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   1 <!--# set var="title" value="Arch GNU/Linux on MacBook Air 2013" -->
   2 <!--# set var="pub" value="November 1, 2016" -->
   3 <!--# set var="upd" value="March 27, 2020" -->
   4 <!--# include virtual="/ssi/pren.html" -->
   5 <p>This post summarizes how I install and dual-boot Arch GNU/Linux
   6 with Full-Disk Encryption alongside macOS.  It is not meant to be a
   7 replacement for the
   8 <a href="//wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation%5Fguide">Installation
   9 Guide</a> or the former
  10 <a href="//csdietz.github.io/arch-beginner-guide/">Beginner's
  11 Guide</a>.  Rather, it mostly serves as a small summary with a few
  12 useful notes about the gotchas.</p>
  13
  14 <p>So, make sure you understand what you type into your terminal.  If
  15 you don't, checking out the Arch wiki should probably be your first
  16 step.</p>
  17
  18 <p><em>Note:</em> you will need internet access throughout the
  19 installation and the MacBook Air's WiFi doesn't work out of the box on
  20 Arch.  I recommend using an Ethernet-USB adapter or your phone's USB
  21 Tethering feature (if it does support it).</p>
  22
  23 <h2>Shrinking the macOS partition</h2>
  24 <p>The first step I take is resizing the HFS+ macOS partition to make
  25 room for the new GNU/Linux installation.  There are plenty of
  26 tutorials on how to do this using macOS's Disk Utility, so do that and
  27 then come back!</p>
  28
  29 <h2>Creating a bootable Arch Installer USB</h2>
  30 <p>There are different ways of creating a bootable Arch USB, all
  31 documented on the
  32 <a href="//wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB%5Fflash%5Finstallation%5Fmedia">USB
  33 flash installation media</a> page on the Arch wiki, but the simplest
  34 one is using <code>dd</code> if you already have access to another
  35 UNIX system.</p>
  36
  37 <p><strong class="warn">Warning:</strong> make sure you backup the
  38 data on your flash drive, as <code>dd</code> will irrevocably destroy
  39 all data on it.</p>
  40
  41 <p>Use <code>lsblk</code> to find the name (block device) of your USB drive, then
  42 run <code>dd</code> (as root) as shown below:</p>
  43
  44 <pre>
  45 dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx status=progress && sync
  46 </pre>
  47
  48 <p>Replace <code>/path/to/archlinux.iso</code> with the path to the
  49 Arch image you have downloaded, and <code>/dev/sdx</code> with your
  50 drive.</p>
  51
  52 <h2>Booting up from the USB</h2>
  53 <p>After creating the install USB, reboot your laptop and hold the alt
  54 key and boot from the USB.</p>
  55
  56 <p>When booting is complete and you're presented with the prompt, it's
  57 a good time to make sure you're connected to the internet (see the
  58 <em>note</em> at the top of this post).</p>
  59
  60 <p>Use <code>ping</code> to verify that you have established a
  61 connection:</p>
  62
  63 <pre>
  64 ping archlinux.org
  65 </pre>
  66
  67 <h2>Updating the system clock</h2>
  68 <p>Once you're connected to the internet, make sure the system clock
  69 is accurate:</p>
  70
  71 <pre>
  72 timedatectl set-ntp true  # start and enable systemd-timesyncd
  73 </pre>
  74
  75 <p>You can check the service status using <code>timedatectl
  76 status</code>.</p>
  77
  78 <h2>Partitioning</h2>
  79 <p>I won't dive into partitioning and instead, I will refer you to the
  80 <a href="//wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning">Partitioning</a>
  81 page of Arch wiki.  Of the available partitioning tools, I personally
  82 prefer <code>cfdisk</code>.</p>
  83
  84 <h2>Setting up LVM &amp; LUKS</h2>
  85 <p>I use an
  86 <a href="//wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Encrypting%5Fan%5Fentire%5Fsystem#LVM%5Fon%5FLUKS">LVM
  87 on LUKS</a> setup, where I set up LVM on top of the encrypted
  88 partition.</p>
  89
  90 <p>First, let's set up the underlying encrypted partition:</p>
  91
  92 <pre>
  93 cryptsetup -v --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 --hash sha512 \
  94            --iter-time 5000 --use-urandom -y luksFormat /dev/sdaX
  95 </pre>
  96
  97 <p>where <code>/dev/sdaX</code> is the partition you created in the
  98 last step (e.g. <code>/dev/sda4</code>).  For more information about
  99 the <code>cryptsetup</code> options, see the
 100 <a href="//wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Device%5Fencryption#Encryption%5Foptions%5Ffor%5FLUKS%5Fmode">LUKS
 101 encryption options</a>.</p>
 102
 103 <p>Then we open the container:</p>
 104
 105 <pre>
 106 cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sdaX lvm
 107 </pre>
 108
 109 <p>Now it's time to use lvm and prepare the logical volume(s):</p>
 110
 111 <pre>
 112 pvcreate /dev/mapper/lvm vgcreate vg /dev/mapper/lvm
 113 lvcreate --extents +100%FREE -n root vg
 114 </pre>
 115
 116 <p>This will create a physical volume on the mapping we just opened,
 117 create a volume group named <code>vg</code> on the physical volume,
 118 and create a logical volume named <code>root</code> that spans the
 119 entire volume group.  More complex setups are possible thanks to the
 120 great flexibility of lvm.</p>
 121
 122 <p>We now format the logical volume with <code>ext4</code>:</p>
 123
 124 <pre>
 125 mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg-root
