ABOUT ArchEX Build 241117
I’ve made a new extra version of ArchEX with the MATE Desktop environment. This ArchEX version replaces version 240101, which had Pantheon as DE. At the moment (241117) Pantheon doesn’t work in Arch Linux. After a full system upgrade the Pantheon menu is gone and you can’t get it back.

ABOUT MATE: The MATE Desktop Environment is the continuation of GNOME 2. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.

IMPORTANT NOTE: ArchEX with MATE works very well when running live on my six computers. Calamares Installer is not installed in Build 241117. You can nevertheless install ArchEX Build 241117 to hard drive if you follow my instructions…
It is quite simple. Basically only ONE command is needed.

Study all installed packages in Build 241117…

Log in to MATE
When the boot process is ready you will end up at LightDM‘s login page. Log in to the MATE Desktop as the ordinary user user with password live or as root (“Other”) with password root.

Program Management in Arch Linux
Arch Linux uses a proprietary system called Pacman. It is similar to that found in CRUX Linux. Read about Pacman.
You can also read all the documentation on Arch Linux. Four commands are basically the only ones you need to use:
1) pacman -Sy (update the packages database)
2) pacman -Syu (upgrading the whole system)
3) pacman -S MyUsefulProgram (the package installation command)
5) pacman -S ‐‐overwrite MyUsefulProgram (in case you get an error about “conflicting packages”)
6) pacman -R MyBadProgram (remove a package)
Very simple!
7) pacman -Scc (clean pacman cache)

Note: You can also use Yay – see below.

Errors about archlinux-keyring
If you get errors about keys (for example key A634567E8t6574 could not be looked up remotely) when trying to upgrade your system you shall run the following four commands as root:
rm -R /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
rm -R /root/.gnupg/
gpg ‐‐refresh-keys
pacman-key ‐‐init && pacman-key ‐‐populate archlinux
pacman-key ‐‐refresh-keys
If that don’t work you can try this approach:
pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring
pacman-key ‐‐populate archlinux
pacman-key ‐‐refresh-keys
pacman -Sy
pacman -Syu

Yay – Yet Another Yogurt – An AUR Helper
If you want to install certain special packages for example Google Chrome and Spotify you can/must install Yay. Study this tutorial about how to install and use Yay – Yet Another Yogurt – An AUR Helper Written in Go.  If you want to install new packages through Yay you’ll have to run the command su user before yay -S MyNeededProgram. If you’re not logged in as the ordinary user user. (You can’t run Yay as root). Yay is pre-installed in ArchEX Build 241117/240509/240106.

UEFI/non-UEFI computers
ArchEX Build 241117/240509/240106 is now also for UEFI computers. I.e. before you can run ArchEX live you don’t have to go into BIOS and change Boot Mode to Legacy Support.

SCREENSHOTS
1. The MATE Desktop for the ordinary user user
2. Showing a WiFi connection
3. Showing a Samba connection
4. Showing a manual installation of ArchEX in VirtualBox

DOWNLOAD
ArchEX Linux Live Systems (all three versions) can be downloaded from SourceForge.net – Fast, secure and free downloads from the largest Open Source applications and software directory.

md5sum for the ISO file which is of 3820 MB

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RaspArch Build 240302 for Raspberry Pi 5 and Raspberry Pi 4
RaspArch is a “ready-to-go” ARM (aarch64/arm64) system. It can only run on a Raspberry Pi 5 or Raspberry Pi 4 computer.  All included packages have been updated to the latest version as of 240302. The Desktop Environment is LXQt 1.4.

A member on RaspEX wrote this about an old version of RaspArch: I’ve used Slackware, Debian, Gentoo, Ubuntu & Arch. I prefer Arch. Ubuntu is easier to install, Arch is easier to keep up to date. You do not go through big, painful, changes every year instead you just update, once in a while, make changes if instructed. Arch has most of the benefits of Gentoo without the pain of recompiling _everything_. When you do need to build a package in Arch its painless especially if you use one of the tools that support AUR (I like Yaourt). Arch avoids the politics of Debian and Ubuntu and delivers a great Linux distribution. RaspArch now brings these advantages to the Pi 2.

Screenshot of RaspArch’s Desktop