A list of some software I installed on Arch Linux

This is a list of packages I installed on Arch Linux. When you install Arch Linux you get to choose whatever you want to install, though sometimes it's hard to figure out what to install, it's not always clear.I realise that I could pick better things or actually put more thought into them. I left this list here for anyone that's stumped as to what they should choose.

Here's a list of each software component and link to it's page on the Arch wiki. 

BootLoader

GRUB
I tend to use it because I'm used to it. Not sure if it's the best choice. It's used by a lot of Linux distributions so if you ever need help with it it's quick to fix.

Network Interface Software

NetworkManager
I mostly use NetworkManager because I used it on other linux distibutions. So why fix what's broken? 

Display Manager

LightDM
Another one I'm just used to it so I use it. 

Desktop Environment/wm

Xfce
I like Xfce because it's lightweight and easy to use. 

How to install Arch Linux(Not a tutorial but a guideline)

Installing Arch Linux can be fun, it's also rewarding because you get to choose what's installed. You dont have as many choices as say Gentoo Linux which gives you even more options for customising things. Though gentoo is very technical. If you ever want to run Gentoo I suggest starting with Arch because it's a lot easier.

If you want to have no problems running Arch you cant be lazy about it. You have to read in order not to run into problems. This is not to say there's a lot of reading depending on what you know about Linux. You also need to know some basic things about how a computer boots. Not anything technical but the basics as an end user.

Before you install Arch Linux make sure to familiarise yourself with an easy to use Linux Distribution such as Manjaro Linux. It's an easier to install Linux that's intended to be easy and install and use. Arch Linux is a little bit harder to set up but depending on how you set it up it's easy to use as well.

The next thing you should do is read the Arch Wiki a little bit. When you install Arch Linux you'll be following a long to the installation guide on that wiki. 

I know a lot of people dont like to read, but I suggest at least skim through each page and at least read whatever catches your eyes. Later you can recall seeing whatever and it'll help you if you ever run into problems. When you actually install Arch Linux you should read carefully, especially on the installation wiki.

When you're on the installation wiki page you should read everything before you attempt to install. Each step has links you probably should click on because it gives more information about the step. Sometimes the wiki doesnt explain things very well and it assumes some knowledge of Linux and computers in general. Anything you dont understand Google or ask a forum what you dont understand when you're stumped.

How to install Xubuntu

Xubuntu is a good starter Linux OS for people that are totally new to Linux. It easy on the system resources and the interface of the desktop it uses is similar enough to the Windows desktop that anyone coming from Windows would adapt somewhat quickly.

This is a tutorial telling you  how to install it. 

The first thing you need is a USB flash drive with at least 8gb of space. You can get one of these at an office supplies store fairly inexpensively and you probably have one lying around. Make sure you dont have any files you want to keep on it. 

Download Refus. It's an easy to use tool to install the ISO you downloaded to the flash drive which you'll use to install Xubuntu to your PC.

I wouldnt worry too much about verifying the ISO, but you should do it anyways because occasionally someone tampers with linux ISO's though it happens very seldomly so I wouldnt worry about it now if you just want to try out Xubuntu for the first time. Though in the future if you really want to use it, Id just suggest verifying your ISO.

Download the ISO from the Xubuntu website. 

CAUTION: Make sure you have any USB drives, such as hard drives or any flash drives, external drives unplugged from your PC before you follow  the next step so you dont accidentally format the wrong drive.

Plug in the flash drive you want to put Xubuntu on into an USB port. 

Browse to where you downloaded the Refus exe file probably in your downloads folder. Run the program.

Click through the things that say "do you want this program to make changes to your PC" the refus program is only going to put the ISO on your flash drive. Windows says this when ever a program needs administrator privileges regardless of what the program is doing. Though you probably knew that already.  

Click where it says boot selection and then find your Xubuntu iso. It's probably in your downloads folder. 

After that click the start button on the program itself and let it format your flash drive. 

When it's done, shutdown your PC, and then start it up again. And press the key quickly that's for your  system UEFI menu. You can find this googling the  model or brand of your computer with search terms like "HP laptop bios setup key" or something like that depending on what PC you have.

on some PC's it'll even tell you on the splash screen briefly before your computer boots.

