Manjaro 17.0.2 GNOME Review with Screenshots

The new Manjaro 17.0.2 has been released few days ago. This is the latest stable version of Manjaro Linux which has many improvements, bug fixes and some GUI updates. Manjaro is an Arch based Linux distribution. On this review, we install Manjaro 17.0.2 on Virtualbox as guest machine on top of Ubuntu 16.04 host. 

Desktop First Impression

Manjaro 17.0.2 GNOME brings a nice and beautiful desktop with Manjaro default wallpaper. I like the GNOME desktop layout with Menu on the top left panel. Arc Maia GTK Theme and icon looks pretty cool with Arc Maia Dark as the GNOME Shell theme. 

Inside Manjaro 17.0.2

Manjaro 17.0.2 GNOME comes with the following:

• Linux Kernel 4.9.13
• GNOME Shell 3.24.2

Manjaro 17.0.2 GNOME use very small CPU footprint on idle. It also only uses less than 100 MB of my system memory during idle time. But when running in Virtualbox, I feel some lag when I clicked some menus. But I think this won't be a problem when we install it on a dedicated machine.

Improved Calamares GUI Installer

I notice some updates to the Calamares GUI Installer. Now installing Manjaro 17.0.2 even easier with this tool.

Bundled Applications

There are not many applications that come with 1.3 GB Live ISO. You will only have Firefox, stock audio and video player, GParted and some minor applications. There is no Office suite such as LibreOffice or OpenOffice. But I don't think that its a problem. We can easily add and remove applications using Pamac GUI application manager. 

Bottom Line

Manjaro 17.0.2 GNOME is a great operating system which brings the latest software on board. With all features that come along, run it on USB Live mode or install it on a dedicated system is recommended. It does not run well on Virtualbox. The response is very bad. 

Manjaro 17.0.2 is now available

The new version of Manjaro 17.0.2 is now available for download. This updated version brings a lot of improvements, better hardware detection, new graphical installer (Calamares) and many more. Manjaro is an Arch based Linux distribution, rolling release version which comes with many desktop environment options.

Manjaro 17.0.2 Features:

• Linux Kernel 4.9 series
• Latest Xorg 1.19
• Latest KDE Plasma 5
• Enhanced Calamares graphical installer
• Better hardware detection

Read the full release announcement.

Download Manjaro 17.0.2 ISO

• Manjaro 17.0.2 KDE ISO
• Manjaro 17.0.2 GNOME ISO
• Manjaro 17.0.2 XFCE ISO

Make your GRUB menu more eye catching with Vimix

Boring with the original black and white GRUB menu ? Don't worry, we can easily change or beautify GRUB menu using Vimix. Vimix is actually an addon for Grub Customizer that can be used to change the background of the Grub. It is good to have something like this upon system boot. 

Its nice isn't it? But how to make it? 

OK, first, we need to install two package. First, install Grub Customizer and also Vimix. You can use Pacman Software Manager or via Terminal. 

Search for vimix on the search box. And make sure you have enabled AUR repository. 

Install the package called grub2-theme-vimix-git. Don't forget to install Grub Customizer as well. 

How to change GRUB Background

1. Open Grub Customizer and switch to Appearance Settings tab. 
2. Select Vimix from theme list and then select background.png from the left panel.
3. Load your own .PNG image using the Load file button at the bottom. 
4. Once finished, go to File | Save.
5. Reboot Manjaro.  

Grub Customizer, a GUI application to modify Grub menu

Grub Customizer is a special application that can be used to modify the Grub menu entries, color and some other settings. Its a handy application that comes with nice GUI. Grub Customizer can be installed on Manjaro via Pamac Software Center. When this post is being written, the Grub Customizer 5.0.6 can be installed through Pacman command or Pamac Software Center. 

What Grub Customizer can do?

• Edit boot menu
• Change Grub background color
• Change the default Grub entry
• Modify boot delay

How to install Grub Customizer

Use the following command to install Grub Customizer on Manjaro

sudo pacman -S grub-customizer

Thank you

How to install Gnome Desktop Environment on Manjaro 17.0

This tutorial is going to show you how to install GNOME desktop environment on Manjaro 17.0. As you know, we may install multiple desktop environment on top of a distribution. For example, we can run Budgie Desktop and GNOME together. So we can choose which one to use. Its pretty simple and straight forward to install GNOME on Manjaro 17.0.

Steps to install GNOME on Manjaro 17.0

Step 1. Update Manjaro

To update Manjaro, execute this command on Terminal

sudo pacman -Syu

Step 2. Install GNOME

Use this command to install gnome and gnome extra packages

sudo pacman -S gnome gnome-extra

Output example:

[dhani@dhani-manjaro ~]$ sudo pacman -S gnome gnome-extra[sudo] password for dhani: :: There are 47 members in group gnome::: Repository extra   1) adwaita-icon-theme  2) baobab  3) empathy  4) eog  5) epiphany  6) evince   7) gdm  8) gdm-plymouth  9) gnome-backgrounds  10) gnome-calculator   11) gnome-contacts  12) gnome-control-center  13) gnome-dictionary   14) gnome-disk-utility  15) gnome-font-viewer  16) gnome-keyring   17) gnome-screenshot  18) gnome-session  19) gnome-settings-daemon   20) gnome-shell  21) gnome-shell-extensions  22) gnome-system-monitor   23) gnome-terminal  24) gnome-themes-standard  25) gnome-user-docs   26) gnome-user-share  27) grilo-plugins  28) gtk3-print-backends   29) gucharmap  30) gvfs  31) gvfs-afc  32) gvfs-goa  33) gvfs-google   34) gvfs-gphoto2  35) gvfs-mtp  36) gvfs-nfs  37) gvfs-smb  38) mousetweaks   39) mutter  40) nautilus  41) networkmanager  42) sushi  43) totem   44) tracker  45) vino  46) xdg-user-dirs-gtk  47) yelp
Enter a selection (default=all): 

Press enter to install all packages. Follow on screen installation wizard until it completed. Please note that this step requires internet connection. Make sure you are connected to the internet. 

