Some examples are below:
For the Xfce4 desktop environment: exec startxfce4
For the KDE desktop environment: exec startkde A *startkde* or
*startxfce4* command starts the KDE or Xfce4 desktop environment. This
command does not finish until you logout of the DE. Normally the shell
would wait for KDE to finish, then run the next command. The "exec"
prefix to this command tells the shell that this is the last command,
so the shell does not need to wait to run a subsequent command.
Remember to have only one uncommented *exec* line in your ~/.xinitrc
for now.
Continue below, installing the DE/WM of your choice.
8.3 GNOME
=========
8.3.1 About GNOME
-----------------
The *G*NU *N*etwork *O*bject *M*odel *E*nvironment. The GNOME project
provides two things: The GNOME desktop environment, an intuitive and
attractive desktop for end-users, and the GNOME development platform,
an extensive framework for building applications that integrate into
the rest of the desktop.
8.3.2 Installation
------------------
Install the base GNOME environment with:
pacman -S gnome
Additionally, you can install the extras:
pacman -S gnome-extra
It's safe to choose all packages shown in the extra package.
8.3.2.1 Useful DAEMONS for GNOME
................................
Recall from above that a daemon is a program that runs in the
background, waiting for events to occur and offering services. The
*hal* daemon, among other things, will automate the mounting of disks,
optical drives, and USB drives/thumbdrives for use in the GUI. The
*fam* daemon will allow real-time representation of file alterations in
the GUI, allowing instant access to recently installed programs, or
changes in the file system. Both *hal* and *fam* make life easier for
the GNOME user. The hal and fam packages are installed when you install
GNOME, but must be invoked to become useful.
You may want to install a graphical login manager. For GNOME, the
*gdm* daemon is a good choice.
As root:
pacman -S gdm
You will almost certainly want the *hal* and *fam* daemons.
Start hal and fam:
/etc/rc.d/hal start
/etc/rc.d/fam start
Add them to your /etc/rc.conf DAEMONS section, so they will be
invoked on bootup:
nano /etc/rc.conf
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond alsa '''hal fam gdm''')
(If you prefer to log into the console and manually start X, leave
out gdm.)
As normal user, start X:
startx
If ~/.xinitrc is not configured for GNOME, you may always start it
with *xinit*:
xinit /usr/bin/gnome-session
You may want to install a terminal and an editor. I would recommend
gnome-terminal (part of the group gnome-extra) and geany:
pacman -S geany gnome-terminal
Advanced instructions for installing and configuring GNOME can be
found in the Gnome article.
Congratulations! Welcome to your GNOME desktop environment on your
new Arch Linux system! You may wish to continue by viewing *Tweaks and
finishing touches*, or the rest of the information below. You may also
be interested in the Post Installation Tips wiki article.
8.3.3 Eye Candy
---------------
You may find the default GNOME theme and icons not very attractive. A
nice gtk theme is murrine. Install it with
pacman -S gtk-engine-murrine
and select it with System->Preferences->Theme. You can find more
themes, icons, and wallpaper at Gnome Look (http://www.gnome-look.org).
8.4 KDE
=======
8.4.1 About KDE
---------------
The *K* *D*esktop *E*nvironment. KDE is a powerful Free Software
graphical desktop environment for GNU/Linux and UNIX
workstations. It combines ease of use, contemporary functionality, and
outstanding graphical design with the technological superiority of
UNIX
-like operating systems.
8.4.2 Installation
------------------
Arch offers several versions of kde: *kde, kdebase, and KDEmod*. Choose
*one* of the following, and continue below with *Useful KDE DAEMONS*:
*1.)* Package *kde* is the complete, vanilla KDE, ~300MB.
pacman -S kde
*2.)* Package *kdebase* is a slimmed-down version with less
applications, ~80MB.
pacman -S kdebase
*3.)* Lastly, *KDEmod* is an Arch Linux exclusive, community-driven
system which is modified for extreme performance and modularity. The
KDEmod project website can be found at http://kdemod.ath.cx/
(http://kdemod.ath.cx/). KDEmod is extremely fast, lightweight and
responsive, with a pleasing, customized theme.
8.4.3 Useful KDE DAEMONS
------------------------
KDE will require the *hal* (*H*ardware *A*bstraction *L*ayer) and *fam*
(*F*ile *A*lteration *M*onitor) daemons. The *kdm* daemon is the *K*
*D*isplay *M*anager, which provides a *graphical login*, if desired.
Recall from above that a daemon is a program that runs in the
background, waiting for events to occur and offering services. The hal
daemon, among other things, will automate the mounting of disks,
optical drives, and USB drives/thumbdrives for use in the GUI. The fam
daemon will allow real-time representation of file alterations in the
GUI, allowing instant access to recently installed programs, or changes
in the file system.. Both *hal* and *fam* make life easier for the KDE
user. The hal, fam and kdm packages are installed when you install
KDE, but must be invoked to become useful.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start hal and fam:
/etc/rc.d/hal start
/etc/rc.d/fam start
The hal daemon relies on, and will automatically start, the dbus
daemon.