Once the system is booted into Xubuntu it's pretty self explanatory.  Depending on the age of your system you may have some trouble getting wifi to work. 

Though that doesnt happen that much unless the hardware is fairly new. Though you might want to have your computer plugged into ethernet (the cable that looks sort of like a fat telephone cable) It'll save you time in case your systems wifi card isnt detected by the Linux kernel. 

Xubuntu will give you an option to keep your Windows install or wipe the system. I suggest you keep your Windows install if you decide to install it, just in case you get confused and want to go back. 

The rest of the process is fairly straight forward and is actually easier than the Windows install. 

reboot your computer. If you decided to leave windows there a menu will show up when you boot your PC. It'll be a prompt for what OS you want to boot into. Just let it boot into Xubuntu. If you ever need to go into windows just select windows from the prompt with the arrow keys on your keyboard and hit enter. 

The next thing you'll want to do is open the xfce terminal emulator and enable the firewall. Click the button where the start menu in Windows usually is. (looks like a mouse face in Xubuntu) and open the terminal emulator. 

type into it the follow command to enable your firewall. 

sudo ufw enable

It's not usually enabled by default because some people want to configure it themselves. Enabling the firewall will block any unsolicited connections to your computer. 

The next thing you'll want to do is update the packages on your computer  so everything is up to date. With the following commands

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

I suggest you read the manual page of apt and ufw. you can do  this by typing in the terminal

man apt 

For any command that you dont understand you can do this but also typing --help after the command gives you a less verbose explanation. Sometimes I joke that the man pages are written in the language of neckbeard because they can be hard to understand. 

If you ever have any trouble just google. There are support forms on the internet which you'll probably find. Though make sure you try your best to solve any issues yourself because some Linux users have a chip on their shoulder. Dont let it discourage you.

Installing Arch Linux with the archinstall command in install ISO

Even though it's cheating because you're not doing everything yourself. You can easily install Arch Linux using the included script called archinstall. But dont do this the first time you install Arch Linux. 

Only do this to save time once you understand the system well, because you'll need to know a few things to fix any problems that happen. In fact, if you ever need help the official Arch Linux support forums explicitly state they wont help you if you used that script or followed any other guide than the Arch Installation guide wiki. 

The first thing you should do is connect to the internet if you arent already. For wifi you can use iwctl. It's very straight forward. As for ethernet it's probably already connected anyways. I dont know what to tell you if you're tethering with a phone I never used that.

At the iwctl prompt(after running the command) type station list to find the device name of your wifi card, usually wlan0. It's not always wlan0 of course so substitute it for what one you think it is. 

Then once you found which one you want to use type station wlan0 get-networks to see a list of wifi networks nearby. After that type station wlan0 connect "your wifi network here" Remember it's case sensitive and it'll error if you type it wrong. Then type quit after you're done.

Type ping archlinux.org to verify that you are connected to the internet. 

Next you'll want to update your mirrors to something geographically closer to you so you're packages download quicker. 

First you'll want to type reflector --list-countries to find your country.

Once you got that type for example reflector --country canada --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

you'll want to open that file and figure out which one is closest to you and move the instances of the server to the top of the file. It's not always clear where the server is, so you could google it i guess I am not sure. The server itself may have a website if it's a university, which a lot of those mirrors are universities.

After your done editing the file type pacman -Sy to update pacman's cache. 

Choose each setting the way you like it. Though remember to set a root password when you're done and still in the chroot. Otherwise you could lock yourself out if you didnt set your user to have sudo privileges.

Getting started with IRC using Hexchat

Discord glows in the dark. You shouldnt use it even if you're average joe. I suggest you learn IRC and use it instead. There are several different IRC networks. It's in decline but people still use it and it's still very usable. You can make your own channel easily for all of your friends. 

There are other better alternatives to Discord, such as the Matrix protocol, but I dont know much about that. IRC is just easier to get into. Though there are some things you need to learn first before you dive in.

Even though Weechat is a better IRC client, Hexchat is okay and great for newbies and people running Windows which i imagine a lot of people are. 

