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[~bandali/bndl.org] / posts / arch-macbook-air.md
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
5 copyright: 2016, 2019
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
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
234 [mba6x\_bl-dkms](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mba6x%5Fbl-dkms/)
235 backlight driver to fix the post suspend/resume issue where there's no
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/)