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Installing Arch Linux on Mac in Parallels

In January of 2020, I had need to set up an Arch Linux GUI environment on my MacBook Pro in Parallels. I knew virtually nothing about Linux, or operating systems in general for that matter. Every computer I had ever used came with an OS. That was pretty much all I knew about them. It was so ridiculously difficult that I figured other people out there may be struggling with the same problem, and they may benefit from my own experience.

I just followed your 177-step Arch install guide... and I give you praise because it's the only one that worked for me.. but now I think I need to combine tylenol, ibuprofen and a 30 minute break. Mike

Below you'll find a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for exactly how I set up Arch Linux on my MacBook Pro in Parallels. There won't be much in the way of explanation of what any of it means. Just the steps laid out. This is mostly because I don't really know what some of it means. But at the foot of this page you can find some good resources that will tell you what a lot of it means if that interests you. I myself just wanted it up and running, with a GUI, so if you're in those same shoes, just follow this step-by-step, word-for-word, and hopefully it will work for you as well.

Instructions

  1. Download the latest Arch ISO. This guide is based on the following image:
    https://mirror.rackspace.com/archlinux/iso/2020.01.01/
  2. Open Parallels Control Center.
  3. Select File > New.
  4. Choose “Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file.”
  5. Continue.
  6. Choose Manually.
  7. Drag the ISO you just downloaded onto the “Drag the image file here” spot. It will say “Unable to detect operating system.”
  8. Continue.
  9. Select “More Linux” > “Other Linux.”
  10. Ok.
  11. Choose a name for your new virtual device, like “Arch.”
  12. Check the “Customize settings before installation” box.
  13. Create.
  14. In the configuration box, select “Options.”
  15. Select “Sharing” in the top menu.
  16. Change “Home folder only” to “All disks.”
  17. Check the “Shared Profile” box.
  18. Select “Hardware” in the top menu.
  19. Move the Memory slider to 4GB.
  20. Close the Configuration window. Can we be rational if there is no God?
    If there is no reason behind your own mental processes, then there is no reason behind your own conclusions. So whose reason is behind your own mental processes?
  21. Continue.
  22. When the VM boot window displays, instead of selecting any of the options, hit the TAB button on your keyboard.
  23. Hit the spacebar once and then type: “cow_spacesize=10G”
  24. Enter.
  25. The command prompt should display. Type in the following (without the hashtag at the front):
    # nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
  26. Follow the nano editor’s usage directions (which should display at the bottom of the screen) in order to move about five local mirrors (mirrors that are local to your location) to the top of the list. This way, when stuff downloads to your machine, it won't download all the way from the other side of the universe, which would take a really long time. Arrows move your cursor, CTRL-k cuts a line, CTRL-u pastes it. When you’re done, CTRL-x attempts to close the nano editor. Hit SHIFT-Y to say that you would like to save, and ENTER finishes.
  27. Now we're going to partition the hard drive:
    # gdisk /dev/sda
    # p
     
    # n
    [ENTER]
    [ENTER]
    # +1G
    [ENTER]
     
    # n
    [ENTER]
    [ENTER]
    # +5G
    # 8200
     
    # n
    [ENTER]
    [ENTER]
    # +20G
    [ENTER]
     
    # n
    [ENTER]
    [ENTER]
    [ENTER]
    [ENTER]
     
    # w
    # Y
     
    # mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda1
    # mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda3
    # mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda4
     
    # mkswap /dev/sda2
    # swapon /dev/sda2
     
    # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
    # cd /mnt
    # mkdir boot home
    # mount /dev/sda1 boot
    # mount /dev/sda4 home
     