 126 </pre>
 127
 128 <h2>Installing the base system</h2>
 129 <p>Let's mount the logical volume, make a directory for the mount
 130 point of the boot partition, and mount the boot partition
 131 (<code>/dev/sda1</code>):</p>
 132
 133 <pre>
 134 mount /dev/mapper/vg-root /mnt
 135 mkdir /mnt/boot
 136 mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
 137 </pre>
 138
 139 <p>Finally, let's install the base system (and optionally
 140 <code>base-devel</code>):</p>
 141
 142 <pre>
 143 pacstrap /mnt base base-devel
 144 </pre>
 145
 146 <h2>Configuring the system</h2>
 147 <p>Let's generate the fstab:</p>
 148
 149 <pre>
 150 genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
 151 </pre>
 152
 153 <p>Use your favorite terminal-based editor, edit the fstab file and
 154 add the <code>discard</code> option for the root partition to enable
 155 TRIM on the SSD.</p>
 156
 157 <p>Now we change root into our newly installed system and will
 158 configure it.  Adjust these according to your own setup.</p>
 159
 160 <pre>
 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 </pre>
 174
 175 <p>Then adjust the initramfs hooks in
 176 <code>/etc/mkinitcpio.conf</code> and enable the
 177 <code>encrypt</code> and <code>lvm2</code> hooks, and make sure
 178 <code>keyboard</code> is available before <code>encrypt</code> so you
 179 can actually type in the LUKS password when booting.  Your
 180 <code>HOOKS</code> line should look similar to this:</p>
 181
 182 <pre>
 183 HOOKS=(base udev autodetect keyboard keymap consolefont modconf block encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)
 184 </pre>
 185
 186 <p>After adjusting the hooks, build the initramfs:</p>
 187
 188 <pre>
 189 mkinitcpio -p linux
 190 </pre>
 191
 192 <p>Create the <code>/boot/loader/loader.conf</code> with the following
 193 content (adjust the timeout to your liking):</p>
 194
 195 <pre>
 196 default arch timeout 3
 197 </pre>
 198
 199 <p>Then create the entry for Arch:</p>
 200
 201 <pre>
 202 mkdir -p /boot/loader/entries
 203 touch /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
 204 </pre>
 205
 206 <p>Now edit <code>/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf</code> to specify the
 207 Arch entry:</p>
 208
 209 <pre>
 210 title Arch GNU/Linux
 211 linux /vmlinuz-linux
 212 initrd /intel-ucode.img
 213 initrd /initramfs-linux.img
 214 options cryptdevice=/dev/sdaX:vg:allow-discards root=/dev/mapper/vg-root rw
 215 </pre>
 216
 217 <p>Again, <code>/dev/sdaX</code> is the partition you created in the
 218 partitioning step earlier as the underlying encrypted partition.</p>
 219
 220 <p>Finally, install the bootloader, exit the chroot, umount and
 221 reboot!</p>
 222
 223 <pre>
 224 bootctl install
 225 exit
 226 umount -R /mnt
 227 reboot
 228 </pre>
 229
 230 <h2>Post-installation recommendations</h2>
 231 <p>Congratulations!  You now have a minimal Arch installation.</p>
 232
 233 <p>At this point, I usually install my favorite AUR helper,
 234 <a href="//aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacaur/">pacaur</a>, then I
 235 install the
 236 <a href="//aur.archlinux.org/packages/mba6x%5Fbl-dkms/">mba6x_bl-dkms</a>
 237 backlight driver to fix the post suspend/resume issue where there's no
 238 brightness after waking up from suspend, and the only available
 239 brightness would be 100%.</p>
 240
 241 <pre>
 242 pacaur -S linux-headers dkms # linux-headers is required for dkms
 243 pacaur -S broadcom-wl-dkms
 244 pacaur -S mba6x_bl-dkms
 245 </pre>
 246
 247 <p>Then, I'd like to install</p>
 248 <ul>
 249 <li>input, graphics, and sound drivers,</li>
 250 <li>a desktop environment (I prefer Xfce or LXQt),</li>
 251 <li>a display manager for login screen (lightdm or sddm), and</li>
 252 <li>a network manager (NetworkManager or ConnMan).</li>
 253 </ul>
 254
 255 <p>Check out the
 256 <a href="//wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/General%5Frecommendations">General
 257 recommendations</a> for more details.</p>
 258
 259 <h2>References</h2>
 260 <p>Here are some resources I've come across each with lots of useful
 261 bits and pieces, about installing Arch on a MacBook:</p>
 262
 263 <ul>
 264 <li><a href="//github.com/pandeiro/arch-on-air">pandeiro/arch-on-air</a></li>
 265 <li><a href="//loicpefferkorn.net/2015/01/arch-linux-on-macbook-pro-retina-2014-with-dm-crypt-lvm-and-suspend-to-disk/">Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Retina 2014 with DM-Crypt, LVM and suspend to disk</a></li>
 266 <li><a href="//www.frankshin.com/2014/installing-archlinux-on-macbook-air-2013/">Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air 2013</a></li>
 267 <li><a href="http://panks.me/posts/2013/06/arch-linux-installation-with-os-x-on-macbook-air-dual-boot/">Arch Linux Installation with OS X on Macbook Air (Dual Boot)</a></li>
 268 <li><a href="//alexeyzabelin.com/arch-on-mac">Installing Arch Linux on a MacBook Air 2013</a></li>
 269 <li><a href="//medium.com/phils-thought-bubble-of-recent-stuff/arch-linux-running-on-my-macbook-2ea525ebefe3">Arch Linux running on my MacBook</a></li>
 270 <li><a href="http://codylittlewood.com/arch-linux-on-macbook-pro-installation/">Dual boot Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Installation</a></li>
 271 </ul>
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