In the computer world there are even memes about this: the user of Arch Linux He is someone who knows what he is doing. One of the reasons for the existence of other projects such as Antergos or Manjaro is that using Arch is easier, and whoever has tried the second, as is my case, understands it well. Installing Arch Linux is not easy, and it seems that Aaron Griffin, Allan McRae and Anatol Pomozov also know that, so they have decided to remedy it.
Until now, if we wanted to install this operating system we had to take some extra and less simple steps. And no, it is not that now it is the same as installing it with Ubiquity or Calamares, no. The thing is they have introduced an option that makes things easier, but does not launch an installer with a user interface. As soon as we start this «simple installer», it asks us for the language, then it continues with other information such as the installation disk, the network, the desktop and a graphic driver. If we need it, we can specify extra packages to install.
archinstall, the simple Arch Linux installer
To start the installer you have to type "archinstall". I have tried it and, logically, it is not as simple as in Manjaro, for example, but you don't have to be an advanced expert to install the system operational. What we will configure will be the following:
- Language.
- Country.
- Disk where to install the operating system.
- File System.
- Key if we want to encrypt the disk.
- Name of the team.
- Root password.
- Creation of a super-user, which we can omit.
- Password (2 times).
- User, which we can omit if we have created a super-user.
- Password (2 times).
- If we have added a user that is not super, we indicate if we want to make it that.
- Desktop, to choose between awesome, desktop, gnome, kde, kde-wayland or xorg.
- What graphics card do we use.
- If we want to use the proprietary or open source driver.
- If we want to install a package, like GIMP or VLC.
- The type of installation, to choose between taking it from ISO or ens3.
- Time zone.
Once the time zone is entered, it asks us to press Enter and the installation begins. In many options, when you have to choose, we can enter the number or text that appears. As we have explained, it is not like the installer that most distributions include, but it does change things a lot.
Arch Linux works quite well and now that it is easier to install, will you cheer up?