The Desktop
The Computers
Installing Archlinux
This is NOT a substitute for the archlinux wiki so please look here... http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginner's_Guide
Download the archlinux live CD from here... http://www.archlinux.org/download/
It is always best to download the live CD using bit-torrent as it saves bandwidth on the archlinux servers and will probably download quicker as well. Write the iso to a CD or any other boot-able medium you prefer, USB stick or HDD.
The script I have created does the whole install for you. Just answer the questions asked and follow any instructions displayed. It is about as simple as it gets. The script is called ialis (Initial Arch Linux Install Script). I already have a script called alis that is used to do a complete install after the ialis script, but that is the subject of another post sometime.
You can copy & paste the bash script below into a text editor and save it on to a USB flash pen, you can then mount the pen into the live CD and copy the script to the running live CD. Then just make it executable and run it.
Alternatively you can just download the script from my server once you are in the live CD with the following command.
wget winpe.com/ialis
You will probably need to do a pacman -Syy followed by pacman -S wget in order to be able to use the wget command.
Below is the bash script
#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -ne 2 ]
then
echo "#######################################################################"
echo "# #"
echo -e "# USAGE: ialis \e[00;31m<Install Device> <Hostname> \e[00m #"
echo -e "# \e[00;31mInstall Device\e[00m = /dev/sda or /dev/sdb etc. etc. #"
echo -e "# \e[00;31mHostname\e[00m = The hostname you want for this install. #"
echo "# Edit the location,keymap and language in this script before running #"
echo -e "# This ialis version is dated \e[00;31m01/09/2012 11:52\e[00m #"
echo "# #"
echo "#######################################################################"
exit 2
fi
IDEV=$1
############### CHANGE THESE SETTINGS TO SUIT YOUR LOCATION #################
TIMEZONE="Europe/London"
LOCALEGEN="en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8"
KEYMAP="uk"
FONT="alt-8x14"
FONTMAP="8859-14_to_uni"
LANG="en_GB.UTF-8"
LCCOLLATE="C"
#############################################################################
# Make sure the device actually exists
if [[ ! -b $IDEV ]]; then
echo "Device $IDEV does not exist.... bailing out."
exit 3
fi
echo
echo -e "Partitions will be... \e[00;31m"$IDEV"1=/boot "$IDEV"2=/ "$IDEV"3=home\e[00m (without swap)"
echo -e "Partitions will be... \e[00;31m"$IDEV"1=/boot "$IDEV"3=/ "$IDEV"4=home\e[00m (with swap)"
echo "You need to be able to change this script to suit your own needs."
echo "Consider learning about the install by studying this script."
echo
echo -e "You can press \e[00;31mCtrl+C\e[00m at any of the following prompts to exit this script."
echo
read -n1 -s -p "Partition the $IDEV HDD (y/N)" a
echo
if [[ $a == "Y" || $a == "y" ]]; then
parted -s $IDEV mklabel msdos
read -p "Enter size of the /boot partition in MB and press <Enter> " bs
parted -s $IDEV mkpart primary ext2 1 $bs
echo
hasswap="no"
read -n1 -s -p "Do you need a swap partition (y/N) " a
echo
ss=0
if [[ $a == "Y" || $a == "y" ]]; then
read -p "Enter size of the swap partition in MB and press <Enter> " ss
sp=$(($bs+$ss))
parted -s $IDEV mkpart primary linux-swap $bs $sp
echo
hasswap="y"
fi
read -p "Enter size of the / (root) partition in GB and press <Enter> " rs
bs=$(($ss+$bs))
rs=$(($rs*1000+$ss+$bs))
parted -s $IDEV mkpart primary ext2 $bs $rs
echo
echo "Enter size of the /home partition in GB and press <Enter>"
read -p "You can enter 100% to use the remainder of the HDD " hs
if [[ $hs == "100%" ]]; then
parted -s $IDEV mkpart primary ext2 $rs 100%
else
hs=$(($hs*1000+$rs))
parted -s $IDEV mkpart primary ext2 $rs $hs
fi
parted -s $IDEV set 1 boot on
else
hasswap="n"
read -n1 -s -p "Do you have a swap partition (y/N) " a
if [[ $a == "Y" || $a == "y" ]]; then
hasswap="y"
fi
if [[ $hasswap == "y" ]]; then
echo -e "Your partitions must be like this...\n \e[00;31m"$IDEV"1=/boot "$IDEV"2=swap "$IDEV"3=/ "$IDEV"4=home\e[00m"
else
echo -e "Your partitions must be like this...\n \e[00;31m"$IDEV"1=/boot "$IDEV"2=/ "$IDEV"3=home\e[00m"
fi
echo
echo
echo -e "\e[00;31mIf your partitions are not as shown then DO NOT CONTINUE.\e[00m"
echo
echo
fi
read -n1 -s -p "Format /boot partition (y/N)" a
if [[ $a == "Y" || $a == "y" ]]; then
mkfs -t ext2 "$IDEV"1
fi
# If hasswap = "y" then need to mkswap here
if [[ $hasswap == "y" ]]; then
mkswap "$IDEV"2
fi
read -n1 -s -p "Format / (root) partition (y/N)" a
if [[ $a == "Y" || $a == "y" ]]; then
if [[ $hasswap == "y" ]]; then
mkfs -t ext4 "$IDEV"3
else
mkfs -t ext4 "$IDEV"2
fi
fi
read -n1 -s -p "Format /home partition (y/N)" a
if [[ $a == "Y" || $a == "y" ]]; then
if [[ $hasswap == "y" ]]; then
mkfs -t ext4 "$IDEV"4
else
mkfs -t ext4 "$IDEV"3
fi
fi
if [[ $hasswap == "y" ]]; then
mount "$IDEV"3 /mnt
else
mount "$IDEV"2 /mnt
fi
mkdir /mnt/home
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount "$IDEV"1 /mnt/boot
if [[ $hasswap == "y" ]]; then
mount "$IDEV"4 /mnt/home
else
mount "$IDEV"3 /mnt/home
fi
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel syslinux wget
genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
cat > /mnt/root/ialis2 << "EOF"
#!/bin/bash
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime
echo -e "hOsTnAmE" > /etc/hostname
echo -e "vCoNsOle" > /etc/vconsole.conf
echo -e "lOcAlE" > /etc/locale.conf
echo -e "LoCaLeGeN" > /etc/locale.gen
echo -e "tImEzOnE" > /etc/timezone
# Systemd
# Create a couple of ttys that I find can be useful, X will be on tty4
ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/getty@.service /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty@tty2.service
ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/getty@.service /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty@tty3.service
