From 8b2219bfa2da36e7809588ef723a10483a6e137f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Francis Rowe Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 20:52:36 -0500 Subject: Documentation: *major* cleanup. Cleanup was long overdue. Old structure was messy and inefficient. --- (limited to 'docs/howtos/configuring_parabola.html') diff --git a/docs/howtos/configuring_parabola.html b/docs/howtos/configuring_parabola.html deleted file mode 100644 index 56c5420..0000000 --- a/docs/howtos/configuring_parabola.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,784 +0,0 @@ - - - - - - - - - Configuring Parabola (post-install) - - - -
-

Configuring Parabola (post-install)

- -
- -
- -

Table of Contents

- - -
- -

- While not strictly related to the libreboot project, this guide - is intended to be useful for those interested in installing - Parabola on their libreboot machine. This is also beneficial because development - is now being done on Parabola, where Trisquel is no longer used by the maintainer - at the time of writing. -

- -

- It details configuration steps that I took after installing the base system, - as a follow up to encrypted_parabola.html. - This guide is likely to become obsolete at a later date (due to the volatile - 'rolling-release' model that Arch/Parabola both use), but attempts will be made to maintain it. -

- -

- - This guide was valid on 2014-09-21. If you see any changes that should to be made at the present date, please get in touch - with the libreboot project! - -

- -

- You do not necessarily have to follow this guide word-for-word; parabola is extremely flexible. - The aim here is to provide a common setup that most users will be happy with. While Parabola - can seem daunting at first glance (especially for new GNU/Linux users), with a simple guide it can provide - all of the same usability as Trisquel, without hiding any details from the user. -

- -

- Paradoxically, as you get more advanced Parabola can actually become easier to use - when you want to setup your machine in a special way compared to what most distributions provide. - You will find over time that other distributions tend to get in your way. -

- -

- - This guide assumes that you already have Parabola installed. If you have not yet installed Parabola, - then this guide is highly recommended! - -

- -

- A lot of the steps in this guide will refer to the Arch wiki. Arch is the upstream distribution that Parabola uses. - Most of this guide will also tell you to read wiki articles, other pages, manuals, and so on. In general it tries - to cherry pick the most useful information but nonetheless you are encouraged to learn as much as possible. - It might take you a few days to fully install your system how you like, depending on how much you need to read. Patience is key, - especially for new users. -

- -

- The Arch wiki will sometimes use bad language, such as calling the whole system Linux, using the term open-source (or closed-source), - and it will sometimes recommend the use of proprietary software. You need to be careful about this when reading anything on the - Arch wiki. -

- -

- Some of these steps require internet access. I'll go into networking later but for now, I just connected - my machine to a switch and did:
- # systemctl start dhcpcd.service
- You can stop it later by running:
- # systemctl stop dhcpcd.service
- For most people this should be enough, but if you don't have DHCP on your network then you should setup your network connection first:
- Setup network connection in Parabola -

- -
- -

Configure pacman

-

- pacman (package manager) is the name of the package management system in Arch, which Parabola - (as a deblobbed parallel effort) also uses. Like with 'apt-get' on debian-based systems like Trisquel, - this can be used to add/remove and update the software on your computer. -

-

- Based on https://wiki.parabolagnulinux.org/Installation_Guide#Configure_pacman - and from reading https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman (make sure to read and understand this, - it's very important) and - https://wiki.parabolagnulinux.org/Official_Repositories -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

Updating Parabola

-

- In the end, I didn't change my configuration for pacman. When you are updating, resync with the latest package names/versions:
- # pacman -Syy
- (according to the wiki, -Syy is better than Sy because it refreshes the package list even if it appears to be up to date, - which can be useful when switching to another mirror).
- Then, update the system:
- # pacman -Syu -

-

- - Before installing packages with 'pacman -S', always update first, using the notes above. - -

