setupi3

This is an experimental project to setup up a nice i3 desktop environment running on Ubuntu 15.04.

The setup steps are mostly following this youtube tutorial by Alex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1I63wGcvU4.

Usage:

git clone https://github.com/Xunius/setupi3.git && cd setupi3
sudo ./setupi3.sh

Major changes performed by the setupi3.sh

Install i3

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install i3 i3-wm i3blocks i3lock i3status 

Configure

The configure file for i3 is located (by default) at:

~/.i3/config

Download the files from dropbox

dropbox/dotfiles/i3/config i3blocks.conf toggletouchpad.sh

and save to the above folder.

Enable multimedia keys

1. Install pactl, xbacklight:

sudo apt-get install pactl xbacklight

2. Install playerctl:

Download the package from: https://github.com/acrisci/playerctl/releases

Then sudo dpkg -i the_package.deb

3. Paste the following snippet to the end of config file.

# Pulse Audio controls
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 +5% #increase sound volume
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 -5% #decrease sound volume
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute 0 toggle # mute sound

# Screen brightness controls
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec xbacklight -inc 20 # increase screen brightness
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec xbacklight -dec 20 # decrease screen brightness

# Touchpad controls
bindsym XF86TouchpadToggle exec ~/.i3/toggletouchpad.sh # toggle touchpad

bindsym XF86AudioPlay exec playerctl play bindsym XF86AudioPause exec playerctl pause bindsym XF86AudioNext exec playerctl next bindsym XF86AudioPrev exec playerctl previous

4. Create a toggletouchpad.sh script in the ~/.i3/ directory, with the following content:

#!/bin/bash
if synclient -l | grep "TouchpadOff .*=.*0" ; then
    synclient TouchpadOff=1 ;
else
    synclient TouchpadOff=0 ;
fi

[Optional] Set custom wallpaper

The line for setting custom wallpaper has been added (but commented) out in the config file.

Before activating that line, need to install feh:

sudo apt-get install feh

Bound an app to a workspace

A certain app will be launched only in a specified workspace. Take the firefox for example.

1. Launch firefox, and an empty terminal.
2. In the terminal, run xprop, then click the firefox window to show the app info. Look for the line "WM_CLASS(STRING)", and take a note of the 2nd field, for firefox it's "Firefox".
3. In the config file, add

assign [class="Firefox"] $workspace1

Install Font Awesome

This is to enable icons in workspace names, as defined in the i3 config file.

1. Go to https://github.com/FortAwesome/Font-Awesome/releases and download the font file zip.

2. Unzip the file, copy the .ttf font files to /etc/share/fonts.

3. The icon cheetsheet: https://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/cheatsheet/

Install system font

This is to enable System font setting in the i3 config file.

1. Go to https://github.com/supermarin/YosemiteSanFranciscoFont.
2. Download the font zip file, unzip it.
3. Copy all the .ttf files to /etc/share/fonts/

Apply the system font to GTK applications.

1. Install lxappearance

sudo apt-get install lxappearance

2. Launch lxappearance, and set Default font to SFNS Display.

Fix file explorer (Nautilius, Nemo) issues

1. Install icons: sudo apt-get install gnome-icon-theme-full

2. Add lines (already in i3 config) to fix the desktop issue.

Install Arch GTK theme

1. Go to https://github.com/horst3180/Arc-theme.
2. Follow the installation steps using packages.
3. Launch lxappearance and choose the installed theme.

Install Arch firefox theme

1. Go to https://github.com/horst3180/arc-firefox-theme
2. Install inside firefox

Install Rofi, as a replacement of dmenu

1. Install sudo apt-get install rofi
2. Replace dmenu_run command with a rofi command in the i3 config file.

Install compton, to enable transparency effect of rofi

1. Install sudo apt-get install compton
2. Add exec_always compton -f in the i3 config file

Customize bar using i3blocks instead of i3status

The default status bar is updated using i3status. Change this to i3blocks which is easier to control.

1. Copy the default i3blocks config file:

cp /etc/i3blocks.conf ~/.i3/

2. Use i3blocks in the bar section of the i3 config file.

3. Edit the ~/.i3/i3blocks.conf file.

Fix the volume bar block problem

The command i3blocks uses to detect the system volume is located at /usr/share/i3blocks/volume.

Need to change this to /usr/share/i3blocks/volume 5 pulse to correctly detect. This should be added in the [volume] section in the i3blocks.conf file.