arch lin

Lin Distros

minimal
- Package managers
- Firmware-Hardware
- Partitioning
- display server
  - x11
  - wayland - new, more secure, slim, still not much used
- init systems
  - system D - usually “bloated” init system - LS
    - what? init system
      - first process that starts after booting, runs on bkg to manage services etc
      - launch what you need, in specific order
    - sysV
    - cons
      - one point of failure sunce it’s monolythic
      - mainly red-hat project
      - kind of bloated
        
        it is modular but most people implement this all togheter
        
        at the same time, it’s fast
      - pushes other software to be dependant on it
        
        creates problems to distros not willing to use systemD
      - hides certain configs behind its own tools
        
        especially bad if you want to change text files
    - pros
      - written in C
      - mantained
- kernel - src
  - linux stable - 2 months stable
  - linux lts - 2 years stable
  - libre kernel - does not allow proprietary stuff
    - usually these proprietary stuff gives hardware support
      - so you might not be able to use this at all
    - released after a few days of linux stable
  - hardened kernel - non official more secure kernel
    - incompatible with systemd
    - might brake some software
  - android kernel - specific for mobile devices
  - real-time & low latency
    - reduce latency between input and output of task at the cost of… much, especially multitasking
    - applications needs to be tailored to this to be useful
  - zen kernel & xan mod - better performance
  - TKG kernels -
- firmware blobs
- UEFI vs legacy Bios
  - supports big storage
  - supports graphics when you boot
- Table partitioning
  - GPT
  - MBR - no more than 2TB
- boot loader/manager
  - grub
    - grub-install
    - grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
- Audio
  - ALSA - driver hard to use
    - cannot play 2 audio at the same time by default
    - complex config
    - no docs
  - options
    - pulseaudio
      - everything just works
      - bad
    - pipewire - new kid in the block to kill pusleaudio + jack
- file systems
Initial configuration
- archinstall
  - mirror
    - where software come from? better if close to phisical location like Italy
  - f
  - img
- exit (chroot) - sometimes you also need to reboot
  - especially if startx gives you permission denied. Reboot and log-in with default user like e
- keyboard layout - src
  - localectl set-keymap uk
  - gb is great britain
- resolution
  - pacman -S xorg-xrandr
  - xrandr - see all devices
  - go to xinit
  - xrandr —output HDMI-1 —mode 1920x1080 —rate 60
- user & add password
  - useradd -m -g wheel myNewUserName
  - passwd myNewUserName
  - nano /etc/sudoers
- fonts
  - quick: pacman -S tff-dejavu
- xorg
  - pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit
  - add to ~/.xinitrc: exec dwm or whatever u using
  - xinit
  - kill xorg server: ctrl + alt + backspace
  - Fixing xinit/startx not running without sudo
    
    sudo usermod -aG tty username
    - Not sure if these stuff is useful
      
      sudo chmod 660 /dev/tty2 sudo chmod 660 /dev/tty3
      
      no screens found
      
      X -configure sudo cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
      
      cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/
    startx or xinit — :1 -nolisten tcp vt$XDG_VTNR that’s the enchanced way to do xinit needed in systemd -nolisten tcp optional but great
Essential software
- Window manager - tier list
  - dwm - src (automatic)
    - usage
      - tldr -
        
        if you want to go dumb & simple, modify config.def.h & then do the common make & sudo make install or something
        
        make - compiling to get binary
        
        make install - put binary to usr/local/bin
      - config.def.h - default, where you should modify stuff
        
        then run make to create another config.h with same code as config.def.h (should make backup of config.h because you’ll lose changes)
        
        you’re supposed to merge this on config.h
        
        that’s where automatic patches are being applied, not on the config.h
        
        should remain as is, without modifications
      - config.h - actual settings being used
        
        that’s where you should make most of your modifications
        
        needed to compare changes from the config.def.h, especially when patching
    - autostart apps
      - rule to always check if window class is _firefox… if it is, it’s going to put it on tag 1 in non-floating mode on the first monitor
      - we add this line to .xinitrc create window with specific class & application
    - scratchpad! - src
    - great config from distrotube
    - enable patch writing 1 - src
    - sudo pacman -S libxinerama libxft ORRRRRR-> libx11
  - dwl - dwm for wayland
  - awesome - dwm fork with everything by default
  - qtile - more configurable dwm
    - src1 2
  - i3 - (manual)
  - sway - i3 but for wayland
- File manager - thunar
  - useful utility for drag file
  - thunar - xfce one - works well with WMs - 54mb ram
    - well customizable
    - more settings than nautilus but no more than dolphin
    - less fast to boot than pcmanfm but as faste after first window
    - great defaults overall
    - written in C and GTK+
  - Pcmanfm - 35mb ram - fastest to boot
    - written in C and GTK+
    - cons
      - bad default
        
