(on Wikipedia)
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=parabola
https://www.parabola.nu/

Tested 2013-12 ∞

Fails – no GRUB

setup ∞

\dd \
  if=./parabola-2013.09.01-dual.iso \
  ` # This the root and not a partition. ` \
  of=/dev/mmcblk0 \
  bs=32M

\sync

# I have no clue how to verify.. check old PCLinuxOS-era notes.

install ∞

All this is garbage if i can’t do a non-netinstall.

If getting a black screen because of HDMI, then when booting from the usb stick, press tab at the initial screen and append:

nomodeset

The default liveusb is user:parabola and pass:parabola

https://wiki.parabola.nu/Installation_Guide

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Partitioning ^[ 1 ] was https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning#Single_root_partition

Note that installing GRUB on a BIOS system partitioned with GPT requires an additional BIOS boot partition.

# mount the root partition on /mnt
\mount  /dev/sda3  /mnt

# mount your swap partition if you want them to be detected by genfstab. 
\swapon  /dev/sda9

# but there are no real mirrors..
# The UK server seems to be the only one up..
\nano  /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# I wonder if I should do a system update..
# \pacman  -Syu

# Verify stuff..
# This failed:
# error: parabola-keyring: signature from "André Silva <emulatorman@lavabit.com>" is unknown trust
# :: File /var/cache/pacman/pkg/parabola-keyring-20131022-1-any.pkg.tar.xz is corrupted (invalid or corrupted package (PGP signature)).
\pacman  -Sy  parabola-keyring

# To work around this bullshit, I did:
\nano  /etc/pacman.conf
# And added:
# SigLevel = TrustAll

# Start up the install..
# You can install additional packages passing base and the names of these
# packages as arguments after the root directory of the new installation
# (all packages from the base group are installed if no package is specified).
\pacstrap  /mnt  base  btrfs-progs  grub-bios

# Generate an fstab with the following command
# (if you prefer to use UUIDs or labels, add the -U or -L option,
# respectively):
\genfstab  -U  -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

# Next we chroot into our newly installed system:
\arch-chroot /mnt

# Write your hostname to /etc/hostname.
# Symlink /etc/localtime to /usr/share/zoneinfo/Zone/SubZone.
# Replace Zone and Subzone to your liking. For example: 
\ln -s  /usr/share/zoneinfo/Canada/Pacific  /etc/localtime

# Set locale preferences in /etc/locale.conf.
\echo  "LANG=\"en_US.UTF-8\"" > /etc/locale.conf

# Example:
#LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
#
# Keep the default sort order (e.g. files starting with a '.'
# should appear at the start of a directory listing.)
#LC_COLLATE="C"
# 
# Set the short date to YYY-MM-DD (test with "date +%c")
#LC_TIME="en_DK.UTF-8"
#
# Add console keymap and font preferences in /etc/vconsole.conf
# (shouldn't be necessary)

# Uncomment the selected locale in /etc/locale.gen
\nano  /etc/locale.gen
# en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

# generate the local stuff:
\locale-gen

# Configure /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
# (not needed)

# Create an initial RAM disk:
\mkinitcpio  -p linux-libre

# To configure the bootloader, you have to install it in the MBR and generate
# the grub.cfg:
\grub-install  /dev/sda
\grub-mkconfig  -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

# Set a root password:
\passwd

# Configure the network again for newly installed environment.
# (shouldn't be necessary)

\exit                       # Exit the chroot

\umount /mnt/{boot,home,}   # Why?
\reboot

First boot ∞

(log in as root)

# Configure pacman's options, also enabling the repositories you need:
\nano  /etc/pacman.conf

# Update the system:
\pacman  -Syu

# Add a user, probably:
\useradd  -m  -g users  -G wheel  -s /bin/zsh  user
\passwd  user

# Manage services:
\systemd

distribution notes ∞

shit, I fucked things up and am not using /boot separately.. oh well.
opening Midori opens the documentation.. but it’s in Spanish, and its English documentation link is broken
The terminal’s transparent background is bloody stupid.
Gimp is on the livecd. Seriously?
if I win-d, I will minimize all applications, and it will also minimize the top-middle button-bar, which now has no way of being made visible again.
Zsh is the default shell, cool!
the ‘software’ program (the synaptic equivalent) doesn’t actually do anything. I see no way to apply changes.. once I click the top-left button to apply, nothing happens. Perhaps related to the signature issues..
- it keeps restoring its size when I interact with it.. fucking obnoxious.
- it’s called gpk-application .. I had to check processes to learn its name. Renaming a program and forcing a user to do this is stupid.

FIXME – fsck.btrfs isn’t there, and so fsck won’t be run on startup! ::

sh-4.2# \mkinitcpio  -p linux-libre
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-libre.preset: 'default'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux-libre -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux-libre.img
==> Starting build: 3.12.3-1-LIBRE
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [autodetect]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [block]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> ERROR: file not found: `fsck.btrfs'
==> WARNING: No fsck helpers found. fsck will not be run on boot.
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux-libre.img
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-libre.preset: 'fallback'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux-libre -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux-libre-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: 3.12.3-1-LIBRE
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: isci
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux-libre-fallback.img
==> Image generation successful

web browsers ∞

\pacman  -Sy icecat iceweasel-libre

There are two browsers based on Firefox? wth?
Ok, what the fuck.. it doesn’t do dependency resolution?

[parabola@parabolaiso ~]$ icecat 
XPCOMGlueLoad error for file /usr/lib/icecat/libxul.so:
libpng16.so.16: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Couldn't load XPCOM.

[parabola@parabolaiso ~]$ iceweasel 
XPCOMGlueLoad error for file /usr/lib/iceweasel/libxul.so:
libpng16.so.16: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Couldn't load XPCOM.

It turns out the gui doesn’t support dependency resolution either. I can list the dependencies, but not interact with that list. Fuck you very much.

Ok, so try manually installing a dependency:

\pacman  -Sy xulrunner

[parabola@parabolaiso ~]$ icecat
XPCOMGlueLoad error for file /usr/lib/icecat/libxul.so:
libpng16.so.16: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Couldn't load XPCOM.

pacman’s man page says:

(gpm)

       pacman -S gpm
           Download and install gpm including dependencies.

.. but this doesn’t seem to actually be true.

Footnotes[+]

^ 1	was https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning#Single_root_partition

spiralofhope

Parabola GNU/Linux-libre