How to install Arch Linux (GNOME)

Continuation of the Base guide that will result in a full fledged GNOME Desktop.

Introduction

If correct you followed the Base guide first, If not, do that first, else this guide won't help you.

This Second part of the guide will set up your machine as a Desktop with GNOME completely configured and with the choice of your applications

Be sure to read everything, cursive and bold wrtings need to be replaced with the proper input, I will let you know when you need to remember something.

No response means everything went well, If you get an error back make sure you typed the command correctly.

If you run into any problems you can ask for help in the support channel of the chat that belongs to my main group (Good Linux Games) You can click on the following link to join https://steamcommunity.com/chat/invite/NymDV9wn

Getting back in with the installation USB

First we have to get back into the installation medium to install the network components and the Desktop Environment.

You just start from USB again, Check your network, Mount the needed drives and chroot into the system

You might think, Why did I make you go trough this trouble?

Well, This routine should be common knowledge for Arch users, If you ever break your system, you now know how to get back into it and hopefully fix your system.

So once again so you don't have to go back to the previous guide.

ping archlinux.org

OK? Ctrl + C and mount the root partition (if encrypted run cryptroot open <partition> cryptroot first and replace the directory to /dev/mapper/cryptroot

mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt

Don't forget the boot partition

mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt

And finally chroot into the system so you can change whatever you need to change

arch-chroot /mnt

You should be root inside your installed system

Installing GNOME

First we are going to install bare GNOME with networkmanager and a terminal, because we won't get anywhere without it :P

pacman -S gnome-desktop gdm gnome-control-center gnome-keyring gnome-themes-extra networkmanager alacritty

just wait for everything to install, This can take a while depending on your network connection.

Now we need to enable the needed services for loading the Desktop Manager and Network connections

systemctl enable gdm

systemctl enable NetworkManager

Reboot into Desktop Environment

Run the following command to escape from the chroot

exit

Run the following command to restart

reboot

Remove the USB when your screen turns black and it should boot into gdm, here you can enter your password and this should bring you into GNOME, Be sure to test your network connection.

If you use wifi, but you can't see the card, go back in with the USB again and install linux-firmware.

Install the zen kernel (Optional)

For Desktop use I would recommend the zen kernel, You do sacrifice a little bit of FPS in games, but the overal experience for desktop use is a lot better especially if you are a multitasker.

so lets install it with the following command

pacman -S linux-zen linux-zen-headers

Now reconfigure grub to list the zen kernel

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

And now we are going to reboot, make sure you select the zen kernel in the grub menu (but it should go there by default)

reboot

After you are booted make sure you are running the zen kernel

uname -a

if it says zen then you can remove the default kernel

sudo pacman -Rsnc linux

And finally reconfigure grub again

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

Installing basic GNOME programs (Optional)

All of these are optional, and if you plan to use another program for it then don't install it, If you are unsure I would recommend installing them all.

Who doesn't need a calculator?

pacman -S gnome-calculator

Do you want to browse files in a graphical environment?

pacman -S nautilus

Want to see system usage, show or quit running applications?

pacman -S gnome-system-monitor

Do you ever download .zip .rar or other archives?

pacman -S file-roller

A nice and simple text editor?

pacman -S gedit

Something to view images?

pacman -S eog

something to view PDF files?

pacman -S evince

Ever need to see your installed fonts or install new ones?

pacman -S gnome-font-viewer

The default backgrounds?

pacman -S gnome-backgrounds

How about a Calendar?

pacman -S gnome-calendar

You have a top clock without this program, but it can be handy for world clocks, alarms, timers, etc.

pacman -S gnome-clocks

Do you need something for opening and editing contacts?

pacman -S gnome-contacts

A very detailed map of the world, powered by OpenStreetMaps

pacman -S gnome-maps

Something to view the weather?

pacman -S gnome-weather

Install Guake as your terminal (Optional)

Guake is a nice feature complete drop down terminal, You can open it with a hotkey and customize it a lot. Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S guake

After it is installed open Guake Properties, Under general enable Start Guake on login. Then disable the popup on startup and the tray icon and set the theme to your your active theme.

Under Main window put the height around 80% and under appearance put the transparancy around 30%, then finally under Keyboard Shortcuts set "Toggle Guake Visibility" to the ` key, between esc and tab.

