You will occasionally see a $ before a command. This is mostly to differentiate the input (what you type), from the output, the computer provides.
Here’s an example:
$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk
└─sda1 8:1 0 465.8G 0 part /media/franz/4e619844-b92a-49bd-8b70-cf934abdc8eb
So the actual command is lsblk (you don’t write $).
On the other hand, if there’s only a command, and no output, we sometimes omit the $ like so:
lsblk
Pre-installation
Before you get started, ready a USB stick with the latest ISO image.
- Download pantherx-1.4.0-1.9fe5b49-image.iso.tar.gz (Beta 6.2,
145bb819cf8dd8a13534b430c6c6637b) - Extract the ISO
On Linux you can use tar:
tar -xf pantherx-1.4.0-1.9fe5b49-image.iso.tar.gz
Flash with dd
Plugin the USB stick and determine the name:
$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 1 14.9G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 1 1G 0 part /media/franz/GUIX_IMAGE
└─sda2 8:2 1 2.8M 0 part
nvme0n1 259:0 0 953.9G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 549M 0 part /boot/efi
└─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 953.3G 0 part
└─cryptroot 253:0 0 953.3G 0 crypt /
In my case, it’s /dev/sda, so I proceed with copying the ISO to this drive:
$ sudo dd if=pantherx-1.4.0-1.9fe5b49-image.iso of=/dev/sda status=progress
Password:
1110499840 bytes (1.1 GB, 1.0 GiB) copied, 284 s, 3.9 MB/s
2169320+0 records in
2169320+0 records out
1110691840 bytes (1.1 GB, 1.0 GiB) copied, 284.985 s, 3.9 MB/s
$ sync
Now un-mount / eject the drive:
sudo umount /dev/sda1
Flash with etcher
If you prefer a GUI tool that runs on your existing OS (Windows, MacOS, other Linux), have a look at etcher.
First steps
Now just plugin the USB stick into the target computer, and boot from it. Most commonly, you can get a boot device selection with F11.
Once you have booted from USB, you will be greeted with “Locale language” selection.
(1) Select your locale
(2) Select your location
Select “Install using the shell based process”.
If you’re connected via LAN cable, you probably already have internet. Skip ahead to installation.
Connect to the Internet
Now that you’re in the command line, it should read “Welcome to the Installation of PantherX OS!”. Before you continue, you need to establish a internet connection. If you are connected with a LAN cable, that might already have happened.
Here’s how you verify whether you’re connected:
$ px-install network-check
------
Welcome to PantherX Installation v0.0.30
For guidance, consult: https://wiki.pantherx.org/Installation-guide
For help, visit https://community.pantherx.org
------
######## RESULT ########
Found 1 suitable network adapters
1. Adapter
Name: enp2s0
State: UP
Address: | IP: 192.168.1.73 Broadcast: 192.168.1.255 | IP: fe80::6e4b:90ff:feed:9578 Broadcast: None
You appear to be online.
Run 'px-install run' to continue with the setup.
One of the listed interfaces, should have a valid IP address. For example 192.168.1.69. If that’s the case, you can proceed to the next step. If not, here’s how you connect:
Either LAN or WLAN must be working before you can proceed. Here’s how you configure either:
Wired Network (LAN)
To configure a wired network run the following command, substituting interface with the name of the wired interface you want to use:
$ ifconfig INTERFACE_NAME up # for ex. enp2s0
Now try to get a IP address:
$ dhclient -v INTERFACE_NAME # for ex. enp2s0
Wireless Network (WLAN)
Try our new px-install wifi-setup, or configure manually:
To configure wireless networking, create a configuration file for the wpa_supplicant configuration tool:
$ nano wpa_supplicant.conf
with the following content:
network={
ssid="YOUR_WIFI_NAME"
key_mgmt=SECURITY_STANDARD
psk="YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD"
}
once you’re done, this should look roughly like this:
network={
ssid="MyWirelessNetwork"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="3295e09f-241b-4a06-a492-f3f3cc95c24d"
}
You can find more examples and options here: wpa_supplicant.conf: Linux man page.
