A guide to install Arch Linux on a old AMD laptop I own.

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Guide to install Arch Linux on a HP 15-db0026au

Boot Arch Linux using a prepared USB stick. Rufus can be used on windows, Etcher can be used on Windows or Linux. Or use Ventoy

For Network i use wireless, if you need wired please check the Arch WiKi. it should work automatically for wired.

Launch iwctl and connect to your AP like this:

• station wlan0 scan
• station wlan0 get-networks
• station wlan0 connect YOURSSID

Type exit to leave.

Update System clock with timedatectl set-ntp true

• My Disk is sda, check with lsblk

• Format Disk using gdisk /dev/sda with this simple layout:

  • o for new partition table
  • n,1,<ENTER>,+1024M,ef00 for EFI Boot
  • n,2,<ENTER>,<ENTER>,8300 for the linux partition
  • w to save layout

Format the EFI Partition

mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n EFI /dev/sda1

mkfs.btrfs -f -L ROOTFS /dev/sda2 btrfs filesystem for root partition

Mount Partitions und create Subvol for btrfs.

• mount -t btrfs LABEL=ROOTFS /mnt Mount root filesystem to /mnt
• btrfs sub create /mnt/@
• btrfs sub create /mnt/@home
• btrfs sub create /mnt/@swap

truncate -s 0 /mnt/@swap/swapfile
chattr +C /mnt/@swap/swapfile
btrfs property set /mnt/@swap/swapfile compression none
fallocate -l ${SWAP_SIZE} /mnt/@swap/swapfile
chmod 600 /mnt/@swap/swapfile
mkswap /mnt/@swap/swapfile
mkdir /mnt/@/swap

if u want to increase or decrease swap size, just change --size 16g to --size (size-in-gb's)g make sure that it is g not gb

Just unmount with umount /mnt/ and remount with subvolumes

mount -o noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache,commit=120,subvol=@ /dev/mapper/luks /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mkdir -p /mnt/home
mkdir -p /mnt/.snapshots
mkdir -p /mnt/btrfs

mount -o noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache,commit=120,subvol=@home /dev/mapper/luks /mnt/home/
mount -o noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache,commit=120,subvol=@snapshots /dev/mapper/luks /mnt/.snapshots/
mount -o noatime,space_cache,commit=120,subvol=@swap /dev/mapper/luks /mnt/swap/

mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot/

mount -o noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache,commit=120,subvolid=5 /dev/mapper/luks /mnt/btrfs/

Check mountpoints with df -Th

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware btrfs-progs nano networkmanager amd-ucode

After this, generate the filesystem table using genfstab -Lp /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Add swapfile echo "/swap/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0" >> /mnt/etc/fstab

You can use a hostname of your choice, I have gone with "zephyrus"

arch-chroot /mnt
echo zephyrus > /etc/hostname
echo LANG=en_NZ.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
echo LANGUAGE=en_NZ >> /etc/locale.conf
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Pacific/Auckland /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

Modify nano /etc/hosts with these entries. For static IPs, remove 127.0.1.1. Replace "zephyrus" with your hostname that you chosen previously.

127.0.0.1		localhost
::1				localhost
127.0.1.1		zephyrus.localdomain	zephyrus

nano /etc/locale.gen to uncomment the following line

en_US.UTF-8

Execute locale-gen to create the locales now

Add a password for root using passwd root

nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and add encrypt btrfs to hooks between block/filesystems. NOTE: If you chose to not encrypt your home partition, do not add encrypt to HOOKS. and put resume udev after filesystems/keyboard and before fsck if u want hibernation

HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block encrypt btrfs filesystems keyboard resume fsck

Also include amdgpu in the MODULES section MODULES=(amdgpu)

create Initramfs using mkinitcpio -P

bootctl --path=/boot install installs bootloader

nano /boot/loader/loader.conf delete everything and add these few lines and save the file

default	arch.conf
timeout	3
editor	0

nano /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf with these lines and save.

title	Arch Linux
linux	/vmlinuz-linux
initrd	/amd-ucode.img
initrd	/initramfs-linux.img

copy boot-options with echo "options cryptdevice=UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/nvme0n1p2):luks root=/dev/mapper/luks rootflags=subvol=@ rw" >> /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

NOTE: If you chose to not encrypt your home partition, use this command:

ROOT_PARTITION=<!!!YOUR_ROOT_PARTITION_HERE!!!> && echo "options root=UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value ${ROOT_PARTITION}) rootflags=subvol=@ rw" >> /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

using nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia-nouveau.conf with these lines and save file

	blacklist nouveau
	options nouveau modeset=0

Type exit to exit chroot

umount -R /mnt/ to unmount all volumes

Now its time to reboot into the new system!