If You get an error message about the hotkey you need to set the same hotkey in your DE too, Just open the settings go to keyboard shortcutts add the key and enter guake in both the name and the command.

Installing Nextcloud (Optional)

If you don't use Nextcloud, Go buy a raspberry pi now, Or build a small server if you really want to get serious in self hosting. You can also sign up at one of the many Nextcloud providers. It is a free and open source Cloud storage and syncing tool, for all your files, contacts, passwords, bookmarks, you name it, It even syncs everything with your phone, Desktop, anything really, It has some amazing features.

To clarify, This installs the Nextcloud sync client, You will need a provider or your own Nextcloud installation on a server.

We do this earlier in the installation so it can sync your files in the background while you setup your system.

Install the Sync Client

sudo pacman -S nextcloud-client

You set it up by signing in to your nextcloud account, I do not recommend using the default settings or fast setup, I would skip the automatic folder configuration and set sync manually and just link your pictures folder to your pictures folder, your documents folder to your documents folder, and whatever folder you may need, This prevents the uploading of all your files or pretty dumb file management.

If you use Nautilus the Gnome File Manager, be sure to install this too, it will enhance your nextcloud experience with Nautilus integration.

Install git

sudo pacman -S git

Clone the repository

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/nautilus-nextcloud.git

Now change the directory to the just downloaded folder

cd nautilus-nextcloud

Now build and install the package

makepkg -si

Give it your password when it asks you for it and answer yes to every question.

Enable Printing (Optional)

Surely not everyone needs this one, But if you need a printer install cups with the following command

sudo pacman -S cups cups-pdf

Enable the service

sudo systemctl enable org.cups.cupsd.socket

Now you can go to the cups webpage http://localhost:631 and configure the printers you need.

Some printers need custom cups drivers, if so you can download them from the AUR later on.

Install a Graphical User Interface for Pacman (Optional)

Now we are going to install pamac, Which is a front end for pacman the default package manager in Arch.

be sure to install git if you have not done this already

sudo pacman -S git

Clone the repository

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/libpamac-aur.git

Now change the directory to the just downloaded folder

cd libpamac-aur

Now build and install the package

makepkg -si

Give it your password when it asks you for it and answer yes to every question.

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/pamac-aur.git

Now change the directory to the just downloaded folder

cd pamac-aur

Now build and install the package

makepkg -si

Give it your password when it asks you for it and answer yes to every question.

Now we need to enable AUR support, The AUR is the Arch User Repository, Here Arch Users can upload pre compiled packages that are available for Linux but are not in the Arch repositories, Then others can just easily download it from there.

Launch pamac, go to the settings, click on the AUR tab, Enable AUR support and enable checking for updates from AUR.

You can now install any program you want from this "app store"

Install and Configure the Browser (Optional)

First we need to install Firefox with the following command, Open it after it is done.

sudo pacman -S firefox

Welcome to Firefox, We can't set all settings in the application settings, we need to adjust the profile for that, You can create your own configuration over at https://ffprofile.com/ But you can also use my configuration which blocks most trackers without breaking most websites.

Download the archive from my server using this link https://houtworm.cloud/s/r7ZM3oyTSd862To

Now we need to extract it, and put the contents of the folder in our firefox profile folder.

First create a new profile open firefox and go to about:profiles

Here click on create new profile, Click next, give it a name and click on Finish.

Be sure to make it the default profile.

Now go to /home/USERNAME/.mozilla/firefox/RANDOMCHARACTERS.PROFILENAME

Close firefox, remove all contents in the folder and then copy the contents of the downloaded archive into the current folder So in the RANDOMCHARACTERS.PROFILENAME folder should be prefs.json and the other files and folders, Don't put the FirefoxProfile folder in it but the contents of that folder.

Start Firefox, wait a bit, close it and start it again, All extensions settings and configuration should be done :)

Installing a nice icon theme (Optional)

Clone the repository

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/numix-icon-theme-git.git

Now change the directory to the just downloaded folder

cd numix-icon-theme-git

Now build and install the package

makepkg -si

Give it your password when it asks you for it and answer yes to every question.

Clone the repository

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/numix-square-icon-theme.git

Now change the directory to the just downloaded folder

cd numix-square-icon-theme

Now build and install the package

makepkg -si

Give it your password when it asks you for it and answer yes to every question.