How to fix error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/sync/extra.db: gzip decompression failed

I was trying to update/upgrade my Manjaro 17.0. I thing something went wrong with my internet connection and after that I got the following error:

error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/sync/extra.db: gzip decompression failed

The error appear every time I tried to install package using pacman command. So actually Pacman was unusable at this point. 

How to fix this error?

I was searching around google and found a simple solution for this error. Simply run the following command on Terminal

sudo pacman -Syy

Wait until the repository synced and now the error should be fixed.

Manjaro 17.0.2 RC2 is now available

Manjaro 17.0 aka Gellivara gets an update version 17.0.2. Even it still in Release Candidate version, the Manjaro 17.0.2 brings a lot of refreshment on board. Manjaro 17.0.2 is available XFCE, KDE and Gnome edition for 32 and 64 bit systems. 

What's new on Manjaro 17.0.2

• Updated stock kernel to linux49 4.9 LTS
• Updated the Xorg-Stack to v1.19 series
• Released Pamac v4.3 with native AUR-Support
• Enhanced and improved our Manjaro Tools & Profiles
• MHWD we adopted a more efficient way to handle libglx binaries
• Some of our themes got updated and new got designed

Download Manjaro 17.0.2 RC2

ArchLabs 4.1, Arch based Linux distribution that ROCKS !!!

I was a bit skeptic before downloading ArchLabs 4.1. Downloaded, boot it and now I enjoy it. I was expecting a text based interface just like its ancestor Arch Linux, with no desktop GUI etc. But all my perception were totally wrong. ArchLabs brings a simple and beautiful Openbox desktop which is very lightweight.

I tried several Arch based Linux distribution such as Manjaro and Antergos. But this ArchLabs feels more "Archy" than those two. ArchLabs 4.1 codename "Yoda" was released few days ago brings some updates such as:

• Decreasing initial boot times for live session
• Decreasing wait times for first use of sudo/root
• More wallpapers
• Additional custom conky configs
• Make the parts of ArchLabs a rolling release
• Trim down ISO size
• Implement a Welcome Screen

Please visit the official release note here.

For Manjaro users, ArchLabs should be familiar and if you want to switch to this distribution, should be no issues. ArchLabs 4.1 offers unlimited creativity and modifications. Conky, themes, icon theme are part that mostly tweaked to get a personalized look and satisfaction. 

ArchLabs Download

Interested? Go grab the ArchLabs ISO from this link. If you like, you can boot it onto Virtualbox. It comes with preinstalled Guest Additions, so full screen mode is enabled. Get it now and explore it your self.

Make your Manjaro looks more eye catching with OSX-Arc Theme

OSX-Arc Theme is a cool and beautiful GTK Theme. This tutorial will show you how to install OSX-Arc theme on Manjaro Linux. I am using Manjaro 17.0 MATE on this tutorial but it can be installed on any Manjaro Linux version and edition. 

INSTALLATION

OSX-Arc is available on AUR repository. Make sure you have enabled AUR on your Manjaro prior to the installation. You can read this post to see how to enable AUR repository on Manjaro. You can either install OSX-Arch via Terminal or using Pamac Software Manager.

There are several version of OSX-Arc Theme. You can choose or simply install them all. Once installation completed, you can activate it via Appearance or Tweak Tool.

How to install Budgie Desktop on Manjaro 17.0

This quick tutorial is going to show you how to install the latest Budgie Desktop on Manjaro 17.0 desktop. Why Budgie? Budgie is believed as a simple, lightweight and beautiful desktop environment for Linux. It was made popular by Solus OS. Budgie is actually a fork of GNOME desktop but way simpler and more lightweight.

In order to install Budgie Desktop on Manjaro, all you need is a working network connection. The Budgie Desktop is included in Pacman repository on Manjaro. You can either install Budgie Desktop via Terminal or Pacman GUI.

Install Budgie Desktop via Terminal

If you prefer to install using Terminal, use the following command to update and install Budgie Desktop on your Manjaro Linux.

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S budgie-desktop

The download process will started and in few minutes, the Budgie Desktop should be installed.

Install Budgie Desktop via GUI

Open Pacman software manager and type budgie on the search box. You will see any packages related to budgie will show up. Select budgie-desktop from the list and mark it for installation. Press Apply to confirm and the process will started.

Optionally, you can also install budgie-wallpapers and manjaro-budgie-settings that will make Budgie Desktop more usable.

Once complete, simply log out and re login to the new Budgie Desktop. 

Arch-Anywhere 2.2.7 is now available

Arch-Anywhere is a GUI tool to help us to install Arch Linux on our system. By default, Arch Linux installation does not comes with any GUI installer like most Linux distribution. For you who new to Linux, this could be a pain in the ass since there are many things to do in order to get Arch Linux installed. Thanks to Arch-Anywhere that simplify all the steps to install Arch Linux. 

Arch-Anywhere 2.2.7 includes many bug fixes and improvements. User can choose the desired Desktop Environment for Arch Linux ranging from Gnome, KDE, MATE, and many more. Also we can choose the display manager for every DE we choose. We can choose from lightdm, gdm, lxdm, sddm (default lightdm).

Arch-Anywhere is distributed in ISO format. Simply boot your computer or VM with this ISO and you can start install Arch Linux right away.

Download Arch-Anywhere 2.2.7 ISO