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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

References

  1. https://wideaperture.net/blog/?p=4503
  2. https://kb.parallels.com/124124
  3. https://itsfoss.com/install-arch-linux/
  4. https://www.ostechnix.com/adjust-size-root-partition-live-arch-linux/
  5. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/mirrors#Enabling_a_specific_mirror

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

"Would you accept that, had you been born in Saudi Arabia, you would more than likely be defending the Quran and Allah with the same vehemence that you now defend Christ?"

Absolutely not: if I were born in Saudi Arabia, reality would be incoherent. The only things that can happen are the things God has willed to cause to happen. If these things did not happen, it would only be because God willed not to cause them to happen. God only causes that which He prefers to cause, so for Him to have caused other than what He has caused, He would have to prefer other than what He prefers. However, He is who He is, and He cannot deny Himself (Exodus 3:14; 2 Timothy 2:13).
Continue reading...

"Why are books of faith, such as the Bible or Koran, seething with so much violence? Do you think that there is a relationship between the violence that has been perpetrated in the name of religion and the books of faith?"

The word "violence" often carries with it a connotation of evil. However, the definition of the word does not necessitate any kind of moral association. According to dictionary.com, the first definition of violence is "swift and intense force". Thus, we could comfortably say that a batter hits a baseball with violence, or a carpenter drives a nail into a piece of wood with violence. I can think of no one who would find these violent tasks to be inherently evil.
Continue reading...

"Does the "problem of evil" show that an all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing god cannot exist?"

The "problem of evil" generally goes something like this. 1. If God had all-power over our universe, he would have been able to prevent the wickedness of Adolf Hitler. 2. If God had all-knowledge of our universe, he would have known how to prevent the wickedness of Adolf Hitler. 3. If God were morally good, he would have wanted to prevent the wickedness of Adolf Hitler. 4. Adolf Hitler was wicked in our universe. 5.
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"Would you please provide step-by-step logic, or point me to where I might find it, for your statements about atheism and polytheism?"

Sure. Here is how I see it. First, we demonstrate that infinite regress is incoherent. 1. Infinite Regress is logically incoherent. Infinite regress would mean that we have completely iterated, one-by-one, through every single item of an infinite series. If we were to go backwards through each previous item, and there were an infinite number of past items, there would necessarily be some item in the set of previous items that we would never, ever get to.
Continue reading...

"How is the trinity monotheistic?"

Trinitarian doctrine declares the following three things: 1. There is only one God. 2. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. 3. These three persons are eternally distinct. Monotheism, according to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, is defined as "the doctrine or belief that there is but one god".
Continue reading...

"What's the most attractive thing about your worldview? What sets it apart from the others?"

Only Christianity can provide a solution to the problem of sin. We know that we aren't perfect. We know that we should do better. We know that there is a perfect moral law that governs us, and we don't live up to it (Romans 3:23). Atheism denies all of these obvious facts. Other worldviews recognize them, but tell us that we must do better -- that we must be perfect -- that we must fix the problem of sin. Christianity alone tells us the obvious truth -- that we can't be perfect.
Continue reading...

"Since there can be no evidence for something that can't be measured, is it at least fair to say that there is no empirical evidence for god, and therefore no reason to believe he exists?"

If there is no reason to believe something that can't be measured, why would anyone believe that "there is no reason to believe something that can't be measured"? This argument is self-defeating. If we accept it, we must apply it to itself. Once we apply it to itself, we see that it does not meet its own criteria. Then, we must reject it. In other words, if we accept your argument, we must reject your argument on its own terms. I hope this is clear. God bless.
Continue reading...

"Is rape acceptable or unacceptable in your worldview and why? What do your scriptures (if any) say?"

The God of the Bible condemns rape, and therefore, so do Christians. Beginning in the book of Genesis, we read about God's condemnation of rape: Genesis 34:2-7 (NASB) When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young girl for a wife.
Continue reading...

"How can you dare say that God wouldn't want everyone saved? What about John 3:16? I thought Jesus loved and gave up his life on the cross for the whole world? If not, why create and sustain them? Wouldn't he want them to receive EVERLASTING LIFE?"

John 3:16 (NASB) "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." These words from Christ are frequently quoted out of the greater context of the entirety of scripture. This statement tends to be used as a proof-text of the following claims, among others: 1. God loves every single human being individually. 2. God desperately wants every single human being to be in heaven. 3. Humans have free-will. 4.
Continue reading...

"Can non-Christian views be internally consistent?"

Non-Christian worldviews cannot be internally consistent. While the above statement is true, proving it is a different matter. However, its truth follows from the basics of the Christian faith. Since, in Christian theology, the Christian God is understood to be necessary, any deviation from that which is necessary would be impossible, entailing a logical contradiction.
Continue reading...

"In Romans 1:22-27 especially verse 25, it condemns those who turn God's incorruptible image into the image of corruptible man. Why then do so many Christians say Jesus is 'god incarnate' or even 'son of god'?"

Jesus is one person with two natures. One of His natures is divine (God) and the other is human (man). His God-nature is not His man-nature, and likewise, His man-nature is not His God-nature. They are distinct. Thus, Christians correctly refer to Jesus as both "God" and also as "man", all the while NEVER referring to God as man or man as God. This may sound confusing, but it really is not when put into perspective. Take the following analogy...
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"Re: your answer to my question "Should homosexuals be executed?". There is a clear conflict with Matt 7:1 and Rom 12:19. Discuss."

Matthew 7:1-5 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?
Continue reading...

"Are you absolutely sure that the Bible is not a work of Satan, the Father of Lies, appearing under the guise of an angel of light to deceive you? (2 Cor 11:14)"

This is a great example of a nonsensical question. 2 Corinthians 11:14 claims that "Satan disguises himself as an angel of light". John 8:44 states that Satan "is a liar and the father of lies". The question presupposes that 2 Corinthians 11:14 and John 8:4 are in fact true. It then goes on to suggest that if in fact these verses are true, mightn't they also be false? The answer is quite obviously, no.
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"Regarding your answer to Lev 11:13-19... Rather disingenuous of you don't you think? The list is a list of birds (apart from bats) so the writer (god?) meant "birds", not "insects" or "flying things"."

I don't think it was disingenuous in the slightest, but thanks for asking. Here is your argument as I understood it: 1. The 1500 BC Hebrew word "'owph" has to have the exact same meaning as the 21st century English taxonomical classification "Aves". 2. The 1500 BC Hebrew word "'atalleph" has to have the exact same meaning as the 21st century English taxonomical classification "Chiroptera". 3.
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"According to Christianity, do those of Jewish faith go to hell for not accepting that Jesus was the Son of God?"

Yes. Everyone has earned their place in hell, myself included (Romans 3:23, 6:23; Revelation 21:8). The only way that God has provided for us to get out of what we deserve is by trusting in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10; John 6:29). Everyone who denies Jesus their entire life is in turn denied by Jesus before His Father in heaven -- Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Atheist, Agnostic, etc (Matthew 10:33).
Continue reading...

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