Thin Mint

My installation scripts for a minimal Arch Linux setup, aimed for developers.

Foreword

These scripts are more of a basic outline of how my machine operates and how my development environment is structured. I was trying to replicate as closely a I could all of my favorite aspects of Linux Mint and combine it with the efficiency of Arch.

Installation Process

Base Install

This portion of the installation is concerned with installing a bare Arch Linux environment with persistent internet and file system. The process consists of these steps:

Partitioning the drive to store the boot loader, root and swap partitions.
Formatting the drives (different partitions we just created) so we can properly use them
Mounting the newly created file system allow both partitions get the files they need
Install all the necessary components for an Arch Linux install and the development tools
Tell fstab where all of the drives are
Setting the correct timezone
Only using English locales
Setting hostname and the ability to ping yourself
Installing GRUB
Internet persistence using dhcpcd
Unmounting and rebooting

Desktop Install

Here we are installing the next layer which is the graphical environment, install applications, create users and make edits to configuration files. This process consists of these steps:

Installing the necessary packages and users
Create the user we are going to use permanently (i.e) )jared
Configuring the terminal
- zsh, vim, urxvt
Installing the necessary layers for a graphical installation to work
- Setting the correct greeter
Install "proper" themes
Install configuration files for various programs
- git, cinnamon, scripts
Add home directory structure
Install user applications
- Discord, Slack, etc

Hardware Configuration

The Dell XPS 15 has some quirks that need to be addressed such as the power hungry GTX 1050 graphics card. In this instance, we can safely disable this component. This process includes:

Setting up a service that tells the kernel to not load the graphics card at start up so we don't have to do it every time
Power saving help from tlp

Other Notes

Running this on the desktop test environment should include the following steps before proceeding:

rmmod tg3 pcspkr
modprobe broadcom
modprobe tg3

Thank you to this Arch forum thread!