Printable guide for ArchLinux setup

Question

I want to install Arch Linux on my computer, but I only have one computer, so I will be unable to access online documentation for a significant portion of the process (everything up until I get a web browser installed). Is there some type of printable guide or manual that I can get that has everything I would likely need up to that point? After that, I can just use online stuff, but as I said, I won't be able to use it until I can access it from the computer I am installing on.

I intend to install it to use for general-purpose desktop stuff, like browsing the internet, multimedia stuff, and some games, if that makes a difference to what I'd need. I'm going with a gnome environment, and am planning to install chromium.

Answer 1

Rather than killing trees, there are a couple of other approaches that you might consider to be able to access the Beginners' Guide while installing Arch.

Once you have your network configured from the installer, you can use a text browser to visit the page. links is included on the official images.

You could also use a tool like tmxgta, a version of the Arch installer that manages the installation in a tmux session with a split-pane view: in the first pane is the install terminal, and in the second the Beginners' Guide documentation to reference each step of the install process.

Answer 2

Before installing Arch, you should already have some ideas on the packages you are going install. Unlike distributions like Ubuntu, there is no default graphical desktop. Once you have chosen your graphical desktop (environment), you can start the basic installation.

Basically, you need to perform some partitioning, setup networking, create a user account and install other packages (at least base, do not forget the desktop environment). You can experiment in a virtual machine and do a walk-through before you actually install it on your main machine.

The Arch Wiki is printable, for instance https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?title=Beginners%27_Guide&printable=yes is 34 pages at this time of writing.

Once you have a graphical interface with networking installed, you should be able to install other programs (with help of online resources).