ALCI or Arch Linux Calamares Installer is a project designed to simplify the process of installing Arch Linux by utilizing the Calamares installer. This approach is particularly appealing for users who find the traditional Arch Linux installation method—often referred to as “The Arch Way“—to be too complex or time-consuming. The Calamares installer offers a graphical interface, making the installation process more accessible to a broader range of users.
The ALCI project allows for the creation of custom Arch Linux ISOs with a focus on flexibility and user preference. It enables users to include their choice of packages from the Arch Linux and AUR repositories, providing a personalized Linux distribution. The project also supports the creation of ISOs based on different kernels, such as the hardened kernel, and allows for various desktop environments and window managers to be included, such as Cinnamon, Bspwm, Mate, Qtile, or Xfce4 with Awesome. Users have the freedom to build their distribution without the inclusion of ArcoLinux or Chaotic packages if they choose, staying as close to pure Arch Linux as possible.
I have carefully documented every step of the process. Although it took a little longer than anticipated, I view every mistake as an opportunity to learn and grow. My ultimate aspiration is to surpass my own limits and become even more knowledgeable. By immersing...
Synthesis check you have the correct archiso version git clone the project git clone https://github.com/arcolinuxiso/alci-iso change content of archiso/packages.x86_64 or not use meld to compare the other packages files - example-packages.x86_64 and...
The iso is already built when we start our video. See article 2 to learn how to build the iso. Content of the video we install ALCI together - choose any of the options available on Calamares we install xorg-server, xorg-apps, sddm, and cinnamon we enable...
In this article we decided to encrypt our harddisk and install Mate. A great tip is when we talk about really removing any trace of files, folders or formatting from your harddisk. wipefs -a /dev/sda or sgdisk -Z /dev/sda
Adapt ALCI to your needs ... Less typing is always better We have added some ideas at the bottom of the packages.x86_64. The content of this file will change over time.Read the text at the bottom. Some packages will always be removed by...
We have now the possibilty to ask people what the content of the packages.x86_64 file is and learn from it. On Discord we have a separate channel for Arch Linux Calamares Installer or ALCI. On that channel we can exchange configs via https://pastebin.com. That is...
ALCI is an ArcoLinux project. We would like to install packages from ArcoLinux. IF HOWEVER you are not planning to install anything from ArcoLInux repos you can remove one line of code. Edit this file /archiso/airootfs/etc/systemd/system/pacman-init.service and...
ALCI is an ArcoLinux project. By default we have the ArcoLinux mirrors and ArcoLinux keys. If you would like to install packages from ArcoLinux you need to get the keys in and know where the mirrors are.Since my Arch Linux system contains all the keys and mirrors...
The major difference for this project is the cloud service that is now in our systemd/system. This is the website what it is all about: https://cloud-init.io/ The package is called : ...
You can add your personal look to ALCI. Just keep the .config files and folders that matter save and copy/paste them in the /archiso/airootfs/etc/skel. Super easy and quick.
ALCI is designed to be as minimal as possible. Hence our choice to make our personalized ALCI DWM. Gparted could be installed on the fly and you can do your workflow that way. But what if you just want to start from scratch and delete all partitions and go on with...
ALCI is all about choosing packages and adding them too the packages.x86_64. Here we show you where you can find the sources. Where to get the Lego blocks and which you might want or will need?
The core of ALCI is the packages list and ofcourse pacman.conf which will tell where the pacakages are. You can get the packages from: Arch Linux ArcoLinux Chaotic AUR ... many others But you can also create a local repo on your computer system. You build the...
In this video we show you all the steps you have to take to build and test out a new Calamares. It is super easy. Combined with article 13 - adding a local repo - you can be faster than the developers and become independent. You do not have to wait for anyone...
If you know how to add a certain service to you current system you can figure out how to install it on ALCI. This is not about samba, bluetooth, avahi, ... This is about ANY service you will ever encounter. This is a workflow...
It is fun to make your Operating System just the way you like. In our example we will put several wallpapers on our github and create a package for it. The advantage of a package is that Pacman can control it. sudo pacman -S or -R will work. If we copy/pasted the...
We build our iso and go over all the changes. we create our local repo we build a package called nemesis-wallpapers to test our local repo we keep sddm on our future system - you will boot into a graphical environment we give you an example how a local repo should...
Can we change the configuration of Calamares so that it will no longer use EXT4 as default format but BTRFS? We will show you where to get this knowledge and how to accomplish such a whatif. From A till we boot into the new installation with...
We are moving the arcolinux-sddm-plasma-archpaint to the ALCI project. We show you how that can be done via Github. Lots of elements need to be changed. We do not want to keep any trace of ArcoLinux anywhere. We show you how we will change the current ArcoLinux...
Building a new Calamares is something YOU can do. You do not need us for it. You can build it and put it on the local repo on your pc. You can make your own Calamares configurations. See example below.You can make your own packages list and it will become YOUR...
It is always the same workflow. Compare the releng folder coming in from the Archiso package (sometimes also the mkarchiso script). Decide what you like to include on your future iso with the use of Meld. Double-check. Triple-check. Build the iso. Test the iso.Let...