Configure WiFi Connection.

systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl start NetworkManager
nmcli device wifi connect YOURSSID password SSIDPASSWORD

you can also use nmtui for a tui instead of cli

First create my new local user and point it to zsh

useradd -m -g users -G wheel,lp,power,audio -s /bin/bash MYNEWUSERNAME
passwd MYNEWUSERNAME

Edit nano /etc/sudoers and uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL or %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Now exit and relogin with the new MYNEWUSERNAME

The first thing you should do after installing is to update your system. Open a command line and run:

sudo pacman -Syyu

Install some daemons before we reboot

sudo pacman -S acpid dbus 
sudo systemctl enable acpid

The goal is to have automatic snapshots each time i made changes with pacman. The hook creates a snapshot to ".snapshots\STABLE". So if something goes wrong i can boot from this snapshot and rollback my system.

First i create the snapshot and changes by hand to test if anythink is working. After that it will be done automaticly by our hook and script.

sudo -i
btrfs sub snap / /.snapshots/STABLE
cp /boot/vmlinuz-linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-stable
cp /boot/amd-ucode.img /boot/amd-ucode-stable.img
cp /boot/initramfs-linux.img /boot/initramfs-linux-stable.img
cp /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf /boot/loader/entries/stable.conf

Edit /boot/loader/entries/stable.conf to boot from STABLE snapshot

title   Arch Linux Stable
linux   /vmlinuz-linux-stable
initrd  /amd-ucode-stable.img
initrd  /initramfs-linux-stable.img
options ... rootflags=subvol=@snapshots/STABLE rw

Now edit the /.snapshots/STABLE/etc/fstab to change the root to the new snapshot/STABLE

ˋˋˋ ... LABEL=ROOTFS / btrfs rw,noatime,.....subvol=@snapshots/STABLE ... ˋˋˋ

reboot and test if you can boot from the stable snapshot.

Copy the script from my Repo in /usr/bin/autosnap to

/usr/bin/autosnap and make it executable with chmod +x /usr/bin/autosnap

Copy the script from my Repo in /etc/pacman.d/hooks/00-autosnap.hook to

/etc/pacman.d/hooks/00-autosnap.hook

Now each time pacman executes, it launches the autosnapscript which takes a snapshot from the current system.

Install xorg and xfce4 packages

sudo pacman -Sy xorg xfce4 xfce4-goodies xf86-input-synaptics gvfs xdg-user-dirs ttf-dejavu network-manager-applet firefox-i18n-de git git-lfs curl wget

sudo localectl set-x11-keymap de pc105 deadgraveacute
xdg-user-dirs-update

LightDM Loginmanager

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
sudo systemctl enable lightdm

if you want to use kde instead, go here

Audio was exceptionally low on linux. To fix, first remove everything pulseaudio related by running:

sudo pacman -Rdd pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pulseaudio-bluetooth pulseaudio-ctl pulseaudio-equalizer pulseaudio-jack pulseaudio-lirc pulseaudio-rtp pulseaudio-zeroconf pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspa

Most of this may not be installed already so remove it from the command. Then, install pipewire and its related packages.

sudo pacman -S pipewire pipewire-pulse gst-plugin-pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-media-session

Reboot and login to your new Desktop.

Plymouth is in AUR , just clone the Repo and make the Package (i create a subfolder AUR within my homefolder)

cd AUR
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/plymouth-git.git
makepkg -is

or get a aur manager such as yay or paru

Do not replace encrypt with plymouth-encrypt, as plymouth-encrypt no longer exists. Now modify the Hooks for the Initramfs, "plymouth" must be right after "base udev" and before "encrypt".

HOOKS=(base udev plymouth encrypt autodetect modconf kms keyboard keymap consolefont block btrfs filesystems fsck)

Run mkinitcpio -P and wait for it to finish

Add some kernel-parameters after "root=/dev/mapper/luks" to make boot smooth. Edit /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf and append to options

... rootflags=subvol=@ quiet splash loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0 rw

For Plymouth Theming and Options, check Plymouth on Arch Wiki. Issue the following command to set ROG logo as the plymouth theme.

sudo plymouth-set-default-theme -R bgrt

For KDE Theming you could check this nice Youtube Video from Linux Scoop For XFCE4 Theming you could check this nice Youtube Video from Linux Scoop

