My installation instructions on installing Arch Linux with i3 on my BTO x-book 17cl63 (2) notebook

Disclaimer: this document is Work In Progress. Do not use! I am not responsible for any damage or loss of business or profits or whatever. If you care about not breaking things: DO NOT USE! Especially since I recently saw that several things have changed, make sure you use the Arch Wiki as your guide!

For encrypted disk: https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-install-arch-linux-with-full-disk-encryption/

For encrypted partition: https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-encrypt-a-linux-partition-with-dm-crypt-luks/

For auto-mounting an encrypted partition: https://blog.tinned-software.net/automount-a-luks-encrypted-volume-on-system-start/

See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide

• Boot with the Arch iso
• Set up wireless lan
  • lspci -k shows Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 on my notebook
  • wifi-menu -> select the wifi SSID and configure, close and wait a while
  • ip addr to see if it worked
  • ping archlinux.org -> should work
• timedatectl set-ntp true
• Partitioning:
  • fdisk -l (at this time, we will be using /dev/sdb6 as installation partition)
  • mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb6
  • mount /dev/sdb6 /mnt
• Installing base:
  • vim /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist and move Belgium (because that's where I live) to the top (will be copied, so it is worth getting it right already, but can of course be edited later)
  • pacstrap /mnt base base-devel
• Configuring:
  • genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
• Chroot:
  • arch-chroot /mnt
• Make it easier:
  • pacman -Syu vim
• Locale:
  • Timezone: ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Brussels /etc/localtime
  • hwclock --systohc
  • vim /etc/locale.gen and uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
  • locale-gen
  • vim /etc/locale.conf and write LANG=en_US.UTF-8 in it
• Network:
  • vim /etc/hostname and write arch-bto2 in it
  • vim /etc/hosts and add:
    • 127.0.0.1 localhost
    • ::1 localhost
    • 127.0.1.1 arch-bto2.frixx-it arch-bto2 (replace 127.0.1.1 with the static ip if there is one - 192.168.60.52)
• passwd
• pacman -Syu vim grub intel-ucode os-prober (the latter only if other osses are installed, in this case, you also need to mount them, if windows is not detected, pacman -Syu ntfs-3g might do the trick)
• grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda
• grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

It would now be possible to reboot, but then you will have no wifi. Install netctl (pacman -Syu netctl) to ensure that wifi-menu is available. But we will use NetworkManager later on, so if you go on, you don't need it.

• useradd -m -G wheel dirk
• passwd dirk
• vim /etc/sudoers and uncomment the wheel section
• log in as dirk: su dirk

• sudo vim /etc/pacman.conf and enable multilib (by uncommenting two lines)
• sudo pacman -Syu xorg nvidia nvidia-utils lib32-nvidia-utils (I selected all the defaults)
• sudo pacman -Syu i3-wm terminator lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
• sudo systemctl enable lightdm.service

It would now be possible to reboot, but then you will have no wifi. You can either install netctl to ensure that wifi-menu is available, or you could wait a while to make sure NetworkManager is installed.

• sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/vim /usr/bin/vi

• sudo pacman -Syu git
• cd ~
• git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
• cd yay
• makepkg -cris
• cd ..
• rm -rf yay

• mkdir ~/.config/i3
• cp /etc/i3/config ~/.config/i3/config
• Edit ~/.config/i3/config and find/replace Mod1 with $mod :%s/Mod1/$mod/g
• Add a line above: set $mod Mod4

• yay -Syu networkmanager network-manager-applet networkmanager-fortisslvpn-git
• sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager
• Add line to i3 config: exec --no-startup-id nm-applet

• yay -Syu pulseaudio alsa-utils pulseaudio-alsa (you may need to reboot for pulseaudio to work, you will probably want to wait)

You should now be able to reboot and use wifi, but if you go on, you can make sure that i3 boots up nice

• yay -Syu openssh

• yay -Syu polybar rofi
• mkdir ~/.config/polybar
• cp /usr/share/doc/polybar/config ~/.config/polybar/config
• vi ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Terminate already running bar instances
killall -q polybar
# Wait until the processes have been shut down
while pgrep -u $UID -x polybar >/dev/null; do sleep 1; done
# Launch Polybar, using default config location ~/.config/polybar/config
polybar mybar &
echo "Polybar launched..."

