[~bandali/bndl.org] / posts / arch-macbook-air.md

title: Arch GNU/Linux on MacBook Air 2013
date: 2016-11-01 00:00
slug: arch-macbook-air
tags: arch, macbook
copyright: 2016, 2019
---

This post summarizes how I install and dual-boot Arch GNU/Linux with
Full-Disk Encryption alongside macOS.  It is not meant to be a
replacement for the [Installation
Guide](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation%5Fguide) or
the former [Beginner's
Guide](https://csdietz.github.io/arch-beginner-guide/).  Rather, it
mostly serves as a small summary with a few useful notes about the
gotchas.

So, make sure you understand what you type into your terminal.  If you
don't, checking out the Arch wiki should probably be your first step.

_Note:_ you will need internet access throughout the installation and
the MacBook Air's WiFi doesn't work out of the box on Arch.  I
recommend using your phone's USB Tethering (if it does support it), or
using an Ethernet-USB adapter.

## Shrinking the macOS partition

The first step I take is resizing the HFS+ macOS partition to make
room for the new GNU/Linux installation.  There are plenty of
tutorials on how to do this using macOS's Disk Utility, so do that and
then come back!

## Creating a bootable Arch Installer USB

There are different ways of creating a bootable Arch USB, all
documented on the [USB flash installation
media](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB%5Fflash%5Finstallation%5Fmedia)
page on the Arch wiki, but the simplest one is using `dd` if you
already have access to another UNIX system.

**Warning:** make sure you backup the data on your flash drive, as
`dd` will irrevocably destroy all data on it.

Use `lsblk` to find the name (block device) of your USB drive, then
run `dd` (as root) as shown below:

```bash
dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx status=progress && sync
```

Replace `/path/to/archlinux.iso` with the path to the Arch image you
have downloaded, and `/dev/sdx` with your drive.

## Booting up from the USB

After creating the install USB, reboot your laptop and hold the alt
key and boot into the USB.

When booting is complete and you're presented with the prompt, it's a
good time to make sure you're connected to the internet (see the
_note_ at the top of this post).

Use `ping` to verify that you've established a connection:

```bash
ping archlinux.org
```

## Updating the system clock

Once you're connected to the internet, make sure the system clock is
accurate:

```bash
timedatectl set-ntp true  # start and enable systemd-timesyncd
```

You can check the service status using `timedatectl status`.

## Partitioning

I won't dive into partitioning and instead, I'll refer you to the
[Partitioning](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning) page
of Arch wiki. Of the available partitioning tools, I personally prefer
`cfdisk`.

## Setting up LVM & LUKS

I use a [LVM on
LUKS](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Encrypting%5Fan%5Fentire%5Fsystem#LVM%5Fon%5FLUKS)
setup, where I set up LVM on top of the encrypted partition.

First, let's set up the underlying encrypted partition:

```bash
cryptsetup -v --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 --hash sha512 \
           --iter-time 5000 --use-urandom -y luksFormat /dev/sdaX
```

where `/dev/sdaX` is the partition you created in the last step
(e.g. `/dev/sda4`). For more information about the `cryptsetup`
options, see the [LUKS encryption
options](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Device%5Fencryption#Encryption%5Foptions%5Ffor%5FLUKS%5Fmode).

Then we open the container:

```bash
cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sdaX lvm
```

Now it's time to use lvm and prepare the logical volume(s):

```bash
pvcreate /dev/mapper/lvm
vgcreate vg /dev/mapper/lvm
lvcreate --extents +100%FREE -n root vg
```

This will create a physical volume on the mapping we just opened,
create a volume group named `vg` on the physical volume, and create a
logical volume named `root` that spans the entire volume group. More
complex setups are possible thanks to the great flexibility of lvm.

We now format the logical volume with `ext4`:

```bash
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg-root
```

## Installing the base system

Let's mount the logical volume, make a directory for the mount point
of the boot partition, and mount the boot partition (`/dev/sda1`):

```bash
mount /dev/mapper/vg-root /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
```

Finally, let's install the base system (and optionally `base-devel`):

```bash
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel
```

## Configuring the system

Let's generate the fstab:

```bash
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
```

Use your favorite terminal-based editor, edit the fstab file and add
the `discard` option for the root partition to enable TRIM on the SSD.

Now we change root into our newly installed system and will configure
it. Adjust these according to your own setup.

```bash
arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
passwd  # set the root password
echo myhostname > /etc/hostname  # set the hostname
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Canada/Eastern /etc/localtime  # time zone
hwclock --systohc --utc   # write system clock to hardware clock (UTC)
useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash myuser  # create myuser
passwd myuser  # set the password for myuser
echo "myuser ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" >> /etc/sudoers.d/myuser
# uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed locales in /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
```

Then adjust the initramfs hooks in `/etc/mkinitcpio.conf` and enable
the `encrypt` and `lvm2` hooks, and make sure `keyboard` is available
before `encrypt` so you can actually type in the LUKS password when
booting. Your `HOOKS` line should look similar to this:

```nil
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect keyboard keymap consolefont modconf block encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)
```

After adjusting the hooks, build the initramfs:

```bash
mkinitcpio -p linux
```

Create the `/boot/loader/loader.conf` with the following content
(adjust the timeout to your liking):

```nil
default arch
timeout 3
```

Then create the entry for Arch:

```bash
mkdir -p /boot/loader/entries
touch /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
```

Now edit `/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf` to specify the Arch entry:

```nil
title    Arch GNU/Linux
linux    /vmlinuz-linux
initrd   /intel-ucode.img
initrd   /initramfs-linux.img
options  cryptdevice=/dev/sdaX:vg:allow-discards root=/dev/mapper/vg-root rw
```

Again, `/dev/sdaX` is the partition you created in the partitioning
step earlier as the underlying encrypted partition.

Finally, install the bootloader, exit the chroot, umount and reboot!

```bash
bootctl install
exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot
```

## Post-installation recommendations

Congratulations! You now have a minimal Arch installation.

At this point, I usually install my favorite AUR helper,
[pacaur](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacaur/), then I install
the
[mba6x\_bl-dkms](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mba6x%5Fbl-dkms/)
backlight driver to fix the post suspend/resume issue where there's no
brightness after waking up from suspend, and the only available
brightness would be 100%.

```bash
pacaur -S linux-headers dkms  # linux-headers is required for dkms
pacaur -S broadcom-wl-dkms
pacaur -S mba6x_bl-dkms
```

Then, I'd like to install

-   input, graphics, and sound drivers,
-   a desktop environment (I prefer Xfce or LXQt),
-   a display manager for login screen (lightdm or sddm), and
-   a network manager (NetworkManager or ConnMan).

Check out the [General
recommendations](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/General%5Frecommendations)
for more details.

## References

Here are some resources I've come across each with lots of useful bits
and pieces, about installing Arch on a MacBook:

