AwesomeWM with ArcoLinux

 

 

I've got to where I am satisfied with my outcome on ArcoLinuxD installing Awesome WM on my old Acer laptop and it looks pretty good with the theming colors I picked out to go with the wall paper.  To me Awesome is one of the easier to work with if you use the ArcoLinux way to do your set up and then tweak things over the way you like it.  I've themed out Dmenu to match the powerline bar at top. 

 

Probably the only thing I don't like about the ArcoLinux way of install is the amount of packages it installs, about 800 more than what I have on my Arch I3 and the memory usage is higher, but it hasn't run like it's bloated.  Now all I have to do is upload my dot files to Github so I can use this again if I need to.  Other than that it's pretty vanilla and runs like Linux .  Enjoy!

i3 Window Manager With Arch

It's been a while since I've installed i3 window manager and this weekend is the first time I've got it installed in a way that I like it.  I say it's been a while but last week I tried to install i3 on an Arch install, Arco Linux, EndeavorOS and then settled on just installing on a vanilla Arch base.  I settled on Arch because something finally clicked and everything fell in place for me.  Usually I just have to settle with what I have installed and not be able to customize it to where the OS works the way I want it to.  Take something easy like the screen timing out and going black when you haven't touched your keyboard in 10 minutes, which makes a movie hard to watch if your screen goes blank every 10 minutes.  In a desktop environment like Mate you just make a change in the settings, but in i3 there are no GUI settings manager so to cure this I wrote my first bash script without having to use something someone else had already done and posted on the internet.  I'm sure it's been done before but everybody else's was more complex than I could understand, so I came up with a two line script.   The only thing I haven't set up that I need is Bluetooth, but I don't really have to have that.  If I lived in a world that I carried this laptop around I would need the power savings program installed to extend battery life, but all my laptops are old and the batteries aren't going to last long even with that.

I've got the i3blocks (the i3bar or the top panel) working with transparency, and the system is only 520 packages, with things like an office suite still needed to be installed, and my memory usage at idle is around 300MB but if I'm watching a movie on Amazon or another streaming service I'm only running around 1600MB, which is about 1000MB to 2000MB less than when I run Ubuntu Mate.  Mate has to run Gnome in the background and that can be heavy on the resources and on my machines that causes them to start lagging after a day or two,  Also on my memory usage I  haven't had to use any swap usage which I like.

Now my next project is to install i3 on my main box, but use Debian instead of Arch. just to see if I can.

Screenshot Time

I haven't posted much in a few months so here's what I'm running now.

I've been running Ubuntu Mate 20.04 on my main laptop.  I really like it.  This is the first time I've installed a beta and kept it without re-installing the official release.  Mate stays running for days without the memory going crazy.  This seems to be the norm for me on other installs I've had.

Ubuntu 20.04.  I'm still not a gnome fan so this might be the next laptop I scrub.  I might keep it if I like Gnome Boxes or if VirtualBox runs better on this than it did on my past Debian or Arch Installs.  My only dislike is that Ubuntu seems to run heavier on resources, which seems to be the norm for Gnome DE's.

 My Arch Cinnamon install on my 3rd laptop.  I think Cinnamon is my favorite but I might re-install this again.  This laptop is going to be my Arch machine.

 Debian Bullseye Sid.  This is now off my main machine which now has Ubuntu Mate.  I had problems getting VirtualBox or VirtMan to run correctly.

Arch KDE, previously on my Arch laptop.

Except for the Debian wallpaper, I made all the other wallpapers, kinda. The Arch badge I found and re-used it but I did the logos for for Ubuntu and Mate from existing wallpapers but I did create them in .svg format so they would look decent when I change the size of them without pixelating them.

ArcoLinux Awesome is an Awesome Window Manager

While ArcoLinux is awesome, I've installed the Awesome WM (window manager) using ArcoLinuxD.  ArcoLinux is based on Arch Linux, the AUR (Arch Users Repository) and ArcoLinux customizations of the Arch Linux.  Since I'm not a programmer, I followed the YouTube Channel of Erik Dubois and his instructions for installing Awesome. 

