Deatharte configuration

TODO(s)

• Ricing (aesthetics)
  • Dmenu
  • Rofi
  • File Manager (thunar)
  • Archive File Manager (peazip)
  • Greater (sddm)
  • PDF Viewer (sioyek)
  • Music Player (mpd, ncmpcpp)
    • mpd
    • ncmpcpp
  • DE (i3)
    • Conky
    • Polybar
    • Keybindings
    • Workspaces
    • Local-to-device configuration
  • Awesome-wm
    • Wibar(s)
    • Widget(s)
    • Keybindings
    • Workspaces
    • Local-to-device configuration
• Development environment
  • Editor (nvim)
  • Terminal emulator (wezterm)
• Screen Compositor (picom)

Fast start

The following was written following this https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/dotfiles.

# Clone repo
cd ~
git clone --bare https://github.com/DrKGD/ArchDotFiles 

# Alias for ease of use
alias dotfiles='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.ArchDotFiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'

# Checkout
dotfiles checkout ArchDotFiles

Warning

It won't checkout if there are existing files that conflicts with those of the repository!

Installation and Configuration guide

Installation ISO

Grab the latest ISO and an USB with enough capacity.

# Look for the USB drive name, ensuring it is not mounted (MOUNTPOINTS field has to be empty)
lsblk
fdisk -l

# In case it is mounted
sudo umount /mount/point

# Copy image onto the device (not the partition!)
cp /path/to/image /dev/ice
# or dd bs=4M if=/path/to/image of=/dev/ice status=progress && sync

Note

Possibly use other commands

Steps

Boot up the computer using the USB stick as primary drive, arch installation should popup at this point.

Format the installation disk

# If not sure about which disk
lsblk 

# The disks marked with 1 in the ROTA field are mechanical (= not ssds)
lsblk -d -o name, rota

# Format the disk
fdisk /dev/ice

# Delete existing partitions 
fdisk# d

# Create at least three partition, +1g means one gigabyte from the starting position
# 1gb								EFI
# RAM + SQRT(RAM)		SWAP
#										PRIMARY PARTITION
fdisk# n 

# Change type of partition
# 1  								EFI
# 19             		SWAP
# UNCHANGED					PRIMARY PARTITION
fdisk# t

# Write changes and exit utility
fdisk# w
fdisk# exit

# Format partitions
# EFI
mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/ice1

# SWAP
mkswap /dev/ice2
swapon /dev/ice2

# PRIMARY PARTITION
mkfs.ext4 /dev/ice3

Ensure internet connectivity (not required if in wired ethernet connection)

Use iwctl utility to get a connection up and running.

# Run utility
iwctl

# Get all devices
iwd# device list

# Retrieve all available networks
iwd# station [device] scan
iwd# station [device] get-networks

# Connect (password prompt)
iwd# station [device] connect [network]

Bootstrap the linux installation.

Will be installing the following packages base linux linux-firmware and either intel-ucode or amd-ucode.

# Mount the PRIMARY PARTITION onto /mnt
mount /dev/ice3 /mnt

# Pacstrap the base packages
pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim git [intel/amd-ucode]

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

Finalize installation

Install and configure reflector

Install reflector

pacman --noconfirm reflector

Edit reflector parameters in /etc/xdg/reflector/reflector.conf

# Save to mirrorlist file
--save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# German mirrors only, as Italian mirrors are sluggish 
--country GB,DE 

# Sort last 5 by speed and age
--latest 10 
--age 12
--sort rate

# Use https and ipv4
--protocol https
--ipv4

Update mirrors once, enable service (n.b. cannot run it in live install), then update packages

reflector --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist --country GB,DE --protocol https --ipv4 --latest 10 --age 12 --sort rate
pacman --noconfirm -Syu

Install base and required packages

pacman --noconfirm --needed -S \
git gcc base-devel linux-headers python python-pip nodejs make ntfs-3g \
bluez bluez-utils networkmanager network-manager-applet dialog wpa_supplicant \
xdg-user-dirs pulseaudio alsa-utils \
xclip cifs-utils wget

... and enable these services (care not to enable reflector.service but reflector.timer instead!)

systemctl enable reflector.timer
systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl enable bluetooth
systemctl enable fstrim.timer

Set hostname

Add [DEVICE]-DRKGD to /etc/hostname and the following configuration to /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1	localhost
::1				localhost
127.0.1.1	[DEVICE]-DRKGD.localdomain [DEVICE]-DRKGD	

Set timezone and system clock.

## Set zone
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Rome /etc/localtime

## Set hwclock
hwclock --systohc
timedatectl set-ntp true

Setup locale(s)

Add/Uncomment these lines in the /etc/locale.gen

en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
it_IT.UTF-8 UTF-8

Configure /etc/locale.conf

LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENTS="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="it_IT.UTF-8"

Then generate the new locale locale-gen.

