Installation

• Install Arch Linux using the archinstall script - for audio, select Pipewire.
• Install yay.
• Install pacman-contrib and run rankmirrors, or, if like you live in NZ, just delete all mirrors other than NZ and you should be good to go :-)
• Set the default umask to 027.
• Disable core dump.
• Update $HOME/bin/bootstrap with the drivers for your machine. Note that the bootstrap script assumes that you’re running it on a laptop, so there may be some applications you can remove/change, or just remove entries from the to_install variable.
• Run $HOME/bin/bootstrap.
• Update greetd’s command to: command="tuigreet --cmd Hyprland"
• Install this theme and then run:

  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme gnome-professional-solid-40.1
  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface icon-theme kora
      

  Note that you can also set cursor-theme and font-name if required. This is because of a known GTK3 issue.

• Update /etc/systemd/logind.conf and set:

  HandleLidSwitch=suspend
  IdleAction=lock
  IdleActionSec=4min
      

• Find out if your hardware is supported by fwupd and update your firmware if so.
• See if there’s anything specific for you laptop.
• For Emacs:

  gettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-key-theme "Emacs"
      

• Disable watchdog by appending nowatchdog to the kernel parameters.
• Update the greetd.service file so that you (mostly) don’t get bootup messages covering the login box:

  [Unit]
  After=multi-user.target
      

• Tidy Thunar interface

Changing theme

Either use the script $HOME/bin/paper or right-click and select Set as Theme on an image in Thunar (this will call the same script). Note that the script lives in a world where people are generally sensible and run Emacs in daemon mode. It also assumes that they have installed the ewal-* themes because otherwise it breaks the whole effect :-(

Screenshots

The mandatory neofetch shot:

Actually doing something useful; building Emacs:

ToDo

• [ ] Plug in a second monitor and (probably) fix issues with workspaces.
• [ ] .config/user-dirs.locale - should be able to automatically populate this?
• [ ] Look into1 what .config/fotconfig/fonts.conf does, and maybe update docs re setting it up correctly.
• [ ] Checklist of everything that needs to be working post-install.
  • [ ] General
    • [ ] Desktop portal is running
    • [ ] Notifications are working
    • [ ] Clipboard helper
  • [ ] Multi-monitor support
    • [ ] Plugin another monitor (or two) and see if everything still works.
  • [ ] Application support
    • [ ] Steam
    • [ ] Zoom - web
    • [ ] Zoom - native
    • [ ] .zip files (also create from Thunar)
    • [ ] Flatpak - should be able to double-click and install.
  • [ ] Networking (should be able to use Thunar to connect)
    • [ ] Can browse SAMBA shares.
    • [ ] Can browse with AVAHI (i.e. ping hostname.local).
  • [ ] Firefox
    • [ ] Correctly displays Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Greek/Sanskrit/Arabic/Hebrew/Cryclic/Thai
    • [ ] Firefox is using GPU.
  • [ ] Security
    • [ ] Passing score (70%) on lynis.
  • [ ] Laptop
    • [ ] Wifi is working, can browse and connect
    • [ ] Ditto for Bluetooth
    • [ ] Lid sleeps & locks
  • [ ] Theming
    • [ ] Can right-click in Thunar and set theme.

Images in $HOME/Pictures/Wallpapers are copyright their respective owners, and were copied from https:/wallpaperaccess.com.

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This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.