Arch Linux

Minimal Environment (:3)

This is my workflow for develoment and hacking. Previously, I used `Kali-minimal`, and honestly, the differences are huge.

Minimal recommendations:!

RAM: At least 4 GB, for a more comfortable desktop experience
Disk: 100GB more is always better

---

Screenshots

---

Disk partitioning

I use the following structure:

• /boot or /boot/efi (≤ 512 MB)
• / (root) (30 GB)
• /home (61.5 GB)
• swap (4–8 GB depending on RAM)

For Arch, I use cfdisk and select GPT. Even in a VM, GPT is more modern than DOS, but you can choose either.

After creating the partitions, format them:

mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1   # EFI
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2         # root
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3         # home
mkswap /dev/sda4
swapon /dev/sda4

---

Partition layout

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1     259:0    0 931.5G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1    0   512M  0 part /boot ├─nvme0n1p2 259:2    0   100G  0 part /
├─nvme0n1p3 259:3    0   130G  0 part /var  (This is optional :)
├─nvme0n1p4 259:4    0    16G  0 part [SWAP]
└─nvme0n1p5 259:5    0   685G  0 part /home

Connection as ethernet or wifi:

# Wifi

ip link (to se the interface name and the status)
ip link set 'interface' up
systemctl start iwd  (Usually the service is enable, but to be sure).
touch /var/lib/iwd/'name_of_ssid.psk' 
echo "[Security]\n PreSharedKey=tu_contraseña_wifi"
iwctl station 'interface' connect 'name_of_ssid' 
dhcpcd 'interface'

And you have internet!

But to be honest I like more use: wpa_supplicant (I know that is legacy...):

ip link set 'interface' up
wpa_passphrase "SSID" "contraseña" > wifi.conf (Temp file)
wpa_supplicant -B -i 'interface' -c wifi.conf
dhcpcd 'interface'

---

Mount parttions:

Create the dir of your boot, as 'boot' or 'boot/efi':

> mkdir -p /mnt/{boot,home}
> mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
> mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

pacstrap -K /mnt linux linux-firmware base base-devel grub efibootmgr

---

Package explanation:

• linux: The Linux kernel.
• linux-firmware: Firmware for GPU, network, sound, etc.
• networkmanager: Manages network connections more automatic (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, VPN).
• wpa_supplicant: Handles WPA/WPA2 Wi-Fi authentication.
• grub: Bootloader that loads the kernel.
• efibootmgr: Registers the boot entry in UEFI firmware.
• base / base-devel: Essential tools (zsh, grep, make, gcc, etc.), useful for building software and AUR.

---

FSTAB (important):

fstab is a configuration file that tells the system which partitions to mount automatically at boot and where.

You generate it with:

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

What it does:

• Detects your partitions
• Uses UUIDs (safer than /dev/sdX)
• Defines mount points (/, /home, /boot, etc.)

Example:

> UUID=xxxx-xxxx / ext4 defaults 0 1

> UUID=yyyy-yyyy /home ext4 defaults 0 2

> UUID=zzzz-zzzz /boot vfat defaults 0 2

Without fstab, your system will not know how to mount disks on boot.

---

Now we use: arch-chroot /mnt (This is the main partition, Where installed the kernel linux). You can now do most of the operations available from your existing installation, for install the grub and create the user's.

useradd -m "user"
usermod -aG wheel "user" #(Wheel is a special grup for make able to the user be root).
passwd user
nano /etc/sudoers #(config and uncomment the line wheel)

Also here in this point we can put us hostname: echo "Arch" > /etc/hostname.

And now we goint to install the grub:

grub-install --target=x84_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=Grub
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

---

Now we need to reboot the system, and if everything is ok we will see the grub and choose: Arch linux. And we can install teh AUR repositorys that isn't officially for the Arch but is supported and maintened for the community so:

git clone https:/aur.archlinux.org/paru.git #(Local compilation For my is better less problems in my experience than 'paru-bin'.)
cd /paru
make -si

And also if we want to more tools we can use the black arch repository:

curl -O https://balckarch.org/strap.sh 
chmod +x strap.sh
sudo ./strap.sh

And if you want config the package for your self, here: File: /etc/pacman.conf

---

Tiling Window Manager:

I don't use polybar, is a personal choose

• Bspwm + Sxhkd:

I've choose xorg insted of Wyland for the compatibile, but in the future, I will change to Wyland for suree! (And also have Nvidia :( )

Package that installed :

pacman -S xorg xorg-server xorg-xinit

These are meta-package, and the configuration of the .xinitrc to start your environment. I prefer to create my own file .xinitrc, but also exist this : /etc/X11/xinit/.xinitrc, but if you take a look most of the configuration is legacy.

I copy the example files of the "baskerville" repository of both bspwm and sxhkd:

git clone https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm.git
pacman -S sxhkd bspwm

• Picom:

I use the picom to only get a opacity and a corner-radius and sometimes shadows, However now I don't use shadows.

How install? : is very esaly because Arch linux is rolling release so (You don't need to build for your self)

pacman -S picom 
picom --version
v13 (/srcdest/picom revision d87a5ba)

And that's all , My first try in Arch linux...