Welcome! This series walks through installing Arch Linux from scratch with full-disk encryption, BTRFS subvolumes with automatic snapshots, and a complete KDE Plasma desktop, split into four parts you can follow start to finish or jump into individually.

What You’ll Build

By the end of this series, you’ll have a fully encrypted Arch Linux desktop: LUKS2 full-disk encryption, BTRFS subvolumes with automatic Snapper snapshots, a properly configured package manager with AUR support, working audio, bluetooth, printing, and graphics, and a KDE Plasma desktop on top of it all.

Before You Start

This series assumes:

  • A UEFI system (not legacy BIOS).
  • Basic comfort with the command line. This isn’t a Linux-from-scratch tutorial, but you’ll be typing a lot of commands.
  • A target drive you’re okay wiping completely.
  • The Arch Linux installation media, already booted.

The Series

  1. Arch Linux Install: Disk Prep & Encryption — Partition the drive, set up LUKS2 encryption, and lay out BTRFS subvolumes.
  2. Arch Linux Install: Base Install & System Configuration — Install the base system, configure the bootloader, create a user, enable networking, and set up Snapper.
  3. Arch Linux Install: Package Management & Core Services — Expand pacman with multilib and the AUR, and bring up audio, bluetooth, printing, and graphics drivers.
  4. Arch Linux Install: Desktop Environment (KDE Plasma) — Install and configure the KDE Plasma desktop.

Each post lists its own assumptions at the top, so if you’ve already got a working Arch install, feel free to jump straight to whichever part you need.