-

- Keep an eye out on the output, or read it in /var/log/pacman.log. Sometimes, pacman will show messages - about maintenance steps that you will need to perform with certain files (typically configurations) - after the update. Also, you should check both the Parabola and Arch home pages to see if they mention any issues. - If a new kernel is installed, you should also update to be able to use it (the currently running kernel will - also be fine). It's generally good enough to update Parabola once every week, or maybe twice. As a - rolling release distribution, it's a good idea never to leave your install too outdated; update regularly. This - is simply because of the way the project works; old packages are deleted from the repositories quickly, once they are updated. - A system that hasn't been updated for quite a while will mean potentially more reading of previous posts through the website, - and more maintenance work. -

-

- The Arch forum can also be useful, if others have the same issue as you (if you encounter issues, that is). Parabola's - IRC channel (#parabola on freenode) can also help you. -

-

- Due to this and the volatile nature of Parabola/Arch, you should only update when you have at least a couple hours of spare time - in case of issues that need to be resolved. You should never update, for example, if you need your system for an important event, - like a presentation or sending an email to an important person before an allocated deadline, and so on. -

-

- Relax - packages are well-tested regularly when new updates are made to the repositories. Separate 'testing' repositories - exist for this exact reason. Despite what many people will tell you, Parabola is fairly stable and trouble-free, - so long as you are aware of how to check for issues, and are willing to spend some time fixing issues in - the rare event that they do occur. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

Maintaining Parabola

-

- Parabola is a very simple distro, in the sense that you are in full control - and everything is made transparent to you. One consequence is - that you also need to know what you are doing, and what you have done before. In general, keeping notes (such as what I have done - with this page) can be very useful as a reference in the future (if you wanted to re-install it or install the distro - on another computer, for example). -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

Cleaning the package cache

-

- - The following is very important as you continue to use, update and maintain your Parabola system:
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman#Cleaning_the_package_cache. - Essentially, this guide talks about a directory that has to be cleaned once in a while, to prevent it from growing too big (it's a cache - of old package information, updated automatically when you do anything in pacman). - -

-

- To clean out all old packages that are cached:
- # pacman -Sc -

-

- The wiki cautions that this should be used with care. For example, since older packages are deleted from the repo, - if you encounter issues and want to revert back to an older package then it's useful to have the caches available. - Only do this if you are sure that you won't need it. -

-

- The wiki also mentions this method for removing everything from the cache, including currently installed packages that are cached:
- # pacman -Scc
- This is inadvisable, since it means re-downloading the package again if you wanted to quickly re-install it. This should only be used - when disk space is at a premium. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

pacman command equivalents

-

- The following table lists other distro package manager commands, and their equivalent in pacman:
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman_Rosetta -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -

your-freedom

-

- your-freedom is a package specific to Parabola, and it is installed by default. What it does is conflict with packages - from Arch that are known to be non-free (proprietary) software. When migrating from Arch (there is a guide on the Parabola - wiki for migrating - converting - an existing Arch system to a Parabola system), installing - your-freedom will also fail if these packages are installed, citing them as conflicts; the recommended solution - is then to delete the offending packages, and continue installing your-freedom. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -
- -

Add a user

-

- Based on https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Users_and_Groups. -

-

- It is important (for security reasons) to create and use a non-root (non-admin) user account for every day use. The default 'root' account is intended - only for critical administrative work, since it has complete access to the entire operating system. -

-

- Read the entire document linked to above, and then continue. -

-

- Add your user:
- # useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash yourusername
- Set a password:
- # passwd yourusername -

- -

Back to top of page

- -
- -

systemd

-

- This is the name of the system used for managing services in Parabola. It is a good idea to become familiar with it. - Read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/systemd - and https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/systemd#Basic_systemctl_usage - to gain a full understanding. This is very important! Make sure to read them. -

-

- An example of a 'service' could be a webserver (such as lighttpd), or sshd (openssh), dhcp, etc. There are countless others. -

-

- https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1149530#p1149530 explains - the background behind the decision by Arch (Parabola's upstream supplier) to use systemd. -

- -

- The manpage should also help:
- # man systemd
- The section on 'unit types' is especially useful. -

- -

- According to the wiki, systemd 'journal' keeps logs of a size up to 10% of the total size your / partition takes up. - on a 60GB root this would mean 6GB. That's not exactly practical, and can have performance implications later when the - log gets too big. Based on instructions from the wiki, I will reduce the total size of the journal to 50MiB (the wiki - recommends 50MiB). -