You see a message in Calamares and you did not change anything. Maybe Calamares did not change Maybe the configuration did not change but everything else did change. New kernels, new systemd and also the packages that are needed to make Calamares work. Here the two...
You see a message in Calamares and you did not change anything. Maybe Calamares did not changeMaybe the configuration did not change but everything else did change. New kernels, new systemd and also the packages that are needed to make Calamares work. In this...
It is always the same workflow. Compare the releng folder coming in from the Archiso package (sometimes also the mkarchiso script). Decide what you like to include on your future iso with the use of Meld. Double-check. Triple-check. Build the iso. Test the...
It is always the same workflow. Compare the releng folder coming in from the Archiso package (sometimes also the mkarchiso script). Decide what you like to include on your future iso with the use of Meld. Double-check. Triple-check. Build the iso. Test the...
Two things to change and you are good to go if you start with the dev github and want xfce4. We change the content of packages.x86_64 and remove alci-dwm-nemesis. A few lines down we have already a desktop - xfce4 and xfce4-goodies.Change the packages if you want...
The package list contains all the packages we can use for our iso. These are pre-build packages from Arch Linux. If Arch Linux decides not to build the packages anymore it will result in an error during the build. error: target not found: termite-terminfo Then...
This video is an after the facts video. See which files matter if you want to change from a linux kernel to a linux-zen kernel. We created an additional Calamares configuration to remove linux and decided NOT to put broadcom-wl on our system. Our next article we...
After creating the zen iso on my own time without recording it we can now create a linux-lts iso together. We create githubs for the iso and the Calamares config. We build a new Calamares config for linux-lts. We decide against putting packages on our system...
In this video we talk about drivers and about daring to experiment so you know what drivers you need for pc 1 and laptop 2. Test it out and write it down. We talk about nvidia, nvidia-lts and nvidia-dkms. We decide to install Cinnamon and not use the ALCI-DWM...
You want to be independent. You want to have your own local repo. You want to stay as close to Arch Linux as possible. You want to build up your own distro. ArcoLinux repo will NOT be used. Alci repo will NOT be used. Chaotics repo will NOT be used. Arch Linux...
We were talking about building an ALCI on Discord and I saw an opportunity to test the scripts on an Arch Linux system but this time on VirtualBox. How to build an ALCI iso on VirtualBox and how to get the iso to the host
In this video we show you that you can create an Arch Linux iso based on the hardened kernel in 30 minutes. We create a new config for Calamares and a new project to build the iso. What matters is the workflow and the differences - use...
This is basically a video to promote reading. But what should you read? Make sure you have a copy of Calamares that you can "git pull" from time to time. git clone https://github.com/calamares/calamares Then we show you in the video which files and folders matter?...
It is always easy (and fun) to start with a whatif. What comes later is more difficult... maintaining.Taking the time to keep things up-to-date.Figuring out new challenges. Read all you can about Calamares - make an account on their github and subscribe. Every...
November 2022 Xanmod-edge ceased to existWe have changed all references to Xanmod but ofcourse not in the videosSee which files matter if you want to change from a linux kernel to a linux-xanmod-edge kernel. We created an additional Calamares configuration fox...
In this 3 hour during video I show everything I do to update the 7 ALCI isos with their different kernels and different desktops. We show how to debug Calamares: pkexec calamares -d We show you the workflow with meld and gitahead. We give tips what not to do and...
In this video we cover the following topics: how to add wayland support to the current Plasma iso based on hardened linux kernel alci website and sourceforge - where to download the isos - if you are not ready yet to build them yourselves where the github is how to...
It is always the same workflow. Compare the releng folder coming in from the Archiso package (sometimes also the /usr/bin/mkarchiso script). Decide what you like to include on your future iso with the use of Meld. Double-check. Triple-check. Build the iso. Test the...
In this video we explain you the workflow of creating a new grub theme for your distro. create a grub theme and host it online (here Github) create a PKGBUILD put the application on your repo add the application to the packages list file build the iso test the...
In this video you can see all the things I have to do in order to get things working with the very last code of April 2023. Many things have changed. Not only the application but also the configuration. ArcoLinux and Carli have migrated already. On the Carli...
We changed to Calamares 3.3 a few weeks back. Thanks to a user reporting an issue on github we investigated what happened to the current setup. It seems Calamares has changed its way of declaring variables from @@ROOT@@ to ${ROOT}. Once that was changed our...
In this video we show you how to create a Calamares based on the last commit of the day. We explore the pkgbuild of Manjaro on their gitlab account and decide what we do regarding appstream-qt. In the end all we can do is test test...
You can use ArcoLinuxD and choose the Bare installation or you can choose Alci Pure to have a pure Arch Linux experience. Choose what to install and from where. We install Chadwm from the source and choose to install packages from Arch Linux. Later we install yay...
The session starts by discussing the ALCI system, created in November 2022, emphasizing the rolling update nature of Arch-based systems. The latest kernel updates are mentioned along with the usage of the ALCI online platform, which has recently been redesigned....
ALCI ISO Update: New ALCI ISO and website updates highlighted. Configurations for "Calamares" have been changed, including a new background and design tweaks. Technical Changes and Optimizations: SVGs removed to reduce ISO size; replaced with more efficient...
