EndeavourOS on Nathanial’s MacBook Air

A small, auditable setup for EndeavourOS or Arch Linux with GNOME on the 2015 MacBook Air (MacBookAir7,2). It installs the selected laptop apps, configures a Mac-inspired GNOME dock, and applies MrDemonWolf branding.

Fresh install warning: the installer erases the Mac’s internal SSD. Back up anything you need before proceeding.

For the full visual, copy-friendly reinstall checklist, use the interactive install guide.

Contents

• Install EndeavourOS
• Run setup
• Apps included
• Focused repair actions
• GNOME shortcuts
• Validation and safety

Install EndeavourOS

Use the online installer and select GNOME. Before erasing the disk, confirm that the selected drive is the internal Apple SSD (about 466 GiB on this Mac).

Recommended choices:

• Keep EndeavourOS’s Desktop-Base + Common packages and recommended defaults. Keep Firefox for the initial setup; ./setup.sh all offers to remove Firefox and its local data at the end.
• Keep the regular linux kernel and add the LTS kernel as a fallback.
• Select Printing support (CUPS). Wait to select vendor-specific printer support until you know the office printer model.
• Choose Erase disk and Encrypt System. Save the disk passphrase; you will enter it at startup.
• Keep the automatic systemd-boot setup. Do not create partitions or a volume group manually. Skip a separate swap partition; hibernation needs a later encrypted swapfile setup.
• Create a normal user account. Run this repository as that user, never as root.

In the live desktop, accept EndeavourOS’s Broadcom Wi-Fi driver offer if it appears, then load a webpage before starting the online install. If Wi-Fi fails, stop and use another working network connection. Accepting that prompt should carry Wi-Fi into the installed system; ./setup.sh apps keeps Arch’s broadcom-wl-dkms package installed with headers for the regular and LTS kernels. If Wi-Fi is missing after the first login, connect USB Ethernet or another working network before running the setup commands, and keep it available until setup finishes.

If the Mac shows its startup picker after installation, hold Option (⌥) and choose EFI Boot. At the GDM login screen, choose GNOME.

Run setup

Open GNOME’s built-in terminal app (setup installs Ghostty later). If Git is missing, install it first:

sudo pacman -Syu --needed git

Clone the repository and install its local Ansible prerequisites:

mkdir -p ~/Developer
cd ~/Developer
git clone https://github.com/nathanialhenniges/linux-setup.git
cd linux-setup
./setup.sh bootstrap
./setup.sh status

Chrome can open the guide on the Mac before the rest of setup:

./setup.sh chrome
google-chrome-stable 'https://nathanialhenniges.github.io/linux-setup/' >/dev/null 2>&1 &

Review the no-change plan, then run the full setup:

./setup.sh --dry-run all
./setup.sh all

all asks for your sudo password once and refreshes the temporary sudo ticket while it runs. Ansible does not ask for a second BECOME password. Separate approval prompts may still appear for AUR builds, package changes, detected cleanup items, or ChatGPT’s full-system upgrade if ChatGPT needs installation. all also runs the dotfiles linux-desktop.sh profile and sets /usr/bin/zsh as your login shell. At the end, choose whether to remove Firefox and its local data. Reboot after setup:

reboot

After logging back in to GNOME, verify:

cd ~/Developer/linux-setup
./setup.sh verify

Setup checks the OS and Mac model before changing the system. If it displays a mismatch, review the detected values and type CONTINUE only if you accept the warning. --accept-target-warning is the explicit option for non-interactive runs; it does not bypass the architecture, package-manager, non-root, or SSH safety checks.

Apps included

App	Where it appears	Install source
Files	Dock	GNOME
Google Chrome	Dock	AUR
1Password	Dock	AUR; setup checks the vendor signing-key fingerprint before import
Telegram	Dock	Flathub
Discord	Dock	Arch repositories
Notion	Dock and app grid	Chrome web-app shortcut
ChatGPT	Dock	OpenAI’s signed Arch repository
Cider	Dock	Flathub
Visual Studio Code	Dock	AUR
Ghostty	Dock	Arch repositories
Plex Desktop, Upscayl	App grid	Flathub
LibrePods	App grid and tray	Checksum-pinned AppImage; starts minimized after login

Chrome also gets web-app shortcuts for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Notion, and Quo. Sign-ins and account setup stay manual. Trash is shown in the dock. Apple Messages and Reminders do not have native Linux apps in this setup.

Focused repair actions

Run only the step you need. Preview mutating actions with --dry-run first.