-   [pandeiro/arch-on-air](https://github.com/pandeiro/arch-on-air)
-   [Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Retina 2014 with DM-Crypt, LVM and suspend to disk](https://loicpefferkorn.net/2015/01/arch-linux-on-macbook-pro-retina-2014-with-dm-crypt-lvm-and-suspend-to-disk/)
-   [Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air 2013](http://frankshin.com/installing-archlinux-on-macbook-air-2013/)
-   [Arch Linux Installation with OS X on Macbook Air (Dual Boot)](http://panks.me/posts/2013/06/arch-linux-installation-with-os-x-on-macbook-air-dual-boot/)
-   [Installing (encrypted) Arch Linux on an Apple MacBook Pro](https://visual-assault.org/2016/03/05/install-encrypted-arch-linux-on-apple-macbook-pro/)
-   [Installing Arch Linux on a MacBook Air 2013](http://alexeyzabelin.com/arch-on-mac)
-   [Arch Linux running on my MacBook](https://medium.com/phils-thought-bubble-of-recent-stuff/arch-linux-running-on-my-macbook-2ea525ebefe3)
-   [Dual boot Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Installation](http://codylittlewood.com/arch-linux-on-macbook-pro-installation/)
Commit	Line	Data
dd631811 AB	1	title: Arch GNU/Linux on MacBook Air 2013
	2	date: 2016-11-01 00:00
	3	slug: arch-macbook-air
	4	tags: arch, macbook
7e8d7215	5	copyright: 2016, 2019
dd631811 AB	6	---
	7
	8	This post summarizes how I install and dual-boot Arch GNU/Linux with
	9	Full-Disk Encryption alongside macOS. It is not meant to be a
	10	replacement for the [Installation
	11	Guide](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation%5Fguide) or
	12	the former [Beginner's
	13	Guide](https://csdietz.github.io/arch-beginner-guide/). Rather, it
	14	mostly serves as a small summary with a few useful notes about the
	15	gotchas.
	16
	17	So, make sure you understand what you type into your terminal. If you
	18	don't, checking out the Arch wiki should probably be your first step.
	19
	20	_Note:_ you will need internet access throughout the installation and
	21	the MacBook Air's WiFi doesn't work out of the box on Arch. I
	22	recommend using your phone's USB Tethering (if it does support it), or
	23	using an Ethernet-USB adapter.
	24
	25	## Shrinking the macOS partition
	26
	27	The first step I take is resizing the HFS+ macOS partition to make
	28	room for the new GNU/Linux installation. There are plenty of
	29	tutorials on how to do this using macOS's Disk Utility, so do that and
	30	then come back!
	31
	32	## Creating a bootable Arch Installer USB
	33
	34	There are different ways of creating a bootable Arch USB, all
	35	documented on the [USB flash installation
	36	media](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB%5Fflash%5Finstallation%5Fmedia)
	37	page on the Arch wiki, but the simplest one is using `dd` if you
	38	already have access to another UNIX system.
	39
	40	Warning: make sure you backup the data on your flash drive, as
	41	`dd` will irrevocably destroy all data on it.
	42
	43	Use `lsblk` to find the name (block device) of your USB drive, then
	44	run `dd` (as root) as shown below:
	45
	46	```bash
	47	dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx status=progress && sync
	48	```
	49
	50	Replace `/path/to/archlinux.iso` with the path to the Arch image you
	51	have downloaded, and `/dev/sdx` with your drive.
	52
	53	## Booting up from the USB
	54
	55	After creating the install USB, reboot your laptop and hold the alt
	56	key and boot into the USB.
	57
	58	When booting is complete and you're presented with the prompt, it's a
	59	good time to make sure you're connected to the internet (see the
	60	_note_ at the top of this post).
	61
	62	Use `ping` to verify that you've established a connection:
	63
	64	```bash
	65	ping archlinux.org
	66	```
	67
	68	## Updating the system clock
	69
70	Once you're connected to the internet, make sure the system clock is
71	accurate:
72
73	```bash
74	timedatectl set-ntp true # start and enable systemd-timesyncd
75	```
76
77	You can check the service status using `timedatectl status`.
78
79	## Partitioning
80
81	I won't dive into partitioning and instead, I'll refer you to the
82	[Partitioning](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning) page
83	of Arch wiki. Of the available partitioning tools, I personally prefer
84	`cfdisk`.
85
86	## Setting up LVM & LUKS
87
88	I use a [LVM on
89	LUKS](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Encrypting%5Fan%5Fentire%5Fsystem#LVM%5Fon%5FLUKS)
90	setup, where I set up LVM on top of the encrypted partition.
91
92	First, let's set up the underlying encrypted partition:
93
94	```bash
95	cryptsetup -v --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 --hash sha512 \
96	--iter-time 5000 --use-urandom -y luksFormat /dev/sdaX
97	```
98
99	where `/dev/sdaX` is the partition you created in the last step
100	(e.g. `/dev/sda4`). For more information about the `cryptsetup`
101	options, see the [LUKS encryption
102	options](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Device%5Fencryption#Encryption%5Foptions%5Ffor%5FLUKS%5Fmode).
103
104	Then we open the container:
105
106	```bash
107	cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sdaX lvm
108	```
109
110	Now it's time to use lvm and prepare the logical volume(s):
111
112	```bash
113	pvcreate /dev/mapper/lvm
114	vgcreate vg /dev/mapper/lvm
115	lvcreate --extents +100%FREE -n root vg
116	```
117
118	This will create a physical volume on the mapping we just opened,
119	create a volume group named `vg` on the physical volume, and create a
120	logical volume named `root` that spans the entire volume group. More
121	complex setups are possible thanks to the great flexibility of lvm.
122
123	We now format the logical volume with `ext4`:
124
125	```bash
