Mike Mendez

  • learn
  • solve problems
  • make things

Intro

My new laptop came with Windows 11 and I’m not saying that’s why absolutely nothing is working, but nothing’s working. I’ve enjoyed using EndeavourOS for my main virtual machine recently so I’m going to try it out as my primary os. The plan is to:

  • backup a list of explicitly installed packages and ssh keys
  • shrink the windows partition
  • download the latest EndeavourOS release (currently Apollo)
  • prepare installation media
  • install
  • configure with Ansible

EndeavourOS allows packages to be added via a list using the Calamares installer but I went with Ansible because I’d eventually like to build off of the playbook to simplify configuration on non Arch based distros, e.g. Debian.

Backup

I backed up my ssh keys to private S3 bucket and exported my packages with:

# backup path
pkgs=/home/${USER}/repos/dotfiles/bak
# get explicitly installed packages excluding
# "foreign" packages
pacman -Qqe | grep -Fvx "$(pacman -Qqm)" > \
${pkgs}/$(date --iso-8601='minutes').pkgs
# get "foreign" packages
pacman -Qqm > \
${pkgs}/$(date --iso-8601='minutes').pkgs.aur

I added this to my .zshrc so that I get a backup for every new shell. The date command substitution adds a timestamp to the filename. A cronjob would be a neater solution.

Shrink Windows Partition

  • Press Win+r to open the run dialog and type diskmgmt.msc to open the Disk Management mmc.
  • Verify that the File System listed for your installation partition (typically C:) is listed as NTFS
  • Right click the Volume and select Shrink Volume
  • Shrink the partition leaving enough room for both OS’s (preference)

Download EndeavourOS

Download however you’d like. Verify the sha512 checksum (download first) on Linux with:

sha512sum <iso-path> -c <checksum-path>

or Windows command prompt with:

certutil -hashfile <iso-path> SHA512

comparing the output to the content of the checksum file.

Prepare Installation Media

I prefer to do this on linux so I don’t have to download a 3rd party tool. I have already written detailed instructions here on doing this with linux. The dd I used for reference:

sudo dd if=/media/sf_Share/EndeavourOS_Apollo_22_1.iso of=/dev/sdb status=progress

Install

Reboot, and make sure to press the key to change BIOS boot options before Windows starts. From there you will go through the Calamares Installer wizard.

Partition

If dual booting with Windows, choose Manual Partition Don’t alter your Windows partition if you intend to keep it

  • Select unused space and create a 600 MB partition with a mountpoint of /boot/efi and FAT32 file system
  • Select unused space and create a partition (as large as desired) with a mountpoint of / and ext4 file system

Configure with Ansible

When installation’s complete install Ansible:

sudo pacman -S ansible

And here’s the playbook I ran for some inspiration. Run with ansible-playbook install.yml.

---
# ./install.yml
# currently only installs specified packages
# TODO: * install configuration files
# * install packages from var file.yaml
# * also support debian/arch

- hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  become: yes
  vars:
    pkg:
      - accountsservice
      - acpi
      - adobe-source-han-sans-cn-fonts
      - adobe-source-han-sans-jp-fonts
      - adobe-source-han-sans-kr-fonts
      - alsa-firmware
      - alsa-plugins
      - alsa-utils
      - ansible
      - arandr
      - arc-gtk-theme-eos
      - archlinux-xdg-menu
      - asciinema
      - autoconf
      - automake
      - awesome-terminal-fonts
      - aws-cli
      - b43-fwcutter
      - base
      - bash-completion
      - bind
      - binutils
      - bison
      - bluez
      - bluez-utils
      - btrfs-progs
      - cantarell-fonts
      - cryptsetup
      - device-mapper
      - dex
      - dhclient
      - dialog
      - diffutils
      - dmenu
      - dmidecode
      - dmraid
      - dnsmasq
      - docker
      - dosfstools
      - downgrade
      - duf
      - dunst
      - e2fsprogs
      - efibootmgr
      - efitools
      - endeavouros-keyring
      - endeavouros-mirrorlist
      - endeavouros-skel-i3wm
      - endeavouros-theming
      - endeavouros-xfce4-terminal-colors
      - eos-apps-info
      - eos-hooks
      - eos-lightdm-slick-theme
      - eos-log-tool
      - eos-packagelist
      - eos-qogir-icons
      - eos-quickstart
      - eos-rankmirrors
      - eos-update-notifier
      - ethtool
      - exfatprogs
      - f2fs-tools
      - fakeroot
      - ffmpegthumbnailer
      - file
      - file-roller
      - findutils
      - firefox
      - firewalld
      - flex
      - fsarchiver
      - galculator
      - gawk
      - gcc
      - gettext
      - git
      - glances
      - gnu-netcat
      - go
      - gopls
      - grep
      - groff
      - grub
      - grub-tools
      - grub2-theme-endeavouros
      - gst-libav
      - gst-plugin-pipewire
      - gst-plugins-bad
      - gst-plugins-ugly
      - gthumb
      - gtk-engine-murrine
      - gvfs
      - gvfs-afc
      - gvfs-gphoto2
      - gvfs-mtp
      - gvfs-nfs
      - gvfs-smb
      - gzip
      - haveged
      - hdparm
      - hwdetect
      - hwinfo
      - i3-gaps
      - i3blocks
      - i3lock
      - i3status
      - inetutils
      - intel-ucode
      - inxi
      - ipw2100-fw
      - ipw2200-fw
      - iwd
      - jfsutils
      - jq
      - jupyter-notebook
      - keepassxc
      - less
      - libdvdcss
      - libgsf
      - libopenraw
      - libtool
      - libwnck3
      - lightdm
      - lightdm-slick-greeter
      - linux
      - linux-firmware
      - linux-headers
      - logrotate
      - lsb-release
      - lsscsi
      - lvm2
      - lxappearance-gtk3
      - m4
      - make
      - man-db
      - man-pages
      - mdadm
      - meld
      - mesa-utils
      - mkinitcpio
      - mkinitcpio-busybox
      - mkinitcpio-nfs-utils
      - mkinitcpio-openswap
      - mlocate
      - modemmanager
      - mpv
      - mtools
      - nano
      - nano-syntax-highlighting
      - nbd
      - ndisc6
      - neofetch
      - neovim
      - netctl
      - network-manager-applet
      - networkmanager
      - networkmanager-openvpn
      - nfs-utils
      - nilfs-utils
      - nitrogen
      - nmap
      - noto-fonts
      - npm
      - nss-mdns
      - ntfs-3g
      - ntp
      - numlockx
      - openconnect
      - openvpn
      - os-prober
      - pacman
      - pacman-contrib
      - pandoc
      - patch
      - pavucontrol
      - perl
      - picom
      - pipewire-alsa
      - pipewire-jack
      - pipewire-media-session
      - pipewire-pulse
      - pkgconf
      - pkgfile
      - playerctl
      - polkit-gnome
      - poppler-glib
      - ppp
      - pptpclient
      - pv
      - pyright
      - python
      - python-capng
      - python-defusedxml
      - python-packaging
      - python-pip
      - python-pyqt5
      - qutebrowser
      - rebuild-detector
      - reflector
      - reflector-simple
      - reiserfsprogs
      - ripgrep
      - rofi
      - rp-pppoe
      - rsync
      - s-nail
      - scrot
      - sed
      - sg3_utils
      - smartmontools
      - sof-firmware
      - sshfs
      - sudo
      - sysfsutils
      - sysstat
      - systemd-sysvcompat
      - terraform
      - texinfo
      - texlive-core
      - thunar
      - thunar-archive-plugin
      - thunar-volman
      - tldr
      - tmux
      - tree
      - ttf-bitstream-vera
      - ttf-dejavu
      - ttf-liberation
      - ttf-opensans
      - tumbler
      - unrar
      - unzip
      - upower
      - usb_modeswitch
      - usbutils
      - vi
      - virtualbox-guest-utils
      - vpnc
      - welcome
      - wget
      - which
      - whois
      - wireless-regdb
      - wireless_tools
      - wpa_supplicant
      - xbindkeys
      - xclip
      - xdg-user-dirs
      - xdg-user-dirs-gtk
      - xdg-utils
      - xed
      - xf86-input-libinput
      - xf86-video-vmware
      - xfce4-terminal
      - xfsprogs
      - xl2tpd
      - xorg-server
      - xorg-xbacklight
      - xorg-xdpyinfo
      - xorg-xinit
      - xorg-xinput
      - xorg-xkill
      - xorg-xrandr
      - xterm
      - yad-eos
      - yay
      - yq
      - zsh
      - zsh-syntax-highlighting
      
  tasks:
    - name: "Upgrade all installed packages"
      pacman:
        update_cache: yes
        upgrade: yes

    - name: "Install from package list"
      package:
          name: ""
          state: latest
      when:
          - pkg is defined
          - pkg|length|int >=1
          - pkg[0]|length|int >= 1

Updated:

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