• chmod +x ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh
• vi ~/.config/polybar/config and change [bar/example] to [bar/mybar], optionally other things as well -* vi ~/.config/i3/config and add/update the following lines: bindsym $mod+space exec rofi -show run -theme arthur-
• Create ~/.config/rofi/rofi.sh with:

#!/bin/sh

bg_color=#2f343f
text_color=#f3f4f5
htext_color=#9575cd

rofi -show run -lines 3 -eh 2 -width 100 -padding 400 -opacity "85" -bw 0 -color-window "$bg_color, $bg_color, $bg_color" -color-normal "$bg_color, $text_color, $bg_color, $bg_color, $htext_color" -font "System San Francisco Display 16"

• Make it executable: chmod +x ~/.config/rofi/rofi.sh
• bindsym $mod+space exec --no-startup-id $HOME/.config/rofi/rofi.sh
• disable the change focus between tiling/floating window binding
• disable the whole i3bar section
• exec_always --no-startup-id $HOME/.config/polybar/launch.sh
• yay -Syu siji-git
• If already in i3: restart i3 (win+shift+r) and the polybar should be visible

You can now reboot (or go on if you really want)

• Faster keyboard response:

exec_always --no-startup-id xset r rate 300 50

• Keyboard layout US-international

exec --no-startup-id setxkbmap -layout us -variant altgr-intl -option nodeadkeys

• Keyboard bindings:

bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec --no-startup-id xbacklight -inc 10 # increase screen brightness
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec --no-startup-id xbacklight -dec 10 # decrease screen brightness
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id amixer -D pulse -q set Master playback 5%+ unmute
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id amixer -D pulse -q set Master playback 5%- unmute
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id amixer -D pulse -q set Master toggle

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
    Driver "libinput"
    Option "Tapping" "on"
EndSection

• Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-keyboard.conf

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput keyboard catchall"
        Driver "libinput"
	Option "XkbOptions" "numpad:microsoft"
EndSection

• yay -Syu util-linux
• sudo systemctl enable fstrim.timer
• sudo systemctl start fstrim.timer

• yay -Syu cups cups-pdf
• sudo usermod -aG sys dirk
• sudo systemctl enable org.cups.cupsd.service
• sudo systemctl start org.cupscupsd.service
• open browser on localhost:631 and follow the user interface to add the Lexmark CX310dn printer (find the PPD in Dropbox under Linux folder)

• yay -Syu polkit lxsession
• Make sure lxpolkit is started at boot (i3-config)

• yay -Syu thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-volman tumbler ffmpegthumbnailer gvfs gvfs-smb
• yay -Syu exfat-utils
• yay -Syu gnome-icon-theme gnome-icon-theme-extras gnome-icon-theme-symbolic

• yay -Syu ccid
• sudo systemctl enable pcscd.socket
• sudo systemctl start pcscd.socket
• gpg --recv-key 824A5E0010A04D46 (check on https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/eid-mw/ and if this fails, try another DNS)
• yay -Syu eid-mw

• sudo vi /etc/systemd/logind.conf and change the defaults (make sure HandleLidSwitch* = lock)
• yay -Syu xss-lock
• add line to ~/.config/i3/config: exec --no-startup-id xss-lock -- i3lock -n (optionally with parameters like -i <image.png>)
• Improve this optionally by moving the functionality to a lock.sh script with:

#!/bin/sh

bg_color=#2f343f

i3lock -n --color "$bg_color"

• yay -Syu bluez bluez-utils pulseaudio-bluetooth
• sudo systemctl enable bluetooth.service
• sudo systemctl start bluetooth.service
• yay -Syu blueman
• sudo vi /etc/pulse/system.pa and add the following lines:

load-module module-bluetooth-policy
load-module module-bluetooth-discover

I needed a reboot after this

see https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/5r5ep8/make_your_arch_fonts_beautiful_easily/ for more information)

• yay -Syu ttf-dejavu ttf-liberation noto-fonts
• sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/70-no-bitmaps.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d
• sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/10-sub-pixel-rgb.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d
• sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/11-lcdfilter-default.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d
• vi /etc/profile.d/freetype2.sh and uncomment export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=40"

You can add these commands to i3 config:

• xset s 3600 3600 to let screen go blank after 1 hour
• xset dpms 0 0 0 to prevent automatic standby, suspend, off
• xset q for more information

I don't want it... see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fingerprint_GUI for more information

• yay -Syu clevo-xsm-wmi-util
• sudo systemctl start clevo-xsm-wmi
• sudo systemctl enable clevo-xsm-wmi See https://bitbucket.org/tuxedocomputers/clevo-xsm-wmi/src/master/module/ABI/testing/sysfs-driver-clevo-xsm-wmi for more information on how to manually change the colors

• yay -Syu gtk3 gnome-themes-extra adwaita-qt4 adwaita-qt5 breeze breeze-gtk lxappearance
• qtconfig-qt4 -> select adwaita/breeze
• lxappearance

syntax on
set tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 expandtab
set autoindent
set number
map <F5> :tabp<CR>
map <F6> :tabn<CR>
map <F9> :!./m<CR>
map <F10> :!./%<CR>
au BufRead *.fs set ft=
au BufRead *.vs set ft=

" Show tabs in light color
hi SpecialKey ctermfg=lightgray
set listchars=tab:>-
set list

• yay -Syu vim-a -> this makes an easy switcher between c/h file, add map :A in .vimrc
• yay -Syu vim-airline powerline powerline-fonts -> this makes a nice toolbar, add let g:airline_powerline_fonts = 1 to .vimrc

• see https://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=3797

This is very important. I destroyed my battery on my other laptop by not having configured this correctly and draining the battery completely every time. It is important to configure that the system shuts down (or sleeps/hibernates) when the battery gets lower than say 10%. Somewhere below 10% is the really bad zone for batteries and it is said that it is best for batteries to be recharged when the reach < 50%.

