ArcoLinux v21.11

Leftwm now has 16 themes

8 more themes for you to discover

We created our own themes using our own code and code by Adi.

We teach you to theme leftwm

Leftwm has aliases

#Leftwm aliases
alias lti="leftwm-theme install"
alias ltu="leftwm-theme uninstall"
alias lta="leftwm-theme apply"
alias ltupd="leftwm-theme update"
alias ltupg="leftwm-theme upgrade"

Dusk – fork from Dwm

It is interesting to see people create their own view on Dwm.

Dusk is all about choices and the freedom and knowledge to apply these choices.

All credits to the developer : https://github.com/bakkeby/dusk

All we have done is “Arcofy” the config. Mainly we changed the keybindings so we can navigate Dusk like any of our other 25 desktops.

You can install it with the ATT and remove it with the ADT.

Halloween treat of 2021
ArcoLinuxB Dusk

We told you we would not create an ArcoLinuxB Dusk as the only difference between Dwm and Dusk is one package called arcolinux-dusk-git.
We did create a tutorial to show the workflow behind creating ArcoLinuxB isos.

Because we created one for our personal use, we will share it.

Thanks to user questions we were triggered to take a look at things. In this case we had a look at the Xanmod Edge kernel.

We were suprised at the flexibility of the PKGBUILD.

It is a kernel YOU need to build – you will end up with a kernel only suited for your computer system. Add any and all hardware you use to be sure that all modules are created in the kernel.

Your kernel can be as small as 15MB and still have full functionality.

If you break it

You fix it

Summarize everything you have learned into a script.
You can run it another day.

arcolinux-wallpapers-candy-git

We have created a new package.

Learning how to create packages on Arch Linux is easiest with wallpapers or icons. Nothing needs to be compiled. There are no dependencies etc…

arcolinux-wallpapers-candy-git can be installed

ArcoLinux Tweak Tool Leftwm

You can now install Leftwm via the ATT and remove it via the ADT.
ATT = ArcoLinux Tweak Tool
ADT = ArcoLinux Desktop Trasher

ArcoLinux Tweak Tool Terminal Fun

We can easily switch each utility on or off and use lolcat if we want to.

Bash and Zsh are our default shells.

ArcoLinux Tweak Tool Privacy

We added a backup system to ATT for your /etc/hosts file. If you enable hblock, you can find a backup file in /etc/hosts.bak.att.

We have added a new alias to be used in a terminal:

unhblock

Sometimes you just want to shutdown hblock for a few minutes.

Typing

hblock

will activate it again.

ArcoLinux Tweak Tool Mirrors

We have added Aarnet to the list of mirrors. Userbase located in or near Australia can benefit from the speed.

We have added Gitlab to the list of mirrors. Userbase located in or near North-America can benefit from the speed.

ArcoLinux Tweak Tool Removing Backup folders

We made sure you can remove the back-up folders in your home directory. It was a matter of permissions.

Creating a new i3 theme – noclue

Creating a new i3 theme can be fun and creative.

It is not that hard.

Calamares

Calamares 3.2.44.3  is used for this version.
More info on https://calamares.io.

WHAT IF – removing everything but the essential ARCH LINUX packages

A dangerous concept – experiment just before you do a clean install

sudo pacman -D --asdeps $(pacman -Qqe)

sudo pacman -D --asexplicit base base-devel linux linux-firmware nano

sudo pacman  -Qtdq | pacman -Rns -

Sources

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman/Tips_and_tricks

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman/Tips_and_tricks#Removing_everything_but_essential_packages

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman/Tips_and_tricks#Removing_unused_packages_(orphans)

What if – creation of a bare ArcoLinuxB Plasma

Watching videos like these makes you aware that it is all about choices.

Packages aka lego blocks

What to install and what not to results in a different distro.

A different look. A different feel. A different start.

What if – create your own icon theme for leftwm

Wallpapers, polybar, themes – they all matter.

What about icons?

Youtube downloader

We have moved to the packakge yt-dlp to download audio and video.
Our aliases are still the same. We just removed a few.

sudo pacman -S yt-dlp

It is much faster at downloading!!

RAM

We have added a new application to our repo : rate-mirrors-bin.
We use an alias to start it called :

RAM

It will create a new pacman mirrorlist in order to get the best Arch Linux servers for you.

We have dedicated an article to this particular topic since it is probably FAQ number 1.

How to update any ArcoLinux or how to stay rolling

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

ArcoLinuxB : https://github.com/arcolinux/arcolinuxb