Landerblom

Arch Linux on Framework 13"

Installing Arch Linux might seem like a daunting task but the Arch wiki is great and have all the things needed to install Arch.

This post is therefore no replacement, this is just my attempt to record all the steps I take to install Arch on my machine and it might help someone else who is installing Arch on a Framework computer.

All info below can also be found on the Arch wiki!

Download the iso and signature to verify the image

curl -O https://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/archlinux/iso/2025.01.01/archlinux-x86_64.iso
curl -O https://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/archlinux/iso/2025.01.01/archlinux-x86_64.iso.sig

I'm in Sweden so I picked a mirror close to me, and this specific mirror is located at my old univerity so had to use that one

Verify iso gpg --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify archlinux-x86_64.iso.sig

Copy iso to USB

sudo dd bs=4M if=archlinux-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sda conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress

MAKE SURE /dev/sda is the USB drive!

Boot it up

Framework computers come with Secure Boot enabled, you need to disable that before proceeding

Follow the Arch wiki guide from here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide#Boot_the_live_environment

set timezone:

timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Stockholm

I need my disk to be encrypted for work so here it goes:

First, wipe the disk

  cryptsetup open --type plain --key-file /dev/urandom --sector-size 4096 /dev/nvme0n1 to_be_wiped
  dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/to_be_wiped status=progress bs=1M
  cryptsetup close to_be_wiped

Then partition the disk, I use one big partition for / and of course a small 1Gb partition for /boot

  fdisk /dev/sda

Create the Root (/) Partition

Type n to create another new partition. Select partition number 2. Accept the default for the first sector (it should start right after the /boot partition). Press Enter for the last sector to use all remaining space.

TODO: Set the correct type GUID of the partitions

Press w to write the partition table and exit.

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt/Encrypting_an_entire_system#LUKS_on_a_partition_with_TPM2_and_Secure_Boot

cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/nvme0n1p2
cryptsetup open /dev/nvme0n1p2 root
mount /dev/mapper/root /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Start installing software

  pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware amd-ucode man-db man-pages texinfo iwd vim
 

arch-chroot /mnt
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Stockholm /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

Uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 in /etc/locale.gen and run

  locale-gen

Locale settings

  echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
  echo "KEYMAP=sv-latin1" > /etc/vconsole.conf
  echo "mange-work" > /etc/hostname

Update /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

  HOOKS=(base systemd autodetect microcode modconf kms keyboard sd-vconsole block sd-encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)

Install Boot manager

I was at first eager to build a UKI and boot from there but instead choose to go with a arch.conf in the /boot/loader/entries directory

/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options quiet

Change root password

  passwd

Reboot and login with the root account

Now begins the fun stuff

Connect to internet

We already installed iwd so connect to your network following this guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Iwd#iwctl

systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd
systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved
ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

Check regulatory domain: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Network_configuration/Wireless#Respecting_the_regulatory_domain

Disable power saving mode to improve stability: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Network_configuration/Wireless#mt7921

useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash mange

Install doas to allow user to run root commands

pacman -S opendoas

/etc/doas.conf

permit persist keepenv :wheel

This allows the users in group wheel, which includes the user we just created, to run doas.

exit root user and login to normal user now.

doas systemctl enable --new iwd to start the network manager and get internet

Install some well needed programs

sudo pacman -S --needed git ca-certificates base-devel

Dotfiles

There are many ways to manage dotfiles, I have them in a repo that I clone to ~/workspace/dotfiles and then use stow to put them in place like this:

doas pacman -S stow
mkdir -p workspace
cd workspace
git clone https://codeberg.org/landerblom/dotfiles.git
cd dotfiles
stow -v -t /home/mange .

pacman and AUR

I like to use paru to install and update my system: https://github.com/Morganamilo/paru

So I'll start with installing that:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru.git
cd paru
makepkg -si

git and ca-certificates are needed to clone the repo.

UI

I like Hyprland as a window manager so I'll be installing that but I want it without X support which means compiling with the NO_XWAYLAND flag. There is a package in the AUR for this, but at the time or writing it's outdated so lets do it by hand instead.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/hyprwm/Hyprland.git
cd Hyprland
git checkout v0.47.1  # pick a good tag
paru -S ninja gcc cmake meson libxcb pixman wayland-protocols cairo pango seatd libinput libliftoff libdisplay-info cpio libxkbcommon tomlplusplus hyprlang-git hyprcursor-git hyprwayland-scanner-git xcb-util-errors hyprutils-git glaze hyprgraphics-git 
cmake --no-warn-unused-cli -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release -DNO_XWAYLAND:STRING=true  -B build
cmake --build ./build --config Release --target all -j`nproc 2>/dev/null || getconf NPROCESSORS_CONF`
sudo cmake --install ./build
Hyprland

After starting Hyprland after this no fonts showed and some other things looked weird. But after installing some fonts it was easier to understand what was going on.

Status bar

paru -S waybar otf-font-awesome

Audio

paru -S pipewire wireplumber pipewire-audio pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse

Reboot

Bluetooth

paru -S bluez bluez-utils
modprobe btusb
systemctl enable --now bluetooth

Fan control

paru -S fw-ectool-git
doas fw-ectool autofanctrl

Screenshots

paru -S slurp grim swappy wl-clipboard

Command is then grim -g "$(slurp)" | swappy -f -

Random software

paru -S firefox libnotify tofi mako jq pkgstats eza bat fg ripgrep hyprpaper hyprlock hypridle

TuneD

https://github.com/redhat-performance/tuned

BIOS

First thing, check if you need to update BIOS. When writing this all drivers are already in the kernel so no need to do anything there.

Install BIOS and Driver bundle here: https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/bios-and-drivers-downloads-rJ3PaCexh

Additional setting for the Framework computer

Source https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Framework_Laptop_13

Community forum: https://community.frame.work/t/arch-linux-on-the-framework-laptop-13/3843