Edit your DAEMONS section in /etc/rc.conf:
nano /etc/rc.conf
Add *hal* and *fam* to your DAEMONS section, to invoke them on
bootup. If you prefer a graphical login, add *kdm* as well:
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond alsa '''hal fam kdm''')
* This method will start the system at runlevel 3, (/etc/inittab
default, multiuser mode), and then start KDM as a daemon.
* Some users prefer an alternative method of starting a display
manager like KDM on bootup by utilizing the /etc/inittab method
and starting the system at runlevel 5. See Adding a login manager
(KDM, GDM, or XDM) to automatically boot on startup for more.
* If you prefer to log into the *console* at runlevel 3, and
manually start X, leave out kdm, or comment it out with an
exclamation. ( ! )
Now try starting your X Server as normal user:
startx
Advanced instructions for installing and configuring KDE can be
found in the KDE article.
Congratulations! Welcome to your KDE desktop environment on your new
Arch Linux system! You may wish to continue by viewing *Tweaks and
finishing touches*, or the rest of the information below. You may also
be interested in the Post Installation Tips wiki article.
8.5 Xfce
========
8.5.1 About Xfce
----------------
The cholesterol-free *X* environment. Xfce, like GNOME or KDE, is a
desktop environment, but aims to be fast and lightweight while
remaining visually appealing and easy to use. It contains a suite of
apps like a root window app, window manager, file manager, panel, etc.
Xfce is written using the GTK2 toolkit (like GNOME) and contains its
own development environment (libraries, daemons, etc) similar to other
big DEs. Unlike GNOME or KDE, Xfce is lightweight and designed more
around CDE than Windows or Mac. It has a much slower development cycle,
but is very stable and extremely fast. Xfce is great for older
hardware, and will fly with especially great speed on newer machines as
well.
8.5.2 Installation
------------------
Install Xfce:
pacman -S xfce4
You may also wish to install themes and extras:
pacman -S xfce4-goodies gtk2-themes-collection
If you want to admire 'Tips and Tricks' on login, you must install
the *fortune-mod* package:
pacman -S fortune-mod
8.5.3 Useful DAEMONS
--------------------
Recall from above that a daemon is a program that runs in the
background, waiting for events to occur and offering services. The hal
daemon, among other things, will automate the mounting of disks,
optical drives, and USB drives/thumbdrives for use in the GUI. The fam
daemon will allow real-time representation of file alterations in the
GUI, allowing instant access to recently installed programs, or changes
in the file system. The hal and fam packages are installed when you
install Xfce, but must be invoked to become useful.
Start hal and fam:
/etc/rc.d/hal start
/etc/rc.d/fam start
The hal daemon relies on, and will automatically start, the dbus
daemon.
Edit your DAEMONS section in /etc/rc.conf:
nano /etc/rc.conf
Add *hal* and *fam* to your DAEMONS section, to invoke them on
bootup.
Advanced instructions for installing and configuring Xfce can be
found in the Xfce article.
If you wish to install one, see Adding a login manager (KDM, GDM, or
XDM) to automatically boot on startup
Congratulations! Welcome to your Xfce desktop environment on your
new Arch Linux system! You may wish to continue by viewing *Tweaks and
finishing touches*, or the rest of the information below. You may also
be interested in the Post Installation Tips wiki article.
8.6 LXDE
========
8.6.1 About LXDE
----------------
LXDE, or Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment, is a new project aimed to
provide a new modern desktop environment which is lightweight and fast.
It's not designed to be powerful and bloated, but to be usable and slim
enough, and keep the resource usage low. Quite different from other
known desktop environments, every components of LXDE are not tightly
integrated. Most of them can work independently without each other and
can be easily replaced with other programs. This modular design
eliminates all unnecessary dependencies and provides more flexibility.
Go to http://lxde.org/ for details and screenshots.
8.6.2 Installation
------------------
Please refer to the official wiki of LXDE. The packages are readily
available in arch repo, and there is an updated installation guide for
ArchLinux (http://lxde.org/wiki/ArchLinux).
8.7 *box
========
8.7.1 Fluxbox
-------------
Fluxbox © is yet another windowmanager for X. It's based on the
Blackbox 0.61.1 code. Fluxbox looks like blackbox and handles styles,
colors, window placement and similar things exactly like blackbox (100%
theme/style compability).
Install Fluxbox using
pacman -S fluxbox fluxconf
If you use gdm/kdm a new fluxbox session will be automatically
added. Otherwise, you should modify your user's .xinitrc and add this
to it:
exec startfluxbox
More information is available in the Fluxbox article.
8.7.2 Openbox
-------------
Openbox is a standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window
manager.
Openbox works with your applications, and makes your desktop easier
to manage. This is because the approach to its development was the
opposite of what seems to be the general case for window managers.
Openbox was written first to comply with standards and to work
properly. Only when that was in place did the team turn to the visual
interface.
