[~bandali/bndl.org] / 2016 / 11 / arch-macbook-air.md

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/)
Commit	Line	Data
3b86855a AB	1	title: Arch Linux on MacBook Air 2013
	2	date: 2016-11-01
	3	---
	4
	5	# Arch Linux on MacBook Air 2013
	6
	7	This post summarizes how I install and dual-boot Arch Linux with
	8	Full-Disk Encryption alongside macOS. It is not meant to be a
	9	replacement for the [Installation Guide][installation] or the
	10	former [Beginner's Guide][beginners]. Rather, it mostly serves as a
	11	small summary with a few useful notes about the gotchas.
	12
	13	[installation]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation_guide
	14	[beginners]: https://csdietz.github.io/arch-beginner-guide/
	15
	16	So, make sure you understand what you type into your terminal. If you
	17	don't, checking out the Arch wiki should probably be your first step.
	18
	19	_Note:_ you will need internet access throughout the installation and
	20	the MacBook Air's WiFi doesn't work out of the box on Arch Linux. I
	21	recommend using your phone's USB Tethering (if it does support it), or
	22	using an Ethernet-USB adapter.
	23
	24	## Shrinking the macOS partition
	25
	26	The first step I take is resizing the HFS+ macOS partition to make
	27	room for the new <abbr>GNU/Linux</abbr> installation. There are plenty
	28	of tutorials on how to do this using macOS's Disk Utility, so do that
	29	and then come back!
	30
	31	## Creating a bootable Arch Linux Installer USB
	32
	33	There are different ways of creating a bootable Arch Linux USB, all
	34	documented on the [USB flash installation media][usb_install] page on
	35	the Arch wiki, but the simplest one is using `dd` if you already have
	36	access to another UNIX system.
	37
	38	[usb_install]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_flash_installation_media
	39
	40	<span class="red">Warning:</span> make sure you backup the data on
	41	your flash drive, as `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 key and boot
	56	into the USB.
	57
	58	When booting is complete and you're presented with the prompt, it's a good time
	59	to make sure you're connected to the internet (see the _note_ at the top of this
	60	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 accurate:
71
72	```bash
73	timedatectl set-ntp true # start and enable systemd-timesyncd
74	```
75
76	You can check the service status using `timedatectl status`.
77
78	## Partitioning
79
80	I won't dive into partitioning and instead, I'll refer you to
81	the [Partitioning][partitioning] page of Arch wiki. Of the available
82	partitioning tools, I personally prefer `cfdisk`.
83
84	[partitioning]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning
85
86	## Setting up LVM & LUKS
87
88	I use a [LVM on LUKS][lvm_on_luks] setup, where I set up LVM on top of
89	the encrypted partition.
90
91	First, let's set up the underlying encrypted partition:
92
93	``` bash
94	cryptsetup -v --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 --hash sha512 \
95	--iter-time 5000 --use-urandom -y luksFormat /dev/sdaX
96	```
97
98	where `/dev/sdaX` is the partition you created in the last step
99	(e.g. `/dev/sda4`). For more information about the `cryptsetup`
100	options, see the [LUKS encryption options][luks_options].
101
102	[lvm_on_luks]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Encrypting_an_entire_system#LVM_on_LUKS
103	[luks_options]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Device_encryption#Encryption_options_for_LUKS_mode
104
105	Then we open the container:
106
107	``` bash
108	cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sdaX lvm
109	```
110
111	Now it's time to use lvm and prepare the logical volume(s):
112
113	``` bash
114	pvcreate /dev/mapper/lvm
115	vgcreate vg /dev/mapper/lvm
116	lvcreate --extents +100%FREE -n root vg
117	```
118
119	This will create a physical volume on the mapping we just opened,
120	create a volume group named `vg` on the physical volume, and create a
121	logical volume named `root` that spans the entire volume group. More
122	complex setups are possible thanks to the great flexibility of lvm.
123
124	We now format the logical volume with `ext4`:
125
126	``` bash
127	mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg-root
128	```
129
130	## Installing the base system
131
132	Let's mount the logical volume, make a directory for the mount point
133	of the boot partition, and mount the boot partition (`/dev/sda1`):
134
135	``` bash
136	mount /dev/mapper/vg-root /mnt
137	mkdir /mnt/boot
138	mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
139	```
140
141	Finally, let's install the base system (and optionally `base-devel`):
142
143	``` bash
144	pacstrap /mnt base base-devel
145	```
146
147	## Configuring the system
148
149	Let's generate the fstab:
150
151	``` bash
152	genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
153	```
154
155	Use your favorite terminal-based editor, edit the fstab file and add
156	the `discard` option for the root partition to enable TRIM on the
157	SSD.
158
159	Now we change root into our newly installed system and will configure
160	it. Adjust these according to your own setup.
