Arch Linux

Posted on Edited on In , ,
Arch Linux installation, Configuration

A good Tutorial for Installing it!

A good Tutorial for Installing it!

1. What is Verify Signature

Signature is used for protecting data from undetected changes by including a proof of identify value called a digital signature.

2. What is Kernel Module

Kernel module are pieces of code that can be loaded and unloaded into the kernel upon demand. They extend the functionality of the kernel without the need of reboot the system.

Modules are stored in /usr/lib/modules/kernel_release or /lib/modules. You can use the command uname -r to get your current kernel release version.

How to block a kernel module.

2.1. Nouveau

Nouveau is an open-source Nouveau driver for NVIDIA graphics cards.

3. initramfs

The root file system at / starts out as an empty rootfs, which is a special instance of ramfs or tmpfs. The purpose of the initramfs is to bootstrap the system to the point where it can access the root file system. It does not need to contain every module one would ever want to use; it should only have modules required for the root device like IDE, SCCI, SATA or USB/FW. The majority of modules will be loaded later on by udev, during the init process.

4. What is fstab

fstab is the Linux system’s file system table. It is a configuration table designed to ease the burden of mounting and unmounting file systems to a machine. It is a set of rules used to control how different file systems are treated each time they are introduced to a system.

Make partitions mount at startup. Add the following snippets to /etc/fstab.

1
2
3
4
5
/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb7   /home/Eric/Downloads  ext4  defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb5   /home/Eric/temp_try  ext4  defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb6   /home/Eric/expand  ext4  defaults 0 0

5. What is grub

grub is a boot loader. It is the software that loads the Linux kernel (It has other uses as well). It is the first software that starts at a system boot.

The BIOS checks the Master Boot Record (MBR) which is a 512 byte section located first on the Hard Drive. It looks for a bootloader (like GRUB).

Then you will be prompted by the GRUB menu which can contain a list of the operating systems installed (in the case of dual boot), or perhaps different kernels installed in a Linux distro.

When you choose which distro or kernel you want to use, GRUB loads the selected kernel. The kernel starts init or systemd, which is the first process to start in Linux. init then starts other processes like network services and other that you might have configured at boot time.

6. Firmware Types

The firmware is the very first program that is executed once the system is switched on. The words BIOS or (U)EFI are often used instead of firmware.

7. What is UEFI

7.1. BIOS

  1. BIOS (basic input/output system) is a program.
  2. It is in the ROM (read only) disk. It is hard encoded on the computer motherboard.
  3. It is used by a computer’s microprocessor to start the computer system after it is powered on. It performs hardware initialization during the booting process (power-on startup).
  4. It also manages data flow between the computer’s operating system (OS) and attached devices, such as the hard disk, video adapter, keyboard, mouse and printer.

7.2. UEFI

BIOS’s popularity has waned in favor of a newer technology: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). Intel announced a plan in 2017 to retire support for legacy BIOS systems by 2020, replacing them with UEFI.

UEFI does not launch any boot code from the Master Boot Record (MBR) whether it exists or not, instead booting relies on boot entries in NVRAM.

7.2.1. The Usage of UEFI

UEFI launches EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) applications, e.g., boot loaders, boot managers, UEFI shell, etc. These applications are usually stored as files in the EFI system partition. Each vendor can stores its files in the EFI system partition under the /EFI/vendor_name directory. The applications can be launched by adding a boot entry to the NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory, an RAM can keep the data with power off) or from the UEFI shell.

8. System Initialization

8.1. Under BIOS

The Initialization process

  1. System switched on, the POST (power-on self-test) is executed.
  2. After POST, BIOS initializes the hardware required for booting (disk, keyboard controller etc.).
  3. BIOS launches the first 440 bytes (the Master Boot Record bootstrap code area) of the first disk in the BIOS disk order.
  4. The boot loader’s first stage in the MBR (Master Boot Record) boot code then launches its second stage code (if any) from either:
    • next disk sectors after the MBR, i.e., the so called post-MBR gap (only on a MBR partition table).
    • A partition’s or a partitionless disk’s volume boot record (VBR)
    • The BIOS boot partition (GRUB on BIOS/GPT only).
  5. The actual boot loader is launched.
  6. The boot loader then loads an operating system by either chain-loading or directly loading the operating system kernel

POST: A power-on self-test is a set of routines performed by firmware or software immediately after a computer is powered on, to determine if the hardware is working as expected. The process would proceed further only if the required hardware is working correctly, else the BIOS would issue an error message. POST sequence is executed irrespective of the Operating System and is handled by the system BIOS. Once the tests are passed the POST would generally notify the OS with beeps while the number of beeps can vary from system to system. When POST is successfully finalized bootstrapping is enable. Bootstrapping starts the initialization of the OS.

