This is a description of how to setup a basic system with Arch Linux based on this guide. Infos on the Thinkpad T410 can be found here.

1. Change keyboard layout:

    loadkeys de
   

2. Create partitions using gdisk /dev/sda.

   Type n to create these partitions with the default configurations except the mentioned ones:

   1. boot

      • Last sector: +250M

   2. swap

      • Last sector: +2G
      • Hex code or GUID: 8200

   3. root

      • Last sector: +15G

   4. home

   Type p to confirm and w to write changes to the disk.

3. Make filesystems

    mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda1
    mkswap /dev/sda2
    mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda3
    mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda4
   

4. Mount

    swapon /dev/sda2
    mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
    cd /mnt
    mkdir boot home
    mount /dev/sda1 boot
    mount /dev/sda4 home
   

5. Install

    pacstrap /mnt base base-devel gdisk
   

6. Generate fstab

    genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
    more /mnt/etc/fstab
   

7. Bootloader

    pacstrap /mnt syslinux
   

   Configure it inside the new system.

    arch-chroot /mnt
    bash
   

   Write to /etc/locale.conf:

    LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
   

   Uncomment in /etc/locale.gen:

    en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
    en_US ISO-8859-1
    locale-gen
   

8. Timezone

    ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin /etc/localtime
   

9. Set /etc/hostname

10. Copy bootloader files

    cd /boot/syslinux/
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/menu.c32 .
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/vesamenu.c32 .
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/chain.c32 .
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/hdt.c32 .
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/reboot.c32 .
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/poweroff.com .
    
    extlinux --install /boot/syslinux
    
    dd conv=notrunc bs=440 count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/gptmbr.bin of=/dev/sda
    

    Altenative:

    syslinux-install_update -iam
    

11. Setup ramdisk

    mkinitcpio -p linux
    

12. Set root password

     passwd
    

13. Exit system

    exit
    exit
    

14. Unmount

    umount /mnt/boot
    umount /mnt/home
    swapoff /dev/sda2
    umount /mnt
    

    Set legacy BIOS bootable on partition 1:

    sgdisk /dev/sda --attributes=1:set:2
    
    reboot
    

15. Configure network

    dhcpcd
    

    or for wifi

    pacman -S net-tools wireless_tools wpa_supplicant wpa_actiond dialog
    

    Install specific driver

    wifi-menu <interface>
    

    use netcfg for network profiles

16. Add a user

    useradd -m -g users -s /bin/bash <name>
    passwd <name>
    

17. Install sudo and make user a sudoer

    pacman -S sudo
    

    In /etc/sudoers add

    <name> ALL=(ALL) ALL
    

18. Log in

     exit
    

19. Set default keyborad layout in /etc/vconsole.conf

     KEYMAP=de-latin1-nodeadkeys
    

20. Enable auto network configuration

    sudo systemctl enable dhcpcd.service
    

21. Install X

    sudo pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-server-utils
    

22. Install mesa (for 3d-graphics)

     sudo pacman -S mesa
    

    or nvidia driver

     sudo pacman -S nvidia
    

    or nvidia-utils-bumblebee and nvidia-bumblebee for optimus and start

     gpasswd -a <username> bumblebee
     exit
    
     systemctl enable bumblebeed
     reboot
    

    or for Intel

23. Virtualbox utils

     sudo pacman -S virtualbox-guest-utils
    

    Add to /etc/modules-load.d/virtualbox.conf

     vboxguest
     vboxsf
     vboxvideo
    

24. ZSH

     sudo pacman -S zsh
     chsh -s $(which zsh)
    

    settings in .zshrc

     autoload -U compinit promptinit
     compinit
     promptinit
    
     # This will set the default prompt to the walters theme
     prompt walters
    

25. xfce

     sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies
    

    copy

     cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~/.xinitrc
    

    add line

     exec startxfce4