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