arch linux

lab :: install guide

this is my arch linux install guide. it's not meant to replace the beginners guide or the install guide, but act as a quick overview of exactly what the install process entails. hopefully this will encourage those intimidated by the terminal only install process.

this setup is for my HP Envy 6t-1000 laptop. it has a 32gb ssd drive with two partitions for boot and / and the other 500gb hdd is my home. my laptop has plenty of ram so i do not use a swap. my laptop also has UEFI bios and will cover it's install procedure.

boot to the install medium and you will be greeted by the prompt:

root@archiso ~ #

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managing your dotfiles

lab :: with gnu stow

preview of xero's shell

in the *nix world programs are configured in two different ways, via arguments in the terminal or text based configuration files. programs which have many options like your shell, window managers, or even text editors are configured on a per-user basis with files in your home directory ~. in unix like operating systems any file or directory that starts with a period or full stop character is considered hidden, and in a default view will not be displayed. thus the name dotfiles. it's been said of every console user:

you are your dotfiles

i manage mine with gnu stow, a free, portable, lightweight symlink farm manager. it allows me to keep a versioned directory of all my config files that are virtually linked into place.

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atom editor linux install

lab :: running github's open source text editor

atom text editor linux screenshot

atom is a "hackable text editor for the 21st century" created by the team at github. it's designed to be customizable, but also usable without needing to edit a config file.

this quote really sums it up perfectly:

because we spend most of our day in a text editor, the single most important feature we wanted in an editor was extensibility. atom is built with the same open source technologies used by modern web browsers. at the core of atom is chromium, the open source project behind google chrome. with that comes all the power and innovation being developed for the web. but more importantly, extending atom is as simple as writing javascript and css, two languages used by millions of developers each day.

atom.io

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