Orchid is a modern and sleek Gentoo variant, for computers and laptops.
Since we don't have a special ISO image, we use the vanilla ISO image of Gentoo.
Note that you have two versions, a GUI and a CLI one.
Note also that the GUI version doesn't represent at all the desktop you will get.
We implemented it to help you follow this guide graphically while installing the system.
These ISO images are provided by Gentoo themselves, we aren't responsible of any dammage.
The files needed to verify the integrity of these ISO images are available here.
Download the CLI version [~500Mo]
Download the GUI version [~5Go]
You will need to make an USB stick bootable using Rufus, Ventoy or Etcher, the choice is yours.
The device NEEDS to have access to Internet to download the archives.
CPU: At LEAST 4 cores RAM: At LEAST 4GB Storage: 20GB or more
First download the script
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/orchid-linux/orchid/main/install/install.sh
Give execution rights to the script :
chmod +x ./install.sh
puis lancer le script interactif avec les droits root (avec sudo
ou en root via su root
après avoir mis un mot de passe à root) :
Run the interactive script with root privileges (either using sudo
or su root
) :
./install.sh
Depending on the ISO you choose, you will either have a CLI environnement, or a GUI one.
To get a French Layout, type this command (a window will automatically open in the GUI version):
loadkeys fr
Note: Replace fr
with the name of your layout if not using AZERTY.
Verify Internet Access:
ip a
If you don't have an ip address, please send a request to your DHCP server:
dhcpcd
If you need wireless connexion (WIFI) the ISO image provides this tool:
net-setup
To find the path of your drives, use:
fdisk -l
The name might change depending on your technology (sdX for sata, and nvme0nX for nvme).
cfdisk /dev/sdX or cfdisk /dev/nvme0nX
And here is the optimal scheme to use:
- A 1MB partition, non formated, and has the "Bios Boot" flag (ONLY IN BIOS INSTALLS) OR a 256MB EFI partition , formated in vfat (ONLY IN UEFI SYSTEMS).
- A Swap partition of a couple of GBs, 2 or 4 is enough.
- And the rest of the space left in ext4.
Using cfdisk is easy, so it won't be treated here.
Now we format the freshly created partitions (exemple on a sata disk, with an UEFI system):
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1 (UEFI ONLY)
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3
mkswap /dev/sda2
Now we should mount the partitions to work on them.
We mount the root partition:
mkdir /mnt/orchid && mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/orchid
Swap activation:
swapon /dev/sda2
EFI partition (Only in UEFI):
mkdir -p /mnt/orchid/boot/EFI && mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/orchid/boot/EFI
Verify date and time:
date
Correct the date and time if incorrect:
date MMJJhhmmAAAA
Let's move to the working directory:
cd /mnt/orchid
Now we need to download the archive we want for our Orchid system using wget (the archives are quite big):
Standard DWM [1.9Go]
DWM Gaming Edition [2.9Go]
Gnome Full [2.4Go]
XFCE Gaming [2.6Go]
Base X.Org [1.7Go]
KDE Plasma [2.9Go]
Gnome Gaming [3.1Go]
Gnome Gaming SystemD [3.1Go] Example:
wget https://dl.orchid-linux.org/stage4-orchid-gnomefull-latest.tar.bz2
Extract the downloaded archive:
tar -jxvpf stage4-*.tar.bz2 --xattrs
We edit the make.conf to change some settings you don't like:
nano -w /mnt/orchid/etc/portage/make.conf
The /etc/portage/make.conf is the file we edit to define variables about our future architecture (core number, video card, input devices, language, USEFLAGS choice ...etc). By default, Orchid comes with a good configuration:
- GCC optimisation for a generic system.
- Use of basic fonctions such as : Pulseaudio, networkmanager, ALSA.
- Proprietary Nvidia drivers.
- French locales (change if needed).
Configuration of make.conf:
Here we put the number of cores on the CPU (replace X by the number):
MAKEOPTS="-jX" X being the number of cores on the CPU
Graphical support:
By default, Orchid supports the majority of graphical cards. But you can delete the ones you don't use (leave fbdev and vesa enabled!):
VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev vesa intel i915 nvidia nouveau radeon amdgpu radeonsi virtualbox vmware"
Save using CTRL+X and quit.
Mount the proc and dev folder into /mnt/orchid
, these are necessary for the good fonctionning of the chroot:
mount -t proc /proc /mnt/orchid/proc
mount --rbind /dev /mnt/orchid/dev
mount --rbind /sys /mnt/orchid/sys
We chroot into the system folder:
chroot /mnt/orchid /bin/bash
We now update the environnement variables:
env-update && source /etc/profile
We add an indicator to the username so we know we are working on chroot:
export PS1="[chroot] $PS1"
We check the date again:
date
If it's incorrect, set the correct date using:
date MMJJhhmmAAAA
The following file is super important, if you make an error here, the system will not boot:
nano -w /etc/fstab
Here is an example using the previously mentionned scheme (UEFI with a sata drive):
/dev/sda3 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sda1 /boot/EFI vfat defaults 0 0
To edit the hostname:
nano -w /etc/conf.d/hostname
Set a strong password for the root account:
passwd
We will now make a standard user, so that we can connect to our future GUI:
useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio,video -s /bin/bash username
Now let's give it a strong password:
passwd username
Now we install GRUB
UEFI:
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/EFI --recheck
Or Bios:
grub-install /dev/sdX
Generate grub.cfg:
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
The needed files are already on the system:
Just run this command as a non-root user:
/usr/share/orchid/fonts/applyorchidfonts && /usr/share/orchid/desktop/dwm/set-dwm
Slim will automatically launch dwm :)
We exit the system:
exit
We delete the archive as we don't need it anymore:
rm -f /mnt/orchid/*.tar.gz
We unmount the system:
cd /
umount -R /mnt/orchid
Orchid is now installed, we can now safely reboot
.
DWM shortcuts:
- Launch DWM (Show Apps/Flatpaks List):
Win+p
- Open a terminal:
Win+Shift+Enter
- Close focused window:
Win+Shift+c
- Quit DWM (logout):
Win+Shift+q
Discover our useful tools: Our tools.
Join our discord server: Join the server.
- Hydaelyn: Founder of the project.
- Vinceff: Documentation & projet management.
- Chevek: Gaming tools and Optimisation.
- Babilinx: Project Optimisation.
- Crystal: English translation.
- Piaf_Jaune: Graphist & Look'n Feel.
- Kirik: Documentation verification.
- All the users of Discord Gaming Linux FR.