This guide presumes your computer is x86_64 & has UEFI, but details on what to do for BIOS are given.
UEFI was made to try (& failed) to prevent people from installing GNU/Linux.
Preparation
Download Artix Linux (runit), then download Rufus. Artix is an Arch-based Linux distro but without systemd. This means it will boot faster. Rufus can flash the install image to a USB drive, which we will then boot from to actually install Artix onto the computer.
Partitions
Make the partitions:
fdisk /dev/sda
Then:
d # Deletes prior partition. No going back. Do this until no partitions are left.
n # Creates new partition. Press enter three times, then enter:
+1G
n # Creates second partition. Just press enter through the rest.
w # Write changes.
If there’s no previous partition on the disk, ignore entering
d.
Format the first partition, encrypt & format the second. If the password is lost, so is all the data (it can be changed later):
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
fatlabel /dev/sda1 ESP
cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda2
cryptsetup open /dev/sda2 main
mkfs.btrfs /dev/mapper/main
Change mkfs.fat -F32 to mkfs.ext4 & skip fatlabel if
using BIOS instead of UEFI.
Mount partitions:
mount /dev/mapper/main /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
Installation
Connect to the internet, then install the base packages:
basestrap /mnt base runit elogind-runit linux linux-firmware grub networkmanager networkmanager-runit cryptsetup lvm2 lvm2-runit neovim efibootmgr
Omit efibootmgr if using BIOS instead of UEFI.
Configuration
Change root into the new system:
artix-chroot /mnt bash
Set time zone. Replace Region/City with your region & city
(i.e America/New_York):
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc
Open locale.gen in nvim:
nvim /etc/locale.gen
Then uncomment (delete the #) for your locale, e.g.
en_US.UTF-8.
The basics of vim are: i to enter insert (typing) mode, :
to run commands, in this case :w to write (save), & :q
to quit (exit). ESC to escape any mode (insert, command,
visual) to enter another or input a command (i.e. :wq).
You can press / to search for your locale.
Generate the locale:
locale-gen
Open /etc/locale.conf in nvim:
nvim /etc/locale.conf
Then type in:
export LANG="en_US.UTF-8" # Change this to your locale.
export LC_COLLATE="C"
Name the computer. Replace "name" with what you want to name
it:
echo "name" > /etc/hostname
Open /etc/hosts with nvim:
nvim /etc/hosts
Input the following. Replace name with the previous name:
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.1.1 name.localdomain name
Enable the network manager at boot:
ln -s /etc/runit/sv/NetworkManager /etc/runit/runsvdir/current
Set a system password. You can make it the same as the encryption password, or different:
passwd
Autodecrypt
Open /etc/mkinitcpio.conf in nvim:
nvim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
Edit the HOOKS= line at the bottom (press G) to read:
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf kms keyboard keymap consolefont block encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)
Re-run mkinitcpio, exit the system, output the mount points,
& generate the filesystem table:
mkinitcpio -p linux
exit
lsblk -f >> /mnt/etc/default/grub
fstabgen -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
Change root into the system again & open /etc/default/grub
in nvim:
artix-chroot /mnt bash
nvim /etc/default/grub
Delete the mess at the bottom (G), except for the UUIDs.
Copy those (yy) & paste them (p) at the top (gg) below
the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=. Then change it to
read, sda2 here standing for its UUID, & main for its
UUID:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 quiet cryptdevice=UUID=sda2:cryptlvm root=UUID=main"
Set the bootloader:
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=grub
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Run grub-install --recheck /dev/sda if using BIOS instead of
UEFI.
Completion
Shutdown, remove the USB drive, & on reboot you should be at a login prompt for a new Artix Linux installation:
exit
reboot
Post-Installation
Login as root & run:
curl -LO larbs.xyz/larbs.sh
sh larbs.sh
This will automate making a user, &c.