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Kröhnkite

A dynamic tiling extension for KWin 6 only.

Kröhnkite is mainly inspired by dwm from suckless folks, and aims to provide rock solid stability while fully integrating into KWin.

The name of the script is from mineral Kröhnkite; it starts with K and looks cool.

screenshot

Features

  • DWM-like window tiling
    • Dynamically tile windows, rather than manually placing each.
    • Floating windows
  • Fully integrates into KWin features, including:
    • Multi-screen
    • Activities & Virtual desktop
    • Basic window management (minimize, fullscreen, switching, etc)
  • Multiple Layout Support
    • Tiling layout
    • Monocle layout
    • Desktop-friendly layouts (Spread, Stair)

Development Requirement

  • Typescript (tested w/ 3.1.x)
  • GNU Make
  • p7zip (7z)

Look at me

  1. Delete unused KWin shortcuts:
qdbus org.kde.kglobalaccel /component/kwin org.kde.kglobalaccel.Component.cleanUp
  1. If you have a gap or vice versa you have gray(white etc) rectangle that means that there is a program with size 1x1 that have to be filtered by title or other ways. Make sure that the following programs, if you have them, have been added to the filter:
xwaylandvideobridge,plasmashell,ksplashqml

Installation

You can install Kröhnkite in multiple ways.

Using .kwinscript package file

You can download krohnkite-x.x.x.x.kwinscript file, and install it through System Settings.

  1. Download the kwinscript file
  2. Open System Settings > Window Management > KWin Scripts
  3. Press Import KWin script... on the top-right corner
  4. Select the downloaded file

Alternatively, through command-line: get info about package:

kpackagetool6 -t KWin/Script -s krohnkite

install:

kpackagetool6 -t KWin/Script -i krohnkite-x.x.x.x.kwinscript

upgrade:

kpackagetool6 -t KWin/Script -u krohnkite-x.x.x.x.kwinscript

uninstall:

kpackagetool6 -t KWin/Script -r krohnkite

Installing from Git repository

The simplest method to automatically build and install kwinscript package would be:

 make install

You can also build .kwinscript package file using:

make package

uninstall package:

make uninstall

Simply Trying Out

Krohnkite can be temporarily loaded without installing the script:

make run

and stop:

make stop

Note that Krohnkite can destroy itself completely once it is disabled, so no restart is required to deactivated it.

Settings

Choose layout for screen by default

  1. Right after system boot run KSystemLog
  2. Push ignore button
  3. Type in filter string: krohnkite
  4. Right after KROHNKITE: starting the script string you can see one if you have one screen or multiple strings: Screen(output):SCREEN_NAME numbered layouts...
  5. Copy your screen name. This name usually your video port DP-2 or HDMI-A-1 or Virtual-1 for VM or something like that
  6. LAYOUT_NAME(the case doen't matter,layout ending can be omitted): tilelayout, monoclelayout, columns, threecolumnlayout, spreadlayout, stairlayout, spirallayout, stackedlayout, floatinglayout, btreelayout
  7. Open Krohnkite options: options
  8. Tab Rules->Screen default layout and type YOUR_SCREEN_NAME:LAYOUT_NAME for example: HDMI-A-1:columns,DP-2:spread or YOUR_SCREEN_NAME:LAYOUT_ID for example: HDMI-A-1:2,DP-2:7, or if you have multiple Virtual Desktop on screen you can write SCREEN_NAME:DESKTOP_NAME:LAYOUT_NAME or SCREEN_NAME:DESKTOP_NAME:LAYOUT_ID. More examples: :2 - makes layout#2 default on all screens, :Desktop 1:2 - makes layout#2 default on all desktops with name Desktop 1.
  9. Apply -> reboot
screen_default.webm

Search a window parameters to filter, float etc.

  1. Krohnkite options: options
  2. Options->Debug new Windows
  3. Reboot
  4. Run KSystemLog
  5. Push Ignore button
  6. Type in filter string: krohnkite
  7. All created windows krohnkite working with will be there.
  8. Every debug entry contains parameters except those that are false and empty.

Default Key Bindings

Key Action
Meta + . Focus Next
Meta + , Focus Previous
Meta + J Focus Down
Meta + K Focus Up
Meta + H Focus Left
Meta + L Focus Right
Meta + Shift + J Move Down/Next
Meta + Shift + K Move Up/Previous
Meta + Shift + H Move Left
Meta + Shift + L Move Right
Meta + I Increase
Meta + D Decrease
Meta + F Toggle Floating
Meta + \ Cycle Layout
Meta + Return Set as Master
Meta + T Use Tile Layout
Meta + M Use Monocle Layout
unbound Use Spread Layout
unbound Use Stair Layout

Tips

Setting Up for Multi-Screen

Krohnkite supports multi-screen setup, but KWin has to be configured to unlock the full potential of the script.

  1. Enable Separate Screen Focus feature:

  • System Settings > Window Management > Window Behavior > Multiscreen Behaviour

    OR use console commands:

   kwriteconfig6 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group Windows --key ActiveMouseScreen false
   kwriteconfig6 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group Windows --key SeparateScreenFocus true
  1. Bind keys for global shortcut Switch to Next/Previous Screen (Recommend: Meta + , / Meta + .)
  2. Bind keys for global shortcut Window to Next/Previous Screen (Recommend: Meta + < / Meta + >)

Removing Title Bars

Breeze window decoration can be configured to completely remove title bars from all windows:

  1. System Setting > Application Style > Window Decorations
  2. Click Configure Breeze inside the decoration preview.
  3. Window-Specific Overrides tab > Add button
  4. Enter the followings, and press Ok:
    • Regular expression to match: .*
    • Tick Hide window title bar

Changing Border Colors

Changing the border color makes it easier to identify current window. This is convinient if title bars are removed.

  1. You can use the Oxygen decoration theme. Oxygen theme settings
  2. You can install third-party decorations, see Border color conversation

Setting Minimum Geometry Size

Some applications like discord and KDE settings dont tile nicely as they have a minimum size requirement. This causes the applications to overlap with other applications. To mitigate this we can set minimum size for all windows to be 0.

  1. System Setting > Window Management > Window Rules
  2. Click on + Add New...
  3. Set Window class to be Unimportant
  4. Set Window types to Normal Window
  5. Click + Add Properties...
  6. Add the Minimum Size Property
  7. Set the fields to Force and 0 x 0
  8. Apply

Prevent borders and shadows from disappearing.

When a window is marked "maximized" in Breeze theme, its borders are removed to save screen space. This behavior may not be preferable depending on your setup. This can be mitigated by disabling maximized windows using Window Rules.

  1. System Setting > Window Management > Window Rules
  2. Click on + Add New...
  3. Set Window class to be Unimportant
  4. Set Window types to Normal Window
  5. Click + Add Properties...
  6. Add the Maximized horizontally and Maximized vertically Properties.
  7. Set the options to Force and No.
  8. Apply

Useful Development Resources