---
title: "The complete Linux turnabout"
date: 2019-08-20T20:50:18+08:00
categories:
    - How to Linux
tags:
    - linux
    - desktop
    - ricing
---

= The complete Linux turnabout
Gabriel Arazas <foo.dogsquared@gmail.com>
2019-08-20


Ever since I found some good stuff at Linux, I wiped out my 
hard drive completely, exclusively install a Linux-based 
machine, and left Microsoft Windows behind.

Here's some details and experiences about my complete turnaround 
for my computer workflow:


== My new OS
I used to dual-boot my machine with Windows and whatever Linux-based 
distro I was comfortable to use at the time. For the last 8 months or so, 
I've been using https://manjaro.org/[Manjaro] only because of the 
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_User_Repository[Arch User Repository] 
which has a large selection of software while not fully tipping my toe into 
using Arch Linux and the effort of maintaining it is minimal because it 
abstracts it away from you. Not to mention the 
https://www.archlinux.org/packages/[official package list of Arch Linux] is also 
a beast. It was the best of both worlds.

At the end, it didn't work out since I found out 8 months later that Manjaro 
withholds the recently released/upgraded software from Arch Linux before updating 
their own for security reasons. That didn't go well for me since I thought it's 
doesn't really hold the point of using Arch-based distros anymore so I thought to 
dive into the OG of Arch-based distros: https://www.archlinux.org/[Arch Linux] itself.

In my first few days, installing Arch Linux is a difficult task especially I have 
no idea how Linux works in the grand picture. I was looking up to the 
https://wiki.archlinux.org/[Arch Wiki] in my phone all day at the time double-checking 
every time I step up one more step in the instructions. I took me about 5 installations 
before I got it correctly and cruise through without much worrying.

Booting up a functional Arch Linux that I tried and installed is a challenge well 
done and satisfied with. 
It seriously feels good when I got it working. 
Not to mention that I gain some nuts and bolts knowledge on Linux as well. 


== My newfound workflow
Since a fresh installation of Arch Linux is very minimal, I took it as an 
opportunity to have a completely new set of programs to fiddle with.

The first thing in consideration is a desktop environment but I saw 
an alternative way of using a "desktop" with 
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/window_manager[window managers].
Since my workflow is simple and I don't need more fancy getup that one usually gets 
from DEs, I decided to try it out for some change. 
And it was cool.


== First window manager
I decided to use https://i3wm.org/[i3] for my first window manager.
The first time I use it doesn't bring up a bad experience. 
It was easy to adapt to it since I'm completely used to using programs 
that live in a command line interface like https://www.vim.org/[Vim]. 

.My i3 setup
image::assets/i3-setup.webp[My i3 setup]

i3 also offers a level of https://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html[configuration] 
that could make you a bit more efficient. 
In my case, I set up a mode that'll easily let me open my usual programs with 
only two key strokes like the following examples: 

* `Ctrl + Super` and `f` will open https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/[Firefox] 
* `Ctrl + Super` then `t` will open https://www.thunderbird.net/[Thunderbird]
* `Ctrl + Super` then `a` will open my file manager (https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/thunar/start[Thunar]) 
* and so on...

I also set up some keybindings that I usually use in my previous setup like 
a screenshot capture with https://github.com/naelstrof/maim[maim], 
video capture with https://obsproject.com/[OBS Studio], and 
quick switching of windows and workspaces back and forth. 

=== Status bar
Along with the keybindings, I also put a status bar usually seen in 
desktop environments. 
I decided to use the i3bar since it came in by default with i3. 
Then I use i3status (also came by default with i3) to fill up some 
usually needed information like audio volume loudness, remaining disk 
space for root and for home, and RAM and CPU usage.

It took a while to configure it but I seriously liking the pace around it so far.

.The resulting i3bar setup
image::assets/i3bar-appearance.webp[The resulting i3bar setup]

=== Application launcher
My personal desktop experience wouldn't be complete without an application launcher. 
So I considered https://github.com/DaveDavenport/rofi[`rofi`] to be my best friend on 
the matter.

By default, i3 uses http://tools.suckless.org/dmenu[`dmenu`] as the application launcher 
but I replaced it with rofi since I find it more intuitive and easier to configure.

I also made rofi to look like a start menu you usually find in desktop environments like 
http://www.xfce.org/[Xfce] or https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE[KDE].
It's not too shabby if I say so myself.
It's quite usable with rofi's sidebar mode where you can find windows, desktop entries, 
binaries, and even SSH configs.

.Customized rofi menu
image::assets/rofi-setup.webp[Customized rofi menu]

You can find 
https://github.com/foo-dogsquared/dotfiles/tree/master/rofi[my rofi config on my GitHub repo].

=== Desktop background
It wouldn't have the complete desktop experience without a desktop background.
Fortunately, it's easier done than said.

For the desktop background, I use http://feh.finalrewind.org/[feh] to easily set it 
up with the following line in my i3 config file:

[source,bash]
----
exec_always feh --bg-scale ~/wallpapers/sand.jpg
----

If you're curious about the wallpaper, you can view it 
https://www.reddit.com/r/wallpapers/comments/co9t14/sand/[in this page].

=== Other details
There are still many details left on how my i3 configuration turned out to 
be so https://github.com/foo-dogsquared/dotfiles/blob/master/i3/config[here's my i3 config file] 
if you want to see more of it.

If you want to get started on i3, I recommend to look into the 
https://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html[user guide] often.
It has a fantastic introduction and documentation to begin with. 
I don't think I need to make a post detailing on it, it's too nice and beautiful.

I also recommend looking into the 
https://github.com/addy-dclxvi/i3-starterpack[`i3-starterpack` GitHub repo by *addy-dclxvi*].
It has a great introduction to get started with your i3 setup.