ArcoLinux has everything for almost everybody if you are looking for an easy alternative to Arch Linux without the command line installation.  If you do the ArcoLinux "D" installer you just go to Erik's YouTube page and search for Awesome, or whatever flavor you want and follow the video instructions.  For me, since I've been watching a lot of Erik.s videos I knew the first Awesome video is # 295, but you need to start at # 294 to get the instructions to install ArchLinuxD using Calamari, which installs the base, or basics of what you need to install any of the flavors that I listed below.  Just looking at the numbers, most people do not install the "D" but install the vanilla ArcoLinux.  I chose the "D" after watching DistoTube's YouTube video of his install of ArcoLinuxD Awesome it look plain and easy enough for me.  DT's distro-hopping this summer and his videos are every educating if you want to learn about Linux, or Gnu-Linux as the purist will call it.  After watching these videos this is what I came up with.

It's getting BAMA football season and I just had to theme it to BAMA colors.

Just so you get an idea of what you can install in ArcoLinux here's a list from the ArcoLinuxD GitHub page.

1. Arco-Plasma (a desktop environment using KDE)
2. Arco-LXQT (a desktop environment of the new LXDE done in QT, pronounce cutie)
3. Arco-Xmonad (a tiling window manager)
4. Arco-XFCE (a desktop environment XFCE is one of the most bullet-proof desktops out there)
5. Arco-Qtile (a tiling window manager)
6. Arco-Openbox (a tiling window manager based on LXDE (maybe now LXQT?))
7. Arco-Mate (a desktop environment based on the old Gnome 2)
8. Arco-i3 (a tiling window manager)
9. Arco-Gnome (a desktop environment based on the newer Gnome 3)
10. Arco-Deepin (a desktop environment done in QT)
11. Arco-Cinnamon (a desktop environment created after Gnome left Gnome 2 to go to Gnome 3)
12. Arco-Budgie (a desktop environment based on Gnome)
13. Arco BSPWM (a tiling window manager)
14. Arco-Awesome (a tiling manager with some use of LUA programming language)
15. Arco-JWM (a tiling manager (Joe's) that is very minimalistic and lightweight with floating windows)
16. Arco-Herbstluftwm (a tiling window manager designed for multiple windows)
17. Arco-Enlightenment (a desktop-environment that is very minimalistic and changes from whichever Linux you download, ie Debian, Arch, RHL, Solaris, etc)

You see two different types of operating systems and they are all based on Arch.  A desktop environment is what most people use.  It has the GUI that anybody using Windows or Apple could switch over and use and feel sort of comfortable with.  The tiling window managers are for using keyboards and not a mouse.  If you have used a laptop as long as I have you might like the idea of a windows manager.  The tiling part and tags, or switching between desktops takes a little getting used to.  You just can't cover-up a window and alt-tab back and forth.  Every time you open a window it will tile side by side.  Awesome is a dynamic tiling manager and handles tiling differently than i3.

Most of these are on here because ArcoLinux is based on Arch Linux and Arch has all these desktop environments and window managers available.  When I look at the ArcoLinux website they do not list many developers, so keeping up with 17 different flavors has got to be hard work, but I'm sure they have a strong community behind them.  Their website is very user-friendly and like I said earlier, Erik has put out lots of videos on most if not all the different environments and lots of reported issues even have videos to help you solve most problems you might encounter.  ArcoLinux will fix issues and some of these videos won't have to be viewed, but if you do have a problem, check out their website and their forum.  

My experience is mostly positive, I do have a problem with Variety, a program that manages your wallpaper and I can't get it to stop changing my wallpaper, after telling it in the autostart.sh and also in the GUI.  Any other problems that I had were self-inflicted so I cannot blame the ArcoLinux team for these.  I will still keep my Mangaro i3 on one of my discs (I don't use Virtual Machine boxes, I change out discs in my laptop and the if I want to use a different distro that I have not erased I just plug my SATA adapter into the disc and then my USB and boot from USB).  Right now I have Awesome in my old Aspire 5750 laptop and I want it to use it day-to-day.  I love Manjaro and I will keep it as a fallback, but with the video support that ArcoLinux has, I want to support them and their time they put into their work.  I can easily update both, Manjaro has Pamac and ArcoLinux has an alias to use in terminal to update Pacman, the AUR, and the ArcoLinux GitHub.

