Setting up Xorg, Gnome, Pulseaudio and codecs on Arch Linux

Posted by TWIL on October 6th, 2010

After posting the latest Arch Installation tutorial, I realized I should probably post a list of the commands I used, and what some of them do, so here you go!

Check network connection:
ping -c 3 www.google.com #see if you're connected ifconfig -a #make sure you have an IP address dhcpcd eth0 #request a DHCP IP address for eth0 nano /etc/rc.conf #check ethernet settings

Check mirrors: (note: reflector is gone now, see https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=115660 for more information — instead of using reflector here, try uncommenting mirrors close to you)
pacman -S reflector curl #install reflector to get best mirrors, curl as a dependency cd /etc/pacman.d #move to mirrorlist directory cp mirrorlist mirrorlist.backup #back up your mirrorlist reflector -c %own% -f 6 > mirrorlist #return the fastest 6 repos in your country, pipe output to mirrorlist file nano mirrorlist #make sure mirrorlist looks right pacman -Syy #force mirrors to update pacman -Syu #update the system

Add multilib to your system: (optional, if you are on 64-bit and want some 32-bit native apps)
nano /etc/pacman.conf Uncomment these lines in the file (or add it, if it's not already there): [multilib] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Add a user to the system
useradd -m -g users -G audio,lp,optical,storage,video,wheel,games,power -s /bin/bash USERNAME passwd USERNAME pacman -S sudo #if you didn't install it earlier EDITOR=nano visudo #add "wheel" to the sudoers group uncomment the line "%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL" #remove the # symbol

From here on, things are entirely up to you…

Install pulseaudio:
pacman -S pulseaudio pacman -S alsa-plugins

Install Xorg and drivers:
pacman -S xorg lspci | grep VGA #to find out what graphics card you're running startx #test out X, to see if it works

Install fonts:
pacman -S ttf-dejavu #makes fonts a little prettier

Install Gnome:
pacman -S gnome gnome-extra gnome-system-tools xinit /usr/bin/gnome-session #test running gnome nano /etc/rc.conf, add "dbus" and "gdm" to DAEMONS line (make sure gdm is the very last one)

Update Pulseaudio for Gnome:
pacman -S pulseaudio-gnome

Reboot and log in as your user account.

Install Firefox:
sudo pacman -S firefox

Install codecs and plugins:
sudo pacman -S mplayer gecko-mediaplayer xine-lib xine-ui libdvdread libdvdcss alsa-oss jre #add flashplugin if you're on 32-bit, or if you want to use the 32-bit one wrapped up on 64-bit

That’s about it, really!

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Troybal

great
http://tirsitofeliz.blogspot.com Tirso

Arch Linux is the best I use it… Is Awesome
I Use Arch + GNOME
DuDe

Man, you made a great TuT for arch + their wiki i sucessefully install arch + gnome and xfce, but i have a nasty problem.

I tried the noveau drivers and the nvidia + nvidia package, still my screen is too bright, and on both arch and gnome, the OS doesn’t have a way to configure the brightness. :S :S :S :S

+

The fonts, oh the fonts look horrible, i installed the ttf-ms and dejavu.. but the bold letters just look blurry :S

some help, make us a tut :p
Michael

Can i please ask for a assistance. I was following your transcript and video for part2 of the arch linux install. It was the section setting up Xorg. I followed the steps and video verbatim and xorg install with no errors as far as i can tell. when i try to run startx, i get an error command not found. if i run the Xorg command itself i get a black screen. I am going to try the irc channel and forum just wanted to hear your two cents.

Glauco

You need to install xorg-xinit to get startx, I think he missed it in this tutorial or something changed since then. X or Xorg alone gives a black screen, but if you could run startx, you will probably be able to run Gnome.

http://www.thisweekinlinux.com TWIL

You’re absolutely right. This post is well out of date. I might just have to make note of it on the post and put a link to the Beginner’s Guide, especially now that Gnome 2 has been replaced by Gnome 3.

http://www.thisweekinlinux.com TWIL

Sorry about that (and the delayed response) Michael. I’ll try to get more updated steps.

Mike

The three Arch videos convinced me to give it a try, which I did over the Christmas break. It took a lot of time (which I had) and there is quite a learning curve if you’re not an experienced Linux user. I installed it with LXDE on a 7-year old Thinkpad with a brand-new hard-disk.

