Who I am:
-New to linux, as of about 5 hours ago. Noob, self-teaching atm.

What I've done:
-Installed ArchLinux on a VMWare virtual machine in my Windows10 rig with a youtube video, the wiki didn't work for me and my first attempt.
-Installed GNOME
-Did NOT setup locale

What I want to do:
-Rice my ArchLinux with this guide: https://www.ibrahimbutt.xyz/posts/2017-11-01/ricing/
-In order to start learning about Linux and having fun whilst doing so...
-Maybe move to i3 in doing so: https://briancaffey.github.io/2017/1...ch-linux.html/
-Learn more about ArchLinux and Linux distros in general, technical ability up to philosophy surrounding the GNU I suppose

Now:
-I can login to the GNOME GUI in Arch
-I can attempt to open Terminal, it tries to load and fails
-I cannot figure out how to add locale to enable me to head towards the path of ricing my VM

What I'm looking for:
-Any sort of advice. Should I start over and setup locale properly (as apparently that's the issue with the terminal) or is there something else to do beforehand

Apologies:
-For coming straight here looking for easy answers but my searches are uneventful and also Im not sure exactly what to search for. Appreciate any advice.

Hi, and welcome here, at LQ

If you need arch specific help you ought to move to the Arch linux forum.
But I'm not really sure about that. Also I'm not really sure if this problem is related to locale.
Would be nice to see more details.
Anyway I would suggest you to start linux with ubuntu and/or mint.

2 members found this post helpful.

OP: as you have discovered, any other tutorial on Arch other than the official installation instructions is useless. It is imperative you set locale. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ins...e#Localization

https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...l-not-starting

Maybe you can open an xterm and then launch gnome-terminal from xterm so you can see what errors gnome-terminal is throwing?

That would probably do it if I could follow the steps but the GUI itself seems not to let me.

>Can't open terminal
>Can't open a 'settings' that has region/language. It only has notifications and search as toggle options. There's another settings in GNOME that won't open.
>No idea how to open 'xterm', I'll try pacman. Wait a sec, I don't have any idea how to get to the 'command-line(?)' now that GNOME has taken over the UI. Lol.

I think I'll have a real good try at setting up with the wiki (its a VM).

Thanks for help. I'm enjoying the struggle.

It's been a long time since I've used Gnome but there should be a "run" command. Try "meta key + r", which I think is windows key + r. If you get a run dialog like windows 10, you can enter "xterm" and hit enter. That will open a terminal in the UI and allow you to enter "gnome-terminal" and hit enter, which will cause a slew of error messages.

I think your best bet for the least amount of pain is to do a reinstall using the official Arch installation guide. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/installation_guide.

Alternatively, you can start as Pan64 suggested with perhaps Linux Mint, get familiar with Linux, then venture out to something like Arch. Not trying to dissuade you from using Arch but you may get frustrated because it is definitely not new user friendly. It is a good learning experience though, and since you are using a VM, it is easy to scrap everything and start over.

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Question:

I'm up to this step

>>Installation
>>Select the mirrors

No idea how to progress, other than the next step:

>>Install essential packages
>># pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware

"Errors occured, no packages were upgraded."

What do? https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pac...ot_import_keys is suggested, but I don't yet know how to edit a file lol.

You have to edit /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist which is stated in the instructions. It will be a long list of servers and you have to pick the one closest to you. Use the command line editor "nano" to edit the file: . I haven't used Arch in some time, but each line should be commented with a '#".

1 members found this post helpful.