    # nano /etc/resolv.conf
  28. Add these nameservers to the top of the nameserver list:
    nameserver 8.8.8.8
    nameserver 8.8.4.4
  29. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. Does the Problem of Evil prove that God isn't real?
    The Problem of Evil argument cannot be presented without engaging in some kind of logical fallacy. The Palpatine Theodicy displays one... problem... with the Problem of Evil.
  30. Now look up a thing that we're going to need to reference:
    # ip link
  31. Using the second set of data displayed, find the correct service domain and put it into the following line.
    # sudo systemctl enable dhcpcd@enp0s5.service
    # ping google.com
  32. You should get a response from Google. If you don’t, you can try these three commands:
    # sudo systemctl start dhcpcd
    # sudo systemctl enable dhcpcd
    # sudo dhcpcd
  33. Once you are able to get a response from Google when pinging, continue.
    # pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel
    # genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
    # more /mnt/etc/fstab
    # pacstrap -i /mnt syslinux gptfdisk linux linux-headers nano networkmanager linux-firmware dhcpcd
    # arch-chroot /mnt
    # nano /etc/locale.conf
  34. Type the following into the nano editor.
    LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
  35. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. Now make sure it knows what language you speak.
    # nano /etc/locale.gen
  36. Uncomment the following lines by removing the hashtags in front of them (because of course you live in the US and speak English):
    #en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
    #en_US ISO-8859-1
  37. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. Now set your time clock. If you don't live on the US east coast, stop typing after "zoneinfo/" and hit TAB a few times and see what happens:
    # locale-gen
    # ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime
    # nano /etc/hostname
  38. Type in the one-word, lowercase name of your VM. It can be absolutely anything you want, but you should probably make it something meaningful. Maybe “archlinux”. I’m going to assume you used “archlinux” and show you how to set up your hosts file if you did. If you didn’t, set up the hosts file with the name you actually used.
  39. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. How could time itself start?
    The Author Analogy easily explains many difficult questions about life, the universe, theology, religion, philosophy, epistemology, and the reality we find ourselves in.
  40. Now change the hosts file.
    # nano /etc/hosts
  41. Type in the following with your VM name to the nano editor.
    127.0.0.1 localhost
    127.0.1.1 archlinux.localdomain archlinux
  42. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. Now update some things and change some stuff:
    # syslinux-install_update -i -a -m
    # cd /boot/syslinux
    # cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/menu.c32 .
    # cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/vesamenu.c32 .
    # cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/chain.c32 .
    # cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/hdt.c32 .
    # cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/reboot.c32 .
    # cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/poweroff.c32 .
    # cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/libutil.c32 .
    # cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/libcom32.c32 .
    # mkinitcpio -p linux
    # passwd
  43. Type in the new password for the root account (not your regular user account) for the new Arch Linux VM. Then we'll do more cool stuff:
    # exit
    # cd /
    # umount /mnt/boot
    # umount /mnt/home
    # swapoff /dev/sda2
    # umount /mnt
    # sgdisk /dev/sda --attributes=1:set:2
    # reboot
  44. Let the system reboot. When it’s complete, it will ask you to log in. Log in as "root."
    # root
  45. Type in the root password that you created a couple of steps ago. Now update your mirrorlist again:
    # nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
  46. Move the local mirrors to the top of the list again.
  47. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. Then edit your nameservers again:
    # nano /etc/resolv.conf
  48. Add these nameservers to the top of the nameserver list:
    nameserver 8.8.8.8
    nameserver 8.8.4.4
  49. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. Then look up that thing again:
    # ip link
  50. Using the second set of data displayed from that command above, find the correct service domain and put it into the following line.
    # sudo systemctl enable dhcpcd@enp0s5.service
    # ping google.com
    # dhcpcd
    # ping google.com
    Trouble staying pure online?
    Accountable2You can help you find peace of mind and rebuild trust with detailed, real-time accountability software. Available for Arch Linux as well as other major operating systems.
  51. Hopefully, you’re receiving data from Google. Next, create your own user account. We'll pretend your name is Josh because... why wouldn't it be?
    # useradd --home-dir /home/josh --create-home josh
    # passwd josh
    # nano /etc/sudoers
  52. Once the nano editor opens, find the line that reads:
    root ALL=(ALL) ALL
  53. Under that line, add the following line just like it:
    josh ALL=(ALL) ALL
  54. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. Now do some more stuff:
    # exit
    # ip link show
    # sudo systemctl enable dhcpcd@enp0s5.service
    # sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf.head
  55. Add these nameservers to the empty text file:
    nameserver 8.8.8.8
    nameserver 8.8.4.4
  56. CTRL-x. SHIFT-Y. Enter. Now install a bunch more stuff and then reboot:
    # sudo pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-apps
    # sudo pacman -S xorg-iceauth xorg-sessreg xorg-xcmsdb xorg-xbacklight xorg-xgamma xorg-xhost xorg-xinput xorg-xmodmap xorg-xrandr xorg-xrdb xorg-xrefresh xorg-xset xorg-xsetroot mesa-libgl xterm
    # sudo pacman -S xf86-video-vesa
    # sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies sddm
    # sudo reboot
    # ping google.com
  57. Hopefully, that last ping -- the one after reboot -- just worked right off-the-bat and you're getting data from google.com. Install some more stuff and then test GUI functionality:
    # sudo pacman -S xorg-twm xorg-xclock
    # startx
  58. Here you can see a very simplistic GUI. In the first terminal, type the following:
    # exit
  59. You should be out of the GUI again now. Install some more stuff and restart:
    # sudo pacman -S ttf-liberation noto-fonts ttf-roboto ttf-anonymous-pro
    # sudo pacman -S ttf-hack ttf-inconsolata noto-fonts-emoji powerline-fonts
    # sudo pacman -S adobe-source-code-pro-fonts ttf-fira-mono ttf-fira-code
    # sudo pacman -S ttf-ubuntu-font-family ttf-dejavu ttf-freefont
    # sudo pacman -S ttf-droid terminus-font ttf-font-awesome
    # sudo pacman -S gnome gnome-extra
    # sudo systemctl enable gdm
    # sudo reboot
  60. The new GUI should automatically boot up. This should happen from now on. Open terminal again manually in your GUI. Install some important apps:
    # sudo pacman -S chromium
    # sudo pacman -S firefox
    # sudo pacman -S opera
    # sudo pacman -S flashplugin
    # gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout ":minimize,maximize,close"
  61. Still in the terminal, clean up some font cache problems:
    # sudo rm /var/cache/fontconfig/*
    # rm ~/.cache/fontconfig/*
  62. Now install Parallels Tools so you can copy between your operating systems and so you can share directories and stuff. Parallels Tools just worked right for me first try, so I will just link to another source for instructions for installing Parallels Tools.
  63. In the future, to run a full system update, do this in the terminal:
    # pacman -Syu

Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons

Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons

Riveting, yet absurd; romantic, yet innocent; Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons is a little Roald Dahl, a little Harry Potter, and a little Chronicles of Narnia, all rolled into one. Timothy McCabe collaborates with the great Benedict Ballyhoot to bring you the novel of the century!

 

World Religions and Cults (volume 2)

In Printed Form

Along with numerous other authors including Don Landis, Bodie Hodge and Roger Patterson, Timothy McCabe contributes analyses of various world religions and cults in this volume from Master Books.

Other Writings

"How do we know that God(s) still exists today? "

God created time (Genesis 1:1; 2 Corinthians 4:18; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 11:3; Jude 1:25). As the One Who created time, He is inherently atemporal (or omnitemporal depending upon which aspect of His eternality we are emphasizing) (Deuteronomy 33:27; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 9:14). Given this, He is definitively always the same (Exodus 3:14; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). If He is always the same, He cannot cease to exist.
Continue reading...

Polytheism is false: a simple proof

Polytheism refers to any philosophy which claims that there are multiple supreme creators of the universe.
Continue reading...

"Why?"

God. (John 1:3; Acts 17:24-25; Colossians 1:16-18; Genesis 1:1; Malachi 3:18; Revelation 21:6, 22:13; Psalm 135:6; Isaiah 48:11) Since God knows that He alone is the reason, and since He is perfectly rational (indeed, He is the original rationality and the foundation and source of all derived rationality), when He conceives of His reason (which is always), His conception is the very image of Himself. This conception of Himself is the divine, eternal, personal reason for all things.
Continue reading...

"Who was Cain's wife?"

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve, the two first people (Genesis 2), initially had two sons, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-2). Cain murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8), took off into the Land of Nod (Genesis 4:16), and had many descendants (Genesis 4:17-24). We aren't told specifically who his wife was.
Continue reading...

"Why does Jesus, when riding into Jeruselum (Matthew 21:7) ride on two things at once, the ass as well as the colt. Why does he ride both at the same time, and what does it teach us? Where also does it fit in in the 4 categories of 2 Timothy 3:16?"

Here are the relevant passages from the NASB: Matthew 21:6-7 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. Mark 11:7 They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. Luke 19:35 They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it.
Continue reading...

"Leonard Woolly (etc) found that the flood was local and hit only 4 major cities. This matches the Quran; only the disbelievers of Noah's time were punished. So yet again archeologically the Bible has been proven false. Are you still a Christian?"