First thing you'll want to do is Download Hexchat and install it from their website. Which is here. 

Note: Dont use the client from the Microsoft store. Use the stand alone Windows 10 executable. They'll try to get you to pay for it if you go to the Microsoft store. Also even though I'm far removed from Windows these days as I dont use it much anymore you shouldnt use apps from the Microsoft store because it's just awful.  You shouldnt be using Windows for personal use anyways for different reasons(but that's a different thing)

Then before you do anything close the client. The default theme is awful you might want to get a different one which you can download one clicking the themes button on their website. Find one that you like. I suggest Matrixy. On Windows it's very simple to install a theme, you just open the file and it themes it for you. However on Linux you'll need to extract the files in the package you downloaded into the .config/hexchat folder in your home directory. 

Also read these blog posts about IRC and Hexchat listed below:

Newbies guide to hexchat
How to use nickserv on IRC

If you're looking for an IRC network to chat on I suggest Rizon. They're okay. If you're interested in Linux and open source software you'll probably like Libera, though if interested in those you probably already know about that and IRC anyways.

Some things that might help you when you're reading things on your computer

These tips might seem like they're obvious to some, though it needs to be stated because I imagine a lot of people arent even aware. I was oblivious for a long time because I'm a dumbass.

Generally if you have eye issues, or you're just about anyone you might have trouble reading on your computer. For me my eyes are okay, but sometimes i have trouble concentrating on things on the screen. I use okay loosely as I'm not sure what's wrong with my vision.

You could size down your windows on your monitor, you dont need to use all of your screen real estate when your browsing the internet, or working in a word processor or chatting. If you're using a 1080p screen(or larger) text will spew across your screen and be harder to read as a result. Size down the window if you happen upon a website that's kind of hard to read maximized.

Drag the corners of the window until they're maybe half of the screen or when it's comfortable to read. Another side effect of not maximizing all your Windows on your screen is you can even have two next to each other. Sometimes that's handy having one thing open for reference while you're working on something.

Also look at scaling options on your operating system of choice if you're using a smaller monitor, or you're using a laptop or your vision is especially bad. Dont down the resolution of your screen, that will only make things harder to read.

While you're browsing the internet you can press the CTRL and + keys to up the size of the text. You can press CTRL - to make it less big and CTRL + 0 to reset it to the default if you went a little crazy sizing up the font.

Not sure about Chrome, but Firefox has a "reader view" it's the left of the bookmark icon, the bookmark icon looks like a star. Some pages it will not show up, you can click it and change whether or not the page is bright text on a dark background, you can change how long the lines of text are and you can also change the size of the fonts and the font itself to a different one you have a easier time with. This feature is handy because a lot website authors choose to pick this really light text on a white background which is really hard to read, at least for me. I prefer dark themed websites.

Generally, the higher the resolution of the screen the easier it'll be to read text on the screen, because of more pixels. So if you still have a old 720p monitor you might want to get something that is at least 1080p. Also monitors tend to be bigger nowadays which will also help.

Not sure if anything larger than 1080p the fonts will be easier to read. Might be the law of diminishing returns there. If that makes any sense. But the more pixels packed into one spot, your eyes are looking at less empty space in between the pixels. You cant see it, but it still makes things harder to read. At the time of this writing 1080p screens are pretty cheap, and you can even find them used since a lot of people are upgrading to higher resolution displays as those are coming down in price.

Sitting around in the dark on your computer isnt good for your mental health (and your eyes)

I liked sitting around in the dark in the past. I felt more comfortable that way. Though that causes eye strain, especially if you're staring at a monitor for hours. The more eye strain, the more anxious you get. The more anxious you get the more depressed you get. So eye strain is a contribution factor in mental health problems.

When you're working on your computer the room should be well lit. You should have a light behind, or above you. Even a dim light is okay just as long as there's a light source other than your screen. In my room I have a light behind my monitor and one behind me, a little bit above.

Generally, when you're looking at something bright like a computer screen at night it causes eye strain. I dont know how else to explain it. Even though for some reason I like to sit in the dark, I dont do it while I'm using my computer because it's not healthy when you learn about it. When you read what the experts have to say.

