🧭 A Lazy Day Turned Linux Journey
It started as just another lazy Sunday afternoon. You know those days when you tell yourself, “I’ll just chill and maybe learn a thing or two.” I was halfway through a cup of coffee and watching some random Linux videos on YouTube when a few CLI tools caught my attention — ncdu, zoxide, exa, glances, and iotop.
These weren’t just eye-candy tools. They looked useful. So I thought, “Why not spice up my Arch install with some of these?” I fired up my terminal on Arch and typed ncdu.
Boom. command not found And just like that, my chill Sunday turned into a deep dive into the minimalist world of Arch Linux, AUR packages, and — later — a beautiful custom GRUB menu for my dual boot with Kali.
🚧 Part 1: Missing CLI Tools? Welcome to Arch.
If you’ve ever used Ubuntu or something more “beginner-friendly,” you might be used to a bunch of handy tools being pre-installed. Arch doesn’t believe in that. It’s all about giving you only what you ask for. Nothing more. Nothing less.
So when ncdu didn’t work, neither did zoxide or exa.
The Fix? Simple.
Official repo tools
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sudo pacman -S ncdu lshw fd zoxide glances iotop
AUR tools
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yay -S duf eza
💡 Note: exa is deprecated now. eza is its modern replacement — and it’s awesome.
🕵️ Part 2: termshark Error – Exit Status 13
Now here’s where things got spicy.
I was excited to try termshark, the cool TUI-based Wireshark alternative. But when I launched it:
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Could not enumerate network interfaces: exit status 13
Cue the dramatic music 🎻.
I started Googling. Turns out, termshark uses tshark, which in turn needs permission to read from network interfaces. And on Linux, raw socket access is sacred ground — not just any user gets in.
I had two options:
Option 1: Just Use sudo
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sudo termshark
It works. But who wants to run everything with sudo?
Option 2: The Right Way (Safer)
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sudo pacman -S wireshark-cli
sudo usermod -aG wireshark $USER
sudo chgrp wireshark /usr/bin/dumpcap
sudo chmod 750 /usr/bin/dumpcap
sudo setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_admin=eip /usr/bin/dumpcap
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reboot
After rebooting, termshark finally opened like a charm — no sudo needed. Clean and safe.
⚙️ Part 3: Dual Boot + Custom GRUB Theme = Chef’s Kiss
So here’s the setup: I’m running a dual boot — Arch Linux and Kali Linux.
Now, when I installed Arch after Kali, Arch’s GRUB loader took control (as expected in an EFI setup). That’s fine — Arch’s GRUB is easier for me to tweak.
But the default GRUB menu? Meh. It was plain, lifeless, and didn’t scream “You built this machine.”
So I decided to make it mine.
🎨 GRUB Customization – Step by Step
Picked a Theme Found a slick one online and modified it slightly to suit my setup.
Added Logos
✅ Arch Linux logo
✅ Kali Linux logo
Tuned Colors & Fonts Gave it that dark, hacker feel — Tron vibes 🌌
Placed the Theme
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/boot/grub/themes/ArenGrub
Edited the GRUB Config
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sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Added:
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GRUB_THEME="/boot/grub/themes/ArenGrub/theme.txt"
Updated GRUB
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sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Rebooted…
And there it was. My own custom GRUB menu, looking clean, colorful, and completely mine.
🧪 Commands Recap
Essential CLI tools
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sudo pacman -S ncdu lshw fd zoxide glances iotop
yay -S duf eza
termshark + tshark permissions
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sudo pacman -S wireshark-cli
sudo usermod -aG wireshark $USER
sudo chgrp wireshark /usr/bin/dumpcap
sudo chmod 750 /usr/bin/dumpcap
sudo setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_admin=eip /usr/bin/dumpcap
GRUB Theme
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GRUB_THEME="/boot/grub/themes/ArenGrub/theme.txt"
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
🧠 Final Thoughts
What started as a simple curiosity turned into hours of learning, fixing, and customizing.
This is why I love Linux.
It’s not just an operating system. It’s a playground for tinkerers, a battlefield for learners, and a canvas for creators. It breaks just enough to teach you. And when you fix it — it feels amazing.
If you’re dual booting like me or diving into the Arch world, don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Tweak, break, fix, repeat.
And remember…
You’re the architect of your system.