I do want to add that I did get a straight vanilla installation of Arch XFCE and Arch i3 working and enjoying both of them. The i3 I didn't quite finish because I'm not up to the knowledge I need to configure I3 to my liking, and the XFCE wouldn't allow a couple of key programs that I use to work.  That's when I saw Distrotube's video on Awesome and never turned back.

As for Awesome and ArcoLinux, I love the status bar they use, using the LUA language.  The biggest difference between Awesome and i3 is that I don't feel guilty when I use my mouse trackpad.  I've used desktop environments since Windows 95 and just switched to a window manager last month and it's just habit.  I think I've spent more time configuring Awesome than i3 but I blame that on the all the Awesome related videos.  With the exception of the right-clickable desktop and the LUA configuration files, everything else has been close to the same, having to add widevine to Chromium to watch Netflix.  My next little learning project is learning mpd & ncmpcpp music players and visualizations and assigning applications to tags.

If you want to learn more about window managers then check out Distrotube's series on Obscure Window Managers Projects.  This probably has been my longest post I've ever made but the review is well worth it.

Manjaro XFCE, Reloaded

When I say Manjaro reloaded, Manjaro hasn't changed their XFCE, with the exception of a few updates.  I mean I've erased my old XFCE and reloaded it with a fresh copy.  I want to get my computer just right so I can clone it for future use.  I might still do some distro-hopping but I think I'll stick with XFCE, and stick with the Arch-based Manjaro.

I really wanted to have Budgie as my main OS, not that I like it better than XFCE but I tinker too much with XFCE.  Budgie is simpler and doesn't have all the options that XFCE has but Budgie seems to use more resources and with my old Acer laptop, I can't afford that.  KDE is still my favorite, but KDE has too many settings that I can play with and I would always be changing them, and that would take too much time away from reading.  I can't have that.

Here's what I have so far;

My biggest change is that I've got a shell running at startup with Conky loading 2 different scripts, and I've changed the colors to the 'chill blue' in the scripts.  I went with a stock Manjaro wallpaper that has a hint of blue in the middle, and I'll probably try to find a theme that has that blue color instead of the Manjaro green.  I might even do the Manjaro Menu button in the blue color.  Either way, I'm going to try to get another Conky script for the weather to add to my shell script.  If I do that then I might have to change the clock to something smaller to keep from having my desktop looking too cluttered.

When I get it the way I want it, then I will clone it with Clonezilla.  Then I'll add Dropbox and download my Dropbox files. Now this time I'm going to finish my book.  Okay, after I change my External IP address back to show what that address really is.  Wish you were here.

This Weeks Distro is...

Manjaro Budgie Desktop

I've gotten a little used to the Budgie Desktop after installing the SwagArch version of it.  I liked the SwagArch distro but (there's always a but) I find some of the updates to not be ready for install but showing up in Pamac (Add Software) and the updates not having the right credentials(?), showing errors and not updating.  Usually the next day the updates would push through but I'm too nitpicky to overlook this and want to do the updates when they show available.  Nothing against SwagArch, it is a fine Budgie desktop and the only desktop environment that SwagArch offers.  I just don't think they have the community that Manjaro has, and the person that runs SwagArch can't do everything as fast as larger, more supported distros.  After writing that last sentence it kind of makes me want to switch back.

Manjaro has basically the same desktop, an Arch-based OS with all the same features, except the Manjaro Budgie comes with a few more programs that I don't use and doesn't include programs like Gimp that I do use.  I can always remove the programs I never use and add Gimp and Inkscape with Pamac, which is probably the best modern Package Manager that I've used, which isn't based on a lot.

Budgie on its own is not very customizable through Settings and the Budgie Desktop Settings.   I can't put my finger on it but it seems when I compare the settings manager in XFCE to the settings manager in Budgie I seem to be missing some things.  Also, I installed the XFCE4 Terminal, keeping Gnome Terminal in case it creates a problem, so I could set some transparency in terminal. I did add Screenfetch to get the system info to printout when I open terminal.  As far as the desktop, the top panel lacks a lot of customization, like right-clicking on the Workspace Switcher and being able to add rows, so to keep my top bar clean, I just have 2 desktops instead of my usual 4.

