A collection of life experiences and notes

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 pointPartitionPartition typeSize
/mnt/boot/dev/nvme0n1p1EFI system partition1Gb
/mnt/dev/nvme0n1p2Linux 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:

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

Benchmarks


Benchmark software: Geekbench 6.1.0 (Flatpak version)

flatpak run com.geekbench.Geekbench6 --cpu
DateResult (s/m)LibraryLink
202310282351/16776Linux 6.5.3
Linux firmware: < 20231030
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/3287234
202311032319/16637Linux 6.5.3
Linux firmware: 20231030
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/3381140
202311292359/16517Linux 6.6.3
Linux firmware: 20231110
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/3779045
202312192346/16650Linux 6.6.7
Linux firmware: 20231211
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/4053864
202402042359/16612Linux 6.7.3
Linux firmware: 20240115
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/4761011
flatpak run com.geekbench.Geekbench6 --gpu Vulkan
DateResultLibraryLink
2023102870212Linux 6.5.3
Linux firmware: < 20231030
Mesa version: 23.2.1
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1185906
2023110388613Linux 6.5.3
Linux firmware: 20231030
Mesa version: 23.2.1
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1221250
2023112987469Linux 6.6.3
Linux firmware: 20231110
Mesa version: 23.2.1
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1367178
2023121986143Linux 6.6.7
Linux firmware: 20231211
Mesa version: 23.3.1
https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/1466021
20240204no 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
flatpak run com.geekbench.Geekbench6 --gpu OpenCL

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

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