Posts for: #Arch

Arch Firewall

Setting up Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW)

  1. You can install it using your package manager.

    sudo pacman -S ufw
    
  2. Now use these recommended rules:

    sudo ufw limit 22/tcp
    sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
    sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
    sudo ufw default deny incoming
    sudo ufw default allow outgoing
    sudo ufw enable
    
  3. If you are using the application LocalSend, also run this:

    sudo ufw allow 53317
    

This will allow localsend to work properly with the ufw rules above.

[Read more]

Arch Better Fonts

1. Install the Microsoft Fonts.

yay -S ttf-ms-fonts 
yay -S ttf-ms-win11-auto
yay -S ttf-ms-win10-auto

Choose one, here I recommend “ttf-ms-fonts”.

yay -S ttf-ms-fonts

2. Install a better text font.

For my use case, I always install Ubuntu fonts.

sudo pacman -S ttf-ubuntu-font-family

3. Create the following directory and the fonts.conf file:

mkdir -p ~/.config/fontconfig/

then

vim ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf

now paste this setting:

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM 'fonts.dtd'>
<fontconfig>
<match target="font">
    <edit mode="assign" name="antialias">
        <bool>true</bool>
    </edit>
    <edit mode="assign" name="embeddedbitmap">
        <bool>false</bool>
    </edit>
    <edit mode="assign" name="hinting">
        <bool>true</bool>
    </edit>
    <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
        <const>hintslight</const>
    </edit>
    <edit mode="assign" name="lcdfilter">
        <const>lcddefault</const>
    </edit>
    <edit mode="assign" name="rgba">
        <const>rgb</const>
    </edit>
</match>
</fontconfig>

3.1. Run this command to build font cache:

fc-cache -fv

3.2 Reboot your PC.

sudo reboot

4. Open GNOME Tweaks and set the following:

Interface Text: Ubuntu
Document Text: Ubuntu
Monospace Text: MesloLGS NF (or any of the ttf-meslo-nerd)
    
Rendering (Hinting):
        
Slight

Antialiasing:

Subpixel (for LCD screens)

Using the FREETYPE_PROPERTIES option for bolder fonts (less pixelated, more like Windows TrueType):

[Read more]

Arch Apps

A collection of applications to improve desktop experience.

GNOME:

sudo pacman -S obs-studio steam discord qbittorrent kdenlive vlc libreoffice-fresh blanket wine timeshift lutris gimp obsidian network-manager-applet gparted audacity signal-desktop goverlay openrgb piper chromium guvcview ffmpegthumbs ffmpegthumbnailer kimageformats qt6-imageformats nvtop gamemode tree btop
sudo pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qtdq)
yay -S brave-bin spotify localsend-bin 1password extension-manager menulibre gdm-settings upscayl-bin protontricks steamtinkerlaunch-git proton-vpn-gtk-app hunspell-en_gb hunspell-pt-br warsaw-bin oversteer proton-pass-bin ttf-ms-fonts ffmpeg-audio-thumbnailer visual-studio-code-bin
yay -S vscodium-bin

KDE Plasma:

sudo pacman -S obs-studio steam discord qbittorrent kdenlive vlc libreoffice-fresh wine timeshift kate lutris gimp obsidian network-manager-applet audacity signal-desktop goverlay openrgb piper chromium btop nvtop filelight gamemode okular ark gwenview spectacle kwalletmanager kalk partitionmanager guvcview-qt kfind ksystemlog elisa kmail kgeography kcolorchooser kclock ffmpegthumbs ffmpegthumbnailer kimageformats qt6-imageformats tree
sudo pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qtdq)
yay -S brave-bin spotify localsend-bin 1password upscayl-bin protontricks steamtinkerlaunch-git proton-vpn-gtk-app hunspell-en_gb hunspell-pt-br hunspell-pt_pt warsaw-bin oversteer breezex-cursor-theme proton-pass-bin ttf-ms-fonts ffmpeg-audio-thumbnailer visual-studio-code-bin
yay -S vscodium-bin

Misc

If you have an EPSON printer, install the following:

[Read more]

Arch Post Install

  1. Update the system:
sudo pacman -Syu
  1. Install vim (or other text editor)
sudo pacman -S vim git 
  1. Open /etc/pacman.conf and make the following changes in order to improve the overall experience.
sudo vim /etc/pacman.conf
  1. Remove the # from Color and ParallelDownloads.
# Misc options
#UseSyslog
Color
#NoProgressBar
CheckSpace
#VerbosePkgLists
ParallelDownloads = 5
  1. Update the system:
sudo pacman -Sy
  1. Install reflector so you can get the most up-to-date mirrors. You can also choose the mirrors by country if you want.
sudo pacman -S reflector

Create a backup of the mirrorlist file.

[Read more]