knaveightt / knaves-club

Knave's C_onfigured L_inux U_sing B_spwm (dotfiles for my workspace)

Knave's C.L.U.B.

Knaveightt's Configured Linux Using Bspwm, my dotfiles for what I consider the core of my linux configuration.

Description

These are my dotfiles for what I consider the core of my linux workstation, using the bspwm window manager. I will list out and maintain the configuration files for the core scripts and applications for this setup, and I loosley plan on writing some sort of deployment script for a (more) easy installation to other systems as well.

Usage Info

Typically, if I am setting up a workstation from scratch to use this core environment, I will first and foremost make sure I have a working default X instance and working internet to download packages. Number one priority is an updated base installation with a working internet connection. Once there, I start to setup the vanilla graphical session with X and a WM.

For example on Void Linux, I will ensure I have installed xorg, xinit, bspwm, sxhkd, and xterm. I will confirm the following:

• I copied over the default config files for bspwm/sxhkd
• I quickly update sxhkd to call xterm for a temporary terminal solution
• I copy over the default xinitrc, and edit it to launch bspwm
• Give startx a go!

Once there, I will typically install and configure git so I can get the latest version of this repository to guide me through configuration. Then, I'll try to setup my build of st, and have my working configuration of neovim. After getting those installed and configured, this is typically the first good stage to confirm I am comfortable with my colorscheme choices, and edit my Xresources file appropriately. Lastly I'll install my build of dmenu before setting up the rest of my foundational programs.

At this point I now begin to incorporate my bwpwm and sxhkd settings from this repository. This does mean downloading of some extra packages that are called from my bspwm script:

• dunst
• nitrogen
• bsp-layout (get latest from github)

I'll comment out and hold off installing the bar and system tray at the moment. To make this work however, I'll also bring in my scripts to the .local/bin folder, and my bashrc / profile scripts. To make my scripts work, the following are required:

• xbacklight
• xtitle
• nvimpager
• neofetch
• starship (plus use the config file in this repository)
• Note, you will need to enable users to run /bin/shutdown using sudo w/o passwd

Once comfortable with the above, I'll then work on getting my bar setup, as well as the system tray. To make my bar work, the following are required:

• make sure the necessary fonts have been installed
• acpi
• htop
• xprop
• lemonbar-xft
• trayer-srg
• NetworkManager, network-manager-applet (make sure you disable dhcpcd, wpa_supplicant and enable NetworkManager service, plus ensure dbus is installed and enabled as well as polkit) This is also a second good place to make sure I am comfortable with my theme and colors.

Once Here, I'll make sure i am comfortable with power managemnet (via acpi), and have a screenlocking mechanism (xscreensaver)

The rest of this section is TBD Still to plan for includes:

• power management (thinking of powerkit/xscreensaver)
• shutdown/logout/locking management (thinking of powerkit/xscreensaver)
• any dependencies for the bash prompt / bashrc scripts
• other general configuration items like
  • visudo file updates to allow shutdown without password
  • system logging
  • anything else in the void linux configuration handbook

Applications

Here I will list out the core applications that are used in this configuration setup. This repo is a work in progress, so I will update the table below as I go.

Foundational

Function	Application	Configuration Status	Hard Dependency	Config Depdendency
Window manager	bspwm	Complete	None	{sxhkd,dunst,lemonbar,trayer},xrdb,nitrogen
Hotkey setup	sxhkd	50% Complete	None	[kc-logout,kc-windows,kc-brightness],{st,nvim,dmenu},lightdm,firefox,xfce4-appfinder,lfrun,thunar,weechat,kvirc
Terminal	st	Complete	None	(see repository)
Editor	neovim	Complete	None	(see repository)
Launcher	dmenu	Complete	None	(see repository)
Notifications	dunst	Complete
Bar	lemonbar	Complete
System Tray	trayer	Complete
Screen Lock	xscreensaver	Not Started

Terminal Applications

Function	Application	Configuration Status
File Explorer	lf	Not started
IRC	weechat	Not Started
Email	neomutt	Not Started

GUI Applications (for launching via hotkeys)

Function	Application	Configuration Status
Web Browser	firefox	Complete
File Explorer	pcmanfm	Complete, uses gvfs, udisks2
IRC Chat	kvirc	Complete
Email Client	thunderbird	Not started

Utility Scripts

Function	Script Name	Configuration Status
Shutdown Script	kc-logout	Complete
Reload Config	kc-reload	Complete
Window Switch	kc-windows	Complete
Reload WM/Key/Bar Menu	kc-reload	Not started
Configuration File Browser	kc-configs	Not started
Emoji Viewer	kc-emojis	Not started
Clipboard Viewer	kc-clip-view	Not started
Bookmark Viewer	kc-bookmarks	Not Started

Hotkeys Configured

Here is a list of hotkeys for this window manager configuration. Each key assumes the mod key is also pressed as well.

• Escape launch Shutdown script

• Enter launch terminal

• CTRL+r reload WM script (reload BSPWM or reload SXHKD)

• q Quit/Kill window, Q reserved for volume control

• w list windows script, W GUI Web Browser (Firefox)

• e terminal file explorer (lf), E GUI File Explorer (pcmanfm)

• r terminal IRC (weechat), R GUI IRC (KVIRC)

• t terminal email (neomutt), T GUI Email Client (Thunderbird)

• a application launcher, A launch auto-configured set of applications (TBD)

• s search in Web, S sticky current window

• d toggle tiling mode (tiled,monacle), D or CTRL+D cycle to the next or prev node/window

• f toggle fullscreen window, F toggle floating window

• z go back to previous focused window, Z lock screen

• x execute command (dmenu_run), X launch xkill

• c launch Emoji Viewer, C launch Configuration File Browser

• v launch Clipboard Viewer, V clear clipboard history

• b launch Bookmark Explorer, B toggle bar visibility

• n launch seperate Neovim window

Miscellaneous

Just posting some lemonbar links as I am highly interested in taking a minimal approach and using lemonbar + trayer as my status bar.

• https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/using-named-pipes-fifos-bash
• https://github.com/simonhughxyz/dotfiles/blob/master/lemonbar/.local/bin/melonbar
• https://github.com/simonhughxyz/dotfiles/blob/master/lemonbar/.local/bin/statusline
• https://github.com/JLErvin/dotfiles/blob/master/scripts/simplebar
• here is a link to some workarounds resizing lemonbar with a dynamic system tray

Also, there are things I will want to remember to document in this repo:

• Any additional programs that are referenced in my scripts or configs
• How I choose to theme programs that are not directly themed by these configs including
  • any GTK / QT theming
  • Special note for QT theming, I found these steps for making sure QT follows the GTK2 theme. I had to:
    • install qt5ct and qt5-styleplugins
    • update /etc/enviornment by adding QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct
    • Use qt5ct to set the theme to GTK, and lxappearance to set the GTK theme
• Profile specific files like
  • .bashrc
  • .Xresources

This is where the dependency is for the git prompt in bash:

• https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh
• https://gist.github.com/justintv/168835

These links helped me to get sound working on my chromebook:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/chrultrabook/comments/uc0b6i/howto_audio_on_apollolake_devices_under_linux/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/voidlinux/comments/y6xtb6/sound_not_working_in_void_linux/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/voidlinux/comments/s96z6t/problems_with_pipewire/
• These along with the void linux manual documentation on sound