It will not change directly, We will do that in the next section.

Ofcourse you can install any icon theme you want, I just like this GPL icon theme.

Gnome Extensions (Optional)

The Gnome desktop is missing some obvious functions by default. that's where extensions come in.

To enable gnome extensions being installed from their website you need to install a package.

Clone the repository

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/chrome-gnome-shell.git

Now change the directory to the just downloaded folder

cd chrome-gnome-shell

Now build and install the package

makepkg -si

Give it your password when it asks you for it and answer yes to every question.

Now open Firefox and go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gnome-shell-integration/

Click on Add to Firefox, Then click Add on the popup that shows after the download.

Now you can go to https://extensions.gnome.org/ and easily install any extension

Just toggle the Off button to On and press Install when you get the prompt.

Here are a few I really recommend

Pacman Updates Indicator

This one is just a must have for Arch with Gnome, Just install it
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1010/archlinux-updates-indicator/

You will need run the following command for it to work properly

sudo pacman -S pacman-contrib

If you installed the GUI for pacman be sure to click it after installation then go to settings and change the commands for updating packages to pamac-manager --updates and the one for opening the package manager to pamac-manager

AppIndicator Support

This extension adds tray icons to your top bar, It is a must if you use any application that uses tray icons.
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-support/

System Monitor

This extension will give you real time detailed information about your system in the top bar. my preferred settings are, Disable the Icon and Enable Display in the Middle. Then go trough each of the tabs, Disable Show Text for all, Hide Memory, Enable CPU, Net, Disk, GPU, Thermal and Fan, Display them all as graph except for the latter 2 make them text and be sure you select the right sensor.
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/120/system-monitor/

You will need to run the following command for it to work properly

sudo sensors-detect

OpenWeather

This extension adds the current weather to your top bar with a forecast if you click on it. I think it is a nice extra.
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/750/openweather/

Mpris Indicator Button

This extension will put your media player in the top bar, You can go to the next song by scrolling on the icon
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1379/mpris-indicator-button/

Clipboard Indicator

This extension will remember your copy history, I can not live without it
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/779/clipboard-indicator/

Desktop From Overview

This Extension will enable you to click anywhere but on a window in the overview to minimize all windows at once.
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1499/show-desktop-from-overview/

Sound Input/Output Device Chooser

This extension enables you to switch audio in and outputs quickly within 2 clicks.
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/906/sound-output-device-chooser/

Launch New Instance

This extension will always launch a new instance if you open a program through clicking on it in the menu or your favorites, It is very handy if you use multiple windows of the same application
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/600/launch-new-instance/

You can install any more you like, Some might not work due to a version mismatch, but there are plenty available, Try not to overdo it, It can slow down your system.

Tweaking the DE (Optional)

Gnome Settings

First we are going to look at the default gnome settings, Click the power button in the top right corner and then press the gear in the menu that appears.

If you use Wifi connect to the network of your choice,

If you have bluetooth your first need to run the following command

sudo systemctl enable bluetooth

You can now go ahead and add any bluetooth devices you use,

Under Notifications, Turn of Popups, and turn of Lock Screen Notifications

Under search only select the programs you want to search in when you search in the overview (The thing you get into when hitting the Windows key) You can also change the order by dragging and dropping.

Under Language you can set the language you prefer, note that you first need to add them using the instructions in step 17

Under Online accounts you can add your Nextcloud Account, I would not recommend using any of the other services

Under Privacy you can adjust some settings, But the default is fine.

Under sound you can select the correct sound in and outputs

Under Power you can set some settings, I personally set Blank screen to 10 minutes disable the rest and set the power button to do nothing, If you use a laptop you might want to use different settings.

Under Network you can add your VPN if you use one of those.

Under Devices go to screen, Set your preferred desktop resolution and the maximum available Refresh Rate, If you use Large resolutions you can scale all elements of the desktop. If you use any other resolution than the largest I recommend to copy your Gnome configuration to the GDM configuration to do that run the following command

sudo cp .config/monitors.xml /var/lib/gdm/.config/

Under Keyboard shortcuts set Toggle Full Screen Mode to Super + F (Windows Key) and any other keyboard shortcuts you want. You can also add custom ones.

