Why NOT to NOT install Arch Linux:
Summary: Arch Linux is a techie distro. It is for people who want to learn and hate not understanding how their systems work. If you are willing to do a little extra work, it can cut out most of the inefficiencies inherent in overly “user friendly” GUIs and one-size-fits-all consumer systems. Plus, it is a joy to use.
Why not to install Arch Linux natively on a tablet: Do not misunderstand, Arch Linux is great and would be better with a native install. However, many tablets (particularly the MS Surface Pro 3) come with hardware that is not fully supported. While it is supposedly possible to get it working, I spent three days hacking on it before realizing that even if I got it working, it would be the equivalent of holding everything together with duct tape. A Virtual Box install is clean, easy, and stable. It runs smoothly and plus, it is extremely simple to take snapshots, backup, and restore. Sharing files from Windows to Linux is fairly easy, too. Plus, having the Windows install lets you run Photoshop and a few other useful applications, depending on your needs.
Installation tips: If it's your first time installing Arch Linux, set aside a few days (or a day if you are a seasoned Linux user comfortable with command line interaction). When I did my first install, I was not only new to Arch Linux, but to Linux, the command line, and “techie stuff” in general. Taking your time to proceed slowly through the install process and to understand what you are doing is a great learning experience—even if you decide not to stick with Arch, you will have learned plenty in the process. Be sure to read through the entire beginner's guide on the Arch Wiki. I used MBR during my drive partition. Also, be sure to perform the Virtual Box specific install instructions if you are not installing natively—you will need a few extra packages. There are also a few useful youtube channels that cover GRUB (or your favorite bootloader) installation and everything else needed to startx—midfingr in particular, if he is still around.
Customizing Your System
In this section, I maintain a list of my favorite applications and programs. My Github (link at the top of this page) also contains many of my config files and automation scripts for keeping everything running sleek and smooth.
Fresh Install: First Steps
Window Manager: i3. I actually recommend NOT installing a desktop environment like Unity (ick), Gnome (meh), Xfce (fine), or KDE (fine but not lightweight). In addition to installing many useless applications and several obscure packages (and thus breaking with the theme of understanding your system), most of the graphical features actually decrease efficiency. I therefore recommend keeping your system lightweight and sleek with i3 tiling window manager. It takes some getting used to, but once you have tweaked the key bindings to your liking, it will become the biggest productivity tool in your arsenal. And yes, it can look just as sleek as KDE without all the extra overhead. The config file is ~/.i3/config
File Manager: ranger. Lightweight, configurable, and simple. It uses vim keybindings by default.
Terminal: Termite. I tested several terminals, but I like this one best. Easy to configure (my config is on Github), supports transparency, and works well with i3.
Theme Tool: lxappearance. GTK themes are a pain on i3, but lxappearance is a simple tool that makes switching themes a breeze.
Theme: StormDropsBlack, Paranoid. These two are the nicest I have found and can be downloaded from the gnome looks page (along with many other nice GTK themes). To make them show up in lxappearance, copy them (with sudo) to /usr/share/themes.
Background: feh. This is part of the price you have to pay for all the benefits of i3. You will have to find/make a background image, place it in a background directory somewhere, and add a line to your .i3/config. Mine is
exec_always feh --bg-scale /home/jsuarez/Backgrounds/akameArchOffset.jpg
If the background displays in a weird tiled format, you may have to restart i3 in place after each reboot or hack around it (I did not bother, as it is one hotkey). If you want transparency to work, Install compton and add “exec compton” to your .i3/config. Using systemctl would also probably work.
Applications
Office Suite: Libre Office. Stable, simple, customizable. I far prefer it to MS Office. You can set the default application appearance (without messing up printing colors) in the settings in keeping with the dark theme. The only thing I have not experimented with is the presentation software; Google Slides is a good backup plan. You will have to download hunspell (maybe enchant) and a few dependencies to get spellcheck working.
Browser: Firefox+Vimperator+Dark Themes. This one is not debatable. No other browser currently has anything like Vimperator, which makes keyboard navigation a breeze if you take some time to glance over the command sheet (mostly the same as vim). It will feel clunky if you do not.
