For several years now I have been using Ubuntu linux as my personal desktop but I never really went too deep into the technical details. I wish to learn more about Linux and become a more proficient, more professional “user”.

Online I found the suggestion that Arch linux is a good distro to learn because it gives the opportunity build up the whole system from the bottom up if you choose to not use installer scripts etc. In this way, every package / app / tool has to be installed and configured separately. This way I think is good to really get a customized, personal, linux experience and learn a lot in the proces.

What I wanted to have for now is (in short):

  • A minimalist Arch linux setup
  • Fully encrypted disks
  • A window-manager, not a full desktop
  • Sound, Networking, Power saving controls, Lock screen
  • Internet browser & email

see the complete action checklist at the bottom of this page

The plan#

I have an old laptop on which I executed my plan. I followed some instructions I found online on how to install Arch with LUKS encrypted LVM volumes, this did not work out 1:1 and I had to return to the Arch wiki / internet many times to figure out what mistakes I had made. It took me a loooong time to get the EFI bootloader working, after that it was pretty much smooth sailing.

Conclusion#

  • Learned to create a bootable linux setup step by step from usb stick:
    • Generate initramfs
    • Create boatloader & partitions for EFI boot
    • Bootstrap /root
  • .. fully encrypt disks with LUKS encrypt & setup LVM group
  • .. setup a basic Arch linux system
  • .. setup and configure a window manager instead of a full desktop (hyprland)
  • Security: Less running or installed software means smaller attack surface.
  • Simplicity: Less running or installed software means simpler to manage / less conflicts

Definitely like the barebones setup of Arch linux, this is the opposite of bloat-ware (cough, Windows, cough). I am thinking of replacing my Ubuntu desktop with Arch.

Love hyprland! Everything is just there, one keyboard-button click away, within a millisecond. Totally customizable after your needs. It just does what you need it to do, nothing more, nothing less.

Images of laptop#

image 1 image 2

Action plan checklist#

  • LVM + Encrypted disks - LUKS
    • partition efi - 150MiB fat32
    • partition boot - 700MiB fat32
    • luks encrypt.
    • lvm group - 117GiB
      • swap - 8GiB
      • root - 54GiB ext4
      • home - 54GiB ext4
      • empty - spare space
  • Systemd boot
  • Systemd
  • Systemd mount
  • Systemd network
    • Wireless - iwd + systemd-networkd
    • Wired - systemd-networkd
  • Sound - Pipewire
    • pipewire-audio
    • pipewire-alsa
    • pipewire-pulse
  • Minimalist GUI - Use window manager, no Full-desktop
    • Hyprland
      • NVIDIA dkms modules
      • Kitty
      • Hyprland package
      • extend / configure hyprland
        • waybar
        • hyprpaper
        • notification deaemon - dunst
        • nemo file manager
        • launcher - wofi
        • screen blank & lock - hypridle & hyprlock
  • Terminal - Alacritty
  • Terminal tools
    • Text editor - vim / neovim
    • Terminal multiplexer - tmux
    • fzf fuzzy find
    • rg ripgrep
    • less
    • man pages
    • fastfetch
    • terminal file manager - lf
  • Power saving controls (hypridle)
  • Lock screen
  • Applications:
    • Internet browser - vivaldi
    • Mail - Thunderbird
  • Security scan - Lynis
    • Read report and fix where needed (ongoing, its a lot)