Complete Arch Linux Installation, Part 2: Graphical User Interface & Packages

Welcome to the second part of the Arch Linux installation tutorial! We are installing Arch because of the amount of users who want to learn how to get into Linux. Arch is a simple, minimalistic distro, designed not to hold the users hand, but to push them to know their system and customize it to the core. This will make you feel accomplished, as well as give you the extra edge of being knowledgeable of the GNU/Linux operating systems.

In this Null Byte, we will be going over graphics and wireless setup, as well as a heap of useful packages and daemons to have. But first, you need to ask yourself some questions…

• Do I want a Desktop Environment? Or do I want a Window Manager?
• What wireless chipset do I have?
• What graphics chipset do I have?

Video

 Let's get started with the Complete Arch Linux installation's second video guide:

Commands

• pacman -S alsa-utils alsa-oss alsa-plugins udisks udev yajl
• nano /etc/rc.conf
• visudo
• su
• sudo pacman -S slim xorg xorg-xinit xf86-input-evdev xf86-input-synaptics
• sudo /etc/inittab
• sudo cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~/.xinitrc
• sudo nano .xinitrc
• sudo pacman -S firefox terminator
• alsamixer
• sudo pacman -S
• xinit /usr/bin/

Take a look at Part 1 of this guide first! Also, try to jump in the Null Byte IRC. It's a place we can all chat, learn, and have fun! If you have any questions about the tutorial, or get some problematic variable not covered in this series, feel free to ask me any questions you have.

Photo by AJ Ashton