New PC and fresh ArchLinux installation

Hardware

Intel NUC13RNGi9
Crucial RAM 64GB Kit (2x32GB) DDR5 4800MHz CL40 CT2K32G48C40S5
Samsung 990 PRO NVMe M.2, 2 TB
Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition

Installation

OS: ArchLinux Gnome Desktop

Starting with the archlinux install disc, I followed the default installation guide¹ of archlinux for UEFI.

loadkeys de-latin1
fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

Mount point	Partition	Partition type	Size
/mnt/boot	/dev/nvme0n1p1	EFI system partition	1Gb
/mnt	/dev/nvme0n1p2	Linux x86-64 root (/)	Rest of the disc

Partition table and mount points for installation

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1
mkfs.btfrs /dev/nvme0n1p2 # default -d single -m raid1
mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt

In the arch-chroot console, I used following statements to complete the installation.

passwd # to change the password for root
echo LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
echo KEYMAP=de-latin1 > /etc/vconsole.conf
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Vienna /etc/localtime
timedatectl set-local-rtc 0
 
# Edit /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
nano /etc/hostname
 
pacman -Syu git base-devel
pacman -Syu intel-ucode
pacman -Syu grub
pacman -Syu NetworkManager
pacman -Syu nfs-utils
pacman -Syu btrfs-progs
pacman -Syu gnome gnome-shell-extensions gnome-browser-connector gnome-firmware gnome-console
pacman -Syu gnome-shell-extension-dash-to-panel
pacman -Syu gnome-shell-extension-appindicator libappindicator-gtk3 libappindicator-gtk2
pacman -Syu pacman-contrib
pacman -Syu mesa lib32-mesa vulkan-intel lib32-vulkan-intel intel-medi-driver intel-gpu-tools 
pacman -Syu opencl-compute-runtime ocl-icd clinfo opencl-clover-mesa opencl-rusticl-mesa
pacman -Syu flatpak
 
# Add the hook btrfs to /etc/mkinitcpio.conf to support multi device btrfs support
 
mkinitcpio -P
 
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Create user with home dir.

useradd -m <username>
passwd <username>
usermod -aG wheel <username>
usermod -aG input <username>
usermod -aG gamemode <username>
usermod -aG users <username>

Activate sudo for the wheel group.

nano /etc/sudoers
# uncomment the line %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

After restarting the machine and entering the fresh installation as root, following commands are entered. With this services enabled, NetworkManager and Gnome are starting automatic with system start.

systemctl enable NetworkManager.service
systemctl enable gdm
restart

Install YAY as AUR Helper

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si
cd ..
rm -R yay

Install extra AUR packages

yay extension-manager # better Gnome extension manager
yay game-devices-udev # needed udev roles for controller support, user need also input group

Install apps

flatpak install flathub com.github.tchx84.Flatseal # GUI to change the flatpak permissions
 
flatpak install flathub io.github.celluloid_player.Celluloid # GUI for mpv
flatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOffice # Office
flatpak install flathub com.bitwarden.desktop # BitWarden client
flatpak install flathub com.google.Chrome # Google Chrome Browser
 
flatpak install flathub com.prusa3d.PrusaSlicer # PrusaSlicer
flatpak install flathub org.freecadweb.FreeCAD # FreeCad
flatpak install flathub org.kicad.KiCad # KiCad
 
flatpak install flathub com.synology.SynologyDrive # Syncology Drive
flatpak install flathub com.usebottles.bottles # Bottles to run Windows software
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam # Steam
flatpak install flathub com.discordapp.Discord # Discord client
 
flatpak install flathub fr.handbrake.ghb # Handbrake
flatpak install flathub fr.handbrake.ghb.Plugin.IntelMediaSDK # Extension for Handbrake to support Intel Media SDK
flatpak install flathub org.bunkus.mkvtoolnix-gui # MKVToolnix
 
flatpak install flathub org.openrgb.OpenRGB # To controll the RGB of the Intel ARC A770 via USB

Settings

Arch Linux Updates Indicator

The commands need to be edited to check and updates standard arch packages, AUR packages and flatpak packages.

Command to check for package updates:

/bin/sh -c "(/usr/bin/checkupdates; /usr/bin/yay -Qu --color never | sed 's/Get .*//') | sort -u -t' ' -k1,1; /usr/bin/flatpak remote-ls --columns=application -a --updates"

Command to update packages:

1	`kgx -- sh -c` `"yay; flatpak update; echo Done - Press enter to exit; read"`

Benchmarks

Benchmark software: Geekbench 6.1.0 (Flatpak version)

1	`flatpak run com.geekbench.Geekbench6 --cpu`

Date	Result (s/m)	Library	Link
20231028	2351/16776	Linux 6.5.3 Linux firmware: < 20231030	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/3287234
20231103	2319/16637	Linux 6.5.3 Linux firmware: 20231030	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/3381140
20231129	2359/16517	Linux 6.6.3 Linux firmware: 20231110	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/3779045
20231219	2346/16650	Linux 6.6.7 Linux firmware: 20231211	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/4053864
20240204	2359/16612	Linux 6.7.3 Linux firmware: 20240115	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/4761011

1	`flatpak run com.geekbench.Geekbench6 --gpu Vulkan`

Date	Result	Library	Link
20231028	70212	Linux 6.5.3 Linux firmware: < 20231030 Mesa version: 23.2.1	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1185906
20231103	88613	Linux 6.5.3 Linux firmware: 20231030 Mesa version: 23.2.1	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1221250
20231129	87469	Linux 6.6.3 Linux firmware: 20231110 Mesa version: 23.2.1	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1367178
20231219	86143	Linux 6.6.7 Linux firmware: 20231211 Mesa version: 23.3.1	https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1466021
20240204	no gamemode: 80237 gamemode: 94276	Linux 6.7.3 Linux firmware: 20240115 Mesa version: 23.3.5	no gamemode: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1714759 gamemode: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1714771

1	`flatpak run com.geekbench.Geekbench6 --gpu OpenCL`

Geekbench don’t reorgnize the OpenCL API of the Intel GPU.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/installation_guide ↩︎