-

- Open /etc/systemd/journald.conf and find the line that says:
- #SystemMaxUse=
- Change it to say:
- SystemMaxUse=50M -

-

- The wiki also recommended a method for forwarding journal output to TTY 12 (accessible by pressing ctrl+alt+f12, - and you use ctrl+alt+[F1-F12] to switch between terminals). I decided not to enable it. -

-

- Restart journald:
- # systemctl restart systemd-journald -

- -

- The wiki recommends that if the journal gets too large, you can also simply delete (rm -rf) everything inside /var/log/journald/* - but recommends backing it up. This shouldn't be necessary, since you already set the size limit above and systemd will automatically - start to delete older records when the journal size reaches it's limit (according to systemd developers). -

- -

- Finally, the wiki mentions 'temporary' files and the utility for managing them.
- # man systemd-tmpfiles
- The command for 'clean' is:
- # systemd-tmpfiles --clean
- According to the manpage, this "cleans all files and directories with an age parameter". - According to the Arch wiki, this reads information in /etc/tmpfiles.d/ and /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/ - to know what actions to perform. Therefore, it is a good idea to read what's stored in these locations - to get a better understanding. -

-

- I looked in /etc/tmpfiles.d/ and found that it was empty on my system. However, /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/ contained some files. - The first one was etc.conf, containing information and a reference to this manpage:
- # man tmpfiles.d
- Read that manpage, and then continue studying all of the files. -

-

- The systemd developers tell me that it usually isn't necessary to touch the systemd-tmpfiles utility manually at all. -

- -

Back to top of page

- -
- -

Interesting repositories

-

- Parabola wiki at https://wiki.parabolagnulinux.org/Repositories#kernels - mentions about a repository called [kernels] for custom kernels that aren't in the default base. It might be worth looking into what is available - there, depending on your use case. -

-

- I enabled it on my system, to see what was in it. Edit /etc/pacman.conf and below the 'extra' section add:
- - [kernels]
- Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist - -

-

- Now sync with the repository:
- # pacman -Syy -

-

- List all available packages in this repository:
- # pacman -Sl kernels -

-

- In the end, I decided not to install anything from it but I kept the repository enabled regardless. -

-

Back to top of page.

- -
- -

Setup a network connection in Parabola

-

- Read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Configuring_Network. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

Set the hostname

-

- This should be the same as the hostname that you set in /etc/hostname when installing Parabola. You can also do it with systemd (do so now, if you like):
- # hostnamectl set-hostname yourhostname
- This writes the specified hostname to /etc/hostname. More information can be found in these manpages:
- # man hostname
- # info hostname
- # man hostnamectl -

-

- Add the same hostname to /etc/hosts, on each line. Example:
- - 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost myhostname
- ::1 localhost.localdomain localhost myhostname - -

-

- You'll note that I set both lines; the 2nd line is for IPv6. More and more ISP's are providing this now (mine does) - so it's good to be forward-thinking here. -

-

- The hostname utility is part of the inetutils package and is in core/, installed by default (as part of base). -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

Network Status

-

- According to the Arch wiki, udev should already detect the ethernet chipset - and load the driver for it automatically at boot time. You can check this in the "Ethernet controller" section - when running this command:
- # lspci -v -

-

- Look at the remaining sections 'Kernel driver in use' and 'Kernel modules'. In my case it was as follows:
- - Kernel driver in use: e1000e
- Kernel modules: e1000e - -

-

- Check that the driver was loaded by issuing dmesg | grep module_name. In my case, I did:
- # dmesg | grep e1000e -

-

Network device names

-

- According to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Configuring_Network#Device_names, - it is important to note that the old interface names like eth0, wlan0, wwan0 and so on no longer apply. Instead, systemd - creates device names starting with en (for enternet), wl (for wifi) and ww (for wwan) with a fixed identifier that systemd automatically generates. - An example device name for your ethernet chipset would be enp0s25, where it is never supposed to change. -

-

- If you want to enable the old names (eth0, wlan0, wwan0, etc), the Arch wiki recommends - adding net.ifnames=0 to your kernel parameters (in libreboot context, this would be accomplished by following the - instructions in grub_cbfs.html). -