Openbox is fully functional as a stand-alone working environment, or
can be used as a drop-in replacement for the default window manager in
the GNOME or KDE desktop environments.
Install openbox using
pacman -S openbox
Additional configuration tools are also available, if desired:
pacman -S obconf obmenu
Once openbox is installed you will get a message to move menu.xml &
rc.xml to ~/.config/openbox/ in your home directory:
mkdir -p ~/.config/openbox/
cp /etc/xdg/openbox/rc.xml ~/.config/openbox/
cp /etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml ~/.config/openbox/
*rc.xml* is the main configuration file for OpenBox. It may be
manually edited, (or you can use OBconf). *menu.xml* configures the
right-click menu.
You may log into OpenBox via graphical login using KDM/GDM, or from
the shell using *startx*, in which case you will need to edit your
~/.xinitrc (as non-root user) and add the following:
exec openbox-session
You may also start OpenBox from the shell using *xinit*:
xinit /usr/bin/openbox-session
* Openbox may also be used as the window manager for GNOME, KDE, and
Xfce.
For KDM there is nothing left to do; openbox is listed in the
sessions menu in KDM.
Some useful, lightweight programs for OpenBox are:
* PyPanel or LXpanel if you want a panel
* feh if you want to set the background
* ROX if you want a simple file manager (also provides simple icons)
* PcmanFM a lightweight but versatile file manager (also provides
desktop icon functionality)
* iDesk (available in AUR) for providing desktop icons
More information is available in the Openbox article.
8.8 fvwm2
=========
FVWM is an extremely powerful ICCCM-compliant multiple virtual desktop
window manager for the X Window system. Development is active, and
support is excellent.
Install fvwm2 with
pacman -S fvwm
fvwm will automatically be listed in kdm/gdm in the sessions menu.
Otherwise, add
exec fvwm
to your user's .xinitrc.
Note that this stable version of fvwm is a few years old. If you
want a more recent version of fvwm, there is a fvwm-devel package in
the unstable repo.
=APPENDIX=
9 Tweaks/Finishing touches
**************************
9.1 Install an AUR Helper
=========================
AUR Helpers add seamless access to the AUR. They vary in their
features, but can ease in searching, fetching, building, and installing
from over 9000 PKGBUILDs found in AUR.
9.2 HAL
=======
Since you have now installed a desktop environment/window manager, and
if you did not do so earlier, now would be a good time to also install
HAL. HAL allows plug-and-play for your mobile phone, your iPod, your
external HD's, etc. It will mount the device and make a nice visual
icon on your desktop and/or in 'My Computer', allowing you to access
the device after you have plugged it in instead of having to manually
configure the /etc/fstab file or udev rules for each and every new
device.
KDE, GNOME and XFCE all use HAL.
The installation procedure is described in the HAL article. Some
information can also be found at Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_(software)).
9.3 Backgrounding DAEMONS on startup
====================================
To speed up system start up procedure, background selected DAEMONS in
/etc/rc.conf by prefixing them with a '@' e.g.:
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng @network crond @alsa @hal @fam @kdm)
This will enable daemons to load in the background, without waiting
for the preceding daemon to load first.
Prefix any daemons which you do not need with a bang (!) e.g.:
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng @network !netfs !crond @alsa @hal @fam @kdm)
Alternatively, you may also simply remove unneeded daemons.
9.4 Beautifying Fonts for LCD's
===============================
See Fonts
9.5 Adjusting Mouse for scroll wheel
====================================
While your mouse should be working out of the box, you may want to use
your scroll wheel. Add this to your Input Section (mouse0):
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
9.6 Get All Mouse Buttons Working
=================================
See Get All Mouse Buttons Working
9.7 Configuring Touchpad for Laptops
====================================
See Touchpad Synaptics
9.8 Adjusting Keyboard Layout
=============================
You may want to change your keyboard layout. To do this edit your
/etc/X11/xorg.conf and add these lines in the InputDevice Section
(Keyboard0) (the example shows a German keyboard layout with no dead
keys; alter this to fit your needs). Option
"XkbLayout" "de" Option "XkbVariant"
"nodeadkeys"
9.9 Additional tweaks for laptops
=================================
ACPI support is needed if you want to use some special functions on
your notebook (e.g. sleep, sleep when lid is closed, special keys...).
