-title: Arch Linux on MacBook Air 2013
-date: 2016-11-01
----
-
-# Arch Linux on MacBook Air 2013
-
-This post summarizes how I install and dual-boot Arch Linux with
-Full-Disk Encryption alongside macOS. It is not meant to be a
-replacement for the [Installation Guide][installation] or the
-former [Beginner's Guide][beginners]. Rather, it mostly serves as a
-small summary with a few useful notes about the gotchas.
-
-[installation]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation_guide
-[beginners]: https://csdietz.github.io/arch-beginner-guide/
-
-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 Linux. 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 <abbr>GNU/Linux</abbr> 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 Linux Installer USB
-
-There are different ways of creating a bootable Arch Linux USB, all
-documented on the [USB flash installation media][usb_install] page on
-the Arch wiki, but the simplest one is using `dd` if you already have
-access to another UNIX system.
-
-[usb_install]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_flash_installation_media
-
-<span class="red">Warning:</span> 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][partitioning] page of Arch wiki. Of the available
-partitioning tools, I personally prefer `cfdisk`.
-
-[partitioning]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning
-
-## Setting up LVM & LUKS
-
-I use a [LVM on LUKS][lvm_on_luks] 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][luks_options].
-
-[lvm_on_luks]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Encrypting_an_entire_system#LVM_on_LUKS
-[luks_options]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Device_encryption#Encryption_options_for_LUKS_mode
-
-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:
-
-```
-HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block keyboard encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck"
-```
-
-After adjusting the hooks, build the initramfs:
-
-``` bash
-mkinitcpio -p linux
-```
-
-Now, install the `intel-ucode` package. We'll configure the bootloader
-to enable intel microcode updates.
-
-``` bash
-pacman -S intel-ucode
-```
-
-Create the `/boot/loader/loader.conf` with the following content
-(adjust the timeout to your liking):
-
-```
-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:
-
-```
-title Arch 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 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][pacaur], then I
-install the [broadcom-wl-dkms][broadcom-wl-dkms] wireless driver
-and [mba6x_bl-dkms][mba6x_bl-dkms] backlight driver to fix the post
-suspend/resume issue where three's no brightness after waking up from
-suspend, and the only available brightness would be 100%.
-
-[broadcom-wl-dkms]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/broadcom-wl-dkms/
-[mba6x_bl-dkms]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mba6x_bl-dkms/
-
-``` bash
-pacaur -S linux-headers dkms # linux-headers is required for dkms
-pacaur -S broadcom-wl-dkms
-pacaur -S mba6x_bl-dkms
-```
-
-[pacaur]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacaur/
-
-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][gen_reqs] for more details.
-
-[gen_reqs]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/General_recommendations
-
-## 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/)
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