Go Ethereum, the official Go implementation of the Ethereum protocol, is available as the go-ethereum package: <code>$ yay -S go-ethereum </code>

Create an account with: <code>$ geth account new</code>

The client can be started with geth, and it will proceed to download several gigabytes of blockchain data. This will take a very long time. This time can be shortened with:

<code> $ geth --syncmode full --cache=1024 </code>

Higher cache values appear to speed up the process more.

Optionally, start the client with geth console to get a JavaScript console for more meaningful interaction. This console can then be attached-to from another terminal or remotely with geth attach [hostname:port defaults to localhost].

To check balances in the console or attach modes, use: <code>$ web3.fromWei(eth.getBalance(eth.coinbase), "ether")</code>

To start CPU mining, use: <code>$ geth --mine </code>This is far less efficient than GPU mining, and ethereum.org does not recommend it.