I do like a lot of things with Budgie.  I say that the top panel is not that customizable but it does allow you to add applets to the center of the panel, which is a plus.  I do like the weather applet allowing you to show the weather on your desktop, sort of like Conky.  I also added Plank, the launcher at the bottom of the desktop.  It's stupidly simple, which is the description of it in Pamac because you just right-click on any open program that shows up in Plank after it has been launched and select "Keep in Dock".  There is no more customization that you can do.  I've used Docky and Cairo but for the simplicity of Budgie, I thought Plank was best suited.  Just remember to add Conky and Plank commands to your autostart in Budgie Desktop Settings.  I was able to disable the IPv6 in my Ethernet settings following the instructions in the ArchWiki on IPv6 to make my VPN support a little happier.  Manjaro has its own wiki but doesn't have the instructions that the ArchWiki has. I haven't tried adding any themes yet, I'm just using the stock themes that came with Budgie but I would like to try a different Icon theme.  Also, I did see a button theme that I want to try on Reddit, sort of a block style, but I don't know how that would look on programs that I use that don't take up much real estate on my desktop.  I've installed  Dropbox since the screenshot, which I installed using the nautilus-dropbox package in Pamac using the AUR repository.  It worked like a charm and Pamac even added Dropbox to my autostart in Budgie Desktop Settings as well as the icon in the top panel.  Now if the thunar-dropbox in XFCE works this well I will be a happy camper.  I've always used the script on the Dropbox download page.

Speaking of Conky, I'm now using it.  I used it back in the old days before Debian moved from Gnome 2 to the modern Gnome 3 style and Ubuntu switching over to its dock style.  I was watching a Solus Budgie review on YouTube and ran across a video by NeonCipher that was a Conky how-to guide and he shared his conky.conf file.  So I downloaded it and made the changes to match my old Acer laptop, like my external IP address that shows up in my screenshot for my privacy.  I've commented the real external IP line out for the screenshot then moved the '#' to the one shown in the screenshot.  I then added my "Manhattanhenge" background that I found on Bing. 

One thing that really surprised me was that late last night Conky was showing me using over 5G or my 8G memory and I didn't have any programs open, and the list of processes shown on my Conky did not show anything using over 5%.  (While I was writing this my memory usage was just under 6G.)  A restart was required for me to fix this since for me to open terminal and look at my processes that were running and killing the PID's would have taken me longer than the restart.  I haven't run Conky on my XFCE SSD yet so I don't know if that is common on my setup or the way I use my OS or if it's a Budgie thing.  Between this issue and the amount of customization allowed in Budgie are the only negatives I have when it comes to using Budgie.  Then again the lack of customization is one of the things I like about Budgie.  So far when it comes to desktop environments Budgie ranks 3rd, behind KDE and XFCE, and above Gnome and Cinnamon.  One day I'll run Mate, but that will probably be a ways off.  I liked this Budgie so much I made a backup of it for easy re-installation if I want to use it again or load it on my main SSD.  I just might use this as my 'go to' OS but I've got to try Manjaro XFCE on a fresh install and compare.

On a different note, I've started adding more links in these 'reviews' to help you and to help my failing memory.

SwagArch, Yet Another Arch Distro On My Computer

This time it's SwagArch and it was probably the easiest and quickest to install.  SwagArch uses the Calamares installer for the easy install. On the SwagArch home page it shows a location screen on the installer, and I must've blown through it or sometimes my had trembles and I double click and I could have blown through it that way.  That was my only hiccup with the install, I was on Eastern Daylight Time instead of Pacific Daylight Time.

On my first boot the night light has been set to a temperature of 4800 for easier nighttime computing, supposedly making it easier to sleep after playing on the internet before bedtime, but I don't have that problem.  Thank you Doctor!

This is the first time I've posted screenshots without any customization, unless you call correcting my location a customization.

This is a minimal install and I have no idea what flavor I have.  The about screen shows the Gnome but the main page says XFCE and Distrowatch.org shows Budgie.  That's a little confusing but no deal breaker.