Install `acpid' using
pacman -S acpid
and add it to the daemons in /etc/rc.conf. `acpid' should be started
before `hal' and `dbus', so take care to place it before any calls to
hal and dbus. Manually, it can be started by
/etc/rc.d/acpid start
More-specific information about Arch Linux on various Laptops can be
found at :Category:Laptops (English)
9.10 Configuring CPU frequency scaling
======================================
Modern processors can decrease their frequency and voltage to reduce
heat and power consumption. Less heat leads to a quieter system; Laptop
users will definitely want this, but even a desktop system will benefit
from it. Install cpufrequtils with
pacman -S cpufrequtils
Edit the config file /etc/conf.d/cpufreq and change
governor="ondemand"
which dynamically increases the CPU frequency if needed (which is a
safe choice on desktop systems too). Alter min_freq and max_freq to
match your system's CPU spec. If you do not know the frequencies, run
_cpufreq-info_ after loading one of the frequency scaling modules. You
can also comment out or delete the min_freq and max_freq lines: things
will work automatically. Add the frequency scaling modules to your
/etc/rc.conf modules line. Most modern notebooks and desktops can
simply use the _acpi-cpufreq_ driver, however other options include the
_p4-clockmod, powernow-k6, powernow-k7, powernow-k8, and
speedstep-centrino_ drivers. Load the module with
modprobe
and start cpufreq with
/etc/rc.d/cpufreq start
For more details, see Cpufrequtils
9.11 Pm-Utils
=============
The pm-utils package will allow you to suspend-to-RAM and hibernate:
pacman -S pm-utils
Pm-utils wiki page.
9.12 Laptop-Mode
================
The laptop-mode-tools package is sort of a one-stop configuration for
all laptop power management utilities. It works in conjunction with
other installed tools to fully configure everything from hard disk
spin-down to X display DPMS standby times, if desired.
pacman -S laptop-mode-tools
Add laptop-mode to your DAEMONS= line in /etc/rc.conf and configure
/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf.
10 File and directory explanation
*********************************
*/boot/grub/menu.lst*
GRUB is the default bootloader for Arch Linux. You should check and
modify this file to accommodate your boot setup.
Configuring GRUB is quite easy, the biggest hurdle is that it uses
yet another device naming scheme different from /dev; Your hard disks
as a whole are referred to as (hd0), (hd1), etc., sequentially numbered
in order of appearance on the IDE/SCSI bus, (as dictated by BIOS) just
like the sda, sdb, etc. names in /dev. The partitions of a disk are
referred to with (hd0,0), (hd0,1) and so on, with 0 corresponding to
the first entity. A few conversion examples are included in the default
menu.lst to aid your understanding.
The first appearance of 'root (hdx,x)' may be misleading. The *root*
command is specifying *"GRUB**s root, which corresponds to "where the
kernel resides, i.e. */boot*". Ensure that the drive and partition are
correct, since *_/boot_', does not necessarily share the same partition
as the root filesystem, or /".
Once you have grasped the concept of device naming, choose a title
for your boot section(s), create a kernel line that includes the
partition and path to where the kernel resides, and supply the correct
root filesystem device and partition as a parameter to the kernel root
option to have it mounted as / on bootup, as well as any boot
parameters. If using the stock Arch 2.6.x kernel, you'll also need an
initrd line that points to the kernel26.img file in your /boot
directory. The path to the initramfs on the initrd line will be the
same as the path to vmlinuz26 that you provide on the kernel line,
since both reside under /boot. You should be fine with the defaults,
just check whether the partition information is correct in the root and
kernel lines.
To create a boot option that loads the bootsector of a different OS,
the following example might be helpful. You will probably succeed in
starting any Microsoft-based operating system with it, just add this
block to the file after any other sections, and modify the partition
device accordingly to refer to the partition containing the bootsector
of the OS you are intending to boot. (1) Other OS title My Other OS
rootnoverify (hd0,1) makeactive chainloader +1
For advanced configuration of other OSes, please refer to the online
GRUB manual.
After checking your bootloader configuration for correctness, you'll
be prompted for a partition to install the loader to. Unless you're
using yet another boot loader, you should install GRUB to the MBR of
the installation disk, which is usually represented by the appropriate
device name without a number suffix.
*/etc/conf.d/**
Some daemon scripts will have a matching configuration file in this
directory that contains some more-or-less useful default values. When a
daemon is started, it will first source the settings from it's config
file within this directory, and then source /etc/rc.conf. Arch's
simple, transparent scripting approach means you can easily centralize
all your daemon configuration options in your /etc/rc.conf simply by
setting an appropriate variable value, or, split up your configuration
over multiple files if you prefer a decentralized approach to this
issue.
*/etc/profile*
This script is run on each user login to initialize the system. It
also globally defines PS1, $PATH, bash aliases, etc. It is kept quite
simple under Arch Linux, as most things are. You may wish to edit or
customize it to suit your needs.
11 Boot Scripts
***************
Arch Linux uses a fairly simple bootup sequence quite similar to *BSDs.
The first boot script to run is /etc/rc.sysinit. When it's done,
/etc/rc.multi will be called (in a normal bootup). The last script to
run will be /etc/rc.local. When started in runlevel 1, the single user
mode, the script /etc/rc.single is run instead of /etc/rc.multi. You
will not find an endless symlink collection in the /etc/rc?.d/
directories to define the bootup sequence for all possible runlevels.
In fact, due to this approach Arch only really has three runlevels, if
you take starting up X in runlevel 5 into account. The boot scripts are
using the variables and definitions found in the /etc/rc.conf file and
also a set of general functions defined in the /etc/rc.d/functions
script. If you plan to write your own daemon files, you should consider
having a look at this file and existing daemon scripts.
