Manjaro Linux (Xfce) on the Framework Laptop

[rpufky]

Guide

A detailed step-by-step guide is available here.

Function Lock
Function lock will throw you off if you are not aware of it. There is no keyboard indicator to represent it being on. The default state has function lock off, meaning the media keys are used if pressed without Fn. Enabling function lock will make the function keys report F1-F12.

Toggle: Fn+Esc. This persists across reboots. If you can’t get into boot-time menus, this is likely why.

AMT
If you have the pro model, disable AMT if you are not using it. See these instructions.

BIOS
Press F2 to get into the BIOS menu. Fn+F2 if function lock (Fn+Esc) is not enabled.

• Disable secure boot [arch does not support secure boot out of box] (Security > Secure Boot > Disable)
• Enable PS/2 Mouse [required for mouse support during live/install] (Advanced > PS2 Mouse emulation > Auto)
• Set appropriate hardware clock time

Install
Press F12 during boot to bring up boot devices. Fn+F12 if function lock (Fn+Esc) is not enabled.

Go through the standard USB install; I included non-free but both firmware options should work.

Set X11 Clock
The X11 clock may appear different from the hardware clock; this will sync the X11 clock to the hardware clock.

Super > Manjaro Settings Manager > time and date

• on: hardware clock in local time

Sync X11 clock to hardware clock (e.g. set X11 time w/ locale to hardware clock):

timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock

Greeter
The default lightdm GTK+ greeter does not work well on high DPI displays. Switch to lightdm-slick to make login screens more readable.

pacman -S lightdm-slick-greeter lightdm-settings

Ensure new greeter is set:
/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

greeter-session=lightdm-slick-greeter

Reboot the machine to confirm the new greeter is working, then remove the old greeter:

pacman -R lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings

Remap Capslock
Traditional methods to set keys are no longer honored. Use localectl. This sets the capslock key to control. (example in US, look into command for specifics):

localectl set-x11-keymap us pc105 ,query ctrl:nocaps

Disable Middle-click paste
The trackpad has three regions for left, middle, and right clicks. The middle click takes up a majority of the trackpad and leads to a lot of mis-pasting of text when attempting to left click. This disables middle mouse button to prevent this (middle mouse can still be used via other tricks, if needed):

Disable the middle-mouse button:
~/.Xmodmap

pointer = 1 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Reboot to pickup the changes. These can be immediately tested using

xmodmap -e “pointer = 1 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10”

But will not survive reboots. The default pointer configuration is pointer = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.

Steam
Currently out of the box, steam will appear blank, with black windows. This is a library issue which is likely to be fixed in the future.

To fix install the native steam libraries:

pacman -S steam-native linux-steam-integration

Launch steam via LSI Steam (steam via linux steam integration)

High DPI / Fonts
I’ve found that scaling (2x, etc) doesn’t look very good. Alternatively, I’ve found that manually adjusting font sizes without using scaling easier to use.

Super > Appearance > Fonts

• custom DPI: 120 (to preference with the fonts you are using)
• default font: 12 (increased to 12 point, to taste)

Super > Appearance > Settings

• window scaling: 1x (no scaling)

Super > Window Manager > Style

• title font: 14 (increased to 14 point, to taste)

See also

• Spotlight on Manjaro Linux: Interview with the team

[rpufky]

I cannot seem to edit this post anymore. Clock instructions update to prevent NTP sync wonkiness.

Set X11 Clock
Set the Hardware clock to UTC, and use ntp, timezones to set clock in Manjaro.

Super > Manjaro Settings Manager > time and date

on: set time and date automatically

Set RTC (realtime clock) to UTC, use NTP with timezone

timedatectl set-local-rtc 0
systemctl enable --now systemd-timesyncd
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles /etc/localtime

[Anil_Kulkarni]

FYI I was able to setup secure boot by using manjaro-architect to prep my installation, and then mostly following the steps here: https://gist.github.com/umbernhard/d1f4a44430d6d21b3881652c7a7c9ae5

My sbupdate.conf looks like this:

ESP_DIR="/boot"
OUT_DIR="EFI/Linux"
SPLASH="/usr/share/systemd/bootctl/splash-manjaro.bmp"
EXTRA_SIGN=('/boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI' '/boot/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi')
CMDLINE_DEFAULT="initrd=\amd-ucode.img initrd=\intel-ucode.img initrd=\initramfs-5.14-x86_64.img root=UUID=692da64a-1de3-4554-ac67-2ac60e5107b3 rw rootflags=subvol=/@ cryptdevice=UUID=afff539f-cc12-4fbc-988e-d616b8776fa0:defloofed quiet mem_sleep_default=deep"

(you’ll need to change the CMDLINE_DEFAULT to match your settings. I’m using btrfs + luks encryption

[tim300]

I just want to add that I followed most of the instructions from @rpufky for my initial setup, but I was never quite satisfied with the font and icon sizes. I kept fiddling with various settings in Xfce and Firefox. I almost switched to GNOME or Cinnamon out of frustration until I finally tried the following instructions from the ArchWiki page for HiDPI this morning…

Go to Settings Manager > Appearance > Settings > Window Scaling and select 2 as the scaling factor.

Go to Settings Manager > Window Manager > Style and select Default-xhdpi theme.

Go to Settings Manager > Appearance > Fonts > Custom DPI setting and change from 96 to 192

Set the environment variable GDK_DPI_SCALE=0.5 (e.g. in ~/.profile) to un-scale some fonts that would be scaled twice

Everything was messed up until I rebooted once after making these changes. After the reboot, I adjusted the Custom DPI down a little to 150, and now I’m very satisfied. I’m only noticing a few things within KeePass that don’t look right, but they weren’t quite right on Cinnamon either.

[nrp]

I’ve edited the first post to be a Wiki post.

[junaruga]

I added the Manjaro installation guide to the wiki. I adjusted the thread title, aligning with other Linux distro threads with wiki.

[tim300]

I can’t edit my last post anymore, but want to give an update:

I either didn’t notice it before or it just became a new option in the last few months, but now I see Matcha-sea-xhdpi under Window Manager > Style. This makes the window title bar and icons the proper size while keeping the theme consistent with Manjaro Xfce’s default Matcha-sea (under Appearance > Style).

A while back, I also adjusted Appearance > Fonts > Custom DPI Setting down a little more to 144.

Again, this is if you use 2x Window Scaling under Appearance > Settings, per the ArchWiki entry for Xfce and HiDPI, rather than the suggestion in the original post.

[Nicolas_Albright]

Just got my 12th gen and installed Manjaro (new to manjaro/arch).
When i snap any application to fullscreen, it misses the top 10% or so of the screen which just shows the desktop. I can move a window into this region, but how do I get it to snap to the entire screen? this happens even on different aspect ratios.

[Jose_Martinez]

On Manjaro xfce4 to get audio over HDMI (using a type-c adapter) I needed the following command: (to save time if someone is facing the same issue)

pactl set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo

[JL_Framework]

@rpufky

Toggle: Fn+Esc. This persists across reboots. If you can’t get into boot-time menus, this is likely why.

My goodness. That seems disastrous, at least when combined with the lack of a LED.