Editor: vim, Sublime Text 3. If you're not already either a vim user or a die-hard emacs fan, learn vim. Just type vimtutor at the command line and start working through the tutorial, but know that there is much, much more to vim. Grab a copy of Sublime for when it is late and you can not remember how to copy code between files. Also, type :syntax on in order to turn on highlighting. There are many themes out there, but tweaking everything may take more time than you care to spend.
Music Player: cmus. Simple. Lightweight. Mostly vim keybindings.
Media Player: smplayer. Simple. Lightweight. No flares and no problems.
Photo Editor: gthumb. This editor is honestly amazing. It provides quick and easy image viewing, cropping, rotation, and basic adjustments in a simple GUI that requires no manual. If you need something more powerful, also run a copy of Photoshop in Windows. If you are installing natively and not dualbooting Windows, there are plenty of decent options on Arch such as Gimp.
PDF Reader: Zathura. Lightweight, no complaints. Uses vim bindings.
Sync Software: Dropbox, DropItToMe. These work perfectly, and DropItToMe is a great way to quickly slog code files between machines (though do set up ssh between your main machines).
Mail Client: Thunderbird. Or nothing. The Gmail web client looks nice with a dark theme.
Techie Tools
Geek Candy
Scripts
I often write scripts and leave them in my home directory so that I can run them with
bash .scriptName
or
bash .scriptName arg1 arg2 …
These range from trivial one-liners to 50+ liners that automate significant tasks on my system, such as configuration backup and restoration. All my scripts (well, all non-sensitive scripts) are on my Github.
- You think rolling distributions are unstable
- You are afraid that you will break something when you least have time to fix it
- You are afraid that the community will be hostile to newcomers
- You are not an enthusiast/do not want to learn
- You are not a programmer/do not want to learn basic programming skills
- You like it when things “just work” without any maintenance and without having to understand why
- You want to learn or hone generic “techie” skills useful to programmers and everyone working in technology
- You want full control over your system
- You want a sleek, efficient, personalized system that best fits you
Summary: Arch Linux is a techie distro. It is for people who want to learn and hate not understanding how their systems work. If you are willing to do a little extra work, it can cut out most of the inefficiencies inherent in overly “user friendly” GUIs and one-size-fits-all consumer systems. Plus, it is a joy to use.
Why not to install Arch Linux natively on a tablet: Do not misunderstand, Arch Linux is great and would be better with a native install. However, many tablets (particularly the MS Surface Pro 3) come with hardware that is not fully supported. While it is supposedly possible to get it working, I spent three days hacking on it before realizing that even if I got it working, it would be the equivalent of holding everything together with duct tape. A Virtual Box install is clean, easy, and stable. It runs smoothly and plus, it is extremely simple to take snapshots, backup, and restore. Sharing files from Windows to Linux is fairly easy, too. Plus, having the Windows install lets you run Photoshop and a few other useful applications, depending on your needs.
Installation tips: If it's your first time installing Arch Linux, set aside a few days (or a day if you are a seasoned Linux user comfortable with command line interaction). When I did my first install, I was not only new to Arch Linux, but to Linux, the command line, and “techie stuff” in general. Taking your time to proceed slowly through the install process and to understand what you are doing is a great learning experience—even if you decide not to stick with Arch, you will have learned plenty in the process. Be sure to read through the entire beginner's guide on the Arch Wiki. I used MBR during my drive partition. Also, be sure to perform the Virtual Box specific install instructions if you are not installing natively—you will need a few extra packages. There are also a few useful youtube channels that cover GRUB (or your favorite bootloader) installation and everything else needed to startx—midfingr in particular, if he is still around.
Customizing Your System
In this section, I maintain a list of my favorite applications and programs. My Github (link at the top of this page) also contains many of my config files and automation scripts for keeping everything running sleek and smooth.
