minimal, battery focused setup (archinstall and afterwards) (newbie)

[silent tree]

How should I setup arch using archinstall to be battery focused and minimal for C++ development (latest dev env) with a minimalistic wayland WM, DE, etc.

Laptop in question only would be used to code in C++, browse web and read some documents (pdf, docx, etc). Secondary machine for when away from home and no dual boot.

I will do some vulkan development as well.

What packages should I install and what should I do after installation?

What I will definitely need:
llvm, cmake, ninja, vulkan sdk, nvim, a browser
What I will probably need:
sway, powertop, tlp, etc

Note: Laptop in question will most likely be low end, but I don't have it yet, so I might consider some advice on this: (e.g. buy AMD gpu)

Note: I only used ubuntu and fedora before

Note: I'm trying to create a reproduceable setup

Any advice is welcome

minimal, battery focused setup (archinstall and afterwards) (newbie)

[smoky turret]

go full AMD for high compatibility
arch with kde plasma will do

just do a barebones install

[silent tree]

Any reason for kde plasma? I thought it's a bit bloated

[smoky turret]

wayland
it's not bloated

plasma can be minimal

can't recommend a WM since you're a new user

there's xfce but lacks wayland

[silent tree]

Well, I'm new to arch, I've used ubuntu and fedora before. I can figure some parts out.
I don't even think I need audio in this setup. That's not my main system

[smoky turret]

you could install pipewire and not use it

[silent tree]

Yeah, I just meant this wouldn't be my daily machine. So I could do without all the tools.

[smoky turret]

pipewire and network manager are required, but that doesn't mean you have to use them

it's like when you have windows but set audio to muted

[silent tree]

FYI I only want wayland for development purposes.
But if you still think I should go with KDE, I'll do it 😄

[smoky turret]

it's the easier way to have working system tbh

just install plasma with pipewire and network manager but no KDE apps

the only KDE apps that you'll need are dolphin, konsole, ark, okular, kate and gwenview

[silent tree]

Any other apps that I might need? Cause arch is a bit more barebones

Probably I'll need some stuff that's usually bundled with fedora/ubuntu

[smoky turret]

nah, that's the minimal plasma install

the rest of apps are up to you

then if you want, KDE connect

.aw kde connect

[slate copper]

KDE Connect

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/KDE_Connect

[silent tree]

Ok, thanks. I'll update you

[smoky turret]

since this is a dev install, you don't need kde apps

what I mentioned are the must have KDE apps

konsole = terminal
kate = notepad++ clone

okular = document/PDF viewer
gwenview = image viewer
ark = archive manager
dolphin = file manager

if you ever need more KDE features, just install them

@silent tree

fedora and ubuntu install waay too much packages that you won't use aka bloat
arch allows a granular selection for lightweight @silent tree

[silent tree]

From archinstall:

[silent tree]

Is there anything missing or bad or unnecessary?

[smoky turret]

Why are you adding plasma desktop? Archinstall does the installation of plasma when you select the desktop profile

[silent tree]

I selected minimal profile...

[smoky turret]

you're meant to use desktop profile

how about you run this on a VM to practice?

so you double check and learn before doing permanent changes on bare metal

nvm, wrong thread

mb

[smoky turret]

select desktop then kde plasma
that will install just the desktop, no KDE apps

[silent tree]

It's already VM tho. How else I would run it with non existing laptop 😄

[silent tree]

I thought it was just a single predefined profile...

[smoky turret]

sorry I mixed things up with another thread

[smoky turret]

anyways, since you're practicing, use KDE plasma

[silent tree]

Wouldn't multiple drivers cause problems?

[smoky turret]

use the right one for VM

you will use AMD/intel/nvidia on real hardware later

[silent tree]

How do I know which one is that. It's a virtualbox machine

nvm. I'm dumb

[smoky turret]

you can stream on VC, I suggest starting over to guide you
iirc this was a dual boot?

[silent tree]

Nope, it's single boot on a low end laptop for C++ and lightweight 3D with vulkan

I could come into VC, but not rn. 30mins?

[smoky turret]

then that will speed up things

use btrfs with snapper and archinstall to speedrun it

[silent tree]

You think I'll mess it up that bad? 😄

[smoky turret]

better be sure

I mean, I always advice to do preparation steps before archinstall

[harsh pendant]

'minimal' and 'battery focused' are so vague that they would need paragraphs worth of clarification
imo you should just manually install and follow the general recommendations or power management archwiki articles, then ask if you need help

archinstall works too though

for minimal wm, i use and recommend river, but yeah kde should also be fine, depending on your needs

dont know why youre looking for a minimal install in the first place

[silent tree]

I thought I explained that.
I have a desktop PC at home, but these days I have a few hours of free time away from home almost everyday.
So I wanna make use of that time by coding, but there is no plug.

I'll get a laptop, but it will be low end. So I want a lightweight setup which doesn't drain battery a lot

[harsh pendant]

ok so you need longer battery life

that is very different from a minimal setup

the archwiki recommends two articles:
https://ivanvojtko.blogspot.com/2016/04/how-to-get-longer-battery-life-on-linux.html https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_reduce_power_consumption

[silent tree]

Well, I want it to be minimal for 3 reasons:
1-) Performance. Minimalist setups simply does less, performs better and consumes less battery
2-) I only want this setup to browse the web and compile C++ code. I don't need anything else
3-) I don't care about the looks. I care about functionality => minimal animations, no wallpaper, etc.

TL;DR I want both minimal setup and long lasting battery. They also happen to align on doing less work.

Btw: they are a bit vague on purpose, cause I don't know specifics of a lot of things. I'm not much of tinkerer, so lacking a bit knowledge