+title: Arch GNU/Linux on MacBook Air 2013
+date: 2016-11-01 00:00
+slug: arch-macbook-air
+tags: arch, macbook
+---
+
+This post summarizes how I install and dual-boot Arch GNU/Linux with
+Full-Disk Encryption alongside macOS. It is not meant to be a
+replacement for the [Installation
+Guide](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation%5Fguide) or
+the former [Beginner's
+Guide](https://csdietz.github.io/arch-beginner-guide/). Rather, it
+mostly serves as a small summary with a few useful notes about the
+gotchas.
+
+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. 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 GNU/Linux 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 Installer USB
+
+There are different ways of creating a bootable Arch USB, all
+documented on the [USB flash installation
+media](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB%5Fflash%5Finstallation%5Fmedia)
+page on the Arch wiki, but the simplest one is using `dd` if you
+already have access to another UNIX system.
+
+**Warning:** 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](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning) page
+of Arch wiki. Of the available partitioning tools, I personally prefer
+`cfdisk`.
+
+## Setting up LVM & LUKS
+
+I use a [LVM on
+LUKS](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Encrypting%5Fan%5Fentire%5Fsystem#LVM%5Fon%5FLUKS)
+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](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Device%5Fencryption#Encryption%5Foptions%5Ffor%5FLUKS%5Fmode).
+
+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:
+
+```nil
+HOOKS=(base udev autodetect keyboard keymap consolefont modconf block 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):
+
+```nil
+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:
+
+```nil
+title Arch GNU/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 earlier 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](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacaur/), then I install
+the
+[broadcom-wl-dkms](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/broadcom-wl-dkms/)
+wireless driver and
+[mba6x\_bl-dkms](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mba6x%5Fbl-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%.
+
+```bash
+pacaur -S linux-headers dkms # linux-headers is required for dkms
+pacaur -S broadcom-wl-dkms
+pacaur -S mba6x_bl-dkms
+```
+
+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](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/General%5Frecommendations)
+for more details.
+
+## 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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