locale-gen
mkinitcpio -p linux
# I have occasionally received a "Missing Operating System" message on reboot.
# Because of this I added the command 'extlinux -i /boot/syslinux'
# This solved the problem initially but I still very occasionally get the message.
# Each time it has happend I reboot the live CD, remount the partitions and
# run the extlinux -i /boot/syslinux command again and it solves the problem.
# Not sure of the reason for this but I have added a couple of sleep commands to
# see if it helps at all.
/usr/sbin/syslinux-install_update -iam
sleep 1
extlinux -i /boot/syslinux
sleep 1
passwd root
# Uncomment the multilib repo if it exists (x86_64 only but harmless in i686)
sed -i '/#\[multilib\]/,/#Include = \/etc\/pacman.d\/mirrorlist/ s/#//' /etc/pacman.conf
sed -i '/#\[multilib\]/,/#Include = \/etc\/pacman.d\/mirrorlist/ s/#//' /etc/pacman.conf
sed -i 's/#\[multilib\]/\[multilib\]/g' /etc/pacman.conf
cat > /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg << "EOFF"
# Config file for Syslinux -
# /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
DEFAULT arch
PROMPT 0 # Set to 1 if you always want to display the boot: prompt
TIMEOUT 10
# Menu Configuration
# Either menu.c32 or vesamenu32.c32 must be copied to /boot/syslinux
UI menu.c32
#UI vesamenu.c32
# Refer to http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/menu
MENU TITLE Arch Linux
#MENU BACKGROUND splash.png
MENU COLOR border 30;44 #40ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR title 1;36;44 #9033ccff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR sel 7;37;40 #e0ffffff #20ffffff all
MENU COLOR unsel 37;44 #50ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR help 37;40 #c0ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg 37;40 #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout 1;37;40 #c0ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR msg07 37;40 #90ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg 31;40 #30ffffff #00000000 std
# boot sections follow
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux on /dev/sdx2
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sdx2 ipv6.disable=1 ro
INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img
LABEL archfallback
MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback on /dev/sdx2
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sdx2 init=/bin/systemd ro
INITRD ../initramfs-linux-fallback.img
#LABEL windows
# MENU LABEL Windows
# COM32 chain.c32
# APPEND hd0 1
LABEL hdt
MENU LABEL HDT (Hardware Detection Tool)
COM32 hdt.c32
LABEL reboot
MENU LABEL Reboot
COM32 reboot.c32
LABEL off
MENU LABEL Power Off
COMBOOT poweroff.com
EOFF
echo
echo
echo
echo -e "Do... \e[00;31mextlinux -i /boot/syslinux\e[00m and press <Enter>"
echo
echo -e "Now type \e[00;31mexit\e[00m and press\e[00;31m <Enter>\e[00m."
EOF
# This will set the / partition into the syslinux.cfg that ialis2 will write
sed -i "s/hOsTnAmE/$2/g" /mnt/root/ialis2
sed -i "s/vCoNsOle/KEYMAP=$KEYMAP\\\nFONT=$FONT\\\nFONT_MAP=$FONTMAP\\\n/g" /mnt/root/ialis2
sed -i "s/lOcAlE/LANG=$LANG\\\nLC_COLLATE=$LCCOLLATE\\\n/g" /mnt/root/ialis2
sed -i "s/LoCaLeGeN/$LOCALEGEN\\\n/g" /mnt/root/ialis2
TIMEZONE=$(printf "%s\n" "$TIMEZONE" | sed 's/[][\.*^$/]/\\&/g')
sed -i "s/tImEzOnE/$TIMEZONE\\\n/g" /mnt/root/ialis2
# If there is a swap partition then change sda2 to sda3 in syslinux.cfg that is in ialis2
TMP="\/dev\/sdx"
NIDEV=$(printf "%s\n" "$IDEV" | sed 's/[][\.*^$/]/\\&/g')
if [[ $hasswap == "y" ]]; then
sed -i "s/${TMP}2/${NIDEV}3/g" /mnt/root/ialis2
else
sed -i "s/${TMP}/${NIDEV}/g" /mnt/root/ialis2
fi
# Make ialis2 executable
chmod +x /mnt/root/ialis2
echo -e "Now go to the root directory with \e[00;31mcd /root\e[00m"
echo -e "Then run ialis2 with \e[00;31m./ialis2\e[00m"
# Once we run the chroot this script just waits until exit from chroot
arch-chroot /mnt
# Unmount the new OS
umount /mnt/boot
umount /mnt/home
umount /mnt
echo -e "When you have logged in to your new install remember to edit mirrorlist."
echo -e "Now shutdown with \e[00;31mshutdown -h now\e[00m or reboot with \e[00;31mreboot\e[00m then remove the liveCD and restart."