I3-gaps with MX-Linux

[stroudmw]

200513193_10158754787357851_5268046200992087406_n.jpg

I've just installed i3-gaps on MX-19 and thought I'd add this "how-to" for reference.

Install the i3 meta-package:

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sudo apt install i3

Now do the following:

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 git clone https://github.com/Airblader/i3.git i3-gaps

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sudo apt install meson dh-autoreconf libxcb-keysyms1-dev libpango1.0-dev libxcb-util0-dev xcb libxcb1-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libyajl-dev libev-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libstartup-notification0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-xrm0 libxcb-xrm-dev libxcb-shape0 libxcb-shape0-dev

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cd i3-gaps/

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 mkdir -p build && cd build

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meson --prefix /usr/local

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ninja

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sudo ninja install

...and that's it!

I've used conky for the panel. Here's my ~/.conkyrc file:

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conky.config = {
    background = false,
    cpu_avg_samples = 2,
    no_buffers = true,
    out_to_console = true,
    out_to_x = false,
    own_window = false,
    update_interval = 1,
    short_units = true,
    total_run_times = 0
};

conky.text = [[

[
    {"full_text": " | ", "color":"\#555555"},
    {"full_text": "CPU: ${cpu cpu0}% ", "color":"\#cf6a4c"},
    {"full_text": " | ", "color":"\#555555"},
    {"full_text": "RAM: $mem","color":"\#cda869"},
    {"full_text": " | ", "color":"\#555555"},
    {"full_text": "LAN: ${addr eth0}","color":"\#89b859"},                                                        
    {"full_text": " | ", "color":"\#555555"},
    {"full_text": "Wifi: ${wireless_essid  wlan0}","color":"\#00aaaa"},
    {"full_text": " | ", "color":"\#555555"},
#    {"full_text": "${exec hostname }", "color":"\#9b703f"},
#    {"full_text": " | ", "color":"\#555555"},
    {"full_text": "BATT: ${battery}", "color":"\#9b703f"},
    {"full_text": " | ", "color":"\#555555"},
    {"full_text": "UP: ${uptime_short} ", "color":"\#838184"},
    {"full_text": " | ", "color":"\#555555"},
    {"full_text": "${time %A %Y-%m-%d}", "color":"\#cccccc"},
    {"full_text": "${time %H:%M}", "color":"\#cccccc"}
],

]];

to call the .conkyrc, you'll need this in your ~/.config/i3/config file, as this replaces the i3status bar:

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# Start i3bar to display a workspace bar (plus the system information i3status
# finds out, if available)
bar {
#        status_command i3status
        status_command ~/.config/i3/conky-i3bar.sh
        position top
}

and here's the ~/.config/i3/conky-i3bar.sh file:

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#!/bin/sh

# Send the header so that i3bar knows we want to use JSON:
echo '{"version":1}'

# Begin the endless array.
echo '['

# We send an empty first array of blocks to make the loop simpler:
echo '[],'

# Now send blocks with information forever:
exec conky -c ~/.conkyrc

...and that's it!

[Jerry3904]

Thanks a lot--this will be very useful to the Community.

[deanr72]

Thanks, I'll be giving this a go any day soon!

[Jerry]

Great job. It's work on Mx 21 Rc1 and Debian 11 also.

[manyroads]

I use i3wm on MX21... here's a bunch of stuff I have written on i3wm (no gaps) and dwm (which I also use on MX daily). Perhaps you'll find something useful there.
https://eirenicon.org/?s=i3wm
https://eirenicon.org/?s=dwm

[stroudmw]

Great job. It's work on Mx 21 Rc1 and Debian 11 also.

Thanks Jerry! That's good news as I am about to do a clean install of MX-21.

[stroudmw]

The colours on the i3-bar no longer work. I assume it has to do with conky, but I have no idea how to fix it.

[deanr72]

Hi.

I've recently tried this but get stuck at the ninja and sudo ninja install commands. Neither commands work regardless of the order. sudo apt install ninja doesn't work either - I just get a 'command not found' return. Am I missing something?

Regards,

D.

*EDIT: Scratch that, it works on mx-21 but not mx-19 apparently. Thanks again for the post!!

[deanr72]

Me again. New question, new post:

Is there a polkit or something I need to install/add/activate so that I have access to mx-tools, synaptic etc. from within the i3 gaps wm? How do I do that? All the programs are in rofi and dmenu but most of them won't run.

[manyroads]

Me again. New question, new post:

Is there a polkit or something I need to install/add/activate so that I have access to mx-tools, synaptic etc. from within the i3 gaps wm? How do I do that? All the programs are in rofi and dmenu but most of them won't run.

Here's a bunch of help on using i3wm (I don't use gaps but that will make no difference). Perhaps you'll find what you want, need, can use... https://eirenicon.org/?s=i3wm