8.2. Under UEFI

  1. System switched on, the power-on self-test (POST) is executed.
  2. After POST, UEFI initializes the hardware required for booting (disk, keyboard controllers etc.).
  3. Firmware reads the boot entries in the NVRAM to determine which EFI application to launch and from where (e.g. from which disk and partition).
    • A boot entry could simply be a disk. In this case the firmware looks fro an EFI system partition on that disk and tries to find an EFI application in the fallback boot path \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.EFI (bootia32.EFI on systems with a IA32 (32-bit) UEFI). This is how UEFI bootable removable media work.
  4. Firmware launches the EFI application.
    • This could be a boot loader or the Arch kernel itself using EFISTUB.
    • It could be some other EFI application such as UEFI shell or a boot manages like systemd-boot or rEFInd.

If Secure Boot is enabled, the boot process will verify authenticity of the EFI binary by signature.

9. Dual Boot with Windows

9.1. Windows Before Linux

The main difference between installing individual Linux and dual system is the boot loader, which load the operating system.

9.1.1. BIOS Systems

9.1.1.1. Using a Linux Boot Loader

You may use any multi-boot supporting BIOS boot loader, such as ‘grub’.

9.1.1.2. Using Windows Boot Loader

  1. Install a Linux bootloader on a partition instead of the MBR, e.g., the /boot partition
  2. Copy this bootloader to a partition readable by the windows bootloader
  3. Use Windows bootloader to start said copy of the Linux bootloader

10. Configuration

10.1. Wake on Lan

Sometimes use wol mac_address can not wake the server. Use wol -i ip_address mac_address can wake the server.

10.2. fish prompt

Some times fishget slow when going to git directories.

1
2
3
4
5
# ~/.local/share/omf/themes/ays/fish_prompt.fish
set -g fish_git_prompt_show_informative_status 0   # 关掉状态字符（* + …）
set -g fish_git_prompt_showdirtystate 0            # 不检查工作区
set -g fish_git_prompt_showstashstate 0
set -g fish_git_prompt_showupstream 0

10.3. Baidunetdisk

yay -S baidunetdisk-bin

If it is failed to start when runbaidunetdisk and reports gpu process isn't usable. goodbye, run baidunetdisk --no-sandbox.

10.4. Change the resolution of screen

xrandr can display the available screen resolution and the current resolution(marked by star).

Add xrandr --output VGA-1 --mode 1920x1080 to .xinitrc can change the resolution of the screen permanently.

After change the resolution, the font might be unsuitable.

1
2
static const char *fonts[] = {"Hack NF:size=16",
                              "JoyPixels:size=14:antialias=true:autohint=true"};

in theconfig.def.h of the dwm package can change the font size of the top bar.

1
static char *font = "Hack Nerd Font:lixelsize=40:antialias=true:autohint=true";

in the config.default.h of the st package can change the font size of st.

10.5. Virtualbox conflicts with KVM

Both KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) and VirtualBox are hypervisors, and they both want to use VMX root mode. This leads to a conflict when they try to run simultaneously.

  1. Run lsmod | grep kvm to see if the kvm_intel (for Intel) or kvm_amd (for AMD) modules are loaded.
  2. If they are loaded, unload them using sudo modprobe -r kvm_intel or sudo modprobe -r kvm_amd. This is a temporary fix, as the KVM module will be reloaded on reboot.
  3. To disable KVM permanently, create a file named kvm-blacklist.conf in /etc/modprobe.d/.
  4. Add the appropriate line to the file: For Intel: blacklist kvm_intel For AMD: blacklist kvm_amd.