To configure this, see: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Power_management

However, I just installed the package powerkit and started it with i3. Configuring it is easy.

• yay -Syu powerline powerline-fonts
• Change ~/.bashrc:

powerline-daemon -q
POWERLINE_BASH_CONTINUATION=1
POWERLINE_BASH_SELECT=1
. /usr/share/powerline/bindings/bash/powerline.sh

Here are several fonts I found interesting to have:

• yay -Syu terminus-font bdf-unifont font-bh-ttf ttf-croscore ttf-dejavu noto-fonts ttf-liberation ttf-ubuntu-font-family ttf-ms-fonts ttf-vista-fonts ttf-anonymous-pro ttf-freefont ttf-freefont ttf-tahoma

• yay -Syu playerctl
• Add following to i3 config:

	bindsym XF86AudioPlay exec playerctl play
	bindsym XF86AudioPause exec playerctl pause
	bindsym XF86AudioNext exec playerctl next
	bindsym XF86AudioPrevious exec playerctl previous

• yay -Syu arandr
• run arandr and set up monitors, save to file ~/.screenlayout/...
• cat ~/.screenlayout/... and copy this
• Add following to i3 config: exec_always --no-startup-id [paste]
• Download font awesome: https://github.com/FortAwesome/Font-Awesome/releases
• Unzip and copy .ttf files to ~/.fonts
• Open the font awesome cheat sheet and copy/paste the icon you wish to a workspace description
• Download font YosemitySanFransisco: https://github.com/supermarin/YosemiteSanFranciscoFont
• Unzip and copy .ttf files to ~/.fonts
• Change font line in i3 config to: font pango:System San Fransisco Display 11
• Start lxappearance (yay -Syu lxappearance if not already installed) and change the font to SFNS Display 11
• Install font infinality for nicer font rendering: yay -Syu fontconfig-infinality
• Remove polybar if installed (remove startup line in i3 config)
• yay -Syu i3blocks i3blocks-contrib
• Add the following above the bar section in the i3 config

	set $bg-color                  #2f343f
	set $inactive-bg-color         #2f343f
	set $text-color                #f3f4f5
	set $inactive-text-color       #676e7d
	set $urgent-bg-color           #e53935
	set $ugly                      #ff00ff

• Use them

	# colors                border             background         text                 indicator
	client.focused          $bg-color          $bg-color          $text-color          $ugly
	client.unfocused        $inactive-bg-color $inactive-bg-color $inactive-text-color $ugly
	client.focused_inactive $inactive-bg-color $inactive-bg-color $inactive-text-color $ugly
	client.urgent           $urgent-bg-color   $urgent-bg-color   $text-color          $ugly

• Add this to hide the (now ugly) edge borders by adding this to the i3 config: hide_edge_borders both
• Change the bar section in i3 config to

	bar {
		status_command i3blocks -c $HOME/.config/i3/i3blocks.conf
		position top
		colors {
			background $bg-color
			separator #757575
			# Bar colors       border             background         text
			focused_workspace  $bg-color          $bg-color          $text-color
			inactive_workspace $inactive-bg-color $inactive-bg-color $inactive-text-color
			urgent_workspace   $urgent-bg-color   $urgent-bg-color   $text-color
		}
	}

• Copy default config file for i3blocks: cp /etc/i3blocks.conf ~/.config/i3/.
• vim ~/.config/i3/i3blocks.conf and configure it
• The firefox theme seems to have been replaced to: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/8q1725/color_arcdarker/
• Install arc-theme (https://github.com/horst3180/Arc-theme) with yay -Syu arc-gtk-theme (or gtk-theme-arc-git (AUR))
• Install moka icon theme: yay -Syu moka-icon-theme
• Start lxappearance and select the Arc-Darker theme, go to icon themes tab and select Moka (or Faba which looks better in my opinion)
• Install compton: yay -Syu picom
• And make sure it starts with i3: exec --no-startup-id picom -f

For i3blocks, a lot of scripts and dependencies are needed. Copy the scripts to ~/.i3blocks/blocklets/... For dependencies, check out https://github.com/vivien/i3blocks-contrib or:

• For calendar, you need: yay -Syu yad xdotool
• For battery, you need: yay -Syu acpi