-

- For background information, - read Predictable Network Interface Names -

-

- Show device names:
- # ls /sys/class/net -

-

- Changing the device names is possible (I chose not to do it):
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Configuring_Network#Change_device_name -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

Network setup

-

- I actually chose to ignore most of Networking section on the wiki. Instead, I plan to setup LXDE desktop with the graphical - network-manager client. Here is a list of network managers:
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/List_of_applications/Internet#Network_managers. - If you need to, set a static IP address (temporarily) using the networking guide an the Arch wiki, or start the dhcpcd service in systemd. - NetworkManager will be setup later, after installing LXDE. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -
- -

System Maintenance

-

- Read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/System_maintenance before continuing. - Also read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Enhance_system_stability. - This is important, so make sure to read them! -

-

- Install smartmontools (can be used to check smart data - note: HDD's use non-free firmware inside, it's transparent to you - but the smart data comes from it. Therefore, don't rely on it too much):
- # pacman -S smartmontools
- Read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/S.M.A.R.T. to learn how to use it. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -
- -

Configuring the desktop

-

- Based on steps from - General Recommendations on the Arch wiki. - The plan is to use LXDE and LXDM/LightDM, along with everything else that you would expect on other distributions that provide LXDE - by default. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -

Installing Xorg

-

- Based on https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg. -

-

- Firstly, install it!
- # pacman -S xorg-server
- I also recommend installing this (contains lots of useful tools, including xrandr):
- # pacman -S xorg-server-utils -

-

- Install the driver. For me this was xf86-video-intel on the ThinkPad X60. T60 and macbook11/21 should be the same.
- # pacman -S xf86-video-intel
- For other systems you can try:
- # pacman -Ss xf86-video- | less
- Combined with looking at your lspci output, you can determine which driver is needed. - By default, Xorg will revert to xf86-video-vesa which is a generic driver and doesn't provide true hardware acceleration. -

-

- Other drivers (not just video) can be found by looking at the xorg-drivers group:
- # pacman -Sg xorg-drivers
-

-

- Mostly you will rely on a display manager, but in case you ever want to start X without one:
- # pacman -S xorg-xinit -

-

- <optional>
-    Arch wiki recommends installing these, for testing that X works:
-    # pacman -S xorg-twm xorg-xclock xterm
-    Refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinitrc. - and test X:
-    # startx
-    When you are satisfied, type exit in xterm, inside the X session.
-    Uninstall them (clutter. eww): # pacman -S xorg-xinit xorg-twm xorg-xclock xterm
- </optional> -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -

Xorg keyboard layout

-

- Refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Keyboard_configuration_in_Xorg. -

-

- Xorg uses a different configuration method for keyboard layouts, so you will notice that the layout you - set in /etc/vconsole.conf earlier might not actually be the same in X. -

-

- To see what layout you currently use, try this on a terminal emulator in X:
- # setxkbmap -print -verbose 10 -

-

- In my case, I wanted to use the Dvorak (UK) keyboard which is quite different from Xorg's default Qwerty (US) layout. -

-

- I'll just say it now: XkbModel can be pc105 in this case (ThinkPad X60, with a 105-key UK keyboard). - If you use an American keyboard (typically 104 keys) you will want to use pc104. -

-

- XkbLayout in my case would be gb, and XkbVariant would be dvorak. -

-

- The Arch wiki recommends two different methods for setting the keyboard layout:
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Keyboard_configuration_in_Xorg#Using_X_configuration_files and
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Keyboard_configuration_in_Xorg#Using_localectl. -

-

- In my case, I chose to use the configuration file method:
- Create the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-keyboard.conf and put this inside:
- - Section "InputClass"
-         Identifier "system-keyboard"
-         MatchIsKeyboard "on"
-         Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
-         Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
-         Option "XkbVariant" "dvorak"
- EndSection - -

-

- For you, the steps above may differ if you have a different layout. If you use a US Qwerty keyboard, then - you don't even need to do anything (though it might help, for the sake of being explicit). -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -

Install LXDE

-

- Desktop choice isn't that important to me, so for simplicity I decided to use LXDE. It's lightweight - and does everything that I need. - If you would like to try something different, refer to - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Desktop_environment -