"Touching grass" is a good idea. Get off your computer, get off your phone a little bit during the day. 

Disabling services on your computer that you dont need is a good idea

One good thing about using Linux is it allows you more control over what's running on your system. I'm not going to tell you what to disable but will tell you how you can figure out what you dont need. This guide assumes you're running a Linux distribution with the systemd init system, such as Ubuntu, Manjaro, or Debian. If in doubt whether or not you're using the it, you could google it. Though a lot of Linux distributions use it nowadays.

To get a list of services you have running open a terminal and type the systemctl command by itself, this will show you a list of services that are running. Scroll down until you see the enteries that end in .service with the page up and down keys, those are the ones to pay attention to because systemctl shows more than the services.

an example of running services

Look up each service and then decide whether or not you need it. If you're not using bluetooth, you can safely disable the bluetooth.service, for example.

You can disable the bluetooth service by typing sudo systemctl disable bluetooth.service, then reboot the system. (you can even type reboot where you are in the terminal if you're too lazy to go into the menu of your DE)

If you want that service back, you can get it back again by typing sudo systemctl enable bluetooth.service.

You can verify whether or not the service isnt running anymore by typing systemctl again and scrolling through you like you did before.

If you dont understand what a service does, it's not a good idea to disable it. If you want to figure out what each service does, type the service name into google maybe with some context like your Linux distribution or the word linux. For example if i wanted to know what the bluetooth.service is a good search term would be "bluetooth.service manjaro linux systemd" or something like that. Keep trying different terms until you find the information you're looking for.

If you want to save some disk space you can even remove the packages in question, though be careful because something else might be dependent on that software. So when in doubt, dont. Though the less packages you have the better because that means you dont need to update so much stuff which saves you time when updating your system.

Having less stuff running on your system makes your computer faster and also makes things more secure because it reduces your attack surface, especially if the software is network related. An example of this is the avahi daemon which is something to do with printers and cups which is also to do with network printers if I recall correctly.

If you want even more control over your system you could try Arch Linux or Gentoo. Though those are more involved than a just works distribution like Ubuntu or Manjaro.

A writing tip I wish I was taught in school

Someone introduced me to a way of writing that he was taught in school. He suggested that I write a draft of my blog post first, just for myself. Then read the draft and make any necessary changes. Then repeat the process again at least twice.  

Even though he didnt mention it, what he said also gave me an idea to hand write my drafts in my notebook. Each time Id type the draft from my notebook. Then when it seems okay I’ll publish it. I noticed trying out that writing process he introduced I’m omitting things that wernt needed in the post. Like there were some things I had in this post I’m typing now that wasnt really required. 

It’s kind of tedious. Though I think it’s a good idea. 

Newbies guide to IRC using Hexchat

When you first open Hexchat and dialogue box will open with a list of networks that the package maintainers thought would be good to put in the list. Two good irc networks are Libera, which is mostly channels for open source software and tech related things and Rizon. You might want to change the default nicks under User Information to what you want you call yourself on irc.

If you select irc a network and click edit you can find a menu that lets you set more options, if you untick Use global user information you can select a different nick name and user name for that network than what's in global informattion there by selecting a different for that network, if you'd like a different one or your usual nick is taken. To join a channel

/join #channel

where channel is the name of the channel you want to join. If the channel doesn’t exist it will start a new one and you’ll have ops in it. Being a op in a irc channel allows you to kick people from the channel and ban them, which prevents them from joining the channel.

If you want to leave a channel, type

/part #channel

or you can even type /close

If you don’t know of a channel on the irc network your connected to you can get a list of channels from the menus. Click the server menu and then click channel list once you’re here click download list. Some servers wont allow you to download the list right away. They might make you wait a minute. 

You might want to register your nick with nickserv to keep your nick. You want to do this because some channels wont allow you in them if your nickname isnt registered. It will ask you for an email and a password you’d like to use with it. If you want to know more about using nickserv see this blog post. 

If you want to start a private mesesage with someone, type

/query nick

Where nick is the nickname of the person you want to have a PM with.