My Arch Check-list

1: ping something to check connection

2: timedatectl set-ntp true

3: partition disk (I like fdisk) - I use a 16G swap for when im compiling.. just in case

4: format the partition you'll use for / .. mkfs.ext4 (I'm not adventurous)

5: mount it on /mnt

6: make your swap with mkswap

7: format the rest of you partitions that are PERTINENT to the install
        this represents the first time I blew it by trying to be cute with all my other volumes.
        What I found out was that it's best to only mount the volumes you'll actually need for pacstrap right now.

        So.. I'm my case thats
        /
        /boot
        /home

        7b (optional) Check the partitions with lsblk just to be sure you did it right


8: edit the mirrorlist the fun way: install 'reflector' with pacman
        pacman -Sy reflector

        8a: run it
        reflector --verbose --latest 6 --country 'United States' --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

        8b: refresh the repos: pacman -Syy

9: deal with the keys
        pacman-key --init
        pacman-key --populate archlinux
        pacman-key --refresh-keys

10: install the base and base-devel groups with
        pacstrap /mnt base base-devel

11: generate fstab
        genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab

        11a: optionally, review the fstab with cat and fix it with vim or whatever if you find an
        error. I never have, but i always cat it to check b/c it's mentioned in the wiki

12: chroot into the new install: arch-chroot /mnt

13: set up locales and keymaps and shiz
        ln -svf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Americas/New_York /etc/localtime

        assuming you're using American English keyboard and lang settings
        set the locale:
        echo 'en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8' > /etc/locale.gen
        and generate:
        locale-gen
        echo 'LANG=en_US.UTF.8' > /etc/locale.conf

        apparently this is optional: echo 'KEYMAP=US' > /etc/vconsole.conf
        but I always do it in the interest of thoughoughness.

14: set the hostname and edit /etc/hosts
        echo '<your_host_name>' > /etc/hostname

* NOTE: at this point, i install vim though vi and nano or emacs is fine

15: edit /etc/hosts by adding:
        127.0.1.1 <your_host_name>.localdomain  <your_host_name>

16: set the root password: passwd

17: make your user: useradd -m -g users -G wheel -s /bin/bash <your_user_name>

18: set the password for that user: passwd <your_user_name>

19: edit the sudoers file if you want your uswer to be able to sudo.  Use visudo and insert:
         <user_name> ALL=(ALL) ALL
        and uncomment the line allwing wheel to use sudo if that's appropo

20: install your video driver
        pacman -Sy xf86-video-ati or x86-video-nvidia or xf86-video-intel

21: install xorg meta-package: pacman -Sy xorg

22: install a display manager sddm, gdm or whatevs (i use sddm b/c im a Qt fanboi.. there's a joke in there somewhere)

23: enable it: systemctl enable <your_dm>

* NOTE: if you use a DE like Gnome or Plasma, you dont need to worry about installing  multimedia, it comes in those DE's

24: install desktop environments or whatever you use for GUI. I use Plasma so..
        pacman -Sy kde-applications-meta plasma-meta

25: enable NetworkManager: systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

26: exit chroot with: exit

27 reboot

DONE!

after log in, mount your other volumes and edit fstab manually. (every time i try to short-cut this with
some clever trick, it never ends well.