Boot Script Overview
1. /etc/inittab
2. /etc/rc.sysinit
3. /etc/rc.single
4. /etc/rc.multi
5. /etc/rc.local
6. /etc/rc.shutdown
7. /etc/rc.local.shutdown
8. /etc/rc.d/*
*/etc/inittab*
After the kernel is loaded, it looks for the program
init
which resides at /sbin/init. init
reads
the file /etc/inittab, which tells it what to do. Looking over the
inittab script, you will find that the first uncommented line defines
the default system runlevel, or, 3. The next thing it is told to do is
to run an initialization script. The program that executes (or
interprets) this script is bash, the same program that gives you a
command prompt. In Arch Linux, the main initialization script is
/etc/rc.sysinit. /etc/inittab also defines your virtual consoles, which
are 'respawned' by /sbin/init if terminated. Lastly, inittab defines a
login manager, if starting the system at runlevel 5 is desired. The
login manager is also respawned by /sbin/init if terminated.
*/etc/rc.sysinit*
The main system boot script, which mounts filesystems, runs udev,
activates swap, loads modules, sets localization parameters, etc.
*/etc/rc.single*
Single-user startup. Not used in a normal boot-up. If the system is
started in single-user mode, for example with the kernel parameter 1
before booting or during normal multi-user operation with the command
init 1, this script makes sure no daemons are running except for the
bare minimum; syslog-ng and udev. The single-user mode is useful if you
need to make any changes to the system while making sure that no remote
user can do anything that might cause data loss or damage. For desktop
users, this mode is usually quite useless.
*/etc/rc.multi*
Multi-user startup script. It starts all daemons you configured in
the DAEMONS array (set in /etc/rc.conf) after which it calls
/etc/rc.local.
*/etc/rc.local*
Local multi-user startup script. It is a good place to put any
last-minute commands you want the system to run at the very end of the
bootup process. Most common system configuration tasks, like loading
modules, changing the console font or setting up devices, usually have
a dedicated place where they belong. To avoid confusion, you should
make sure that whatever you intend to add to your rc.local is not
already residing in /etc/profile.d/, or any other already existing
config location instead.
*/etc/rc.shutdown*
System shutdown script. It stops daemons, unmounts filesystems,
deactivates the swap, etc.
*/etc/rc.local.shutdown* (Optional)
Analogous to the /etc/rc.local file, this file may contain any
commands you want to run right before the common rc.shutdown is
executed. Please note that this file does not exist by default, and for
it to work properly, it must be set as executable.
*/etc/rc.d/**
This directory contains the daemon scripts referred to from the
rc.conf's DAEMONS= array. In addition to being called on bootup, you
can use these scripts when the system is running to manage the services
of your system. For example the command /etc/rc.d/postfix stop
will stop the postfix daemon. This directory is not in the $PATH by
default, but may be added for convenience. Obviously a corresponding
daemon script only exists when the appropriate package has been
installed (in this case postfix). With a base system install, there are
few scripts in here, but rest assured that all relevant daemon scripts
end up here. If you wish, you can, of course, create your own scripts
and place them here, to be called by the DAEMONS= array in /etc/rc.conf
on system startup.
This directory is pretty much the equivalent to the /etc/rc3.d/ or
/etc/init.d/ directories of other distributions, but without all the
symlink hassle. The lack of symlink requirement is a defining
difference of a *BSD-style init framework, vs a sysvinit.
12 Useful Applications
**********************
This section will never be complete. It just shows some good
applications for the everyday user.
*KDE users NOTE*: Since KDE resides in /opt, you will most likely
have to log out and in after initial installation to update your PATH
before these programs can be used.
12.1 Internet
=============
12.1.0.1 Firefox
................
The ever-popular Firefox web browser is available through pacman,
although it doesnt have its official branding, so the program appears
when opened as Mindfield. Install with:
pacman -S firefox
Be sure and install 'flashplugin', 'mplayer', 'mplayer-plugin', and
the 'codecs' packages for a complete web experience:
pacman -S flashplugin mplayer mplayer-plugin codecs
(The codecs package contains codecs for Quicktime and Realplayer
content.)
Thunderbird is useful for managing your emails. If you are using
GNOME you may want to take a look at Epiphany and Evolution; if you are
using KDE Konqueror and KMail could be your choice. If you want
something completely different you can still use Opera. Finally, if
you are working on the system console - or in a terminal session - you
could use various text-based browsers like ELinks, Links and Lynx, and
manage your emails with Mutt. Pidgin (previously known as Gaim) and
Kopete are good instant messengers for GNOME and KDE, respectively. PSI
and Gajim are perfect if you are using only Jabber or Google Talk.
12.2 Office
===========
OpenOffice is a complete office suite (similar to Microsoft Office).
