CTKArchLive 0.6 documentation
Usage-related infos
The passwords are: arch for the arch account (and for yaourt) ; toor for root. They are indicated in the tty1 too.
Tu run just a command as root, use xsu: "xsu command" and give the root
password.
Of course, you can obtain a root terminal using the "su" command.
To adjust the sound volume, run "alsamixer" in a terminal (obtained using
Alt-F1, or right-click on the desktop, Terminal)
A volume icon is also available: right-click the desktop, Environment, Sound
volume icon.
The extract of the song Listen is taken from Tryad's album, freely available here: http://altermusique.org/Tryad/Listen/
To change the screen's resolution, launch ArandR (in Settings). It can
manage several screens.
The configuration will be kept (and even at installation) simply saving it as
"config".
To install software/drivers (packages), run "yaourt -Sy" in a terminal
(password: "arch"), and then "yaourt keyword"
A list of available packages will be displayed, you just have to choose the
one(s) you want.
These packages will be installed in the RAM, so will be lost when rebooting…
Unless you create an add-on containing those modifications, stored in the
persistent data partition.
You can change the panel, enable desktop icons, fancy effects, launch a
battery monitor, a volume icon... right-clicking the desktop, in the
Environment menu.
If you enable effects (at least transparency), you'll be able to change the
transparency of the windows using Super+Mouse
wheel.
You can test your webcam running "mplayer tv://" in the launcher that can be
accessed with Alt+F2 or in a terminal.
Copy to RAM:
If your PC has 1GB RAM or more (with less than 700MB you reasonably can't), you can copy the live to ram to remove its media (for instance, if you'd like to watch a DVD but the liveCD is in the CD drive, or want to leave with the CD without halting the PC...)
The recommended method is to choose the "Start - Copy to RAM" option at
bootup.
If it's too late, you can also run "/install/cp2ram" as root, and remove the
media containing the live system when announced.
⚠ As this method isn't very reliable, please save any important data before
that.
Persistent data: home folder and addons
To use the assistant to create your CTKhome partition, run "xsu /install/mkhome" in a terminal.
Your settings/documents, and add-ons (custom additions to the live) can be
kept in this partition.
The most common case is to already have the live system on a flash stick and to
create the CTKhome partition in the remaining space.
To create an add-on to contain packages/files or more simply the changes you
did to the live system since its bootup, run "xsu /addons/mkaddon"
Another script is available: an addon fusionner, that allows to gather the contents of several addons in one. Run "xsu /addons/fusion-addons"
Installed software overview
Graphic applications:
Abiword, word processing
Gnumeric, spreadsheet
ePDFview, PDF viewer
PCman FM, file manager
Xarchiver, archive manager (lzma, gzip, bzip, zip, rar, …)
Leafpad, small text editor
UrXvt, terminal
Tuxracer, to test the 3D support of your graphic card and maybe play a little
GIMP, drawing and image retouching
Gpicview, image viewer
GTKam, to retrieve images/videos from a camera not recognized as mass
storage
Smplayer, multimedia player
Audacious, audio player
mhWaveEdit, sound recording and editing
Avidemux, video editor
Brasero, CD/DVD burning
Wicd, network connection manager
Arora, Midori and Jumanji, web browsers
Sylpheed, mail client
Pidgin, for all instant messaging accounts
Xchat, for IRC chat. Connects by default on freenode, #ctkarch channel. ☺
Gftp, FTP client
Gparted and Palimpsest, partitionning utilities
Htop, for monitoring activity
Everything needed to configure the desktop: arandr (screen₍s₎ config), decorations, windows and icon themes...
Console-only applications:
In addition to the standard commands any system must have, I've included:
yaourt, very useful interface to pacman and makepkg
for installing packages
foremost and photorec, data retrieving utilities (on messed up hard disks e.g.
by accidental deletions)
mocp, audio player/daemon with fancy playlist management
yplay&yget, to play in mplayer or download youtube videos
scrot, to take screenshots of your fancy desktop ☺
the full compilation toolchain including GCC
powertop, to see what's consuming electric resources and reduce consumption
applying its hints
netcfg, for network connection profiles management
Network: links, irssi, screen, pastebin, lighttpd,
openssh, tsocks...
System: lshw, lsof, dcfldd, sd/hdparm, sensors...
Additionnally, the RAM modules tester Memtest86++ is availaible in the "Miscellaneous options" menu at bootup.
Installation-related infos
The installation of the system (as it is in live) can be launched going into
the menu, System, CTKArch Installer.
...or running "ctkinstall" in a terminal.
Repositories are frozen by default, to allow installation of packages
without having to update the system.
You just need to comment out the ARM entry at the beginning of
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist to get back to rolling release.
If you want to do a standard Archlinux installation from this livecd:
To launch a standard archlinux installer via netinstall, run "aif -p
interactive" as root.
To launch a chroot installation assistant, run "/install/install-chroot.sh" as
root. (for Arch regulars)