Linux is a popular operating system for many reasons. One of its biggest advantages is that it allows you too many conversions to bring it to your feet. Distributions like Ubuntu, or Mint will let you know Linux. But if you have gone through this stage and want to try something new, think about Arch Linux.
It is a great distribution for users who like to build their Linux from the beginning by creating their own super-personalized system.
Note that Arch Linux is not for beginners, unless they have an appetite for experimentation, many very manual settings via terminal, many searches and a lot of reading. If you want to try this guide is for you.
Below we will see how we can install Arch Linux as simple as possible. For starters, you need to download ISO and burn it to a DVD, or a USB stick.
Download the latest Arch Linux image from the ftp server of the University of Crete.
http://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/pub/linux/archlinux/iso/latest/
If you are using Windows 7, 8, 10 ή OS X, μπορείτε να κάνετε δεξί κλικ στο ISO και επιλέξτε “κάψτε εικόνας disk". If you are using an older version of Windows, you will need to install a burning program such as ImgBurn.
If you are using another Linux distribution, you can do it via a terminal with the dd command.
Δημιουργήσετε αντίγραφα ασφαλείας των δεδομένων του υπολογιστή σας καθώς η εγκατάσταση του Arch Linux ή οποιοδήποτε άλλου λειτουργικού συστήματος θα διαγράψει όλα τα data to the hard disk partition where you will install it.
Insert the installation disc or USB into the computer that you want to install the Arch Linux and restart your computer.
Press the key that allows you to change the startup order. On new computers, it is F12, if you are not pressing the BIOS Setup button (usually F1, F2, F10, or Del), and set the order of disks that the boot will make your computer.
Of course, you should select your installation disc as your primary boot drive. Select Boot Arch Linux and press Enter. Normally when you load you will see its black install screen
Try connecting to Internet. Καλό θα είναι να έχετε συνδέσει τον υπολογιστή σας στο internet ενσύρματα (Ethernet) και όχι μέσω WiFi. Το Arch Linux θα προσπαθήσει να δημιουργήσει μια σύνδεση με το Διαδίκτυο κατά τη διάρκεια της διαδικασίας εκκίνησης. Μπορείτε να δοκιμάσετε ότι είστε συνδεδεμένος με ping στο google.
Type the following command:
ping -c 3 google.com
For ease of reference, this guide will explain how to install Arch Linux on a blank disk without dual boot.
To see if you are using UEFI type efivar -l and press Enter. If results are displayed then you use the UEFI instead of the normal BIOS.
Below we will see how you can cut your disk by creating GPT partitions (if you use UEFI), or how to create MBR partitions if you are using BIOS.
Use .cgdisk to create GPT partitions. This tool will allow you to create GPT partitions on UEFI systems. You will need to create the additional EFI partition.
In the example below, we will create a root partition, and an EFI partition. (We will not use Home)
Type cgdisk / dev / sda and press Enter.
Select New, then press Enter to select the first segment. Enter the size you want for root (eg 50G for 50 gigabytes). Press the Enter key twice to create the root partition.
Leave about 300MB to create EFI. Create the EFI partition in the same way as above, and select Write to write the new partitions to the disk. Type yes and choose Quit to exit cgdisk.
MBR partitions
Use fdisk to create the MBR partitions you need. Let's just repeat that they only need to use boot-up of legacy BIOS. In this example, we will create a root partition.
Type: fdisk / dev / sda and press Enter.
Type o and press Enter to create the partition table.
Create root:
Type n and press Enter to create a new partition.
Press Enter when prompted to select the apartment type.
Press Enter when prompted to select the segment number.
Press Enter when prompted to select the first domain.
Type the size of the disk you want to create the partition for (eg 50G) and press Enter
Type w and press Enter to write the changes to your disk.
Now we'll have to format the discs we've created:
Type: mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 and press Enter for it format in the root partition.
Type: mkfs.fat -F32 / dev / sda3 and press Enter for the EFI partition format (Only if you followed the GPT partitioning wizard).
Let's do the mounts they need
Mount the root partition: Type mount / dev / sda1 / mnt and press Enter.
In the case of GPT that requires an EFI partition create a boot folder with the following command:
mkdir / mnt / boot and press Enter.
Then mount the EFI partition by typing mount / dev / sda2 / mnt / boot and press Enter.
We have finished and we have not yet begun.
Let's go to the Arch LInux installation:
Type the command
pacstrap -i base / mnt
Allow the terminal to finish with the installation (it may take time depending on the connection you are using).
You will then need to create and edit some configuration files:
We will start with fstab: type and run the following command
genfstab -U -p / mnt >> / mnt / etc / fstab
We continue with locale.gen: This file specifies certain location settings, such as time, date format, and more. You will need to make chroot in our newly created system. To do this, run the following command:
arch-chroot / mnt
Next, create your local settings:
nano /etc/locale.gen
By default, all settings have a #, but you can scroll down and remove it from your location or locations. For example, I chose to use English so I delete the # from the row that writes en_US.UTF-8. To exit nano, press Ctrl + X, Y, and Enter to save it.
Let's create a locale.conf file:
echo LANG = en_US.UTF-8> /etc/locale.conf
export LANG = en_US.UTF-8
Then we will set our time zone.
Before going ahead, delete the old localtime with the command:
rm / etc / localtime
Immediately set your own time
ln -s / usr / share / zoneinfo / Europe / Athens / etc / localtime
Then set the clock according to your selected zone:
hwclock –systohc –utc
That's it.
Let us also install our network
First you should find it called with the command: ip link
The results will show you something like this:
We need the name mentioned in 2.
After you find the name you can use it in the following command
systemctl enable dhcpcd @enp0s3.service
If you connect via Wi-Fi, you will need to install some packages. To get started, install the following:
pacman -S wireless_tools wpa_supplicant wpa_actiond dialog
Then run the following command to connect to your network
wifi-menu
Let's make the connection permanent as a service
systemctl enable net-auto-wireless.service
Below we will change the root password and add a new user
Type the following for a new root code:
Passwd
Type the code one more when prompted.
Caution: The code will not be displayed
Type the following to add a new user
useradd -m -g users -G wheel -s / bin / bash giorgos
and to add a password to giorgo
passwd giorgos
Of course where giorgos and millet, or rather where giorgos put your own username.
To facilitate giorgo we can add sudo
pacman -S sudo
Until now, we have installed the Arch Linux base system.
It remains to install the bootloader
We will use the popular GRUB. If you installed Arch on a UEFI-based motherboard (and not in the BIOS) or if you want to dual-boot, you should read more before proceeding, as each installation is a little different.
Below we will install GRUB on / dev / sda and not on / dev / sda1 which contains the Arch Linux installation:
pacman -S grub
grub-install / dev / sda
for dual booting you will also need the command but it does not apply to this driver.
pacman -S os-prober
Regardless of whether you want dual-booting or not, run the following command:
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Then you can run the following commands to stop with the installation:
exit
umount / mnt
reboot
We finished with the basic installation of Arch Linux. In a next post we will see how you can install desktop manager, audio and video.