Like I said before, the install is minimal.  No Favorites on the menu, so if it is XFCE I'll change that to Whiskermenu.  The desktop is running Plank for a launcher, so that is customized to what I like.  The minimal install only has Gimp and Simple Scan in Graphics, Calendar in Office, Firefox in Internet, Cheese, Gnome MPV, and Music in Sound & Video.  System Tools and Utilities do not have enough programs loaded to have a scroll bar, and when you click All, the programs are not alphabetized but listed in the categories the programs fall in.  Pamac is the software handler and AUR is already set up, all you have to do is toggle the switch.

What I haven't found yet is a way to change themes or change the top bar.  Right clicking doesn't bring up anything on the bar or the desktop, so I get to play around on Google to learn a few things about SwagArch.  In two or three days I'll either love it or move on, but my first impression is that SwagArch is a laid back kind of OS, a complete opposite of KDE.  I just hope I can customize this to the way I can love it instead of like it.  My hat goes off to Mike Krüger, the name listed on the copyleft.

Typical Weekend, Typical Monday

My typical weekend was the same as it ever was... same as it ever was... 
I fought with the Fedora distro Saturday and gave up.  The repositories and RPM's are just way over my head.  Then again I was using their KDE distro and there just wasn't the same amount of love on finding things about Fedora KDE 30 help.

It wasn't a total waste, I'm now using ArchLab's Cinnamon OS, which is a variance of Arch, and I think they got it right.  I didn't have the easy GUI like Ubuntu or Manjaro, but no coding, it just asks you a lot of questions and even lets you pick either a window interface like I3 or other Linux OS's where people use terminal more than a graphical interface like Gnome, KDE, XFCE, and few other choices.  I chose Cinnamon but I like XFCE better, but when you get down to it, it's really all about what programs you run and what distro you use is cake decorations.  You get the same job done with the same programs, Linux programs that is.  But Archlabs got it right.

My typical Monday was...
Starting out on the wrong foot.  My alarm said it was 80 degrees when I woke up.  80 degrees at 5:00 AM, but today was a dry heat.  It was over 96 degrees at my desk in the warehouse.

I did find a great article on the web, African Geographic Magazine Photographer of the Year.  Follow the link and check it out.  

I got my new mattress in and I'm so looking forward to a good nights sleep.  I hope this does it.  OK, I sleep okay but my back is killing me and I hope this does it.

EDIT...
I did find an interesting article at Forbes on another GUI to load Arch Linux.  Check it out here.  I know what I'm doing later this week.

I Finally Installed Arch Linux, Yep

After hours and many tries, I finally got Arch Linux XFCE working.  This time instead of wiping my main drive I used an SSD drive with a SATA USB adapter to my laptop and went to town.  The fixes I had to do were so many I can't remember many of them, like getting the Network Notification in my panel, getting Pulse Audio to work, fixing Locales, adding directories and many more.  This was definitely over my head but in the end, I learned a lot. 

My biggest problem was that when I would search the Arch wiki I would have to search more for a dumbed down explanation.  I finally got to where I could use the Arch wiki.  Another problem was that Pacem and AUR were slow, compared to using Pacman, so I went to the trusty terminal and used Pacman.

I still don't have it the way I would like it, but the font rendering is something that looks like it will take me a few hours to mess with and I just don't want to do that.  If you know what you want, you can probably ease through it with minimal problems, fixing and manipulating it with just your own knowledge and not relying on the community.

The community is great.  In what I read, you really had to research your problem and let them know what you have done.  If you don't check the wiki, then you are wasting their time.  This is not a complaint from me.  If you don't check the wiki and ask a question it's like inventing the wheel again and you're just wasting their time.  Knowledgeable questions are treated business-like with just straight answers.  Sometimes it will work and sometimes it doesn't.  Just post your backup proof of your problem and then they'll get back to it.   I thought Ubuntu had good web support but Ubuntu does not hold a candle to the Arch wiki.  Then you also have the Stack Exchange and Linux Questions, both good sources for post-install questions.  Then there is GIYF.  Always Google, but never use any of these until you check the Arch wiki.

For years I've always wanted to see if I could install Arch Linux and I did, with the XFCE desktop.  I think the only issue now I don't like the fonts, and like I said earlier I don't want to spend the time researching that.  Plus I do enjoy distro-hopping, which some people don't like to hear and others live to do it in their virtual box.  Just look at YouTube for all the tutorials in all 300 plus distros available.

