20.1 – JANUARY RELEASE
CALAMARES IMPROVEMENT
MICROCODE
WEBSITES MAKEOVER
CARLI-4
CHECKSUM AND PACKAGE LIST
NEW CONKY
FUN SCRIPT
SUPERFLEX
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS
TO DO NEXT MONTH(S)
STAY ROLLING
WHAT IS NEW
GOOD TO KNOW
CALAMARES IMPROVEMENT
CALAMARES 3.17.1
Calamares released a new version of its free linux installer.
More information about this release can be found on their website.
NEW PACKAGES TO INSTALL HAVE BEEN ADDED TO CALAMARES
We have added many more options during the installation.
You require to be connected to the INTERNET upon booting.
No internet, no packages HOWEVER installation will be successful.
- install the latest linux kernel – no nvidia
- install the latest linux-lts kernel – no nvidia
- install nvidia and linux kernel
- install nvidia-lts and linux-lts kernel
- install nvidia-390xx and linux kernel
- install nvidia-390xx-lts and linux-lts kernel
- install intel-ucode (choose either intel-ucode or amd-ucode)
- install amd-ucode (choose either intel-ucode or amd-ucode)
- install libre-office Still (choose either Still or Fresh)
- install libre-office Fresh (choose either Still or Fresh)
- install WPS office
More information about how to install ArcoLinux can be found here.
More information about how to install ArcoLinuxD can be found here.
No internet – No packages WILL BE installed
MICROCODE
microcode or amd-ucode and intel-ucode
We changed the calamares configuration to include the choice to install either intel-ucode or amd-ucode.
Read on Arch Wiki microcode for more info.
If you are planning on a dualboot, you may have to manually edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg to include initramfs-linux.img IF you are installing the microcode. It is the user’s choice now.
Calamares is programmed to delete the microcode that you do not need even if you select it. For example on a computer with intel cpu, you can select amd-ucode but it will be removed later on.
WEBSITES MAKEOVER
Arcolinux websites makeover
We have taken a look at the database and the amount of MB our websites takes up. We have made our database and our images smaller. As a result images might be missing.
Report a missing image and we will fix it.
We can not visit every page on our websites.
It does not weigh up against the amount of webspace we have saved by our action.
A big thank you goes to our revision-team, who give me corrections for grammar and spelling.
Improvements concerning all the sites
- consistency in home page
- homepage – gets list of the latest articles
- start here menu is consistently present
- start here is built up as first start guide for the user – begin at the top and end at the bottom of menu
- there is just one gallery – only on arcolinux.info – others have been deleted – webspace has been freed up
- choose your project is present on all websites – it is important to see the projects and the websites that support them
We emphasize the two major pages you should visit as a first user of ArcoLinux but also later you can revisit them
Fast-track is a new page. It is contains a lot of faqs our users have asked us.
We will keep improving the article over time.
Fast-track = concentrated ArcoLinux and Arch Linux knowledge
The WHO page has been updated to show the ArcoLinux Team.
Use the listing menu in all our websites to do a quick search or perform a quick overview of the content available.
Download link is more predominant in menu (as requested by users).
Download page has a quick download section at the top (as requested by users).
Download for cheatsheet is present also in side menu.
We have added more social media to the side menu.
Adding the most important article there is about Calamares.
We have added a privacy policy concerning all our websites.
The ArcoLinuxB beta webpage will no longer be used – stays for the archive links.
Reorganizing of content via menus and categories.
Same structure on ArcoLinux and ArcoLinuxD in our start menu.
New category – pre-installation gathers knowledge you should have before starting out your journey in linux.
New category – post-installation gathers articles concerning the topic “What to do after a clean install”.
Youtube overview – make people aware we use playlists on youtube
We create videos when our users need help.
We have created a compact guide to get you started after a clean install.
All the information about dual-booting and more is gathered in the menu.
BIOS and UEFI are common questions when installing Linux. If everything is set right, it will function forever.
Superflex gathers articles that show you how easy it is to install more desktops on your current computer.
Reorganizing of content via menus and categories.
Same structure on ArcoLinux and ArcoLinuxD in our start menu.
New category – pre-installation gathers knowledge you should have before starting out your journey in linux.
New category – post-installation gathers articles concerning the topic “What to do after a clean install”.
We have also included a link to the superflex articles since it is that important.