== A turnaround for the terminal
With a new workflow, comes a new terminal setup. 
I used to just leave my terminal setup by default since I don't want to 
break things by then.
But because of the minimal setup Arch Linux provides at the very start, 
it's a safe bet to be experimental.

=== Alacritty
This time, I tried to stick with a new terminal emulator (or terminal, for short 
which I'll refer to it by this point).
Initially, I chose https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/[Kitty] because 
it's a GPU-based terminal. 
Eventually, I switched to https://github.com/jwilm/alacritty/[Alacritty] 
because it's faster on my machine and it supports 
https://github.com/be5invis/iosevka[Iosevka], a beautiful font set I recently discovered.

The configuration for my terminal is only through fonts and color scheme. 
So there's really nothing to discuss here.

=== Vim
https://www.vim.org/[Vim] has a reputation for being a meme in the text editors field. 
It has unintuitive user experience especially against modern text editors like 
https://code.visualstudio.com/[Visual Studio Code] or https://atom.io/[Atom] 
without some manual reading beforehand. 
It also has unconventional controls due to the modal philosophy it adheres to.
However, take time to master it and you'll be speeding through for most of the 
time. 

I use Vim mostly for writing documents that relies on text formatting languages 
like https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown[Markdown] and 
https://asciidoctor.org/[Asciidoctor].
My main case, however, is for writing LaTeX. 

After I saw https://castel.dev/post/lecture-notes-1/[this post by *Gilles Castel*], 
I inspired to learn more about Vim since I was also learning LaTeX at the time. 
A few weeks later and I was comfortable with my own workflow.

Here's a few details about it:

* I use https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug[`vim-plug`] as the plugin 
manager. 
* For writing LaTeX, I use https://github.com/lervag/vimtex/[`vimtex`].
* I use https://pwmt.org/projects/zathura[`zathura`] as the live LaTeX viewer.
* I choose https://github.com/sirver/UltiSnips[`UltiSnips`] as my snippets manager.
* I use https://github.com/907th/vim-auto-save[`vim-auto-save`] for autosaving 
my files.
* I use https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree[`nerdtree`] for a built-in 
file browser.
* I have https://github.com/vim-airline/vim-airline[`vim-airline`] as the 
status bar. It's pretty cool looking.

.Fullscreen Vim setup
image::assets/vim-setup.webp[Fullscreen Vim setup]

If you want to take a deeper look or just want to see the full config, 
https://github.com/foo-dogsquared/dotfiles/tree/master/vim[you can see it in my dotfiles repo].

=== ranger
I discovered another cool program that lives in the terminal: 
http://ranger.github.io/[ranger]. 

It's a complete file browser with Vim-inspired controls. 
It also comes with its own file opener for figuring out which applications 
to open for a certain file type. 
Both of the file browser and file opener are configurable which 
you can edit it with a simple text editor. 

If you know how to use Vim, you mostly know how to use ranger.
The way how you go around a file in Vim is quite similar to how you 
explore around a filesystem with Ranger.

Here's some examples of the similarities:

[cols=3,options="header"]
|===
| Keybinding
| Vim action
| ranger action

| `gg`
| go to the beginning of the file
| go to the beginning of the file list

| `G`
| go to the last line
| go to the last file in the list

| `dd`
| cut the current line
| cut the current file selection

| `yy`
| yank (copy) the current line
| yank (copy) the current file

| `v`
| selecting text
| selecting files

| `i`
| insert text
| rename and insert text of the selected file
|===

Like Vim, if you master the controls, you would be faster exploring 
the filesystem. 

Here's a quick demo of how you explore between different partitions 
from home to my blog in another partition back to my dotfiles in 
the home directory.

video::assets/ranger-demo.mp4[width=100%]


== Low-key ricing
Ever since I got my i3 setup to be practically functional, I've dug a rabbithole 
of configuring the little details for most of the time.
I've been considering things such as a compositor, application launcher, 
screenshot tool, keybinding tool, and a replacement for my status bar 
(which I didn't by the end of the day). 

That's when I discovered https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/[`/r/unixporn`], 
a subreddit for showing off your *Nix (i.e., Linux, MacOS) configurations and setup. 
It's also a community for "ricing", an act of adding the visual spices to your setup.
I recommend to check it out if you're looking for a starting point.
They're pretty friendly for first timers, too.

It's a satisfying experience seeing my setup to be prettier (and more functional) 
with each revision. 
More programs come and go to my experimental workflow and eventually settle with a 
(hopefully) functional setup.


== A new leaf
I said that the reason I've gone full Linux is due to me finding some 
good alternatives to the programs I usually use (except 
https://visualstudio.com/[Visual Studio]).

With this in mind, let me quickly list a bunch of programs that truly 
stand out for me:

* https://www.freecadweb.org/[FreeCAD]
* https://blender.org/[Blender]
* https://musescore.org/[MuseScore]
* https://inkscape.org/[Inkscape]
* https://krita.org/en/[Krita]
* https://www.videolan.org/vlc/[VLC Media Player]
* https://www.thunderbird.net/[Thunderbird]
* https://www.latex-project.org/[LaTeX] (with 
https://www.tug.org/texlive/[TeX Live] as the LaTeX distro)
* https://code.visualstudio.com/[Visual Studio Code]
* https://obsproject.com/[OBS Studio]
* ...and so much more!

You can the full list on my https://github.com/foo-dogsquared/dotfiles[dotfiles] 
README. 
I think you get the point.


== Conclusion
Having a full-on Linux system is pretty awesome especially these days where 
there are feature-complete software that is being developed given away for free 
and have its code open to the public. 

I made my migration since I found so much good stuff at Linux and it 
doesn't worth the effort to make my machine dual-boot it with Windows just 
to use one program. 