        style
        
        options
        
        menu positions
  - spacefn - pcmanfm but with split view & more options -gtk3…
  - nemo - cinnamon one
    - plugins
    - cons
      - no split
      - no shortcuts?
  - doplhin - really customizable + works best w plasma
  - nautilus - not many options (gnome based…)
  - krusader - 2 split panel
- Text editor - vscodium & nvim
- Browser - mainly brave, firefox=privacy
  - Main src
  - Forks are less mantained than original
    - libre wolf
  - Real options
    - chromium - lol
    - brave - less privacy more functionality
    - hardened firefox - best privacy/functionality
  - bad ones
    - unmaintained
      - iceCat - could be n1…
- Terminal - st
  - time tree / test
    - Alacritty
    - ST
  - Alacritty
    - mainly for wayland but also x11
    - multi-platform
    - GPU acelerated
    - written in rust
    - cons
      - no tab support
      - no ligatures
  - kitty
    - tab supp & ligatures
    - gpu accelerated
    - cons - no multi-platform
  - st - great if you really go deep into customization
    - opens faster than alacritty
  - xterm
  - criterias
    - GPU accellerated
- status bar - dwmblocks
  - dwmblocks - clickable stuff
  - - your own script to put stuff there
  - add patch to do clickable stuff - src
  - slstatus - suckless, not clickable
  - status bar - clickable block - src - more
Smaller
- Customize startup settings
  - nano ~/.profile - these run after log-in
  - $PATH - path that lin check to run commands
  - if have bashrc, run it
  .bashrc && . ~/.bashrc
  
  export PATH=$PATH:&HOME/.scripts export EDITOR=“vim” export TERMINAL=“st” export BROWSER=“firefox”
- selector - dmenu - src - wmee - patches
  - rofi
  - crazy stuff you might do
    - emoji
    - clipboard
    - apps
    - files/scripts
    - shutdown
    - shutdown xorg?
    - xrandr
- shell - ZSH
  - Bash - standard boring but needed
  - ZSH - fancier configurable bash
    - syntax highlight
    - better autocomplete
  - Fish - pre-configured modern ZSH
    - even better autocomplete
    - cons
      - non posix compliant
        
        different syntaxt to do scripting
        
        stuff like loops, ifs, etc
- additional downloads
  - git
  - neofetch
  - just use top, lol
    - htop
    - btop
    - gtop
  - vim
  - nano
  - cmatrix
  - man (core repo)
  - Helpers for AUR - needs base-devel & git
    - sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git
    - paru
      - rustup for cargo pkg
    - yay - mantainer ditched it and created paru
  - Paru needed
    - vscodium - paru -S vscodium-bin
      - if you get permissions errors is because it’s setup by default to use /run/user/0, the problem is that this directory changes based on who log-in first in the TTY
    - brave bin
- tiny feats
  - notifications - dunst -(useful for volume) or notify OSD
  - screenshots -
    - spectacle - bloated because of KDE but can edit
      - doesn’t have text with background
      - just worst than flameshot
      - bloated - 500mbs
    - flameshot - many feats but bloated & bad edit
      - can edit img but doesn’t have text with background
      - has too much UI
      - 110mbs…
    - meim - no ui, but has feats & extensible w dmenu
    - sharex through wine is not the best options… bloated
  - Bluetooth - bluez
  - Compositor - picom - blur, transparency, shadow…
    - optimization, etc
    - picom
  - Clipboard manager - clipmenu xclip - simplest, no history - dependency of clipmenu cp - more useful for scripts - default copy “goddamit” note0 “tha’ts a goddamit” CopyQ - tags and bloat
    - clipmenu - great simple dmenu history
      - add this to xinitrc systemctl —user import-enviroment DISPLAY systemctl --user status clipmenud clipmenud systemctl --user enable clipmenud
  - GTK theme - lxappearence
    - widget
      - paru -S
        
        tokyonight-gtk-theme-git
        
        nordic-theme
        
        dracula-gtk-theme
    - Cursor
      - macos_cursor (using this)
        
        whitesur-cursor-theme-git (alternative)
      - bibata
  - Hotkeys/shortcuts+misc
    - other
      - remap caps
        
        simple way to remap it to escape/hyper - src
      - useful for
        
        hyper key - usually a unique combination
        
        Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Super
        
        meta keys - alt gr
      - espanso - text expander - github
        
        installation
        
        AUR pkgs
        
        pensonally installed espanso-x11 but it was really slow to compile…
        
        to set up stuff go to espanso folder (probably in .config), then match folder and add another yaml or use base.yml - src
    - hotkey to command
      - sxhkd - src (2 years ago) - alt + a echo “hi!!”
      - -xbindkeys - <sxhkd but mantained & most popular
    - commands to hotkey
      - xdotool - keys through comman - 6months ago?
        
        e.g. xdotool key ctrl + t
        
        delay problem
        
        I had to use sleep 0.1, if not it would not work sometimes
        
        or even ~ before the shortcut
        
        other suggest keyup
        
        seems like the application is preceding xodotool so that instead of the output (xodotool command) it takes the input (shortcut setted up to triggher xodotool command)
      - -dotool - same but for wayland & x - github
    - hotkey to hotkey
      - xcape - unmantained - 6 years ago
      - -xmodmap - “useful” to remap keys - mantained
        
        cannot set a key to type key combinations (e.g., Ctrl+C), run scripts, or change key behavior based on the currently active application
  - Calendar/Todo stuff - vim with plugins
    - default cal & date commands - src
    - Calcurse - why not using when + notetaking instead?
      - can import google calendar stuff
    - when - use cal&date first todoist terminal based
- RSS reader - newsboat
- e-mail client -
  - neomutt - terminal, configurable
    - mutt wizard
  - Thunderbird

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