Abiword is a good, small alternative word processor, and Gnumeric an
Excel replacement for the GNOME desktop. KOffice is a complete office
suite for the KDE Desktop. GIMP (or GIMPShop) is a pixel-based graphics
program (similar to Adobe Photoshop), while Inkscape is a vector-based
graphics program (like Adobe Illustrator). And, of course, Arch comes
with a full set of LaTeX Programs: tetex has been popular for many
years and still works, and its successor Texlive is available from the
AUR repository.
13 Multimedia
*************
13.1 Video Player
=================
13.1.1 VLC
----------
VLC Player is a multimedia player for Linux. To install it, simply
type the code below.
pacman -S vlc
(TODO) Instructions for VLC mozilla plug-in
13.1.2 Mplayer
--------------
MPlayer is a multimedia player for Linux. To install it, simply type
the code below.
pacman -S mplayer
It also has a Mozilla plug-in for videos and streams embedded in web
pages. To install it, simply type the code below.
pacman -S mplayer-plugin
If you use KDE, KMplayer is a better choice. It comes with a
plug-in for videos and streams embedded in web pages, which works with
Konqueror. To install it, simply type the code below.
pacman -S kmplayer
(TODO) GMPlayer instructions
13.1.3 Xine
-----------
Xine is an excellent player, especially for DVDs.
pacman -S xine-ui
The libdvdcss library provides DVD decoding for encrypted DVDs.
_Ensure the legality of using libdvdcss in your country before
installing!_
pacman -S libdvdcss
13.1.4 GNOME
------------
13.1.4.1 Totem
..............
Totem (http://www.gnome.org/projects/totem/) is the official movie
player of the GNOME desktop environment based on xine-lib or GStreamer
(gstreamer is the default which installs with the arch totem package).
It features a playlist, a full-screen mode, seek and volume controls,
as well as keyboard navigation. It comes with added functionality such
as:
* Video thumbnailer for the file manager
* Nautilus properties tab
* Epiphany / Mozilla (Firefox) plugin to view movies inside your
browser
* Webcam utility (in development)
Totem-xine is still the better choice if you want to watch DVDs.
Totem is part of the gnome-extra group; the Totem webbrowser plugin
is not.
To install separately:
pacman -S totem
To install the Totem webbrowser plugin:
pacman -S totem-plugin
13.1.5 KDE
----------
13.1.5.1 Kaffeine
.................
Kaffeine is a good option for KDE users. To install it, simply type
the code below.
pacman -S kaffeine
13.2 Audio Player
=================
13.2.1 Gnome/Xfce
-----------------
13.2.1.1 Exaile
...............
Exaile is a music player written in Python that makes use of the GTK+
toolkit. It tries to be close to the popular Amarok, but in GTK. It is
in [community], so install with:
pacman -S exaile
13.2.1.2 Rhythmbox
..................
Rhythmbox (http://www.gnome.org/projects/rhythmbox/) is an integrated
music management application, originally inspired by Apple's iTunes. It
is free software, designed to work well under the GNOME Desktop, and
based on the powerful GStreamer media framework.
Rhythmbox has a number of features, including:
* Easy-to-use music browser
* Searching and sorting
* Comprehensive audio format support through GStreamer
* Internet radio support
* Playlists
To install rhythmbox:
pacman -S rhythmbox
13.2.1.3 Quod Libet
...................
Quod Libet (http://www.sacredchao.net/quodlibet) is a music manager
that uses the GStreamer media framework to play audio files. This
allows it to play all the file-types that Rhythmbox (which uses
GStreamer too) can play. Quod Libet is more suited to non-Gnome
desktops since it has a smaller footprint and fewer dependencies than
Rhythmbox (Rhythmbox depends on nautilus, which requires a lot of GNOME
to be installed).
In addition to the music player/manager, Quod Libet also includes Ex
Falso, a tag editor.
Quod Libet's features include:
* Easy-to-use music browser
* Searching
* Comprehensive audio format support through GStreamer
* Easy Playlist management
To install Quod Libet:
pacman -S quodlibet
Other good audio players are Banshee and Listen. See Gnomefiles
(http://gnomefiles.org/) to compare them.
13.2.2 KDE
----------
13.2.2.1 Amarok
...............
Amarok (http://amarok.kde.org/) is one of the best audio players and
music library systems available for KDE. To install it, simply type the
code below.
pacman -S amarok-base
13.2.3 Console
--------------
Moc (http://moc.daper.net/) is a ncurses-based audio player for the
console; another good choice is mpd (http://musicpd.org/).
Another excellent choice is cmus
(http://freshmeat.net/projects/cmus/).
13.2.4 Other X-based
--------------------
(TODO) Xmms, audacious, bmpx.
13.3 Codecs and other multimedia content types (i686 only)
==========================================================
13.3.1 DVD
----------
You can use xine-ui, totem-xine, mplayer or kaffeine (just to name
three of the big ones) to watch DVDs. The only thing you may miss is
libdvdcss. Beware that using it may be illegal in some countries.