Arch Linux installation pages have been updated – nice design to see what is the minimum you should type in your terminal.
Here is an example of the design.
Reorganizing of content via menus and categories.
Same structure on ArcoLinux and ArcoLinuxD in our start menu.
Get-started page has been updated.
Goal and vision article has been rewritten. After reading this page you will know the difference between the ArcoLinuxB project and the Carli project.
This website will be revisited at a later stage when the Carli project has more content.
Carli-4
Carli continues – booting into plasma – Carli 4
The article about the goal and vision of Carli has been updated.
In Carli 4 we are actually booting up into a graphical environment. While it can be any of the ‘common’ desktops like xfce, mate, cinnamon, … we have chosen to use plasma as standard desktop.
CHECKSUM AND PACKAGE LIST
Build script provides two extra files
We have added a few lines in the build script.
As a result you will get two extra files
- a list of all the packages on the iso and their version
- a checksum file containing
- sha1
- sha256
- md5
- signed checksum file
NEW CONKY
New conky with “powered by ArcoLinux” sticker created by zver43
We have created a new conky to show this powered by ArcoLinux sticker. Also for plasma package.
SUPERFLEX
NEW FUN SCRIPT
FUN SCRIPT – DNA
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS
XFCE custom actions
We have added sha256 checksum to our context menu in Thunar.
NEw aliases
We have added and changed aliases.
New
Working on the microcode we need to open and check the content of this file. More efficient this way. Though more efficient this way – beware and know what you are doing.
alias nconfgrub="sudo nano /boot/grub/grub.cfg"
A discord user had an issue with retrieving a pgp key. This should help :
alias gpg-retrieve="gpg2 --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --receive-keys"
Our isos will have also a .sig file to check if signed by Erik Dubois.
alias gpg-check="gpg2 --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify"
After some more testing, tutorials will follow.
Changed
If a user never uses skel but he uses cb, he would not get the latest aliases. That is fixed now.
alias cb='sudo cp /etc/skel/.bashrc-latest /etc/skel/.bashrc && cp /etc/skel/.bashrc-latest ~/.bashrc && cp /etc/skel/.bashrc-latest ~/.bashrc-latest && source ~/.bashrc'
Herbstluftwm
Several keybindings for herbstluftwm moved to sxhkd file.
Awesome
Changed text in the Awesome menu – more clarity by omitting some menus.
F12 dropdown terminal does not tile any more.
Border color for focused windows is blue.
Xmonad
The F12 dropdown terminal will behave as a dropdown and not be tiled.
Multimedia buttons (play, stop, etc…) will not work for Mpd but will for Spotify and other players.
Xmonad will also draw a blue line around a single window.
Arch Linux – Xorg cleaning
Arch Linux is cleaning out the xorg group package.
xf86-input-mouse and xf86-input-keyboard have been deleted from the Arch Linux repos.
New xfce setting to center windows
Calamares no longer centers itself when booting up. We will change a setting in Xfce so that any new window centers itself in this desktop. There has been a github commit on Calamares regarding the issue. This is the proposed solution.
Lightdm wallpaper for plasma changed
to do next month(s)
development of dwm
development of jwm
Continue the carli project
Let us try to get a new article/video/step out every month.
In a few months time we will have made progress.
how to stay rolling
what is new
good to know
staying up-to-date
We have dedicated an article to this particular topic since it is probably FAQ number 1.
Re-use our nemesis script – post installation script
After a clean installation we will install more software like Spotify, Dropbox, Insync, etc…
Up and running under 15 minutes
after clean install
arcogetstarted
After a clean installation we will install more software like Spotify, Dropbox, Insync, etc…
Re-use our get ready script.
The url to this script is ALWAYS on discord in the official channel at the top in discord.
Learn the most important aliases
Aliases are created for improved functionality and for convenience.
geoip service is Working again
Future will tell us for how long
Full package list
The full package list of the latest isos can always be found on github at this address :
ArcoLinux : https://github.com/arcolinux/arcolinux-iso/blob/master/archiso/packages.x86_64
ArcoLinuxD : https://github.com/arcolinux/arcolinuxd-iso/blob/master/archiso/packages.x86_64
More detailed information can be found in the
beta links in the arcolinux.info menu
and of course in the commits
On github.
USE OUR CALAMARES KNOWLEDGE BASE
Overcome any and all installation issues
with our
“all you need to know article”
about
calamares