10.6. Install MS Windows fonts, Configure matplotlib

1
2
3
4
yay -S ttf-ms-win11-auto
yay -S ttf-ms-win11-auto-zh_cn
fc-list :lang=zh | grep "sim"
rm ~/.cache/matplotlib/fontlist-v390.json

Then import matplotlib will create a new version of ~/.cache/matplotlib/fontlist-v390.json which contains fonts like simsun.

The following codes will enable plt to use font SimSun.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
plt.rcParams["axes.unicode_minus"] = False  # 解决负号显示问题
plt.rcParams["font.sans-serif"] = ["SimSun"]
# 或者直接指定字体文件路径作为全局字体
# plt.rcParams["font.sans-serif"] = [
#     FontProperties(fname="/usr/share/fonts/TTF/simsun.ttc").get_name()
# ]

10.7. WPS

WPP cannot display bold text properly.

Download and install the old version of freetype. freetype2-2.13.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

Here

10.8. Bluetooth

1
2
3
4
sudo pacman -S bluez bluez-utils
sudo systemctl start bluetooth
sudo systemctl enable bluetooth
bluetoothctl

The br-connection-profile-unavailable error will occur. As mentioned in this wiki, install pipewire-pulse then restart pipewire will solve the problem.

1
2
sudo pacman -S pipewire-pulse
systemctl --user restart pipewire

Then you can connect your devices by bluetooth.

10.9. Hardware time

The hardware time sometimes is not correct.

Use sudo timedatectl set-ntp true to solve it.

10.10. Use Nvidia for X Server

By this

10.11. Block nouveau

Add GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=5 nowatchdog modprobe.blacklist=nouveau" to the /etc/default/grub. Then grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

10.12. Default applications

To set the default applications, one needs to modify the file ~/.config/mimeapps.list. In the right side of = can be the file name in /usr/share/applications/.

10.13. Thunderbird

Thunderbird is used as the email app. However, it can not be stored on the tray. birdtray can help. Install it with yay -S birdtray and run birdtray then Configure it with thunderbird.

10.14. Remote Desktop

To use the local camera, this command is needed.

1
2
sudo xfreerdp /f /u:Account Name /p:Password /v:IP:Port /video /usb:id,dev:1bcf:28b
0  /sound /microphone:sys:alsa

The usb id is obtained by command lsusb.

Something also need to be set on the Windows side.

  1. Type WinKey + R and run gpedit.msc on the target VM (the target windows 10 Virtual Machine) to start the Group Policy Editor.
  2. Locate the item Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Remote Desktop Services \ Remote Desktop Session Host \ Device and Resource Redirection\ Do not allow supported Plug and Play device redirection and set this item to Disabled.
  3. Also you can set
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Remote Desktop Connection Client \ RemoteFX USB Device Redirection \ Allow RDP redirection of other supported RemoteFX USB devices from this computer (Enabled)

Remote Desktop Session Host \ Remote Session Environment \ RemoteFX for Windows Server 2008 R2 \ Configure RemoteFX (Enabled)

Remote Desktop Session Host \ Connections \ Allow users to connect remotely by using Remote Desktop Services (Enabled)

Remote Desktop Session Host \ Device and Resource Redirection\ Do not allow supported Plug and Play device redirection (Disabled)

gpupdate /force in elevated CMD Prompt and reboot
  1. Run gpupdate /force from an elevated command prompt.
  2. At least disconnect RDP session and connect again, if this does not work reboot target VM.

For More Information

10.15. Slstatus

slstatus can show the information of battery. Add the following snippets in the config.h file. The name of the battery can be found by running sudo tlp-stat -b.

1
2
{battery_perc, "󰁿 %s%%", "BAT0"},
{battery_state, "%s | ", "BAT0"},

10.16. Touch Pad

When dwm is started, tapping the touchpad does not work. To let it work create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf, which contains

1
2
3
4
5
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "touchpad catchall"
Driver "libinput"
Option "Tapping" "on"
EndSection

Notice that there is no indents in the file, otherwise it will not work.

10.17. Systemd service

10.17.1. Manage user-specific systemd units

  1. Create a service file in ~/.config/systemd/user/.

Notice that not to use ~ to denote the home directory.

For x0vncserver.service:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
[Unit]
Description=Remote desktop service (VNC)
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=5s
ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c 'while ! pgrep -U "$USER" Xorg; do sleep 2; done'
ExecStart=x0vncserver -rfbauth /home/Eric/.vnc/passwd  -SecurityTypes VncAuth

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

For frpc.service:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
[Unit]
Description=Frp Client Service
Wants = network.target
After = network.target syslog.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=5s
ExecStart=/home/Eric/frp/frpc -c /home/Eric/frp/frpc.toml

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
  1. Reload systemd manager configuration using systemctl --user daemon-reload.
  2. Enable and start the service using systemctl --user enable ExampleService.service and systemctl --user start ExampleService.service.

10.18. Auto login

The only thing needed to do is create the ‘autologin.conf’ file. Here.

Then, change username to the username you want to auto login.

10.19. Xorg

The scale of the screen can be changed by xrandr --output eDP-1 --scale 0.6x0.6.

10.20. Cursor

The cursor can be hind by yay -S unclutter.

10.21. Network

Connect a network with NetworkManager. For example, nmcli connection add type wifi con-name BUPT-mobile ifname wlan0 ssid BUPT-mobile -- wifi-sec.key-mgmt wpa-eap 802-1x.eap ttls 802-1x.phase2-auth mschapv2 802-1x.identity USERNAME Then BUPT-mobile can be connected with nmcli --ask connection up BUPT-mobile or nmtui. The nmtui does not support add network of WPA2 802.1X otherwise one can add and connect the network by only nmtui.

Use space to enable or disable automatically connect in nmtui. X denotes enable.

10.22. startx

10.23. libxft-bgra-git

libxft-bgra-git is discarded by yay and use ttf-symbola instead.

10.23.1. NVIDIA

startx provides a command line startup of Linux. However, it will cause a black screen problem with NVIDIA. To avoid it, add

1
2
xrandr --setprovideroutputsource modesetting NVIDIA-0
xrandr --auto

to the .xinitrc.

10.23.2. Auto Start

Add the following snippets to ~/.bash_profile.

1
2
3
if [ -z "${DISPLAY}" ] && [ "${XDG_VTNR}" -eq 1 ]; then
  exec startx
fi

10.24. Screen Translator

10.24.1. youdao

youdao can be installed by yay -S youdao-dict. However, it is very slow to show the result when words are picked. This is because of the vpn. I use 51game. However, when I set the system client into mainland white list, it translate fast for picking words.

10.25. Goldendict

Goldendict-webengine-git is better than Goldendict-git.

Goldendict is a more power translator. Install translate-shell. edit > dictionaries > programs > add, type: Plain text; Command Line: trans -e google -s en -t zh -show-original y -show-original-phonetics n -show-translation y -no-ansi -show-translation-phonetics n -show-prompt-message n -show-languages n -show-original-dictionary n -show-dictionary n -show-alternatives n "%GDWORD%"

Set popup only press alt. Use ctrl will cause a problem that translate when copy. Especially when copy a web link.

To enable run goldendict in background, pick Enable system try icon and Start to system try. Otherwise, the gui of goldendict will open even if it is executed by goldendict &.

10.26. Tmux

When install tmux, some error maybe occur. /usr/share/fish/functions/fish_prompt.fish (line 6): hostname|cut -d . -f 1 can be solved by pacman -S inetutils.

shell command tmux throws can't use /dev/tty error can be solved byexec </dev/tty; exec <&1; TMUX= tmux.

10.27. Clipboard of nvim

To enable the clipboard of nvim share by the system, run sudo pacman -S xsel

10.28. Try to run exe files

10.28.1. Wine

I successfully installed wechat with wine. However, it can not use the camera.

10.28.2. Bottles

10.28.2.1. PyGObject

Bottles depends on PyGObject, it is a python package. However, it is difficult to install it by pip. It can be easily installed by conda.

10.28.2.1.1. A way to install PyGObject

pip install PyGObject default to install its dependences like pycairo. However, the latest version of pycairo can not be successfully ran on my system. Thus I can install pycairo manually by pip or conda and run pip install --no-build-isolation pygobject to install pygobject and in this way pygobject will not install its dependences automatically and will find the dependences locally.

10.28.2.1.2. Install successfully

bottles is installed successfully by using flatpak, by sudo pacman -S flatpak. However, it also can not use the camera.

11. Locale

For detail to see the Arch Linux wiki. Notice that the KDE can set the language too. Only set to en_US.