13.3.2 Flash
------------
Install the flash plugin using
pacman -S flashplugin
to enable Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash in your browser, if you run
KDE you should see this after installing flash.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flash_and_Adobe_Acrobat_browser_plugins#Fixing_Flash_in_Konqueror
13.3.3 Quicktime
----------------
Quicktime codecs are contained in the codecs package. Just type
pacman -S codecs
to install them.
13.3.4 Realplayer
-----------------
The codec for Realplayer 9 is contained in the codecs package. Just type
pacman -S codecs
to install them. Realplayer 10 is available as a binary package for
Linux. You can get it from AUR here
(http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?do_Details=1&ID=1590&O=0&L=0&C=0&K=realplay&SB=&SO=&PP=25&do_MyPackages=0&do_Orphans=0&SeB=nd).
13.4 CD and DVD Burning
=======================
13.4.1 GNOME
------------
13.4.1.1 Brasero
................
Brasero (http://www.gnome.org/projects/brasero/) is an application that
burns CDs/DVDs for the GNOME Desktop. It is designed to be as simple as
possible and has some unique features to enable users to create their
discs easily and quickly.
To install:
pacman -S brasero
13.4.2 KDE
----------
13.4.2.1 K3b
............
K3b (from *K*DE *B*urn *B*aby *B*urn) is a free software CD and DVD
authoring application for GNU/Linux and other UNIX
-like
operating systems designed for KDE. As is the case with most KDE
applications, K3b is written in the C++ programming language and uses
the Qt GUI toolkit. K3b provides a graphical user interface to perform
most CD/DVD burning tasks like creating an Audio CD from a set of audio
files or copying a CD/DVD, as well as more advanced tasks such as
burning eMoviX CD/DVDs. It can also perform direct disc-to-disc copies.
The program has many default settings which can be customized by more
experienced users. The actual disc recording in K3b is done by the
command line utilities cdrecord or wodim, cdrdao, and growisofs. As of
version 1.0, K3b features a built-in DVD ripper.- licensed under the
GPL.
K3b was voted LinuxQuestions.org's Multimedia Utility of the Year
(2006) by the majority (70%) of voters.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To install:
pacman -S k3b
13.4.2.2 (Todo) cdrecord, graveman...
.....................................
Most CD burners are wrappers for cdrecord:
pacman -S cdrkit
If you install packages for CD/DVD burning applications like Brasero
or K3B it also installs the CD/DVD burning library for it, like libburn
or cdrkit.
A good command-line DVD-burning tool is growisofs:
pacman -S dvd+rw-tools
13.5 TV-Cards
=============
There are several things to do if you want to watch TV under (Arch)
Linux. The most important task is to find out which chip your tuner is
using. However, quite a lot are supported. Be sure to check at a
Hardware Database to be sure (see this list
(http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/TV_Cards), for example). Once you know your
Model, there are just a few steps ahead to get you going.
In most cases, you will need to use the bttv-drivers (other drivers
exist, like V4L (http://linux.bytesex.org/v4l2/drivers.html)) together
with the I2C-modules. Configuring those is the hardest task. If you are
lucky, a
modprobe bttv
will autodetect the card (check dmesg for results). In that case,
you need only to install an application to watch TV. We will look at
that later, though. If the autodetection did not work, you will need
to check the file CARDLIST, which is included in the tarball of bttv
(http://dl.bytesex.org/releases/video4linux/) to find out the right
parameters for your card. A PV951 without radio support would need this
line:
modprobe bttv card=42 radio=0
Some cards need the following line to produce sound:
modprobe tvaudio
However, that varies. So just try it out. Some other cards demand
the following line:
modprobe tuner
This is subject to trial-and-error, too.
TODO: clarify the installation-procedure
To actually watch TV, install the xawtv-package with
pacman -S xawtv
and read its manpage.
TODO: clarify some possible problems and procedures. Introduction to
XAWTV on another page?
13.6 Digital Cameras
====================
Most newer digital cameras are supported as USB mass storage devices,
which means that you can simply plug it in and copy the images. Older
cameras may use the PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) which requires a
"special driver". gPhoto2 provides this driver and allows a shell-based
transfer of the images; digikam (for KDE) and gthumb (for GNOME, gtkam
would be another choice) use this driver and offer a nice GUI.
13.7 USB Memory Sticks / Hard Disks
===================================
USB Memory Sticks and hard disks are supported out of the box with the
USB mass storage device driver and will appear as a new SCSI device
(/dev/sdX). If you are using KDE or GNOME you should use dbus and hal
(add them to your daemons in /etc/rc.conf), and they will be
automatically mounted. If you use a different Desktop Environment you
may have a look at ivman.
14 Maintaining the system
*************************
14.1 Pacman
===========
Pacman is both a binary and source package manager which is able to
download, install, and upgrade packages from both remote and local
repositories with full dependency handling, and has easy-to-understand
tools for crafting your own packages too.
A more-detailed description of Pacman can be found in its article.
