Artix Linux Forum

Multimedia, graphics, utilities, office automation, layout, games, etc.

The following explanations apply to a version installed from artix-xfce-openrc-********-x86_64.iso

https://artixlinux.org/download.php



Here is a little exercise to familiarize yourself with sudo pacman which will at the same time allow you to install an assortment (personal and arbitrary choice) of applications (graphics, layout, games, multimedia...).


First of all, you need to check if you have enough space on the partition provided to accommodate the applications.

In general and by default, applications are installed on the / (root) partition.

Open Applications > Accessories > Terminal and run the df or df -hT command to find out the space available on the partitions. In the displayed result, the root partition is the one whose line ends with /

If space is missing on the / (root) partition, see the end of the page.




System update and useful precautions:
To be able to administer the system, you must have "admin" rights. The user created during system installation has, by default, the right to administer the system; he will be asked for his password when the time comes.


On Artix, you must add the user to the wheel group:

sudo usermod -a -G wheel user

Restart the system.


You should update the system before installing additional applications.


Instead of a graphical update manager (pamac or octopi), you can very well (and it's even better) use a terminal (xterm, gnome-terminal, konsole, xfce4-terminal, etc.) :


Next, for Artix sudo pacman -Syyu

This order :

- synchronizes local package lists with server lists.

- forces replacement of local lists, even if they are already up to date.

- updates the system.


Then (but it is not without risks), we can also add ARCH and AUR packages, or even Chaotic-AUR, from pamac (for aur and chaotic-aur, use trizen),

But it is better to avoid (limit) aur and chaotic-aur packages if possible.


sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf and add the [extra] repository from arch after the system, world and galaxy repositories (see explanations later):

https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Repositories


Then, we can install certain packages:

sudo pacman -Syu trizen git base-devel linux-headers


For chaotic-aur, follow the instructions on the site:

https://aur.chaotic.cx/


To find and install an application from aur or chaotic-aur (for example, I want to find and install freecad-git):

trizen freecad-git (no sudo in trizen!)

Personally, I choose the chaotic-aur version.

On almost all Gnu/Linux distributions, there is a graphical tool to install/remove software, but if you use the command line, you can add a set of applications in a single command ;-)

Additionally, the command line is often preferable for updates, as some graphical utilities can "mess up".



There you go, we can install what we need:


- Open a terminal
- Copy and paste the following red command lines into a terminal (highlighting the red text is enough to copy > middle click* in the terminal is enough to paste)
- Press Enter
- Enter the password (invisible when entering) of the main user (user with admin rights)
- Press Enter again

- If pacman does not find a package, rerun the same command (press the up arrow on the keyboard to recall it), but deleting the name of the application not found.


*middle click = press the mouse wheel



For Artix and Manjaro, we start with a sync+update sudo pacman -Syu followed by sudo pacman -Sy the_package_name or packages separated by spaces.


And if you really can't find a package, you can use AUR repositories; you can use trizen or activate AUR in pamac preferences.

The trizen application (in a terminal) is handy for finding and installing AUR packages.

But it is better to avoid (limit) aur and chaotic-aur packages if possible.


You will first need to install certain packages: sudo pacman -Syu base-devel linux-headers trizen


Admit that it’s not fatal ;o)


**********



A completely personal selection for Artix XFCE

Some packages in this list come from the arch repositories.



To activate the arch [extra] repository, you must follow the instructions on the wiki:

https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Repositories

Translation (transcription) of this procedure:

“Disclaimer: Any unofficial repositories (including Arch and AUR repositories) are not supported by Artix Linux. Use them at your own risk. Packages in these repositories are updated at a different rate than official repositories and may harm your system. If you encounter a problem with your system after installing packages from these repositories, you will have to resolve it yourself. If you need help you can ask on the forum, but don't expect any help from the developers »



“All Arch repositories are disabled by default. To enable them, install artix-archlinux-support from the Galaxy repository. Follow the on-screen instructions to activate the Arch repositories of your choice, most likely extra and multilib which contain packages that are not yet in the Artix repositories. Again, the most important thing is to rank Arch repositories after Artix repositories, so that Artix repositories take precedence over Arch repositories. »



As of June 2021, arch repositories are disabled by default. But we can always add the [extra] deposit:

sudo pacman -Sy artix-archlinux-support archlinux-mirrorlist
After that, you must add this repository at the end in /etc/pacman.conf (below so that it is taken into account after the others):

sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

* It is better to adopt nano to edit system files. Press Ctrl+X to exit after modifications and confirm with o (yes) if you have modified the file.



Below is the content of /etc/pacman.conf to which the archlinux [extra] repository has been added.



#ARTIX
  [system]
  Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

  [world]
  Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

  [galaxy]
  Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist


  [omniverse]
  Server = https://eu-mirror.artixlinux.org/omniverse/$arch
  Server = https://omniverse.artixlinux.org/$arch
 

#####


  #ARCHLINUX
  [extra]
  Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist-arch


#####


A very personal suggestion of packages that can be added after activating the arch [extra] repository:

sudo pacman -Syu alacarte amd-ucode audacious audacity avidemux-qt bash-completion bzip2 catfish cups-openrc cups-pdf dvd+rw-tools easytag faac ffmpegthumbs ffmpegthumbnailer filelight firefox firefox-i18n-fr geeqie gimp gimp-help-fr grsync gsmartcontrol gutenprint gzip inkscape intel-ucode lame librecad libreoffice-fresh-fr libreoffice-fresh lximage-qt meld mjpegtools mtpaint neofetch openshot p7zip pamac pdfarranger pitivi pstoedit qastools screenkey scribus simplescreenrecorder smplayer tex-gyre-fonts thunderbird thunderbird-i18n-fr trizen viewnior volumeicon vorbis-tools xsane xsane-gimp xsensors xournalpp zim



If you want to install everything that goes with XFCE4:

sudo pacman -Sy xfce4-goodies



See recommendations for cups (printers) below.





------------


You can even add the very practical Dolphin file manager to Artix xfce

sudo pacman -Sy ark dolphin kdegraphics-thumbnailers kimageformats5 oxygen-icons qt5-imageformats

Personally I use Oxygen icons and Adwaita themes in xfce4 settings manager



For Artix, from the AUR repositories, I added:

kim4 (very practical for dolphin) and xfce4-kbdleds-plugin (for a keyboard without LED)

Beforehand: sudo pacman -Sy base-devel linux-headers



To find and install a package using trizen (kim4 for example):

trizen kim4

---

Adjustments to make if you prefer a clear style (Adwaita).

If, after installing Artix XFCE with the Adwaita theme, the background of Dolphin, Gimp or some configuration windows is black, simply uninstall some packages:

sudo pacman -R artix-dark-theme artix-desktop-presets artix-gtk-presets artix-icons artix-qt-presets



Comment in /etc/environment the two or three lines (add # at the start of the line):

sudo mousepad /etc/environment



If on Dolphin, which I add to XFCE4, the background of the icons is black instead of light gray, with black text :-/
To work around, edit ~/.config/kdeglobals and modify:
[Colors:View]
BackgroundNormal=220,220,220

mousepad ~/.config/kdeglobals



After that all colors are correct everywhere.

--------

Gpicview, lximage-qt and Viewnior have been my favorite image viewers for a long time: simple, fast and practical.



---------

Visual appearance

Depending on taste, the XFCE desk may appear austere, but XFCE can easily be arranged according to one's own preferences.

As I mix images, texts, pdf, html etc., I prefer to use the Dolphin file manager (highly configurable and very complete).

So I can, at a glance, have an overview of the contents of my subfolders, my images and my pdf files, etc.

----------

On my laptop, I also added a third dashboard containing four pretty icons to adjust the screen brightness:

sudo pacman -Sy acpilight

(a backward-compatible xbacklight replacement)



Then, I created 4 or 5 launchers with beautiful icons in a toolbar:

xbacklight =1

xbacklight =10

xbacklight =50

xbacklight =100



-----------

To be able to print on Artix openrc:

sudo pacman -Sy cups-openrc gutenprint

sudo rc-update add cupsd



Add the user to the wheel group:

sudo usermod -a -G wheel user



Restart the machine



--
jp willm
The defunct page pagesperso-orange.fr/ is available for download on:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1izN-Z8t9r2whn3AQ5rWFOtz0DfssFBMf
My YouTube channel is here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJwHW5GwrK1fq16cxUoBOUw