arch_bto_17cl63

My installation instructions on installing Arch Linux with i3 on my BTO x-book 17cl63 (2) notebook

Disclaimer: this document is Work In Progress. Do not use! I am not responsible for any damage or loss of business or profits or whatever. If you care about not breaking things: DO NOT USE!

System installation

For encrypted disk: https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-install-arch-linux-with-full-disk-encryption/

For encrypted partition: https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-encrypt-a-linux-partition-with-dm-crypt-luks/

For auto-mounting an encrypted partition: https://blog.tinned-software.net/automount-a-luks-encrypted-volume-on-system-start/

See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide

Boot with the Arch iso
Set up wireless lan
- lspci -k shows Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 on my notebook
- wifi-menu -> select the wifi SSID and configure, close and wait a while
- ip addr to see if it worked
- ping archlinux.org -> should work
timedatectl set-ntp true
Partitioning:
- fdisk -l (at this time, we will be using /dev/sdb6 as installation partition)
- mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb6
- mount /dev/sdb6 /mnt
Installing base:
- vim /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist and move Belgium (because that's where I live) to the top (will be copied, so it is worth getting it right already, but can of course be edited later)
- pacstrap /mnt base base-devel
Configuring:
- genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
Chroot:
- arch-chroot /mnt
Make it easier:
- pacman -Syu vim
Locale:
- Timezone: ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Brussels /etc/localtime
- hwclock --systohc
- vim /etc/locale.gen and uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
- locale-gen
- vim /etc/locale.conf and write LANG=en_US.UTF-8 in it
Network:
- vim /etc/hostname and write arch-bto2 in it
- vim /etc/hosts and add:
  - 127.0.0.1 localhost
  - ::1 localhost
  - 127.0.1.1 arch-bto2.frixx-it arch-bto2 (replace 127.0.1.1 with the static ip if there is one - 192.168.60.52)
passwd
pacman -Syu vim grub intel-ucode os-prober (the latter only if other osses are installed, in this case, you also need to mount them, if windows is not detected, pacman -Syu ntfs-3g might do the trick)
grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

It would now be possible to reboot, but then you will have no wifi. Install netctl (pacman -Syu netctl) to ensure that wifi-menu is available. But we will use NetworkManager later on, so if you go on, you don't need it.

Create a user

useradd -m -G wheel dirk
passwd dirk
vim /etc/sudoers and uncomment the wheel section
log in as dirk: su dirk

Video driver & i3

sudo vim /etc/pacman.conf and enable multilib (by uncommenting two lines)
sudo pacman -Syu xorg nvidia nvidia-utils lib32-nvidia-utils (I selected all the defaults)
sudo pacman -Syu i3-wm terminator lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
sudo systemctl enable lightdm.service

It would now be possible to reboot, but then you will have no wifi. You can either install netctl to ensure that wifi-menu is available, or you could wait a while to make sure NetworkManager is installed.

Make life a bit easier:

sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/vim /usr/bin/vi

Make life easier with yay:

sudo pacman -Syu git
cd ~
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -cris
cd ..
rm -rf yay

Make sure you have an i3 config file to edit

mkdir ~/.config/i3
cp /etc/i3/config ~/.config/i3/config
Edit ~/.config/i3/config and find/replace Mod1 with $mod :%s/Mod1/$mod/g
Add a line above: set $mod Mod4

NetworkManager (and forticlient support)

yay -Syu networkmanager network-manager-applet networkmanager-fortisslvpn-git
sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager
Add line to i3 config: exec --no-startup-id nm-applet

Pulseaudio

yay -Syu pulseaudio alsa-utils pulseaudio-alsa (you may need to reboot for pulseaudio to work, you will probably want to wait)

You should now be able to reboot and use wifi, but if you go on, you can make sure that i3 boots up nice

Ssh

yay -Syu openssh

Make i3 a little more beautiful

yay -Syu polybar rofi
mkdir ~/.config/polybar
cp /usr/share/doc/polybar/config ~/.config/polybar/config
vi ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Terminate already running bar instances
killall -q polybar
# Wait until the processes have been shut down
while pgrep -u $UID -x polybar >/dev/null; do sleep 1; done
# Launch Polybar, using default config location ~/.config/polybar/config
polybar mybar &
echo "Polybar launched..."

chmod +x ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh
vi ~/.config/polybar/config and change [bar/example] to [bar/mybar], optionally other things as well
vi ~/.config/i3/config and add/update the following lines: bindsym $mod+space exec rofi -show run -theme arthur
disable the change focus between tiling/floating window binding
disable the whole i3bar section
exec_always --no-startup-id $HOME/.config/polybar/launch.sh
yay -Syu siji-git
If already in i3: restart i3 (win+shift+r) and the polybar should be visible

You can now reboot (or go on if you really want)

Useful i3 config stuff:

Faster keyboard response:

exec_always --no-startup-id xset r rate 300 50

Keyboard layout US-international

exec --no-startup-id setxkbmap -layout us -variant altgr-intl -option nodeadkeys

Keyboard bindings:

bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec --no-startup-id xbacklight -inc 10 # increase screen brightness
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec --no-startup-id xbacklight -dec 10 # decrease screen brightness
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id amixer -D pulse -q set Master playback 5%+ unmute
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id amixer -D pulse -q set Master playback 5%- unmute
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id amixer -D pulse -q set Master toggle

Touchpad "tapping"

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
    Driver "libinput"
    Option "Tapping" "on"
EndSection

Shift-numpad keys the microsoft-way (not temporary numlock)

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-keyboard.conf

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput keyboard catchall"
        Driver "libinput"
	Option "XkbOptions" "numpad:microsoft"
EndSection

SSD periodic TRIM

yay -Syu util-linux
sudo systemctl enable fstrim.timer
sudo systemctl start fstrim.timer

Printer (Lexmark CX310dn & pdf)

yay -Syu cups cups-pdf
sudo usermod -aG sys dirk
sudo systemctl enable org.cups.cupsd.service
sudo systemctl start org.cupscupsd.service
open browser on localhost:631 and follow the user interface to add the Lexmark CX310dn printer (find the PPD in Dropbox under Linux folder)

Polkit

yay -Syu polkit lxsession
Make sure lxpolkit is started at boot (i3-config)

Thunar - file explorer

yay -Syu thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-volman tumbler ffmpegthumbnailer gvfs gvfs-smb
yay -Syu exfat-utils

EID reader

yay -Syu ccid
sudo systemctl enable pcscd.socket
sudo systemctl start pcscd.socket
gpg --recv-key 824A5E0010A04D46 (check on https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/eid-mw/ and if this fails, try another DNS)
yay -Syu eid-mw

Close laptop lid configuration (hangs the OS if not configured)

sudo vi /etc/systemd/logind.conf and change the defaults (make sure HandleLidSwitch* = lock)
yay -Syu xss-lock
add line to ~/.config/i3/config: exec --no-startup-id xss-lock -- i3lock -n (optionally with parameters like -i <image.png>)

Bluetooth

yay -Syu bluez bluez-utils pulseaudio-bluetooth
sudo systemctl enable bluetooth.service
sudo systemctl start bluetooth.service
yay -Syu blueman
sudo vi /etc/pulse/system.pa and add the following lines:

load-module module-bluetooth-policy
load-module module-bluetooth-discover

I needed a reboot after this

Nicer fonts (for example, in firefox)

see https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/5r5ep8/make_your_arch_fonts_beautiful_easily/ for more information)

yay -Syu ttf-dejavu ttf-liberation noto-fonts
sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/70-no-bitmaps.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d
sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/10-sub-pixel-rgb.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d
sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/11-lcdfilter-default.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d
vi /etc/profile.d/freetype2.sh and uncomment export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=40"

Configure power management

You can add these commands to i3 config:

xset s 3600 3600 to let screen go blank after 1 hour
xset dpms 0 0 0 to prevent automatic standby, suspend, off
xset q for more information

Fingerprint sensor

I don't want it... see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fingerprint_GUI for more information

Keyboard RGB

yay -Syu clevo-xsm-wmi-util
sudo systemctl start clevo-xsm-wmi
sudo systemctl enable clevo-xsm-wmi See https://bitbucket.org/tuxedocomputers/clevo-xsm-wmi/src/master/module/ABI/testing/sysfs-driver-clevo-xsm-wmi for more information on how to manually change the colors

Uniform look between QT and GTK applications

yay -Syu gtk3 gnome-themes-extra adwaita-qt4 adwaita-qt5 breeze breeze-gtk lxappearance
qtconfig-qt4 -> select adwaita/breeze
lxappearance

My simple .vimrc config file for developers

syntax on
set tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 expandtab
set autoindent
set number
map <F5> :tabp<CR>
map <F6> :tabn<CR>
map <F9> :!./m<CR>
map <F10> :!./%<CR>
au BufRead *.fs set ft=
au BufRead *.vs set ft=

" Show tabs in light color
hi SpecialKey ctermfg=lightgray
set listchars=tab:>-
set list

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