Install nvidia package from official repos. Double check to see if linux-headers are installed to avoid blackscreen on reboot. Do NOT run nvidia-xconfig on Arch as it results in black screen. Install the following packages:

sudo pacman -S nvidia-dkms nvidia-settings nvidia-prime acpi_call

Add Luke Jones's Repo to pacman.conf (/etc/pacman.conf)

sudo bash -c "echo -e '\r[g14]\nSigLevel = DatabaseNever Optional TrustAll\nServer = https://arch.asus-linux.org\n' >> /etc/pacman.conf"

sudo pacman -S asusctl

Activate DBUS Messaging for the new asus deamon to get asus notifications upon changing fan profile etc.

systemctl --user enable asus-notify
systemctl --user start asus-notify

Run the following commands:

asusctl -c 85 		# Sets charge limit to 85% if you do not want this, do not execute this line
asusctl fan-curve -m Quiet -f cpu -e true
asusctl fan-curve -m Quiet -f gpu -e true 
asusctl fan-curve -m Performance -f cpu -e true
asusctl fan-curve -m Performance -f gpu -e true
asusctl fan-curve -m Balanced -f cpu -e true
asusctl fan-curve -m Balanced -f gpu -e true

For fine-tuning read the Arch Linux Wiki or the Repository from Luke. asusctl requires kernel 5.15+, which at the time of writing has not been released. Install the ROG kernel instead.

After adding the above repo, install the ROG kernel by running

sudo pacman -S linux-g14 linux-g14-headers 
#kernel headers are very important otherwise nvidia module will not load, resulting in black screen.	

After installing the kernel, edit /boot/loader/loader.conf and add the following to it:

default arch-g14.conf
timeout 3
editor 0

Then run sudo cp /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf /boot/loader/entries/arch-g14.conf && sudo nano /boot/loader/entries/arch-g14.conf

Replace the lines that start with title, linux, and initrd with this:

title   Arch Linux (g14 kernel)
linux   /vmlinuz-linux-g14
initrd  /amd-ucode.img
initrd  /initramfs-linux-g14.img

and finally do

sudo mkinitcpio -P

To automatically turn Performance profile on charger connect and Quiet profile on charger disconnect, run the following

echo "#\!/bin/bash\nasusctl profile -P Performance\n" > ~/.local/share/scripts/switch_performance.sh && echo "#\!/bin/bash\nasusctl profile -P Quiet\n" > ~/.local/share/scripts/switch_quiet.sh

Make the scripts executable by running

chmod +x  ~/.local/share/scripts/switch_performance.sh ~/.local/share/scripts/switch_quiet.sh

Go to Settings -> Power Management -> Energy Saving -> On AC Power. enable Run Script, select switch_performance script from ~/.local/share/scripts/ using open file dialogue button. Go to On Battery Tab, enable Run Script and select switch_quiet script from ~/.local/.local/share/scripts/ using open file dialogue button. Manually giving path does not appear to work for some reason.

Optional: Enable battery full charge notification. Go to KDE Settings -> Notifications -> Application Settings -> Configure Events. Select Charge Complete and Select Show a message in popup

Go to KDE Settings->Shortcuts->Custom Shortcuts. Click Edit->New->Global Shortcut->Command/URL. Name it NvidiaSettings. Set trigger to ROG Key and set action to nvidia-settings

Go to KDE Settings->Shortcuts->Custom Shortcuts. Click Edit->New->Global Shortcut->Command/URL. Name it ChangeFanProfile, set trigger to fn + f5 and action to asusctl profile -n

Run usb-devices and look for the device that says Product=N-KEY Device. Note the vendor id. For my zephyrus it is 0b05. Run

sudo find /sys -name modalias | xargs grep -i 0b05

Find the line that goes like:

.../input/input18/modalias:input:b0003v0B05p1866e0110-e0...

Copy the part after input:, before the first -e. In my case, it is b0003v0B05p1866e0110. Create a file named /etc/udev/hwdb.d/90-nkey.hwdb and add

/etc/udev/hwdb.d/90-nkey.hwdb
evdev:input:b0003v0B05p1866*
 KEYBOARD_KEY_ff31007c=f20 # x11 mic-mute, space in start is important in this line

After that, update hwdb.

sudo systemd-hwdb update
sudo udevadm trigger

In display and monitor -> gamma, change gamma to 0.9 for better colors

Use fusuma to get touchpad gestures. Create ~/.local/share/scripts/fusuma.sh and add

#!/bin/bash
fusuma -d #for running in daemon mode

Add this script to autostart in KDE settings. For macOS like gestures use this config. 4 finger gestures are not working. My config is in the repo.

