Arch Linux is a terrible Desktop OS ‘n anything built on it will be just as problematic, e.g. ‘Whar did my Google Photos go after the new kernel upgrade!?’ Developers spend too much time focusing on rushing the latest Linux Kernel out ‘n not nearly enough time getting the OS more stable ‘n reliable, e.g. DE’s are a coin flip on whether or not they’ll work. I was hoping for better results during this recent round of testing…3-4 days with only a few breaks. KDE Plasma DE installs fine on the ‘Apevia’ Ryzen™ test machine, but GNOME, Cinnamon ‘n MATE don’t. On ‘Apevia‘, GNOME is still missing the terminal on my new installation method, but everything works fine (well, other than GNOME Shell integration ‘n Dash to Panel) on the ‘Rose’ Intel test computer installation. Cinnamon ‘n MATE seemed to have graphic problems on both test computers, i.e. neither could get to the login screen. Cinnamon installed on ‘Apevia’ under my old method, but had no terminal or screen capture utility.

At some point, I will try installing Cinnamon from the working GNOME ‘n Plasma Desktops, since adding new DE’s to existing ones seems to work on most Distros. Here’s the Plasma installation on ‘Apevia’:

Could probably get the correct Nvidia driver for the GeForce 1660, but with the newest Linux Kernel I expected Arch to spot it like Ubuntu ‘n Mint ‘n Linuxfx do. BTW, Linuxfx has moved into #8 spot on DistroWatch’s “Last 1 Month” page hit rankings…1026 hits a day. Arch ‘n Archies have horrible update issues…well, other than getting the newest kernel.

Speaking of DistroWatch … their ratings ‘n rankings reveal very little about a Linux Desktop OS’s stability and actual user base. A hundred college students could easily pump out a thousand Page Hits a day for some OS, and it wouldn’t be the first time “a handful of undisciplined individuals” cheated for their Distro.

Operating System Share by Version:

Ubuntu 1.08%, Chrome OS 0.42%, Fedora 0.02%, Red Hat 0.00%, Mint 0.00%, Debian 0.00%, Slackware 0.00% and Gentoo 0.00%. Top 55 OSes and not one mention of Arch or an Archie.

0.00% probably represents more OS user share than all the 2,000 other Linux Distros not even listed on any actual OS tracking site. DistroWatch has some great info ‘n usage, but actual rankings accuracy isn’t one of them. SourceForge can provide more accuracy on how popular a Linux Distro is, on the Distro’s weekly downloads, e.g. Manjaro Linux @ Downloads: 626 This Week & Linuxfx / Windowsfx @ Downloads: 14,649 This Week.

Arch ‘n Archies seem to have more graphic problems than other Linux Distros that I use, as has been reflected by my testing’s over the past 20 months. Many of the tutorials for installing Vanilla Arch seem to be ‘hesitant’ about some of the graphical DE installations, and I’m going to only give my method of installing Vanilla Arch – PLUS a GNOME DE version, but not the other Graphical DE installations. My main source for this Part 4 tests has been It’s FOSS ‘n 2 of their articles: 1) How to Install Arch Linux [Step by Step Guide] (their GNOME version). 2) How to Properly Install and Setup KDE Plasma on Arch Linux. Arch developers have done an excellent job with incorporating KDE Plasma into their Distro, IMHO. I actually used their methods, but it did require some tweaking.

Use my method *AND* the How to Install Arch Linux [Step by Step Guide] tutorial together. Double-check each command as you move along … WordPress doesn’t reflect the double-dash correctly (I’ll try to note those instances) ‘n this tutorial uses “echo” ‘n “touch” which are unfamiliar terms to me.

Will add this post to the Vanilla Arch Linux page…

Remember, the Target drives were prepped w/ GParted – 3 partitions instead of the 2 in this tutorial, so add this following line for swap (or just create 2 partitions with GParted):

# swapon /dev/sda2

 

Arch Install:

 

  • Prep target drive w/ GParted – 550mb fat32 … 2000mb swap … rest ext4
  • Note: The FOSS tutorial uses TWO partitions – I use the above THREE
  • Use Etcher to create installation media
  • Keymap default is US
  • Internet is easier w/ Ethernet (Wi-Fi difficult) .. ping google.com to check .. Ctrl c ends ping
  • Does not seem portable on SSD – unusual for a Linux Distro.
  • Desktop Environments (DE) like GNOME (GDM) ‘n KDE (SDDM) apparently install their own Display Managers.

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Step 7: Install Arch Linux:

#  pacman –Syy                                 (Note: added by me)

#  mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

#  pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim nano

 

Step 8: Configure the installed Arch system:

#  genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

#  arch-chroot /mnt                        (Note: notice the prompt changed)

 

Setting Timezone

#  timedatectl list-timezones

#  timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Paris            (Note: for me it was # timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York)

 

Setting up Locale

#  nano /etc/locale.gen                                 (Note: added by me w/ nano *ALSO* my locale is –   en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8    – I need to find that in the long list and “Uncomment” it. Scroll down using the terminal/text cursor as a guide, and then stop it on your locale … remove the # from the start of the line, i.e. go to e in en and backspace – then hit Ctrl + x … “Y” to save and enter. Double-check this area because it can mess up lots of stuff, e.g. miss/corrupt the terminal.)

#  locale-gen                      (Note: should now show your locale – mine is en_US.UTF-8)

#  echo LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf

#  export LANG=en_GB.UTF-8

 

Network configuration

#  nano /etc/hostname                                    (Note: nano added by me)

karmi                        (“karmi” is my hostname – now, Ctrl + x to exit “Y” to save)

 

#  echo karmi > /etc/hostname

#  nano /etc/hosts                           (“touch” didn’t work so I used nano instead – then add the three lines below at the end)

 

127.0.0.1              localhost

::1                           localhost

127.0.1.1              karmi                                     (Ctrl + x … “Y” to save and enter.)

 

Set up root passwd

#  passwd

New password: 123

Retype new password: 123

Passwd: password updated successfully

 

Step 9: Install Grub bootloader:

(*NOTE*: WordPress doesn’t reflect the double-dash correctly so refer to tutorial closely for the following command lines…watch spaces also!!!)

#  pacman -S grub efibootmgr

#  mkdir /boot/efi

#  mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi

#  grub-install –target=x86_64-efi –bootloader-id=GRUB –efi-directory=/boot/efi

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

 

Step 10: Install a desktop environment (GNOME in this case):

#  pacman -S xorg

#  pacman -S gnome

#  systemctl start gdm.service

(NOTE: wouldn’t execute because of “chroot”?! Didn’t seem to be a problem)

 

#systemctl enable gdm.service

#systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

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You’re not much of a Linux user if you can’t install Vanilla Arch, IMHO…

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