I’ve been a fan of i3wm for some time, tiling window managers are a lot cleaner than stacking window managers. I love being able to start an application and preset how much real estate it will have, and have no other applications cover it accidentally. i3wm is, to me, a lot like my favourite terminal multiplexer tmux.
This is how it looks right now, as I compose this blog post :-)
Installing i3wm on my raspberry pi was fairly simple
$ sudo apt install i3 suckless-tools i3status i3blocks rofi
I have installed
and added my own config file
I needed i3blocks and i3status for the status that I use (that provides me useful information like CPU usage, Audio Volume, and, of course, the Date/Time (which I forget!)
suckless-tools and rofi are for launching applications, a menu that I can search.
I used two things to change the defaults and get my Pi to boot to i3wm:
$ sudo update-alternatives --config x-session-manager
$ sudo update-alternatives --config x-window-manager
Finally, here is my ~/.config/i3/config file, that configures i3wm how I like it, with the hot keys and commands that get triggered (It largely follows the default).
# This file has been auto-generated by i3-config-wizard(1).
# It will not be overwritten, so edit it as you like.
#
# Should you change your keyboard layout some time, delete
# this file and re-run i3-config-wizard(1).
#
# i3 config file (v4)
#
# Please see https://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html for a complete reference!
set $mod Mod4
# Font for window titles. Will also be used by the bar unless a different font
# is used in the bar {} block below.
font pango:System San Francisco Display 20
# This font is widely installed, provides lots of unicode glyphs, right-to-left
# text rendering and scalability on retina/hidpi displays (thanks to pango).
#font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 8
# The combination of xss-lock, nm-applet and pactl is a popular choice, so
# they are included here as an example. Modify as you see fit.
# xss-lock grabs a logind suspend inhibit lock and will use i3lock to lock the
# screen before suspend. Use loginctl lock-session to lock your screen.
# exec --no-startup-id xss-lock --transfer-sleep-lock -- i3lock --nofork
# NetworkManager is the most popular way to manage wireless networks on Linux,
# and nm-applet is a desktop environment-independent system tray GUI for it.
exec --no-startup-id nm-applet
# Use pactl to adjust volume in PulseAudio.
set $refresh_i3status killall -SIGUSR1 i3status
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ +10% && $refresh_i3status
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ -10% && $refresh_i3status
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle && $refresh_i3status
bindsym XF86AudioMicMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-source-mute @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ toggle && $refresh_i3status
# Use Mouse+$mod to drag floating windows to their wanted position
floating_modifier $mod
# start a terminal
bindsym $mod+Return exec i3-sensible-terminal
# kill focused window
bindsym $mod+Shift+q kill
# start dmenu (a program launcher)
# bindsym $mod+d exec dmenu_run
# bindsym $mod+d exec rofi --show run -lines 5 -eh 2 -width 100 -padding 800 -opacity "85" -bw 0 -bc "$bg-color" -bg "$bg-color" -fg "$text-color" -hlbg "$bg-color" -hlfg "#9575cd" -font "System San Francisco Display 18"
bindsym $mod+d exec rofi -show run -lines 5 -show-icons -matching fuzzy -font "System San Francisco Display 20"
# bindsym $mod+d exec rofi --show run -lines 5 # -opacity "85" #-bw 0 -bc "$bg-color" -bg "$bg-color" -fg "$text-color" -hlbg "$bg-color" -hlfg "#9575cd" -font "System San Francisco Display 18"