Install grub and configure mkinitcpio

yes | pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools
mkdir /boot/EFI
mount /dev/ice1 /boot/EFI
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Note If this is a dualboot system, enable prober in /etc/default/grub by commenting this line

#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

Then re-run grub-mkconfig

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Finally, run mkinitcpio -p linux

Create user, update permissions and configure user folders.

Update root password with passwd, then add a new user

useradd -m [NAME]
passwd [NAME]
usermod [NAME] -aG wheel,audio,video,storage

Uncomment /etc/sudoers to enable any wheel user to use sudo commands (with password prompt)

%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Configure user folders (xdg)

# Login into user
su [NAME]

# Generate default XDG-Directories
xdg-user-dirs-update

# Disable xdg autoupdate in `/home/[NAME]/.config/user-dirs.dir`
enabled=false

# Replace folders with symbolic links (Movies, Music, tmp_download)
ln -s /mnt/fdrive/[folder] /home/[NAME]/[folder]

# Finally update configuration
xdg-user-dirs-update

Mount drives using fstab

# Make the following folders
# fdrive/archive		ntfs-3g long term, local storage
# nas								network storage
# ram								ram drive
mkdir /mnt/ram
mkdir /mnt/nas
mkdir /mnt/fdrive

Then add the following lines into `/etc/fstab`
# RAM Disk
tmpfs		/mnt/ram		tmpfs			nosuid,nodev,noatime,size=1g,mode=1777,rw			0 0

# Archive  
get uuid with lsblk -f then
UUID=[UUID] /mnt/fdrive ntfs-3g		rw,auto,users,exec,nls=utf8,umask=003,gid=46,uid=1000	0	0

# NAS
# Credentials in /root/.smbcredentials
username=[user]
password=[pass]

# Remount everything with
sudo mount -a

# Verify with
findmnt

Optional step(s)

Connect to wifi

nmcli device wifi rescan
nmcli device wifi list
nmcli device wifi connect SSID --ask

Kill the bell for errors

Uncomment set bell-style none in /etc/inputrc

Aftermath

At this point, if everything was done correctly, you should reboot and finish off the installation. Reboot the machine with shutdown -r now, then take off from there.

Install driver(s)

Laptop

Laptop could use wayland, but I'd rather have one configuration for all the devices.

# (xorg) (intel)
sudo pacman -S --needed --noconfirm mesa xorg-server

Desktop

WIP:

Install paru

pac
man --needed --noconfirm -S rust base-devel git 
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru.git /tmp/paru/
cd /tmp/paru/
makepkg -si

Prepare Desktop Environment

• wezterm as terminal emulator (aur)
• nvim as editor (aur)
• sioyek as pdf viewer (aur)
• i3-gaps as a tiling window manager (aur)
• polybar as status (if using i3)
• awesome-git as a tiling window manager (aur)
• sddm as greater
• firefox as browser (also firefox-developer)
• meh-git as image viewer (aur)
• mpd as audio server
• ncmpcpp as audio client
• mpv as video player
• picom as compositor
• dmenu, rofi as launcher(s)
• neofetch as a professional rice memer
• feh to set wallpapers
• maim to take screenshots
• thunar as file browser, also requires
  • gvfs, gvfs-smb,
  • ffmpegthumbnailer,
  • tumbler, tumbler-extra-thumbnailers, raw-thumbnailer,
  • thunar-archive-plugin, thunar-media-tags-plugin, thunar-shares-plugin, thunar-volman
• rg, fd as file finder and grep finder
• zsh as shell
• blueman as a GUI bluetooth manager
• lxappearance to configure themes.
• gzdoom for the daily recommended dose of doom
• alttab-git a fast utility to alt-tab between applications
• qbittorrent as torrent client
• handlr-regex as a xdg-utils replacement (default applications)
• peazip as an archive file manager
• tools
  • gimp, image editor
  • pandoc, document converter
  • ascii-image-converter-git (aur), converts images to ascii
  • nodejs-live-server (aur)
  • texlive-most, latex compilation
  • jq, grep-like commands for json
  • python-pip
  • telegram
  • graphicsmagick, wmctrl
  • cups, system-config-printer, hplip to use the network hp printer
• fonts
  • ttf-scientifica
  • ttf-nerd-fonts-symbols-mono

yes | paru -S --needed --noconfirm wezterm-nightly-bin neovim-nightly-bin sioyek i3-gaps awesome-git \
	sddm firefox firefox-developer-edition meh-git mpd ncmpcpp mpv picom dmenu polybar neofetch feh wmctrl graphicsmagick \
	thunar gvfs gvfs-smb maim ripgrep fd zsh rofi gimp ffmpegthumbnailer tumbler tumbler-extra-thumbnailers raw-thumbnailer thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-shares-plugin thunar-volman \
	telegram python-pip handlr-regex xdg-utils-handlr \
	cups system-config-printer hplip \
	ttf-scientifica ttf-nerd-fonts-symbols-mono \
	peazip-qt-bin \
	alttab-git lxappearance ascii-image-converter-git nodejs-live-server

sudo systemctl enable sddm

Final steps

We should now install non-pacman packages.