Fresh Install: First Steps
Window Manager: i3. I actually recommend NOT installing a desktop environment like Unity (ick), Gnome (meh), Xfce (fine), or KDE (fine but not lightweight). In addition to installing many useless applications and several obscure packages (and thus breaking with the theme of understanding your system), most of the graphical features actually decrease efficiency. I therefore recommend keeping your system lightweight and sleek with i3 tiling window manager. It takes some getting used to, but once you have tweaked the key bindings to your liking, it will become the biggest productivity tool in your arsenal. And yes, it can look just as sleek as KDE without all the extra overhead. The config file is ~/.i3/config
File Manager: ranger. Lightweight, configurable, and simple. It uses vim keybindings by default.
Terminal: Termite. I tested several terminals, but I like this one best. Easy to configure (my config is on Github), supports transparency, and works well with i3.
Theme Tool: lxappearance. GTK themes are a pain on i3, but lxappearance is a simple tool that makes switching themes a breeze.
Theme: StormDropsBlack, Paranoid. These two are the nicest I have found and can be downloaded from the gnome looks page (along with many other nice GTK themes). To make them show up in lxappearance, copy them (with sudo) to /usr/share/themes.
Background: feh. This is part of the price you have to pay for all the benefits of i3. You will have to find/make a background image, place it in a background directory somewhere, and add a line to your .i3/config. Mine is
exec_always feh --bg-scale /home/jsuarez/Backgrounds/akameArchOffset.jpg
If the background displays in a weird tiled format, you may have to restart i3 in place after each reboot or hack around it (I did not bother, as it is one hotkey). If you want transparency to work, Install compton and add “exec compton” to your .i3/config. Using systemctl would also probably work.
Applications
Office Suite: Libre Office. Stable, simple, customizable. I far prefer it to MS Office. You can set the default application appearance (without messing up printing colors) in the settings in keeping with the dark theme. The only thing I have not experimented with is the presentation software; Google Slides is a good backup plan. You will have to download hunspell (maybe enchant) and a few dependencies to get spellcheck working.
Browser: Firefox+Vimperator+Dark Themes. This one is not debatable. No other browser currently has anything like Vimperator, which makes keyboard navigation a breeze if you take some time to glance over the command sheet (mostly the same as vim). It will feel clunky if you do not.
Editor: vim, Sublime Text 3. If you're not already either a vim user or a die-hard emacs fan, learn vim. Just type vimtutor at the command line and start working through the tutorial, but know that there is much, much more to vim. Grab a copy of Sublime for when it is late and you can not remember how to copy code between files. Also, type :syntax on in order to turn on highlighting. There are many themes out there, but tweaking everything may take more time than you care to spend.
Music Player: cmus. Simple. Lightweight. Mostly vim keybindings.
Media Player: smplayer. Simple. Lightweight. No flares and no problems.
Photo Editor: gthumb. This editor is honestly amazing. It provides quick and easy image viewing, cropping, rotation, and basic adjustments in a simple GUI that requires no manual. If you need something more powerful, also run a copy of Photoshop in Windows. If you are installing natively and not dualbooting Windows, there are plenty of decent options on Arch such as Gimp.
PDF Reader: Zathura. Lightweight, no complaints. Uses vim bindings.
Sync Software: Dropbox, DropItToMe. These work perfectly, and DropItToMe is a great way to quickly slog code files between machines (though do set up ssh between your main machines).
Mail Client: Thunderbird. Or nothing. The Gmail web client looks nice with a dark theme.
Techie Tools
- cling: c++ interpreter
Geek Candy
- archey: indispensable. Support the cause!
- cmatrix: a great waste of screen space
- pmatrix: my version of matrix rain, available on my Github. Depends on your font and bold font colors. Looks best in green/blue.
- xscreensaver: comes with a nice matrix rain screen saver
- Nethack: ASCII dungeon crawler classic
- Dwarffortress: obligatory
- htop: essentially top with nicer coloring
- xmacro: great for recording key commands
Scripts
I often write scripts and leave them in my home directory so that I can run them with
bash .scriptName
or
bash .scriptName arg1 arg2 …
These range from trivial one-liners to 50+ liners that automate significant tasks on my system, such as configuration backup and restoration. All my scripts (well, all non-sensitive scripts) are on my Github.