# There also is the (new) i3-dmenu-desktop which only displays applications
# shipping a .desktop file. It is a wrapper around dmenu, so you need that
# installed.
# bindsym $mod+d exec --no-startup-id i3-dmenu-desktop
# change focus
bindsym $mod+j focus left
bindsym $mod+k focus down
bindsym $mod+l focus up
bindsym $mod+semicolon focus right
# alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
bindsym $mod+Left focus left
bindsym $mod+Down focus down
bindsym $mod+Up focus up
bindsym $mod+Right focus right
# move focused window
bindsym $mod+Shift+j move left
bindsym $mod+Shift+k move down
bindsym $mod+Shift+l move up
bindsym $mod+Shift+semicolon move right
# alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
bindsym $mod+Shift+Left move left
bindsym $mod+Shift+Down move down
bindsym $mod+Shift+Up move up
bindsym $mod+Shift+Right move right
# split in horizontal orientation
bindsym $mod+h split h
# split in vertical orientation
bindsym $mod+v split v
# enter fullscreen mode for the focused container
bindsym $mod+f fullscreen toggle
# change container layout (stacked, tabbed, toggle split)
bindsym $mod+s layout stacking
bindsym $mod+w layout tabbed
bindsym $mod+e layout toggle split
# toggle tiling / floating
bindsym $mod+Shift+space floating toggle
# change focus between tiling / floating windows
bindsym $mod+space focus mode_toggle
# focus the parent container
bindsym $mod+a focus parent
# focus the child container
#bindsym $mod+d focus child
# Define names for default workspaces for which we configure key bindings later on.
# We use variables to avoid repeating the names in multiple places.
set $ws1 "1"
set $ws2 "2"
set $ws3 "3"
set $ws4 "4"
set $ws5 "5"
set $ws6 "6"
set $ws7 "7"
set $ws8 "8"
set $ws9 "9"
set $ws10 "10"
# switch to workspace
bindsym $mod+1 workspace number $ws1
bindsym $mod+2 workspace number $ws2
bindsym $mod+3 workspace number $ws3
bindsym $mod+4 workspace number $ws4
bindsym $mod+5 workspace number $ws5
bindsym $mod+6 workspace number $ws6
bindsym $mod+7 workspace number $ws7
bindsym $mod+8 workspace number $ws8
bindsym $mod+9 workspace number $ws9
bindsym $mod+0 workspace number $ws10
# move focused container to workspace
bindsym $mod+Shift+1 move container to workspace number $ws1
bindsym $mod+Shift+2 move container to workspace number $ws2
bindsym $mod+Shift+3 move container to workspace number $ws3
bindsym $mod+Shift+4 move container to workspace number $ws4
bindsym $mod+Shift+5 move container to workspace number $ws5
bindsym $mod+Shift+6 move container to workspace number $ws6
bindsym $mod+Shift+7 move container to workspace number $ws7
bindsym $mod+Shift+8 move container to workspace number $ws8
bindsym $mod+Shift+9 move container to workspace number $ws9
bindsym $mod+Shift+0 move container to workspace number $ws10
# reload the configuration file
bindsym $mod+Shift+c reload
# restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3)
bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
# exit i3 (logs you out of your X session)
bindsym $mod+Shift+e exec "i3-nagbar -t warning -m 'You pressed the exit shortcut. Do you really want to exit i3? This will end your X session.' -B 'Yes, exit i3' 'i3-msg exit'"
# resize window (you can also use the mouse for that)
mode "resize" {
# These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode
# Pressing left will shrink the window’s width.
# Pressing right will grow the window’s width.
# Pressing up will shrink the window’s height.
# Pressing down will grow the window’s height.
bindsym j resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
bindsym k resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
bindsym l resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
bindsym semicolon resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
# same bindings, but for the arrow keys
bindsym Left resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
bindsym Down resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
bindsym Up resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
bindsym Right resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
# back to normal: Enter or Escape or $mod+
bindsym Return mode "default"
bindsym Escape mode "default"
bindsym $mod+r mode "default"
}
bindsym $mod+r mode "resize"
set $bg-color #2f343f
set $inactive-bg-color #2f343f
set $text-color #f3f4f5
set $inactive-text-color #676E7D
set $urgent-bg-color #E53935
# window colors
# border background text indicator
client.focused $bg-color $bg-color $text-color #00ff00
client.unfocused $inactive-bg-color $inactive-bg-color $inactive-text-color #00ff00
client.focused_inactive $inactive-bg-color $inactive-bg-color $inactive-text-color #00ff00
client.urgent $urgent-bg-color $urgent-bg-color $text-color #00ff00
hide_edge_borders both
# Start i3bar to display a workspace bar (plus the system information i3status
# finds out, if available)
bar {
status_command i3blocks -c ~/.config/i3/i3blocks.conf
position top
}
# new_window 1pixel
# default_border none
# exec_always --no-startup-id "i3-msg 'workspace 1; append_layout /home/shane/.config/i3/workspace-1.json'"
# lock screen
bindsym $mod+x exec $HOME/.lock.sh