The basics of

ARCH LINUX


by Benjamin Kaiser
+BenjaminKaiser on Google Plus
@benkaiser on Github




What is Arch?

  • Rolling Release (with monthly snapshots)
  • Minimalistic (providing a sound base install)
  • User-centric (users have all control)



Why is it awesome?

Pacman
AUR
Rolling Release
Build it Yourself
Local Repo Mirrors
Community


Community

The ArchWiki is a rich source of information for guides of installing software, configuring software and using software.

The Arch forums are full of very knowledgeable people.  Please read the Forum Etiquette guidelines before posting.

The Arch User Repository is all user submitted!

COMPARED TO OTHER DISTROS

Packages are closer to upstream than any other major distro.

Compared to Gentoo, packages are provided as binaries (rather than compiled from source) .

No graphical installer, and the base contains only core packages. Essentially you 'build' your system by selecting what packages you want from scratch.

The Arch Way and Arch Compared to Other Distros  are useful for finding out if Arch is for you.



WHO IS IT FOR?

Experienced Linux users (not afraid of the terminal)
Friends and relatives of the above
People wishing to expand their understanding of Linux and
Elitists

There are certain GUI installer derivatives to make the install process easier. This is highly advised against.

PACMAN & AUR

Arch Ubuntu 
pacman -Syu
 
apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
 
packer sublime-text-dev
 
add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-3
apt-get update
apt-get install sublime-text-installer

AUR stands for Arch User Repository. It is where users can submit their own packages through PKGBUILDs. These can be binary, source, proprietary, open, etc. There is a voting and commenting system to help identify trusted packages.
10763 packages in the official repos
46860 packages in the AUR (with 19677 updated in the last year)
every application you could need

What is PACKER?

Packer is an AUR helper that helps you install packages from the AUR easily.
There are many more
Without an AUR helper, you have to take AUR package installing into your own hands.

All AUR helpers are in the AUR, so to install one you must go through the process manually. However if you get lazy here is a script I created to install Packer. 


FINDING an ARCH PACKAGE

Google (DuckDuckGo, etc) '<package name> arch linux'
Find a link to either aur.archlinux.org or archlinux.org/packages
Alternatively run:

packer -Ss <package name>
Packer will search AUR and the official repos


MIrrors

6 mirrors in Australia
Optus, iiNet, Swinburne University, AARNET, 
UberGlobal and Intercom
=
Fast updating for official packages:
sudo pacman -Sy
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core                       106.9 KiB   260K/s 00:00 [#################################################] 100%
 extra                     1531.1 KiB   349K/s 00:04 [#################################################] 100%
 community                    2.1 MiB   370K/s 00:06 [#################################################] 100%
 multilib                   112.1 KiB   344K/s 00:00 [#################################################] 100%

INSTALLATION

Beginners Guide
Installation Guide (Advanced Users)

Basic Install

  • Boot from installation medium
  • Partition disks
  • Mount partitions
  • Install base
  • Configure system
  • Install boot loader
  • Reboot

POST-INSTALL

Following install you may wish to do the following:

AUR sorted votes descending is a good place to find packages




DEMO

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