Under Mouse & Touchpad, you can set your mouse settings, If you use a mouse they are good already, If you use a touchpad disable natural scrolling and edge scrolling, Set the speed as high as you find comfortable and enable tap to click and two-finger scrolling. Now you can tap with 1 finger for a left click, 2 fingers for a right click and 3 fingers for a middle click, "swiping" with 2 fingers will let you scroll in all directions.

Under Printers you can add printers if you have set those up.

The finally go back, go to details and click on Date & Time. Click the unlock button to enter your password, turn on Automatic Date & Time and set your correct timezone, You can also set a 24/12H clock here.

Gnome Tweak Tool

Tweak tool allows you to set a bunch settings so install it.

sudo pacman -S gnome-tweaks

Now we are going to customize the Tweaks application, Open it, you can find it in your menu.

General is the first tab that opens, Heere you can disable Suspend when laptop lid is closed, This only applies if you have a laptop, I prefer to keep the system on if I close the lid, If I want it to shut down I will do that manually.

Click on the appearance tab and select Adwaita-dark for Applications and set Icons to Numix-Square, Ofcourse you can download and set any theme you want.

Under the extensions tab you can adjust the settings for the extensions you have installed, but we already did that, You can always adjust more if you like.

Under fonts you can change the fonts, I would not mess too much with this.

Under Startup Applications you can add guake and nextcloud if you have them installed.

Under top bar just enable everything except for battery percentage if you don't have a battery.

Same thing applies to Window Titlebars, Enable the 2 extra buttons, Minimize and Maximize.

The rest of the settings are fine by default.

Install instant Messaging clients and Mumble (Optional)

Surely there are a lot of chat services, And you probably need more than 1, In that case I would recommend using Rambox or Ferdium, They have the advantage of having all web based chat services in 1 program, From Whatsapp to Discord and from IRC to Riot.

The following steps will install Ferdium on your system

Clone the repository

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/ferdium-bin.git

Now change the directory to the just downloaded folder

cd ferdium-bin

Now build and install the package

makepkg -si

Give it your password when it asks you for it and answer yes to every question.

Now you can open Ferdium, go to the settings, Disable every setting under general, and enable every setting under Appearance. Now you can go to services and enable any chat service you need.

Mumble is an encrypted UDP voice chat service, you can host your own servers or use one of the many public ones to chat to your friends directly.

Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S mumble

If you need a good public server you can use mine on houtworm.im :)

Install some handy fonts (Optional)

If you want to see the unicode emoticons you need to install the emoticon pack.

sudo pacman -S noto-fonts-emoji

Installing Libreoffice and Spell correction (Optional)

Libreoffice is the total office package that can do everything and open anything

Install it if you ever come across office documents.

sudo pacman -S libreoffice-fresh

if you need a different language than English also install the language packs you need

Exectute the following command, be sure to replace nl with your own country letters.

sudo pacman -S libreoffice-fresh-nl

If you need spelling correction you can install Aspell or Hunspell or both

I would suggest using Pamac for this because you can easily see what languages are available. Just open it and search for aspell or hunspell, or both.

Installing OBS and NoiseTorch (Optional)

OBS Studio is the go to streaming software on all platforms, Surely not everyone streams, but it is also very handy to record your screen or from other devices.

Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S obs-studio

NoiseTorch is simply amazing noise cancellation software, There could be a circus a mariachi band and a sporting event in your living room, and even when you are talking on a low volume, people on the other side will hear nothing but your voice. Truly amazing.

We need to install it from the AUR, so go ahead and clone the repo

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/noisetorch.git

change the directory

cd noisetorch

install the package

makepkg -si

Now you can find NoiseTorch in your menu, just open it configure it and load it to use it, Unload it again to stop it.

Install GIMP and Inkscape (Optional)

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an amazing photoshop like tool that can do about everything with images, It might be a bit overwhelming at first, but just look for tutorials if you want to accomplish a specific task.

Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S gimp

Inkscape is also a very powerful tool, Instead of raster images it tackles vector images, Which is great for designing logos and other stuff that needs to be infinitely scaleable.

Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S inkscape

Install MPD and Alacarte (Optional)

MPD is the Media Player Daemon, It is a media player as a service that needs an mpd client to steer it. It is great for a raspberry connected to your receiver for example. I use it on my PC with Ampache installed on my server controlling it.

sudo pacman -S mpd && systemctl --user enable mpd

If you want media keys to work with MPD

sudo pacman -S mpd-mpris

If you want to auto start mpd-mpris create a menu entry with Alacarte, it will enable you to modify and add programs to your menu in Gnome

sudo pacman -S alacarte

Now you can open it, add a entry in a suited place, like network or media, name it how you see fit, I suggest mpd-mpris and Give it the following command.

mpd-mpris -pwd  mpd password

Next open gnome-tweaks and add the just created program to your startup applications.

Install Audacious, VLC and Sublime (Optional)

Audacious is a nice smalll music player that will play about every format

Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S audacious

Same thing applies for VLC is is a great Video player that will play anything from anywhere

Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S vlc

Sublime is a Subsonic music player. If you have a server somewhere I would recommend installing it.

Simply search for sublime-music in pamac and you can install it easily :)

Install Transmission (Optional)

If you ever download stuff, try to use Torrents where possible, you do need a Torrent Client for that and Transmission is a great one, you can install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S transmission-gtk

now you can use Torrents instead of overloading your favorite distros by downloading distro images over HTTP :)

Installing Virtualbox (Optional)

Virtualbox is a Virtual Machine manager, You can run operating systems within your current operating system. This can be handy if you like to mess around with systems, want to learn more about Linux or you need proprietary software that doesn't run trough Wine.

Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S virtualbox

When you get asked a question go with the dkms option.

Installing Neofetch and Geekbench (Optional)

Neofetch is a cool tool that shows some system information and a asci art logo of your distro. Install it with the following command

sudo pacman -S neofetch

Now you can run it by just typing neofetch in a terminal :)

Geekbench is a very nice benchmarking toolkit for benchmarking your CPU and GPU, It runs on almost everything, So you can compare your PC against your Phone and your Server for example :)

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/geekbench.git

Now change the directory to the just downloaded folder

cd geekbench

Now build and install the package

makepkg -si

Now you should be able to benchmark your system by running the following commands, There are more beenchmarks available but these 2 are the important ones :)

CPU

geekbench --cpu

GPU Vulkan

geekbench --compute vulkan

Cleaning up and maintaining the system

Lastly we are going to clean up a bit, We left a lot of mess in your home directory during the optional steps, You can remove all the folders we used for installing the AUR packages, like pamac-aur, nautilus-nextcloud, numix-square-icons, etc

To maintain your system all you have to do is update it, you can run the following command to update your entire system

sudo pacman -Syyuu

If you followed the complete guide and installed Pamac, you can just use pamac to update all packages on your system including the ones from the AUR.

You can also remove orphaned packages every once in a while with the following command

sudo pacman -Rnsc $(pacman -Qqdt)

You do this in pamac by going to the installed tab, then click on orphans and then select all to remove them.

I would be careful with executing commands from the internet, especially the sudo command, It is extremely powerful, You could mess up everything with many simple commands.

I would also recommend keeping your home directory nice and orderly.

Conclusion

Your system should be all setup now,

To optimize it for gaming check out my guide How to Optimize Linux for Gaming

Here you will enable multilib, install the GPU drivers, Install gamemode, special gamepad drivers, advanced xorg settings and more

If you run into any problems be sure to let me know, I am always looking to improve the guide.

Suggestions are also welcome :)

[Houtworm]

@murlakatamenka
I think the firefox package is more up to date, I could be wrong tho, If I am I will adjust it, I don't have the time now.
The second y forces a database sync and the second u allows downgrading
@Jango Knight VII
I will add more DEs and even a Server option with Docker Compose :)
@vasypapa
Without Arch no Manjaro
@anzorik
I would love to add Awesome, Would you like helping me with that guide in the future?
@[LinuxGuy]mcwolf_b
Any Linux user is a friend of mine, And thank you very much for the compliments :)

[[LinuxGuy]mcwolf_b]

Nice tutorial, I'm not a fan of Arch, but I think it is very illustrative, thanks :)

[Anzorik]

Awesome wm > any DE

[vasypapa]

better use Manjaro

[Jango Knight VII]

GNOME sucks lmao

[murla]

- uBlock Origin is in repos
- pacman -Syyuu is not the way, -Syu is