I am trying to use Arch Linux on my main machine for my day-to-day work.
- Have a fast, reliable, and up-to-date PC to work with.
- Minimize the need for fixing issues with the OS.
- Stop distro-hopping for good (since 2010).
- 1 month on Arch. No incident.
- 3 months on Arch. No incident.
- Keep the actual Arch installation as simple as possible.
- Use Flatpaks wherever possible.
- Use Distrobox for testing and compiling projects from GitHub or AUR.
- Use Docker (DDEV) to set up development environments.
- Update only on weekends.
Backup GNOME Settings
dconf dump /org/gnome/ > desktop-config
Backup App Data
- Authenticator
- Newsflash
- Browser
Backup System Data
- Fonts
- Font Config
- SSH
- gitconfig
- bashrc
I downloaded the latest Arch ISO and used Fedora Media Writer to create a bootable USB stick. After that, I booted from the USB.
Next, I connected my phone via a cable and enabled USB tethering. Arch Linux automatically detected the connection without any further configuration.
Before running archinstall
, I made a couple of changes:
- Added the nameservers
8.8.8.8
and1.1.1.1
to/etc/resolv.conf
. - Uncommented the parallel download option in
/etc/pacman.conf
.
I proceeded with a mostly default installation using archinstall
, configuring the following:
- Set country mirrors to Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.
- Chose a Btrfs disk layout.
- Selected the Linux and Linux LTS kernels.
- Chose GNOME desktop as type of installation.
The installation was very quick, and I encountered no issues.
Set the fastest mirrors:
sudo pacman -S reflector
sudo cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.backup
sudo reflector -c Germany,Finland -l 10 -p https --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
sudo pacman -Syyu
Edit /etc/pacman.conf
- Uncomment "Color"
- Add "ILoveCandy"
- Uncomment "ParallelDownloads"
Remove Stuff
sudo pacman -Rs gnome-tour gnome-music gnome-software gnome-connections
Restore GNOME-specific Settings
dconf load /org/gnome/ < desktop-config
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter center-new-windows true
Debian on distobox
distrobox create --name debian --image quay.io/toolbx-images/debian-toolbox:12
Bluetooth
sudo systemctl enable --now bluetooth
GNOME Optimus
sudo systemctl enable --now switcheroo-control.service
Flatpaks
- Authenticator
- Obsidian
- Newsflash
- Telegram
- Mousai
- Geary
- Video Trimmer
- Contrast
- Inkscape
- Tagger
- Decibels
- VLC
- Easy Effects
- Postman
- Dconf Editor
- Celluloid
- MongoDB Compass
- Metadata Cleaner
- KRuler
- Kooha
- LocalSend
- Ptyxis
- Apostrophe
- Boxes
- Warehouse
- Iconic
- qBittorrent
- Emote
- Dev Toolbox
- HandBrake
- Gapless
- Spotify
- Bottles
- Remmina
- Turtle
- Flowblade
- Obfuscate
Packages from Arch Repos
gnome-browser-connector gst-plugin-pipewire gst-plugins-good power-profiles-daemon switcheroo-control bash-completion git ntfs-3g mkcert tailscale distrobox bc ttf-jetbrains-mono ffmpegthumbnailer dosfstools python-pipx pacman-contrib scrcpy micro wirguard-tools php composer jdk-openjdk rsync lollypop subversion yt-dlp webp-pixbuf-loader kid3-common firefox otf-fira-sans otf-fira-mono plymouth inter-font ufw python-openai python-polib poedit geany geany-plugins python-nautilus python-secretstorage python-pygit2 python-dbus meld filezilla unrar yazi unzip 7zip ghostty
AUR
- paru
- aur-auto-vote-git
- ddev-bin
- visual-studio-code-bin
- mutter-performance
- adobe-base-14-fonts
- ttf-segoe-ui-variable
- EnvyControl
to set graphics mode to integrated:
sudo envycontrol -s integrated
to set graphics mode to hybrid and enable fine-grained power control:
sudo envycontrol -s hybrid --rtd3
other
pipx install spotdl
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.1/install.sh | bash
sudo pacman -S docker docker-compose
sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
newgrp docker
sudo systemctl enable --now docker.socket
First I downloaded EAP version from the link then
sudo tar -xzf PhpStorm-*.tar.gz -C /opt
From the extracted directory run PhpStorm.sh
After loging to Jetbrains account and activing it, I created the desktop entry from Tools > Create Desktop Entry.
OR get it from AUR: phpstorm-eap
Chromium Extensions
- Bitwarden
- enhanced-h264ify
- floccus bookmarks sync
- Open in WordPress playground
- uBlock Origin
- Web Clipper
- User-Agent Switcher and Manager
- RTL toggle
Firefox
about:config
widget.gtk.non-native-titlebar-buttons.enabled=true
widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker=1
media.ffmpeg.vaapi.enabled=true
cd /boot/loader/entries
edit entry and add:
quiet splash
- Check the Arch Linux website to see if any manual intervention is needed.
- Perform a Timeshift backup.
- Backup Files to an external HDD.
- update the system with
sudo pacman -Syu
and reboot.