Command	Purpose
./setup.sh status / state / verify	Check readiness, package state, or required setup
./setup.sh camera	Check FaceTime HD packages, driver build, and video device
./setup.sh base	Reinstall base packages and laptop power profiles
./setup.sh apps	Install laptop apps, Wi-Fi support, Flatpaks, LibrePods, and ChatGPT
./setup.sh tools	Reinstall the selected command-line tools
./setup.sh desktop	Apply wallpaper, Chrome shortcuts, and account photo
./setup.sh gnome-dock	Configure dock favorites, extensions, appearance, and shortcuts
./setup.sh branding	Rebuild the black Plymouth splash with a static wolf logo and visible disk-unlock prompt, without the spinner animation at startup, shutdown, or reboot
./setup.sh display-manager	Restore GDM as the login manager
./setup.sh profile-picture	Set the account photo again
./setup.sh chatgpt-app	Update ChatGPT from OpenAI’s signed Arch repository
./setup.sh cleanup-legacy	Remove the known old ChatGPT shortcut and optionally remove old Hyprland packages
./setup.sh remove-hyprland	Review and optionally remove the listed Hyprland packages
./setup.sh cleanup-terminals	Review and optionally remove extra terminal apps; keep Ghostty
./setup.sh purge-firefox	Remove Firefox and its local profile data, leaving Chrome untouched
./setup.sh dotfiles	Run the dedicated dotfiles linux-desktop.sh profile, then set zsh as your login shell
./setup.sh drive / terminal	Show the browser-only Google Drive steps or how to open Ghostty

./setup.sh all groups related Ansible actions to avoid repeating startup checks. Dash to Dock and AppIndicator are configured for the next GNOME login. Reboot after removing Hyprland or changing boot branding. The boot splash is separate from the text-only systemd-boot menu and the Mac firmware picker.

GNOME shortcuts

GNOME uses dynamic workspaces: it adds workspaces as windows need them and removes empty ones. Use Super+Page Up / Super+Page Down or Ctrl+Alt+← / Ctrl+Alt+→ to move between workspaces.

On this Mac, Command (⌘) maps to Super in Linux:

Shortcut	Action
⌘+Space or ⌘+A	App grid
⌘+Return	Open Ghostty
⌘+E	Open Files
⌘+Q	Close window
⌘+F	Fullscreen
⌘+L	Lock screen
⌘+Shift+S	Screenshot options
Ctrl+⌘+Space	Switch keyboard layout

The desktop keeps GNOME’s built-in dark style and left-side window buttons. No downloaded theme pack is required.

Validation and safety

Run the setup and browser checks locally:

test_setup.sh needs ansible-core and the pinned community.general collection. On the laptop, ./setup.sh bootstrap installs both. On a development machine such as a Mac, where setup.sh refuses to run, install ansible-core and run ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml.

./tests/test_setup.sh
npm ci
npm run build:guide
npm run test:guide
git diff --check

The guide test uses Playwright and headless Chromium, checks keyboard and checklist behavior at desktop and mobile widths, and writes screenshots in the system temporary directory. If Chrome or Chromium is not installed, install Playwright Chromium once with npx playwright install chromium. You can set GUIDE_SCREENSHOT_DIR to choose a different screenshot folder.

Run both test suites in containers on your development machine:

./tests/run_container.sh
./tests/run_browser_container.sh

It requires a running Docker engine (Docker Desktop or Colima on macOS), builds an x86-64 Arch test image, and tests the guide in the official Playwright image. Each runner removes its task container and newly created test images when it exits; existing images and unrelated containers are preserved. Do not install Docker on the target MacBook. Container checks cannot confirm hardware, GNOME session behavior, encrypted boot, or the camera on the actual laptop.

Protected main requires the Arch container and Guide and browser CI checks. GitHub Pages deployment is gated on both checks passing.

Setup keeps package installation sequential: pacman, yay, and Flatpak must not compete for package locks. Grouped Ansible phases run only their selected tasks; missing Flatpak apps share one installation transaction. CI builds and checks the guide stylesheet once inside its browser container. These changes reduce repeated work; they are not a measured laptop speed claim.

The setup is restricted to EndeavourOS or Arch Linux on x86-64 MacBookAir7,2, uses a localhost Ansible inventory, and runs as a normal user. --dry-run prints a reviewed plan without sudo, network access, or managed-state writes. AUR package builds remain interactive. sshd is never enabled or configured; OpenSSH is installed only for its SSH client. Chrome Remote Desktop is used only as a browser client; this setup does not install the remote host.

See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md for upstreams and licenses, and SECURITY.md for the repository safety boundaries.