There were some hiccups along the way, but just about everything to help you solve them is there on the wiki. I got stuck trying to install some oddball rpm software (not in the AUR), but someone on the forums got me through that OK. I ended up writing my own PKGBUILD as a result. If you come to the Arch forums prepared with reasonable questions, my experience is that you’ll be treated well.

I insist on having high quality fonts on my system and would recommend using the Infinality package:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Font_Configuration#Infinality

Also if you are using a laptop, do not forget the important refinements described here:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop

There is plenty to tinker with such as fan control, a custom conky setup, and replacing the hideous plain-vanilla icons that come with the stripped-down software packages on Arch.

I’ve been using ArchLinux for a little over two months. While it has been very satisfying to build a customized system and learn a ton about Linux in the process, one has to be pragmatic when comparing it to other distributions. As an analogy, you could buy a beater car and spend a lot of time and money restoring it to mint condition. No doubt, a very educational and rewarding experience. If, however, you are just looking for reliable, high performance transportation wouldn’t it have been more time-efficient and cost-effective to buy a new or nearly new vehicle instead?

The same laptop had been running Lubuntu for more than a year. I detect no performance advantage or change in resource demands with LXDE on Arch. Rolling release is an appealing concept, but I have a hunch it might create just as much trouble in the long-run as the hassle of periodic upgrades associated with the major distros. For example, I (and other Arch users) got intermittent kernel panics after upgrading to 2.6.37 (now fixed).

I will continue to be an Arch user because I am enjoying the experience of fooling around with it, but would not recommend it to anyone who is not of the same inclination.

http://www.thisweekinlinux.com TWIL

Excellent points, and it’s awesome to see that you’re enjoying your time with Arch Linux!

Delphious

When I tried to add a user adduser -m -g audio,video,wheel,games,power -s /bin/bash “username” it says group does not exist any ideas? otherwise great tutorial.

http://www.thisweekinlinux.com TWIL

You’re using the adduser command instead of useradd. adduser is interactive, so I don’t believe you have to give it any parameters, you just walk through a wizard. However, I just tested that exact command on my Arch system, and it sort of worked, but it tried to create a user named “-m”.
I’ve always just done it with this sort of command: useradd -m -g users -G audio,lp,optical,storage,video,wheel,games,power -s /bin/bash USERNAME

http://donveljac.blogspot.com lutherus

really a wounderfoul tutorial.think this will help a lot of people out there who are traying to install arch.i`m using arch with awesome wm on my laptop and my desktop has debian sid last 7 years.
hfsjansharr(YT)

Woot! Up and running,watching cnn videos on Arch running in virtual machine.Everything works! It’s somehow satisfying compiling an OS yourself,then having everything work! “Bless your face!”

Thanks man
TWILisawesome

Thanks for the shownotes! Couldn’t watch the video because I didn’t have flash, so I came here!

Up and running with KDE at the moment.
Randy

this and your videos on setting up arch helped alot, granted im still having hell lol, but at least i got a start thanks to you, much appreciated =)
http://donveljac.blogspot.com Odin-LZS

hy.love this tutorial.it`s great that final someone created a simple arch linux install tutorial.
Zane

Like JavaZava said, this is saving me some work, was already playing, pausing and skipping the first tutorial.
Thanks for making this for Arch, the beginners wiki is already a bit of a big leap for me, but with this it’s making it a hell of a lot easier. Thumbs up.
JavaZava

You know?? You just saved me a lot of work. I was about to replay your (the best tutorial I’ve seen for this even if I have seen a lot) video, to write down all the comands you used.

I think I’ll put your blog as my startup/home page.

http://www.thisweekinlinux.com TWIL

awesome, thanks so much!

Privacy0

Yaourt means yoghurt in French. In French, it’s pronounced “yao-oohr.”

Will try installing Arch today on one of my laptops.

http://www.thisweekinlinux.com TWIL

thanks for the info!

http://rolinh.gw-computing.net/ Rolinh

It is true but in my country (Switzerland), where we speak french too (1/3 of the country) yaourt does not mean anything (actually, we know it is french from France for yoghurt but we do not use this word): we actually say “joghurt” (probably because of a german influence).

I’ll try to say something more interesting in my next comment ^^

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Setting up Xorg, Gnome, Pulseaudio and codecs on Arch Linux

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