i3wm-config

中文介绍

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install & configure

install softwares

You can search for package names using the package manager, or search keywords on pkgs.org to determine the package name.

• base

  • i3 : in some distributions, i3 may be a package-group name, that contains i3 wm and other components, i3-wm , i3-gaps, i3block , i3lockandi3status. And in some distributions, i3 may only refer to i3wm.
  • Suitable terminal (see terminal, select a terminal emulator )
  • dmenu Applications launcher
  • feh image viewer , show wallpaper

• optional

  • xcompmgr Set terminal transparency

  • scrot Screeshot (this configuration added shortcut for scrot)

  • thunar or pcmanfm GUI file manager

  • for networkmanager user
    • nm-connection-editor Networkmanager GUI
    • nm-applet Networkmanager’s tray icon

  • blueman Bluetooth gui tool

    The attached tray tool is named blueman-applet

  • mate-power-manager Power manager tool

  • acpi Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (display battery info)

  • alsa-utils Sound management

  • xfce4-appfinder Quickly search for the program’s launcher

configure i3

• Downlod this config and extra it, put i3 and i3status in the ~/.config/ , and put Pictures(including some sample wallpapers) in the current user’s home directory (~/).

  If you need to display the tray icon, you may need to refer to the following section of the tray Icons for configuration.

  A simple initial configuration can be done using the script config-zh.sh.

or

• execute this command:

  curl -# -L -o i3.zip https://github.com/levinit/i3wm-config/archive/master.zip
  unzip i3.zip
  cd i3wm-config-master
  bash config.sh
  

  If it show xrandr: command not found , you need to install xorg-xrandr , then execute the above command again.

Introductions for the configs

Some important notes about this configuration.

shortcuts

In this configuration, $mod key is Mod4，Generally , it is “Windows logo” key or “Super” key, Alt is mod1, Enter is Return.

Tip: Install xorg-xev, exec command xev in the terminal, then press any key, it will show the key’s name.

• Super+d dmenu
• Super+Enter open the default terminal

For other i3wm default shortcuts , see the i3wm related documentation or view the config file.

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The following are the custom shortcuts in this configuration file (Reference vim and windows usage habits).

• Super Temporarily display i3bar (will be hidden after releasing the Super key)

• Super+m switch i3bar show/hideen mode

• xfce dropdown terminal Alt+/

  if your default terminal is xfce-terminal

• xfce4-appfinder Super+a

  need install the application

• screenshot (full screen) Super+PrtSc

  “PrtSc” is “PrintScreen” key , need scrot.

• open filemanager Super+e

  need thunar（e-explore）

• close window Alt+F4

• hide window and show the hide window Super+minus and Super+plus

  “minus” is “-“ key ,and “plus” is “+” key. Here, in order to avoid confusion with +, the name is described in English.

• change window style：
  • Super+n with border and title bar (default , normal)
  • Super+u without boder and title bar (unnormal )
  • Super+o one pixel boder and no title bar (one pixel border )
  • Super+b change border style in above 3 styles（border style)

• window tilling mode

  • Super+s stack mode（stack）
  • Super+t tabbed mode（tabbed）

  • Super+c change tile mode betwen horizontal mode and vertical mode (default ,change

    or carvel built :D ）。

• switch focus window

  Super+h or j or k or l or Super+arrow keys

• move focus window (tiling style)

  Super+Shift+h or j or k or l or Super+Shift+ arrow keys

• separate window
  • Super+v vertical mode (vertical)
  • Super+Shift+h horizon mode (default , horizon)

• workspace switching

  • Super+tab – next
  • Alt+tab – previous

• reload and restart i3wm

  • Super+Shift+s – reload i3wm config
  • Super+Shift+r – restart i3wm

• lock/poweroff/rebot/exit menu : Super+Shift+q it will show a message ,then press

• l – lock screen
• p – poweroff
• r – reboot
• e – exit (i3wm)

• adjust the volume and brightness ( for laptop)

  • volume
    • Fn and volume key

    • use alsamixer (need alsa-utils)

    • Fn and brightness key （need a power manager tool , recommend mate-power-manager)

  tip: maybe Fn is not necessary.

wallpaper and lock screen

• wallpaper

  Random mode is default , it use a script , see i3/wallpaper.sh . Edit i3/config for changing mode.

  • random mode : random switching wallpaper, put pictures in ~/Pictures/wallpapers .
  • static mode : one pictures as a wallpaper , path is ~/Pictures/wallpapers/wallpaper.jpg

• lock screen

  • background path : ~/Pictures/wallpaper/lock/lock.jpg
  • lock : Super+Alt+l
  • unlock : input your user password , then press “Enter” key .

power management

see i3/config , it has a line , you can adjust the seconds :

exec –no-startup-id xset dpms 333 666

In idle state , screen will turn off after 333 seconds , system will suspend after 666 seconds.

You can also use mate-power-manager (or other tool) for power management.

see more info about power management:

• power-management
• laptop
• suspend and hibernate

terminal

If you want a transparent background terminal , need to install xcompmgr (or compton .etc ) . It is recommended to select terminals that are more convenient to set transparency, such as roxterm , xfce4-terminal and terminator .

After press terminal shortcut, It tries to start one of the following in the order(see i3wm-termial):

$TERMINAL (this is a non-standard variable)

x-terminal-emulator (only present on Debian and derivatives)

urxvt

rxvt

termit

terminator

Eterm

aterm

uxterm

xterm

gnome-terminal

roxterm

xfce4-terminal

termite

lxterminal

mate-terminal

terminology

st

qterminal

lilyterm

tilix

terminix

konsole

tray icons

Open i3/config , find this line :

exec –no-startup-id xrandr –output eDP1 –primary

eDP1 is the display device’s name , you can use xrandr | grep connected to get your display device’s name .

this is my display device info:

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 32767 x 32767
eDP1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 310mm x 170mm

so , eDP1 is my display device’s name , if your display device’s name is not eDP1 , you should modify this line exec --no-startup-id xrandr --output eDP1 --primary ，use your display device’s name instead of eDP1.

Or you can try these comands for modification（xrandrneedxorg-xrandr）:

name=`xrandr | sed -n '2p' | cut -d ' ' -f 1`
sed -i 's/eDP1/'"$name"'/' ~/.config/i3/config

If it show xrandr: command not found , install xorg-xrandr , then excuted commands above again.

Other Tips

• not found this package while installing

  Maybe this package is another name on your distribution. Using the fuzzy search in your package manger, also search the real name in this site https://pkgs.org.

• emoji need a font such as fonts-symbola (perhaps its name is ttf-symbola)

• thunar /pcmanfm can not use Trash : install gvfs
• mount MTP divice or other removable disk : install gvfs-mtp or libmtp(seearchwiki:MTP )
• change the window/icon/cursor theme or font : lxappearance (recommend)
• notfity popup box: xfce4-notifyd
• high DPI devices (seearchwiki:HIDPI)

edit ~/.Xresources add (example) :

Xft.dpi: 144 Xft.autohint: 0 Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault Xft.hintstyle: hintfull Xft.hinting: 1 Xft.antialias: 1 Xft.rgba: rgb

144 is dpi (adjust according to the actual display situation). Then edit~/.xinitrc , add :

xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

Of course, the text under the high screen is too small, you can also adjust the font size (you can use lxappearance).

• turn off waring sound（alarm sound/beep sound） seePC speaker echo "blacklist pcspkr" > /etc/modprobe.d/nobeep.conf or amixer set channel 0% mute(need alsa-utils) or echo xset -b >> /etc/xprofile