14.1.1 Useful commands
----------------------
To view the options available for a particular operational command, say
*-Q*, just append it with *-h*:
pacman -Qh
To synchronize and update the local packages database with the
remote repositories (it is a good idea to do this before installing and
upgrading packages):
pacman -Sy
To *upgrade* all packages on the system:
pacman -Su
To sync, update, and *upgrade* all the packages on the system with
one command:
pacman -Syu
To install or upgrade a single package or list of packages
(including dependencies):
pacman -S packageA packageB
You can also sync, update the package database, and install packages
in one command:
pacman -Sy packageA packageB
To remove a single package, leaving all of its dependencies
installed:
pacman -R package
To remove a package and all of the package's dependencies which are
not used by any other installed package:
pacman -Rs package
(*-Rs* is typically preferred vs *R* to remove any package as it
will clean up all unused dependencies)
To remove all of the package's now unneeded dependencies and also
instruct pacman to ignore file backup designations. (Normally, when a
file is removed from the system the database is checked to see if the
file should be renamed with a ".pacsave" extension.):
pacman -Rsn package
To search the remote (repo) package database for a list of packages
matching a given keyword:
pacman -Ss keyword
To list all packages on your system
pacman -Q
To list all packages on your system without the version strings, we
add the *-q* option:
pacman -Qq
To search (query) the local (your machine) package database for a
given package:
pacman -Q package
To search (query) the local (your machine) package database for a
given package and list all pertinent information:
pacman -Qi package
To list all files installed by a given _package_:
pacman -Ql ''package''
Conversely, to find the package that owns a given file (in this
example, the _ls_ executable):
pacman -Qo /bin/ls
To find all unused packages (orphans):
pacman -Qdt
Missing libraries: Suppose you receive an error message like this:
mplayer: error while loading shared libraries: ''libgssapi.so.2'': cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
This may be an indication that a package you have previously
installed is now corrupt (some or all of its files are missing). You
should try to find the package name that provides the missing shared
library. In this example, you could type:
pacman -Ql | grep ''libgssapi.so.2''
The first column in the output is the package name:
heimdal /usr/lib/libgssapi.so.2
heimdal /usr/lib/libgssapi.so.2.0.0
Then, you can just re-install it:
pacman -Sy heimdal
To defragment pacman's cache database and optimize for speed:
pacman-optimize
To count how many packages are currently on your system:
pacman -Q | wc -l
To install a package compiled from source using ABS and makepkg:
pacman -U packagename.pkg.tar.gz
Note: There are countless additional pacman functions and commands.
Try man pacman and consult the pacman wiki entries.
14.1.2 Files
------------
There are a number of files left and created by pacman and other
programs to facilitate maintenance and to conform to a safe computing
practice. When pacman is installing something, the package contains
information on whether to back up a particular file. Such files will
have the *.pacsave* extension. When you force a "NoUpgrade" on a file
via pacman.conf (http://www.archlinux.org/pacman/pacman.conf.5.html),
it will not be replaced during an upgrade and the new file will come
with the *.pacnew* extension. For example, you have edited a
configuration file thoroughly and you do not want an upgrade of the
respective package to replace the file with a new one, we must have the
following line in */etc/pacman.conf*: NoUpgrade = /path/to/config/file
To view the differences of the old and new versions of these files, we
can either edit them manually or use a *diff* utility to take note of
the differences. There is an automated tool to find and view such files
available from the *community* repository:
pacman -S pacman-contrib
cd ~/
pacdiff # as root
There is a bug in the above tool where if you navigate to */etc* and
run it from there, the paths will be messed up. We remain on the safer
side by being at "home". You may want to run it as user first in case
you happen to be a careless person (you may just overwrite or remove
files because you _think_ that is the right way).
There are other types of leftovers depending on the programs
available on your system. Some will create backups with a *.bak*
extension, while others with something like "*~*" or "*-*".
Unfortunately, there is currently no way to "automatically" find and
review them. Fear not, as we have no need for automated tools to deal
with such trivial tasks. Simply use *locate* to search for them:
locate -e *.~ *.- *.bak
And we can use something useful like *vimdiff* to look at the
differences manually:
pacman -S vim
vimdiff file1 file2
15 Polishing & Further information
**********************************
For further information and support you can go to the homepage
(http://www.archlinux.org/), search the wiki, the forums
(http://bbs.archlinux.org/), the IRC channel, and the mailing lists
(http://www.archlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/).
15.0.0.1 FAQs
.............
See Arch FAQs for newbies
There is also an Arch Subforum
(http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewforum.php?id=23) devoted to beginners.
15.0.0.2 Terminology
....................
For more information on the jargon used in Arch, look at this article.
15.0.0.3 Where to go from here?
...............................
You may also be interested in:
Post Installation Tips
ArchLinux User-community Repository (AUR)
Get All Mouse Buttons Working
Improve Pacman Performance
Kernel Compilation
Pm-utils
Cpufrequtils
Eye Candy
16 External links
*****************
* Arch Linux installation guide with images and videos
(http://archux.com/page/installation-guide/)