I like Linus because of the community.  There are a few backed by companies, like Solaris, Red Hat, Canonical, and others including Intel starting to jump in with their cloud system.  The majority of the other 300 are mostly derived from these major players and that means a lot of unpaid volunteer work.  Imagine putting in your 8 hours just to go home and working another few hours so people like me can have a decent computer system.  Now distros like Antergos have quit with rumors of Linux Mint going under.  Both of these were/are volunteer-based distros with a handful of main players behind the scenes and it's hard and sometimes unrewarding work with people not respecting the free hours put into these distros just for our convenience.

So if anybody that is behind the scenes on any distro, thank you for your time!  For me, I'll stick with Manjaro XFCE and maybe do a Manjaro KDE test.

3 Day Weekend of Movies

This is Memorial Day, a day of remembering those that gave up their lives serving our country.  I honor them in my thoughts and prayers for them and their families.  My father and uncle fought in WWII, my father in the Pacific and my uncle in Europe.  I think a part of them died during that war with neither offering to talk about their wars, their fighting.   My uncle opened up once and now I understand why.

Now, this weekend I watched a lot of movies, some I've already forgotten.  The last three were Hondo, Lucy, and The Quiet Man.  Every movie made with Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne were magic.  People still travel to Innisfree to see where the movie was made.  If I was lucky enough or rich enough I would do the trip myself I would do it in a heartbeat.

While Ford and Wayne made a lot of low budget western movies for Republic Films, this was the only one to earn them an Emmy and one of the few films the shot in Technicolor.  In order for this movie to be made, Republic Films had the three film Rio Grande.

Lucy is just another Luc Besson movie, not much else can be said and Hondo is another John Wayne western, while it's not close to being one of my favorites it's still worth the watch.  While Hondo, based on a Louis L'Amour book was directed by John Farrow, one of the last scenes was directed by John Ford because Farrow had to leave the film because the film went over schedule.

I'm in the process of reading The Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert but it's not keeping me as entertained as I would like.  I have to say it is getting better, but between having another go at Arch Linus and trying to load XFCE on it and watching Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and some of my own movies there is just not enough time to read and enjoy the movies.  Arch was another failure and waste of 8 hours so back to Manjaro.

Finally, I've Installed Arch Linux. Nope Manjaro

Well, if you ask an Arch Linux user they would say not even close but I did install Manjaro XFCE.  There is a big difference and now I think I could do it.  Actually, I installed Arch Gnome last week and it worked, but couldn't, or didn't take the time to try to search out the programs I used on Ubuntu that was not readily available on Arch.  

There are probably big differences in Manjaro and Arch, but Manjaro was built as a lazy man's Arch, with a GUI to install instead of the command line of Arch.

So over a week, I messed with Arch, Manjaro, MX Linus, back and forth to Ubuntu, then to Xubuntu and then this weekend I installed Manjaro twice.  I screwed something up and couldn't find out how to get the screen back to its normal size (I doubled he desktop size but no scrollbars).  One thing I loved is the Conky Manager works.

I used Ubuntu because it was easier to use, at least I thought. Getting some programs really had a huge learning curve but once I figured out the Add/Remove Software and watched a couple of videos I think it'll be easier.

Unless I break something I'll never have to re-install my distro again.  Ubuntu does two releases a year, and when I update it eventually bogs down.  Manjaro is rolling releases where once something updates, it is released.  Plus Ubuntu seems to have spyware, as per Richard Stallman's video and I agree with his opinion.

One thing I liked about Ubuntu was that the online support and fan pages like OMG! Ubuntu is plentiful. Manjaro has a HUGE following lots of online help sites, and then there's Arch with even a larger fan base site and the Arch Wiki page, which is almost too technical for a user like me.  If there's ever been a question about Manjaro or Arch, then it's been answered.  You just have to find the dumbest downed explanation to understand.  Manjaro and Arch are created for two different types of people.  People that are smart enough with programming to do it themselves, and people like me that want to learn.

So with a week of learning, anxiety, frustration, and humbling I feel great.  But that's this week.