-

- Refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LXDE. -

-

- Install it, choosing 'all' when asked for the default package list:
- # pacman -S lxde obconf -

-

- I didn't want the following, so I removed them:
- # pacman -R lxmusic lxtask -

-

- I also lazily installed all fonts:
- # pacman -S $(pacman -Ssq ttf-) -

-

- LXDE comes with a terminal. You probably want a browser to go with that; I choose GNU IceCat, part of the GNU project:
- # pacman -S icecat
- And a mail client:
- # pacman -S icedove -

-

- In IceCat, go to Preferences :: Advanced and disable GNU IceCat Health Report. -

-

- I also like to install these:
- # pacman -S xsensors stress htop -

-

- Enable LXDM (the default display manager, providing a graphical login):
- # systemctl enable lxdm.service
- It will start when you boot up the machine. To start it now, do:
- # systemctl start lxdm.service -

-

- Log in with your standard (non-root) user that you created earlier. - It is advisable to also create an xinitrc rule in case you ever want to start lxde without lxdm. - Read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinitrc. -

-

- Open LXterminal:
- $ cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~
- Open .xinitrc and add the following plus a line break at the bottom of the file.
- - # Probably not needed. The same locale info that we set before
- # Based on advice from the LXDE wiki - export LC_ALL=en_GB.UTF-8
- export LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8
- export LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
-
- # Start lxde desktop
- exec startlxde
- - Now make sure that it is executable:
- $ chmod +x .xinitrc -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -

LXDE - clock

-

- In Digital Clock Settings (right click the clock) I set the Clock Format to %Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -

LXDE - font

-

- NOTE TO SELF: come back to this later. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -

LXDE - screenlock

-

- Arch wiki recommends to use xscreensaver:
- # pacman -S xscreensaver -

-

- Under Preferences :: Screensaver in the LXDE menu, I chose Mode: Blank Screen Only, - setting Blank After, Cycle After and Lock Screen After (checked) to 10 minutes. -

-

- You can now lock the screen with Logout :: Lock Screen in the LXDE menu. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -

LXDE - automounting

-

- Refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/File_manager_functionality. -

-

- I chose to ignore this for now. NOTE TO SELF: come back to this later. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

LXDE - disable suspend

-

- When closing the laptop lid, the machine suspends. This is annoying at least to me. - NOTE TO SELF: disable it, then document the steps here. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

LXDE - battery monitor

-

- Right click lxde panel and Add/Remove Panel Items. Click Add and select Battery Monitor, then click Add. - Close and then right-click the applet and go to Battery Monitor Settings, check the box that says Show Extended Information. - Now click Close. When you hover the cursor over it, it'll show information about the battery. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

-

LXDE - Network Manager

-

- Refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LXDE#Network_Management. - Then I read: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NetworkManager. -

-

- Install Network Manager:
- # pacman -S networkmanager -

-

- You will also want the graphical applet:
- # pacman -S network-manager-applet
- Arch wiki says that an autostart rule will be written at /etc/xdg/autostart/nm-applet.desktop -

-

- I want to be able to use a VPN at some point, so the wiki tells me to do:
- # pacman -S networkmanager-openvpn -

-

- LXDE uses openbox, so I refer to:
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NetworkManager#Openbox. -

-

- It tells me for the applet I need:
- # pacman -S xfce4-notifyd gnome-icon-theme
- Also, for storing authentication details (wifi) I need:
- # pacman -S gnome-keyring -

-

- I wanted to quickly enable networkmanager:
- # systemctl stop dhcpcd
- # systemctl start NetworkManager
- Enable NetworkManager at boot time:
- # systemctl enable NetworkManager -

-

- Restart LXDE (log out, and then log back in). -

-

- I added the volume control applet to the panel (right click panel, and add a new applet). - I also later changed the icons to use the gnome icon theme, in lxappearance. -

-

- Back to top of page. -

- -
- -

- Copyright © 2014 Francis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk>
- This document is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License and all future versions. - A copy of the license can be found at ../license.txt. -

- -

- This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, - but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of - MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See ../license.txt for more information. -

- - - -- cgit v0.9.1