Why I need a Linux System
For every programmer, Linux may not be so scary. Linux has full tool-chain support (yes I’m talking about how annoying it is to config C/C++ on Windows) and low system occupation which doesn’t have lots of programming-irrelevant system processes. It’s a perfect programming environment.
Why I need to install the native Linux system on a Windows laptop
I believe most people, not just programmers, have used WSL (now is WSL2) before. I have to admit that it’s really convenient for people to enjoy the Linux environment and you can install different launch versions; at the same time, you can still use the Windows system to do something else. Also some people don’t like the GUI desktop on Linux.
You can find thousands of benefits for WSL2.
But the big problem is: My laptop is a bit old now, and it doesn’t have a GUI desktop in WSL2, which loses lots of fun on configuring desktop style.
WSL2 runs the Linux kernel on Hyper-V, the virtual machine will consume a part of the system resource (CPU, Mem…). Sometimes when I use it, some other Windows processes get stuck. My old laptop’s CPU only has 4 physical cores and 8 threads, but it’s also running a Windows System, which will definitely run other services/programs. Usually the subsystem will cost 4GB Mem, and also, the memory management strategy on Windows is not good. So for small memory machine, if you’re running WSL2 and Windows together, your laptop may not as smooth as before.
For daily programming, I use my MacBook, but it’s not the ultimate solution for everything (e.g. CUDA…).
So, it‘s good to have a pure Linux system for programming on the old machine, and it’s super fun because you can do lots of customization :) Interest is the most important thing.
Why Arch Linux
Before Arch, the most frequent Linux version I used was the Ubuntu series. I installed Ubuntu 20.04 with native desktop as a dual system on that old laptop, and I met many weird things, including but not limited to:
- Rebooting/Starting the system automatically
- Crashing the GUI desktop
- Kernel update problems
I chose Arch for its highly customizable features. From installation to GUI desktop, everything can be configured by yourself. Theoretically you can control all the things on Arch, and it’s easy to find where is the issue.
The other reason is Arch Linux boasts an extremely active community. If you want, you can literally find everything you need if it’s supported in Arch.
In Arch, the software package are usually newer than other Linux distributions. For people who pursue the latest version, that’s an important thing.
It meets all my requirements: highly customizable, fewer bugs, an active community and the latest software packages.
Installing Arch Linux on Windows Laptop
Thanks to the Internet, there are already many articles teaching you how to install Arch Linux on a Windows Laptop as a dual system. This is the official installation guide by Arch Linux. But on a Windows machine you need to do some extra steps to set up dual boot.
That’s the most fun part, you will get your hands dirty (and gain pleasure from the bottom of the heart). Here I only write the general steps and the important things I was concerned about:
1. Allocate free disk space for Linux System
2. Download Arch ISO file
3. Find a USB disk to create a boot drive
Notice that building the starter will format your USB disk.
4. Plug in the USB and choose start from USB
5. Install the Arch Linux
- Load the wireless driver. There’s a bug I encountered: at first Arch couldn’t find the driver, as it was still occupied by the Windows system, so please turn off fast startup on Windows system.
- Disk partition: be careful to save your changes
- Mount the disk: the sequence is important
- Time clock sync
- Install essential software (including ucode and grub)
6.Basic User Config
7. Install GUI desktop environment
At first I try to install KDE(plasar), here I met a bug and it worth to prevent before you install GUI desktop: The screen rendering was extremely slow, and mouse movement felt frozen, somtimes jumping accross the screen.
If you encouter this situation, you can switch to another TTY using: Ctrl + Alt + F3
This allows you to log in and fix the system.
The problem is related to Wayland and NVIDIA GPUs. KDE Plasma uses Wayland by default, but NVIDIA may not work properly without installing the proprietary drivers first.
After installing the NVIDIA drivers, the desktop environment worked normally. Modern NVIDIA drivers now support Wayland by default, so no additional configuration was required in my case.
Hyprland is also a great desktop environment for Arch Linux. Since it is Wayland-based, the official Hyprland documentation also provides guidance on installing NVIDIA drivers.
At first, I couldn’t find the NVIDIA drivers. After enabling the Arch User Repository (AUR), I was able to install and update the drivers easily.
AUR is a community-driven repository that allows users to build and install packages not available in the official Arch repositories.
What’s next
Here are lots of things you can do with (Arch) Linux:
- Shell Environment
- Programming Language Support
- Text editor (Vim/NeoVim/Emacs)
- GUI Desktop Style
- Other Useful Softwares
Wait, what about Windows… It has become my game machine and is used for running some software which can’t be used (or doesn’t have good support) on MacOS & Arch Linux.