Linux-Laptop

This is my personal laptop setup, this repo contains everything I need to install Arch Linux from scratch on a new Laptop/PC/VM.

This repo is inspired by Josh Octetz's Arch Linux and Windows 10 (UEFI + Encrypted) Install Guide. I do not have Windows installed, but the Arch Linux instalation with disk encryption is very detailed and well explained, that's the basis for my Arch Linux instalation.

Installation

Follow the tutorial liked above for the detailed step by step, the next sections detail my specific configuration as well as some small changes.

Partitions layout

p1 - 512M - EFI - Fat32 - /efi
p2 - 512M - Boot/Grub - ext4 - /boot
p3 -  32G - swap - swap - swap (do I even need that?)
p4 - 920.9G - system - ext4 - / - encrypted

Encrypt and format partitions

cryptsetup -y --use-random luksFormat /dev/nvme0n1p4
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/nvme0n1p4 cryptroot

# Format the boot partition as EXT4
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p2

# Format the cryptroot as EXT4
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/cryptroot

# Format EFI partition as FAT32
mkfs.fat -F 32 -n efi  /dev/nvme0n1p1

mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p3

Mounting and installing the system

mount /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/boot
mkdir /mnt/efi
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/efi
swapon /dev/nvme0n1p3

Install initial packages

pacstrap /mnt linux linux-firmware base base-devel grub efibootmgr git intel-ucode emacs-nox networkmanager openssh wget tmux man-db man-pages

Generate fstab

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Enter the new system (chroot)

arch-chroot /mnt

Set the timezone and clock

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin /etc/localtime
timedatectl set-ntp true
hwclock --systohc

Set locale

# Uncomment en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8 in /etc/locale.gen.
# generate locale
locale-gen

# Set LANG variable
echo "LANG=en_GB.UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.conf

Set hostname

echo "TARDIS" >> /etc/hostname

Initial Ramdisk Configuration

# Add encrypt to HOOKS in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf (order matters).
# Move keyboard before modconf in HOOKS.
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect keyboard modconf block encrypt filesystems fsck)

#Build initramfs with the linux preset.
mkinitcpio -p linux

GRUB Bootloader Setup

# List all partitions and their UUIDs. Write them down
sudo blkid 

# Edit the GRUB boot loader configuration.
emacs /etc/default/grub

# Update the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX to match the format
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cryptdevice=UUID=<UUID from /dev/nvme0n1p4>:cryptroot root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot"

grub-install --efi-directory=/efi
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

User Administration

# Set the root password
passwd

# Add a user
useradd -m -G wheel belimawr
# Set password
passwd belimawr

EDITOR=/usr/bin/emacs visudo
## Uncomment to allow members of group wheel to execute any command
%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Enable Networking

# Enable NetworkManager to ensure it starts after boot.
systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl enable sshd

Reboot

reboot

Activate multiarch

# Edit /etc/pacman.conf
sudo emacs /etc/pacman.conf
# And uncomment:
# [multilib]
# Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
sudo pacman -Syu # update everything

Clone my linux-laptop repo

git clone https://github.com/belimawr/linux-laptop.git
cd linux-laptop/

Run the make rules

make configure-system
make install-base-packages install-devel-packages
make install-yay
make configure-user

Enable services and final configuration

sudo systemctl enable --now tailscaled
sudo tailscale up
tailscale ip -4 # show the IP address

# enabling .local domains
# Then, edit the file /etc/nsswitch.conf and change the hosts line to include mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] before resolve and dns:
# hosts: ... mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] dns ...
sudo emacs -nw /etc/nsswitch.conf
systemctl enable avahi-daemon

systemctl enable --now bluetooth
systemctl enable --now cups

# Enable ssh-agent
systemctl enable --now --user ssh-agent

Laptop Specific X1 Carbon Gen 9

pacman -S sof-firmware

Configure qt theme: qt5ct, choose breeze

Configure GTK themes: lxappearance, choose breeze, breeze dark

Configure external mixer from volumeicon to pavucontrol

SSH agent & KeepassXC

Using KeepassXC to manage SSH keys

Sources

https://octetz.com/docs/2020/2020-2-16-arch-windows-install/

Old/not needed