Install bluetooth related packages

sudo pacman -S bluez bluez-utils
sudo systemctl enable bluetooth.service
sudo systemctl start bluetooth.service

After installing and enabling zsh and oh-my-zsh with powerlevel10k, create file ~/.zshenv and do the following:

• Install fastfetch-git from pamac.
• Add fastfetch --load-config paleofetch in ~/.zshenv

Reduce key input delay to 250 ms for a better keyboard experience.

You can install paru, an AUR helper like this: cd ~ && mkdir paru && git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru.git && cd paru && makepkg -sci && cd ~ && rm -r paru/

After installing paru, you can use it like pacman to install AUR packages.

Examples:

• paru -S <package>
• paru -Syu
• paru -Rns <package>

Do not run paru as root. It will ask for permission when it needs to.

Alternatively, you can use pamac, which also has a gui. Or, you can use yay

yay -S viper4linux-git
yay -S viper4linux-gui

Install xorg and kde packages

pacman -S xorg 
sudo pacman -S plasma kde-applications pulseaudio

sudo pacman -S sddm
sudo systemctl enable sddm

kde-applications installs a bunch of packages that I do not need so I removed them. First remove the following groups of applications.

sudo pacman -Rns kdepim kde-games kde-education kde-multimedia

Then, remove some apps from other groups too.

sudo pacman -R kwrite kcharselect yakuake kdebugsettings kfloppy filelight kteatime konqueror konversation kopete

To see what various applications do, check out the kde-applications group on Arch website.

A better magic lamp effect. In latest plasma versions, exclude "disable unsupported effects" next to the search bar in settings for the effect to appear.

In Kwin scripts, install "kwin-maximize-to-new-desktop" and run:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/kservices5
ln -s ~/.local/share/kwin/scripts/max2NewVirtualDesktop/metadata.desktop ~/.local/share/kservices5/max2NewVirtualDesktop.desktop

Then install kdesignerplugin through pacman -S kdesignerplugin. Logout and login again after configuration changes. My config:

Trigger: Maximize only
Position: Next to current

(git)

I prefer the apps to open in windowed mode, in the center of the screen with 1280 * 720 resolution. To do this, add Window Rule, name it Window Size. Set the following rules

• Window Class: Unimportant
• Match whole window class: No
• Window Types: Normal window (deselect all others)
• Size: Apply Initially, 1280x720
• Ignore Requested Geometry: Force, Yes.

To make brave launch in 1280x720, do the following:

• Edit /usr/share/applications/brave-browser.desktop
• line 111: change Exec=brave %U to Exec=brave %U --window-size="1280,720"
• Repeat for line 111 and 223

NOTE: asusctl and optimus-manager may conflinct with eachother. If using asusctl, it is recommended to uninstall optimus-manager with sudo pacman -Rns optimus-manager optimus-manager-qt

Install optimus-manager and optimus-manager-qt. After rebooting, it should work fine.

• Type C external display HDMI works out of the box, displays can be connected to type C port but require switching to dedicated graphics. Can be done either through asusctl or Optimus Manager QT.

• Optimus Manager configuration In optimus manager qt, go to optimus tab, and select ACPI call switching method and set PCI reset to No. Enable PCI remove. Startup mode is integrated. In Nvidia, set dynamic power management to fine. Modeset, Pat and overclocking options.

• Sleep/Shutdown issues System was only going to sleep once and after that got stuck on shutdown and sleep. This happened because I had set switching method to bbswitch in optimus manager. Swithced to acpi_call to fix.

I like to use oh-my-zsh with Powerlevel10K theme

sudo pacman -S git git-lfs curl wget zsh zsh-completions firefox-i18n-de
chsh -s /bin/zsh # (relogin to activate)
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
mkdir .local/share/fonts
cd .local/share/fonts
wget https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k-media/raw/master/MesloLGS%20NF%20Regular.ttf
wget https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k-media/raw/master/MesloLGS%20NF%20Bold.ttf
wget https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k-media/raw/master/MesloLGS%20NF%20Italic.ttf
wget https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k-media/raw/master/MesloLGS%20NF%20Bold%20Italic.ttf
fc-cache -v
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

Set ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k" in ~/.zshrc

Fixing terminal resize issue: On Konsole and some other terminals, prompt is expected to be on the left side only. If right side of the prompt is enabled in powerlevel10k, then resizing Konsole results in the prompt becoming jittery and breaking to multiple lines as shown here. To fix the problem, open Konsole, go to settings -> edit current profile -> Scrolling and disable "Reflow lines" option.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Power_management/Suspend_and_hibernate#Hibernation https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/btrfs#Swap_file https://confluence.jaytaala.com/display/TKB/Use+a+swap+file+and+enable+hibernation+on+Arch+Linux+-+including+on+a+LUKS+root+partition