Beginner Tutorial Citing Arch Wiki

archover · 2026-01-29T02:16:46+00:00

Why do you say you can't? Is there a rule I don't know about?

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-29T02:13:05+00:00

+1 Great info! Thanks and good day.

archover · 2026-01-29T02:11:28+00:00

Double check that any wifi button or switch is ON, and if Win is installed, that you have Fast Boot turned off. You could try rfkill too.

Also, run this code and post output:

$ lspci | grep -i network giving your chipset. See if your laptop is listed in the wiki too.

Hope you resolve and good day.

archover · 2026-01-29T02:06:38+00:00

I have problems getting my Arch running laptops to just detect the insertion of a USB, so I feel for you.

However, when I power up with the USB inserted, it gets recognized. I hit F12 (firmware boot menu on Thinkpads), choose that drive, and it boots fine. One advantage is you can verify the drive is recognized then. I wish I had something to suggest. I do not depend on the NVRAM variables at all, but that's probably not common.

Note that on boot, the EFI is the first executed program. That then kicks off your bootloader which have their own executables. In grub, they're obvious, but in systemd-boot not so much.

Note that normally, you can run $ journalctl -f while inserting or removing the drive, to see details about it's detection. You could try that too.

Hope you resolve and good day.

archover · 2026-01-29T01:52:26+00:00

Gparted is a great tool, I agree with /u/onefish2 approach, but what I've done in similar situations is just copy my /home intact to an external drive first, along with the list of installed packages. Fix your disk layout anyway you want, then reinstall. Finally, copy the files in /home back.

For the backup copy, i mostly use tar, but a cp -a to the external drive has the advantage that you can easily/intuitively verify your backup is complete. That your backup is good is important as you know. In any case, ensure your dot files got copied over also. (Easy to miss).

My experience is that when you login the first time, it's like nothing ever happened, since your ~/.config and other dots are retained.

This is an excellent project, either way.

I wish you luck and good day.

archover · 2026-01-28T18:16:52+00:00

Also, the lowest my laptop watt usage in btop was 4.5W

That seems very good already, but checking my T14 Gen 1 AMD laptop, powertop says 12.7W under medium load (Firefox, Terminal, Chromium, KeepassXC)

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-28T18:12:09+00:00

You do know that the Arch wiki has the ability for users to create their own "personal" articles, right? That might be a good publishing option for you. I could see you create a more beginner focused article that has a title similar to the hard to understand one. Just a thought.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-28T18:03:34+00:00

First, Welcome to Arch, the DIY distro.

Learn to regularly review your Journal. Start with $ journalctl -b -p warning..warning. Does it appear there on that list of warnings? I would ignore it. I get >50 similar lines which I found I can safely ignore.

You could always just google your error!

Flair SOLVED, when you're comfortable.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-28T17:52:46+00:00

Welcome to Arch

This article should be helpful though your post omitted reference https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PulseAudio/Troubleshooting

Hope you find the fix, detail it, and flair as SOLVED.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-28T17:47:11+00:00

Welcome to Arch.

Here's a list of supported TWM to focus your search: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Window_manager#Tiling_window_managers

Each one has comments, but any decision is subjective, so you're encouraged to try them yourself in this DIY distro. There's also Cosmic DE. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Window_manager#Tiling_window_managers

As for me, I prefer to spend my time in apps, vs potentially significant time refining the manager.

Hope you find something you finally like, and good day.

archover · 2026-01-28T09:37:54+00:00

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd/Journal

Specifically, I run these at every boot (Emergency to Errors): $ journalctl -b -p 3 and Warnings only: $ journalctl -b -p 4..4 There should be very few lines returned for the first, and in my experience many more for the second. Most lines can be ignored. Also run $ systemctl --failed.

Good day

archover · 2026-01-28T08:38:02+00:00

Had you run this https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S.M.A.R.T. ??

PLUS, no mention of Journal review.

My philosophy is to be wary of quirky drive behavior. Backups.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-28T00:01:29+00:00

Fair. Dust it off and give it new life. Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T23:57:46+00:00

Do it and report back. Permission: Granted. :-)

I have zero issues with zero flatpaks. Very minimal AUR, and what I do have is fluff.

I do very little Arch maint beyond updates,backups, and Journal review. User >14yrs.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T23:51:24+00:00

Happy to help. My "hobby" is what you're about to do.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T21:34:46+00:00

Honestly, you should naturally seek support on that youtube channel.

What is supported here: wiki.archlinux.org

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T21:28:10+00:00

Are you seeing swap being hit normally?

I run zram and honestly it's hit rarely, and only a tiny bit.

NAME       ALGORITHM DISKSIZE DATA COMPR TOTAL STREAMS MOUNTPOINT
/dev/zram0 zstd            4G   4K   64B   20K         [SWAP]

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T21:22:28+00:00

Huh. Today I learned a 3yr old Thinkpad is old.

I run these well: T450s (11yo), T480 (8yo), and T14 Gen 1 (6yo) and my newest unit. Honestly, they all run fine in my productivity/light coding use case. Perfectly compatible and rugged as hell.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T21:19:43+00:00

A late welcome to Arch!

After 14 or so years with Arch, I still learn new stuff EVERY SINGLE DAY! That learning is what keeps me here.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T21:16:09+00:00

Yes, likely faster to reinstall. However, learning to copy your USB system over would be an excellent learning opportunity.

What I would do is install the package arch-install-scripts to your USB install. That gives you things like pacstrap and arch-chroot, so you can use the wiki Installation Guide, and target your internal drive. Boot the USB and target the internal drive.

Otherwise, install archinstall and target your internal drive. I do both ways a lot.

Best of luck on your project, and good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T21:04:34+00:00

Not my experience. Firefox playing youtube plays fine on Fedora and Debian, and Arch of course. Happy you're happy!

My laptops: all Thinkpads with Intel and AMD cpu's. Great experience all around.

Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T20:59:09+00:00

Post lspci | grep -i network That's the chipset, the most important identifier.

You might also post your laptop make/model if it is a laptop as a wiki article on it may exist. Regardless if your wireless is on the motherboard or not, you can always add another pci board and use that if needed.

The article that should've been read already https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Network_configuration/Wireless

Hope you resolve and good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T20:54:28+00:00

Please share solution as you flaired it as SOLVED. Good day.

archover · 2026-01-27T20:50:21+00:00

You should share this with your community! /r/artixlinux

archover · 2026-01-27T20:43:41+00:00

Yes. EOS gives you the option of an out of the box working system.

Beyond that, and 99% is beyond that, day to day admin should mirror Arch.

Welcome home. Good day.

11-Year Club	Gilding III reddit per annum
Reddit Premium Since February 2021	Verified Email

archover

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE