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Inside the Environment ​

10. Enable Services ​

INFO

Automatically start NetworkManager and NTP at boot to manage network connections and sync time.

shell
systemctl enable NetworkManager systemd-timesyncd

INFO

Run TRIM once a week on all supported drives. TRIM tells an SSD or NVMe which blocks are no longer in use so it can clean them up in advance, improving performance and extending the drive’s lifespan. Enabling this won't affect HDD's.

shell
sudo systemctl enable fstrim.timer

11. Configure pacman.conf ​

INFO

Edit pacman.conf to optimize package downloads and add 32-bit support.

shell
nano /etc/pacman.conf

TIP

Navigate nano with arrow keys. Save with CTRL + O and exit with CTRL + X. To exit without saving, press CTRL + X and n.

Edit the [options] section: ​

Find the section called [options] and add the follwing lines below:

ini
[options]
ILoveCandy
ParallelDownloads = 5

Enable 32-bit application support: ​

Scroll to the bottom of the file until you see these lines:

ini
#[multilib]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Uncomment them, so it looks like this:

ini
[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

This activates the multilib repository, which is required if you want to run 32-bit programs on a 64-bit system (for example, Steam and some older apps).

INFO

In Summary:

  • ILoveCandy → Adds visual effects to downloads.
  • ParallelDownloads → Enables faster downloads.
  • multilib → Adds 32-bit support (for apps like Steam).

12. Update Pacman Repositories ​

INFO

Refresh the package database to get the latest software versions.

shell
pacman -Syy

13. Set the System Timezone ​

INFO

Set your timezone (replace Europe/Berlin with yours):

shell
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin /etc/localtime

INFO

Sync the system clock with the BIOS clock:

shell
hwclock --systohc

14. Set Locale ​

INFO

Set the system's language and encoding.

  1. Edit locale.gen to uncomment your locale:

    shell
    nano /etc/locale.gen

    TIP

    Use CTRL + W to search for your locale.

  2. Generate the locale:

    shell
    locale-gen

  3. Set the default system language (replace de_DE.UTF-8 with yours):

    shell
    echo "LANG=de_DE.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf

15. Set the Hostname ​

INFO

Set your system's hostname which is displayed in your network:

shell
echo "arch" > /etc/hostname

16. Configure Keyboard Layout for Console ​

INFO

Set the console keyboard layout (replace de with yours). Laptops use latin1 because the layout is slightly different. For example, de-latin1.

shell
echo "KEYMAP=de" > /etc/vconsole.conf

17. Create a New User ​

shell
useradd -m -G wheel,power,storage,render,video,audio -s /bin/bash justus

18. Set the user’s password: ​

shell
passwd justus

19. Grant Sudo Access (Admin Privilages) ​

INFO

This gives sudo access to users in the wheel group.

  1. Open the sudoers file:

    shell
    EDITOR=nano visudo

  2. Uncomment this line (remove the #):

    shell
    %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL