MIRROR

Your package manager (pacman) is getting the Arch Linux files from Arch Linux servers from around the globe.

Not all servers are near to you.

Not all servers are fast.

Not all servers are complete.

We are using the application reflector to give us the fastest and fully synced Arch Linux servers.

We have created aliases to make the updating easier.

mirror
mirrord
mirrors
mirrore
mirrorx

Depending on the result you can choose another alias.

First try mirror.

You can also  try another alias

ram

Here you can find everything you need to know about the aliases to have the best mirrors.

ARCH LINUX SERVERS – WHERE DO PACKAGES COMES FROM

If you want to know which Arch Linux servers you are using, use our alias

nmirrorlist

to check if you have received a new list of servers.

At the top of /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist you may see some information.

UPDATE

We update our systems with two commands in the terminal

1. update
2. upall

Type the command

update

in your terminal to update the Arch Linux packages and the ArcoLinux packages.

Update is an alias for “sudo pacman -Syu”.

Type

upall

in your terminal to update the Arch Linux packages, the ArcoLinux packages and anything from AUR.

Typically you will have no issues updating these.

Here you can find everything you need to know about updating your system – educational version.

Here you can find everything you need to know about updating your system – superfast version.

Update videos are a great source to learn more about your system.

Here you can find everything you need to know about pacman.

SKEL

Some of the packages will install files and folders in /etc/skel. The system will not use those unless you copy/paste them over to your home directory. This folder is used to create your home directory when installing from an iso. Skel stands for skeleton.

Type the command

skel

in your terminal to copy all files and folders to your home directory.

Here you can find everything you need to know about skel.

Bupskel is also interesting to know.

Here you can find everything you need to know about bupskel.

UPALL

We recommend to first use the update alias and then the upall alias.

In this manner we make the distinction between the different sources.

Now we update packages coming from aur.archlinux.org.

Type the command

upall

in your terminal to update the AUR packages.

Upall is an alias for ” paru -Syu –noconfirm“.

Typically AUR packages tend to break once or twice a year.

AUR packages are NOT from Arch Linux.
AUR packages are NOT from ArcoLinux.

Within two or three days however the AUR maintainers (volunteers) will update the pkgbuild. All you need is patience. You can also flag a package out of date on the AUR website or see in the comment section why it is not possible for the moment or find a solution there.

Here you can find everything you need to know about updating your system – educational version.

Here you can find everything you need to know about updating your system – superfast version.

Update videos are a great source to learn more about your system.

HARDCODE-FIXER

In Xfce and other desktops you can go to the system settings and you will find “Fix Hardcoded Icons”.

Others can launch it from the terminal.

sudo hardcode-fixer

Some developers are giving their applications an hardcoded path to the icon for the application. In other words the icon will never change whatever icon theme you use. This application will change that hardcoded path into the preferred icon name without path.

Here you can find everything you need to know about hardcode-fixer.

HBLOCK

In Xfce and other desktops you can go to the system settings and you will find “Adblock”.

Others can launch it from the terminal.

hblock

This tool will protect your computer and improve your security and privacy by blocking ads, tracking and malware domains.

Here you can find everything you need to know about hblock.

CONKYS

A conky is an application that displays information on your screen like memory, cpu, harddisk usage etc…

You can choose your conky with conkyzen and activate/deactivate it there.

Activate/deactivate the conky with SUPER + C.

CTRL + ALT + PAGEUP/ PAGEDOWN will go over all the conkys we have.

Here you can find everything you need to know about conkys.

NEMESIS

After a clean install of ArcoLinux every user will want to add application or remove applications.

Install more themes, icons or cursors.

Nemesis is the personal tweaking of Erik Dubois. Use it with care.

I am sharing the nemesis scripts because you can reuse my work and change them to YOUR scripts.

Change the scripts to make it your own personal installation.

I will install more applications that are not on the iso like spotify, discord, telegram, dropbox, virtualbox, … and the fun stuff script.

Here you can find everything you need to know about the nemesis scripts.

ARCOGETSTARTED

Arcogetstarted is collection of scripts Erik Dubois uses to get his computers up and running in 15 minutes after a clean installation. It will download all githubs from ArcoLinux and will install the nemesis scripts. ArcoLinux coremembers use them. At some point we started sharing them with our ArcoLinux builders and now it is available for everyone.

The latest url is in the official channel on discord.

The url is always formed like this

https://bit.ly/arcogetstarted  and then a number. The number will go up over time.

Here you can find everything you need to know about the arcogetstarted scripts.

SUPERFLEX

ArcoLinux is super flexible hence the name superflex. We use the ArcoLinux Tweak Tool to have an easy and beautiful interface to install desktops.

With the ArcoLinux Tweak Tool you can do so many things
Change your grub theme
Change your termite theme
Install any desktop
…

VARIETY CHANGES YOUR WALLPAPER

Variety is an application to get wallpapers and to show wallpapers. In previous ArcoLinux versions we had set it to rotate at a certain interval. Wallhaven can be the source to get the wallpapers in.

Just want one wallpaper and you do not care about variety. Learn how to delete it.

Here you can find everything you need to know about variety.

Do not ask people for their wallpapers, but look it up yourself with this website.

AUTOLOGIN INTO YOUR DESKTOP OF CHOICE

With our superflex powers and the two more isos that host many desktops, you may want to decide to boot standard into one of the desktops.

Here you can find everything you need to know about autologin.

INSTALL DIFFERENT KERNEL

Not every computer is build the same and ever so often the latest kernel will not work on your system.

You can install a different kernel or you can downgrade the kernel. There are many options to fix it.

Do not use gui’s. Use the terminal. It is so simple.

Here you can find everything you need to know about kernels.

PAMAC IS OUR GRAPHICAL UPDATER AND INSTALLER

Pamac comes from the AUR and is a graphical way to install/remove and update packages.

Personally I use pamac-aur to learn about the content of the packages.

I will update via the terminal with update and upall to read and follow what packages are changing my system.

Here you can find everything you need to know about kernels.

RESOLUTION SCREEN FOR TILING WINDOW MANAGERS

For tiling window managers I would like to give you the tip to search our websites for the words arandr, xrandr and lxrandr to set your resolution. Other desktops often have tools available to set your display.

NVIDIA

Linux can run without the proprietary drivers from Nvidia. There is also the possibility to use the drivers from Nvidia.

We have created many articles about Nvidia and all the possible drivers and options.

Click here to see the list of articles.

GITHUB

Put your personal configuration files on github and reuse them after a clean install.

Create scripts and make them better after every clean install.

Create your own github account for free. Super easy.

CLOUD SERVICES

Put your personal configuration files in the cloud and reuse them after a clean install.

Onedrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Pcloud, Mega,…

You can install all these tools on ArcoLinux.