First Steps

Logging in the first time
After installing Arch Linux ARM, you'll have to remove the SSH key your Mac or Linux box saved when you connected via SSH the first time to run the installation. Remove it by running:
ssh-keygen -R 192.168.1.123 # (using your device's IP)

Next, use SSH to connect to Arch Linux ARM:
ssh root@192.168.1.123

The root password by default is "root".

Setting the time and date using OpenNTP
Do this before changing the root password, making new users, or anything else. Due to the fact that several ARM devices do not have hardware clocks, getting the time from the network or Internet is required for basic things like SSH, authentication, and encryption to work well.

Install OpenNTP with:
pacman -Sy openntpd

Enable NTP sync on startup by changing the DAEMONS line in /etc/rc.conf to blacklist "hwclock" and turn on openntpd:
nano /etc/rc.conf # Scroll all the way down using the arrow keys... DAEMONS=(!hwclock syslog-ng network netfs crond openntpd sshd)

Setting the time and date manually
If your device has a hardware clock and a battery, using NTP is not required. Set the date with:
date -s "30 NOV 2011 18:54:00"

Sync your system time with the hardware clock:
hwclock --systohc

Setting the root password
The second thing you should do upon connecting to your new Arch Linux ARM installation is to change the root password, which is "root" by default. As the root user, run:
passwd root

Making new Linux users
Using the root user for day-to-day tasks is generally a bad idea. Make a new user by running:
adduser

Follow the prompts, accepting the default UID and default group (users). For extra groups, you can add the user to lp,power,wheel,storage,power,audio,video groups. For more information, see the ArchWiki.

Setting up sudo
sudo comes in handy for doing administration tasks without logging in as root. To set up sudo, see the ArchWiki.

Bash command completion is not enabled by default when prefixing a command with sudo. Fix this by adding the following line to a user's ~/.bashrc file:
complete -cf sudo

How do I install packages and use Pacman?
For an in-depth, but quick, introduction to installing, removing, and managing packages, see Package Management.

How to I get up-to-date?
Usually by running pacman -Syu all available updates will be downloaded and installed automatically. Read the output for any manual commands you may have to run.

How do I set a static IP address?
To set up a static IP address instead of using DHCP, follow these steps to edit the /etc/rc.conf file.

I didn't make a swap partition, how do I make a swapfile?
Not enough RAM, forgot to make a swap partition? Make a swapfile!

I want to set up a package, but I can't find a guide.
Arch Linux ARM can utilize the power of the Arch Linux Wiki for guides on how to set up LAMP, Samba, or other applications.