If the Biblical flood actually happened the way it is described in scripture, then in the words of Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, we would expect to find "billions of dead things buried in rock laid down by water all over the earth". And, this is exactly what we find. Even Mt. Everest, debatably the tallest mountain in the world, has marine fossils at its peak. Is it possible to explain individual fossils apart from the flood of Noah? Certainly it is.
Continue reading...

"If everything was created by God, was Buddha also created by God? Buddha actually denied the existence of a single being that dominates/governs the whole world. Did Buddha go to hell for denying his existence?"

Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha, was created by God, yes. Everyone who is not God was created by God (Genesis 1:27; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Isaiah 46:9), and God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18), and is never wrong (Colossians 2:3; John 21:17; 1 John 3:20). If Buddha claimed there is no ultimate creator God, then either he was wrong or he was lying, thereby identifying himself as not-that-god, since God cannot lie and is never wrong.
Continue reading...

"Why Pray? If it changes God's mind then he is not sovereign. If it does not change God's mind then it is pointless."

First of all, prayer is much more than just petitioning God or asking Him to do things. Instead, it is both an opportunity to build a relationship with the God of creation, and also an outpouring of that relationship. In Jesus's model prayer, known as the Lord's prayer, found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, Jesus both begins and ends by praising the Father. He states His complete commitment to Him and dependence upon Him.
Continue reading...

"While holding rattlesnakes and speaking in tongues, have you ever been bitten? Does it hurt? "

Mark 16:17-18 "These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." My son had a snake once, but it was a boa, not a rattler. I picked it up many times and was not harmed. I also studied Spanish in school, but I was never very good at it.
Continue reading...

"If God is "just is", then why can't the universe "just be"?"

God has made it clear that this is not the case (Genesis 1:1, 2:4; Isaiah 42:5, 45:8, 45:18; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11, 10:6), and since He is perfectly knowledgeable (Job 37:16; Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 46:9-10; John 21:17; 1 John 3:20), perfectly honest (Exodus 34:6; 2 Samuel 7:28; Psalm 31:5, 57:10; John 1:14, 1:17, 14:6; Ephesians 4:21; Hebrews 6:18), and perfectly sovereign (1 Chronicles 29:14; Job 41:11; Psalm 119:91, 135:6; Ecclesiastes 11:5; Mark 10:27; John 1:3, 5:44;...
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"Can there be objective morality with a God? If God is the source of morality, then morality is subject to the will of God, so isn't it by definition subjective?"

There can only be objective moral values with God. When we state that objective moral values exist, what we mean is that there are moral values that govern all humans, regardless of whether or not those humans want those values to govern them, like those values, or accept those values. If moral values were the result of popular vote, then they would only govern humans because humans had decided to allow them to govern them. Then moral values would not be objective, but rather, subjective.
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"How can my mother enjoy Heaven, knowing that her atheist son will be tortured forever in the fires of Hell?"

Obviously, it is not important to you that you will be tormented forever in hellfire. Why should it bother your mother? Your mother's existence is not all about you, nor your father's or any of your friends' (Luke 14:26). Therefore, you should stop thinking that the universe revolves around you. If your mother is a Christian, she holds God first and foremost in her heart and soul and rejoices to see Him glorified.
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"Why did your omniscient and omnipotent god think it was a good idea to use a BOOK to relay his vitally important message to mankind?"

Interestingly enough, the book of Romans informs us that all we need to know about God has been revealed to us individually as part of our created essence, or nature, or being. Romans 1:18-20 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
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"If God really did create everything, how would anyone know?"

From a Christian perspective, we recognize that God created everything because He has told us that He did (Romans 1:19; Genesis 1; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16); indeed, apart from divine revelation, it is impossible to know anything at all. After all, since God created everything, and "everything" includes knowledge, our knowledge is ultimately created by God, and God's provision of knowledge to us is the very definition of divine revelation.
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"In Romans 1:23, God clearly says "you have brought down the image of the uncorruptible God to corruptible man". How then can you call Jesus God?"

This question is a continuation of an earlier question, linked to at the bottom of my answer. The question was asked in several parts, so I have compiled all of the questions together here, and will answer them all at once. In full, the questioner asks: "You mentioned that Jesus has two seperate identities. How? Did not Jesus say that he was 'the son of man'?
Continue reading...

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