nvim

# python support
python -m pip install --user --upgrade pynvim

firefox

Add SSB profile to $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/.profiles.ini use application in single window browser mode.

[Profile3]
Name=SSB
IsRelative=1
Path=static.SSB

thunar

Allow thumbnails everywhere Edit > Preferences > Display > Show thumbnails "Always" Restart thunar with thunar -q if you don't notice any change.

i3, sddm

Configure sddm to use custom script to launch i3 instead, /usr/share/xsessions/i3.desktop

Exec=/bin/sh -c "$HOME/.config/i3/.$HOSTNAME"

awesome, sddm

Configure sddm to use custom script to launch awesome instead, /usr/share/xsessions/awesome.desktop

Exec=/bin/sh -c "$HOME/.config/awesome/.$HOSTNAME"

sudoers

Configure /etc/sudoers on global allowed scripts, if required

deatharte ALL=(ALL) ALL
deatharte ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /home/deatharte/.config/awesome/shell/(script.sh)

polybar

# gpustat for gpu informations (nvidia only)
pip install gpustat

ohmyzsh

# install ohmyzsh
sh -c "$(wget https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh -O -)"

# install powerlevel through aur
paru -S zsh-theme-powerlevel10k-git

lxappearance

Handle themes for qt4/gtk oriented applications Note: To update current theme you are sometimes required to restart sddm (sudo systemctl sddm restart).

gzdoom

Get WADS from here 👀, won't be including in here for copyright reasons!

github

Configure a key for github

ssh-keygen -b 2048 -t rsa

Then copy id_rsa.pub content in github.

Finally, configure machine git globals

git config --global user.name NAME
git config --global user.email EMAIL

Peripherals management and screens setup

TES68 (keyboard)

Save a file with the following content into /etc/udev/hwdb.d/90-custom-keyboard.hwdb

evdev:input:b0003v1EA7p0002*
KEYBOARD_KEY_70039=leftctrl
KEYBOARD_KEY_700e4=kp0
KEYBOARD_KEY_700e0=rightctrl

HP LaserJet M129-M134

Install cups, hplip and system-config-printer. Launch system-config-printer, add the printer and configure. NOTE It uses A4 Paper, not letter format!

Monitors (desktop only) Desktop screens

As the screens are not in the same order as the gpu recognises them, we need to set them up with xrand. First and foremost, add a file /etc/sddm.conf

	[XDisplay]
	DisplayCommand=/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup

Of course, we also need the Xsetup file as well (the three monitors and the)

#!/bin/sh/

xrandr --output DVI-I-1 --rate 144.00 --mode 1920x1080 --primary
xrandr --output DP-1 --rate 60.00 --mode 1920x1080 --left-of DVI-I-1
xrandr --output DVI-D-0 --rate 60.00 --mode 1920x1080 --right-of DVI-I-1
xrandr --output HDMI-0 --rate 60.00 --mode 1920x1080 --right-of DVI-I-1

It is preferable to enable force full-composition pipeline in nvidia-settings on non-primary monitors.

Additional guide(s) and memo(s)

Keyboard event remapping

Using this https://askubuntu.com/questions/742946/how-to-find-the-hwdb-header-of-a-general-input-device.

1. Find device vendor id using lsusb (they are written as vendor:product), e.g. 1ea7
2. Run find /sys -name *modalias | xargs grep -i $vendor, replace $vendor with previous output. Look up for shorter output. Its modalias should probably start with input:b (not sure). e.g. /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.2/0000:20:00.0/0000:21:08.0/0000:2a:00.1/usb1/1-2/1-2.1/1-2.1:1.1/0003:1EA7:0002.000E/input/input45/modalias:input:b0003v1EA7p0002e0110-e0,3,kra28,mlsfw
3. Look at MSG_SCAN field using the evtest command (requires sudo). For example, tab is 7002b.
4. Push a new file /etc/udev/hwdb.d/90-custom-keyboard.hwdb which has the following content (n.d.r. copy the b-string until e)

evdev:input:b0003v1EA7p0002*
KEYBOARD_KEY_7002b=leftctrl