126	mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg-root
127	```
128
129	## Installing the base system
130
131	Let's mount the logical volume, make a directory for the mount point
132	of the boot partition, and mount the boot partition (`/dev/sda1`):
133
134	```bash
135	mount /dev/mapper/vg-root /mnt
136	mkdir /mnt/boot
137	mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
138	```
139
140	Finally, let's install the base system (and optionally `base-devel`):
141
142	```bash
143	pacstrap /mnt base base-devel
144	```
145
146	## Configuring the system
147
148	Let's generate the fstab:
149
150	```bash
151	genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
152	```
153
154	Use your favorite terminal-based editor, edit the fstab file and add
155	the `discard` option for the root partition to enable TRIM on the SSD.
156
157	Now we change root into our newly installed system and will configure
158	it. Adjust these according to your own setup.
159
160	```bash
161	arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
162	passwd # set the root password
163	echo myhostname > /etc/hostname # set the hostname
164	ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Canada/Eastern /etc/localtime # time zone
165	hwclock --systohc --utc # write system clock to hardware clock (UTC)
166	useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash myuser # create myuser
167	passwd myuser # set the password for myuser
168	echo "myuser ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" >> /etc/sudoers.d/myuser
169	# uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed locales in /etc/locale.gen
170	locale-gen
171	echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
172	export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
173	```
174
175	Then adjust the initramfs hooks in `/etc/mkinitcpio.conf` and enable
176	the `encrypt` and `lvm2` hooks, and make sure `keyboard` is available
177	before `encrypt` so you can actually type in the LUKS password when
178	booting. Your `HOOKS` line should look similar to this:
179
180	```nil
181	HOOKS=(base udev autodetect keyboard keymap consolefont modconf block encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)
182	```
183
184	After adjusting the hooks, build the initramfs:
185
186	```bash
187	mkinitcpio -p linux
188	```
189
dd631811 AB	190	Create the `/boot/loader/loader.conf` with the following content
	191	(adjust the timeout to your liking):
	192
	193	```nil
	194	default arch
	195	timeout 3
	196	```
	197
	198	Then create the entry for Arch:
	199
	200	```bash
	201	mkdir -p /boot/loader/entries
	202	touch /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
	203	```
	204
	205	Now edit `/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf` to specify the Arch entry:
	206
	207	```nil
	208	title Arch GNU/Linux
	209	linux /vmlinuz-linux
	210	initrd /intel-ucode.img
	211	initrd /initramfs-linux.img
	212	options cryptdevice=/dev/sdaX:vg:allow-discards root=/dev/mapper/vg-root rw
	213	```
	214
	215	Again, `/dev/sdaX` is the partition you created in the partitioning
	216	step earlier as the underlying encrypted partition.
	217
	218	Finally, install the bootloader, exit the chroot, umount and reboot!
	219
	220	```bash
	221	bootctl install
	222	exit
	223	umount -R /mnt
	224	reboot
	225	```
	226
	227	## Post-installation recommendations
	228
	229	Congratulations! You now have a minimal Arch installation.
	230
	231	At this point, I usually install my favorite AUR helper,
	232	[pacaur](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacaur/), then I install
	233	the
dd631811	234	[mba6x\_bl-dkms](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mba6x%5Fbl-dkms/)
19ecc5d3	235	backlight driver to fix the post suspend/resume issue where there's no
dd631811 AB	236	brightness after waking up from suspend, and the only available
	237	brightness would be 100%.
	238
	239	```bash
	240	pacaur -S linux-headers dkms # linux-headers is required for dkms
	241	pacaur -S broadcom-wl-dkms
	242	pacaur -S mba6x_bl-dkms
	243	```
	244
	245	Then, I'd like to install
	246
	247	- input, graphics, and sound drivers,
	248	- a desktop environment (I prefer Xfce or LXQt),
	249	- a display manager for login screen (lightdm or sddm), and
	250	- a network manager (NetworkManager or ConnMan).
	251
	252	Check out the [General
	253	recommendations](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/General%5Frecommendations)
	254	for more details.
	255
	256	## References
	257
	258	Here are some resources I've come across each with lots of useful bits
	259	and pieces, about installing Arch on a MacBook:
	260
	261	- [pandeiro/arch-on-air](https://github.com/pandeiro/arch-on-air)
	262	- [Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Retina 2014 with DM-Crypt, LVM and suspend to disk](https://loicpefferkorn.net/2015/01/arch-linux-on-macbook-pro-retina-2014-with-dm-crypt-lvm-and-suspend-to-disk/)
	263	- [Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air 2013](http://frankshin.com/installing-archlinux-on-macbook-air-2013/)
	264	- [Arch Linux Installation with OS X on Macbook Air (Dual Boot)](http://panks.me/posts/2013/06/arch-linux-installation-with-os-x-on-macbook-air-dual-boot/)
	265	- [Installing (encrypted) Arch Linux on an Apple MacBook Pro](https://visual-assault.org/2016/03/05/install-encrypted-arch-linux-on-apple-macbook-pro/)
	266	- [Installing Arch Linux on a MacBook Air 2013](http://alexeyzabelin.com/arch-on-mac)
	267	- [Arch Linux running on my MacBook](https://medium.com/phils-thought-bubble-of-recent-stuff/arch-linux-running-on-my-macbook-2ea525ebefe3)
	268	- [Dual boot Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Installation](http://codylittlewood.com/arch-linux-on-macbook-pro-installation/)