To start the wireless service, and run it on interface in the background:
$ wpa_supplicant -c wpa_supplicant.conf -i INTERFACE_NAME -B
# Example
$ wpa_supplicant -c wpa_supplicant.conf -i enp2s0 -B
Note If this doesn’t work, you might want to try to check your network with rfkill:
$ rfkill
ID TYPE DEVICE SOFT HARD
0 bluetooth tpacpi_bluetooth_sw unblocked unblocked
1 bluetooth hci0 unblocked unblocked
2 wlan phy0 unblocked unblocked
If the wlan interface is blocked, you can unblock it with rfkill unblock wlan.
Now try to get a IP address:
$ dhclient -v INTERFACE_NAME
# Example
$ dhclient -v wlan0
SSH access (OPTIONAL)
If you want to continue with the installation remotely, load the SSH server and set a root password:
$ herd start ssh-daemon
Service ssh-daemon has been started.
$ passwd
New Password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Now simply connect via SSH from another computer: ssh root@192.168.1.67.
Installation
Pro-Tip: Download and run the latest installer
We have come-up with a simple installer that automates all steps. You can go ahead with the defaults (username: pantherx) with:
px-install
or customize username, password and so on with:
px-install run
Once the installation has completed, it should read something like this:
guix system: bootloader successfully installed on /dev/sda
Now simply reboot with
reboot
- You can find out more about px-install at git.pantherx.org/published/px-install.
- Tip: SSH is disabled by default on Desktop so you won’t be able to reconnect after reboot without enabling it first
Post-installation
Once you login for the first time, there’s a couple of things to be aware of.
General
We’ve put together a welcome screen that guides you trough the essentials:
(1.1) Set new user and root password
You will be prompted for your desired user and root (administrator) password.
Once you confirm, you will be prompted for the password you set during the installation, to confirm the change. This should be the same password you used to login.
(1.2) Update your system (opens Software; then just click “Update”)
You will be prompted for your new user password to confirm.
This will take a while; In the meantime you can confirm your (2) Syncthing and (3) Albert configuration.
Once the update is completed, the buttons (Updating…, Cancel), will return to “UPDATE ALL”. As this happens, you can close Software.
(1.3) Changing the theme (dark/bright)
You have the option to stick with the default, dark theme or switch to a bright theme.
(1.4) Reboot
After you confirm the update (1.2) has completed, you can reboot your system.
Syncthing
With Syncthing, you can share any number of files and folders between your devices (Desktop & Mobile) and friends, family, co-workers or clients. It requires no account or subscription, and your data remains yours.
You will be promted to setup Syncthing:
- Open the Settings
- Go to “Tray” (left sidebar) and look for the tab “Connection”
- Click “Insert values from local Syncthing configuration”
- Select “Connect automatically on startup”
- Confirm with “Apply”
Whenever you want to activate Syncthing, just click on the traybar icon (grayed out circle) and click “Continue”.
Albert
Very useful quick-launcher to open applications and control your system.
You will be promted to setup Albert; it’s an incredibly useful utility that not only helps you launch apps, but does calculations, plays music - really whatever you want.
PantherX Hub
You should do this after update and reboot
If you want to use Hub, you need to setup a account first.
- Open ‘Settings’ > ‘Online Accounts’
- Add a account
Hub currently supports GitLab, GitHub, Email (via ClawsMail), Discourse and Mastodon notifications. This list will expand in the coming months.
Get Help
This is a beta release, so please keep a few things in mind:
- We do not accept bug reports at this time
- We only provide limited support on our community forum
- We try to release updates on a 2-week basis
Have a great time on PantherX OS
Forum
We encourage you to look around the Wiki and go to community.pantherx.org to seek help from the community.