161
162	``` bash
163	arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
164	passwd # set the root password
165	echo myhostname > /etc/hostname # set the hostname
166	ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Canada/Eastern /etc/localtime # time zone
167	hwclock --systohc --utc # write system clock to hardware clock (UTC)
168	useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash myuser # create myuser
169	passwd myuser # set the password for myuser
170	echo "myuser ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" >> /etc/sudoers.d/myuser
171	# uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed locales in /etc/locale.gen
172	locale-gen
173	echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
174	export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
175	```
176
177	Then adjust the initramfs hooks in `/etc/mkinitcpio.conf` and enable
178	the `encrypt` and `lvm2` hooks, and make sure `keyboard` is available
179	before `encrypt` so you can actually type in the LUKS password when
180	booting. Your `HOOKS` line should look similar to this:
181
182	```
183	HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block keyboard encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck"
184	```
185
186	After adjusting the hooks, build the initramfs:
187
188	``` bash
189	mkinitcpio -p linux
190	```
191
192	Now, install the `intel-ucode` package. We'll configure the bootloader
193	to enable intel microcode updates.
194
195	``` bash
196	pacman -S intel-ucode
197	```
198
199	Create the `/boot/loader/loader.conf` with the following content
200	(adjust the timeout to your liking):
201
202	```
203	default arch
204	timeout 3
205	```
206
207	Then create the entry for Arch:
208
209	``` bash
210	mkdir -p /boot/loader/entries
211	touch /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
212	```
213
214	Now edit `/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf` to specify the Arch entry:
215
216	```
217	title Arch Linux
218	linux /vmlinuz-linux
219	initrd /intel-ucode.img
220	initrd /initramfs-linux.img
221	options cryptdevice=/dev/sdaX:vg:allow-discards root=/dev/mapper/vg-root rw
222	```
223
224	Again, `/dev/sdaX` is the partition you created in the
225	Partitioning step as the underlying encrypted partition.
226
227	Finally, install the bootloader, exit the chroot, umount and reboot!
228
229	``` bash
230	bootctl install
231	exit
232	umount -R /mnt
233	reboot
234	```
235
236	## Post-installation recommendations
237
238	Congratulations! You now have a minimal Arch installation.
239
240	At this point, I usually install my favorite AUR
241	helper, [pacaur][pacaur], then I
242	install the [broadcom-wl-dkms][broadcom-wl-dkms] wireless driver
243	and [mba6x_bl-dkms][mba6x_bl-dkms] backlight driver to fix the post
244	suspend/resume issue where three's no brightness after waking up from
245	suspend, and the only available brightness would be 100%.
246
247	[broadcom-wl-dkms]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/broadcom-wl-dkms/
248	[mba6x_bl-dkms]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mba6x_bl-dkms/
249
250	``` bash
251	pacaur -S linux-headers dkms # linux-headers is required for dkms
252	pacaur -S broadcom-wl-dkms
253	pacaur -S mba6x_bl-dkms
254	```
255
256	[pacaur]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacaur/
257
258	Then, I'd like to install
259
260	- input, graphics, and sound drivers,
261	- a desktop environment (I prefer Xfce or LXQt),
262	- a display manager for login screen (lightdm or sddm), and
263	- a network manager (NetworkManager or ConnMan).
264
265	Check out the [General recommendations][gen_reqs] for more details.
266
267	[gen_reqs]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/General_recommendations
268
269	## References
270
271	Here are some resources I've come across each with lots of useful bits
272	and pieces, about installing Arch on a MacBook:
273
274	- [pandeiro/arch-on-air](https://github.com/pandeiro/arch-on-air)
275	- [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/)
276	- [Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air 2013](http://frankshin.com/installing-archlinux-on-macbook-air-2013/)
277	- [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/)
278	- [Installing (encrypted) Arch Linux on an Apple MacBook Pro](https://visual-assault.org/2016/03/05/install-encrypted-arch-linux-on-apple-macbook-pro/)
279	- [Installing Arch Linux on a MacBook Air 2013](http://alexeyzabelin.com/arch-on-mac)
280	- [Arch Linux running on my MacBook](https://medium.com/phils-thought-bubble-of-recent-stuff/arch-linux-running-on-my-macbook-2ea525ebefe3)
281	- [Dual boot Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Installation](http://codylittlewood.com/arch-linux-on-macbook-pro-installation/)