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https://github.com/yurlungur/xmonad-config

Instructions for setting up xmonad the way I do
https://github.com/yurlungur/xmonad-config

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Instructions for setting up xmonad the way I do

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xmonad-config

===



These are instructions for setting up `xmonad` the way I do. Here's

what my most recent desktop looks like:



![wallpaper](figures/wallpaper.png)



![productivity](figures/productivity.png)



## What is xmonad?



[xmonad](https://xmonad.org/) is a [tiling window

manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager),

primarily for unix based operating systems. This means that, rather

than dragging and dropping your windows like in the eponymous

operating system, windows are arranged automatically. When you open a

new program on an empty screen, it fills the whole screen. You add a

new program? The screen splits in two, etc. The way the windows are

arranged is then controlled by hotkey combinations on your

keyboard. It's a different way of interacting with your computer. And,

although there's a learning curve, it makes things very fast and

seamless once you're used to it. I've been using tiling windows

managers for over a decade now and I'm never going back.



`xmonad` is a particular tiling window manager written and configured

in [Haskell](https://www.haskell.org/), the famous functional

programming language. For fans of Haskell, like myself, this is

obviously a plus. However, you don't need to know Haskell to configure

xmonad. The biggest advantage of `xmonad` being configured in Haskell

is that it's turing complete and very very extensible.



`xmonad` has a reputation for being excellent with multiple monitors

as well. This is true, but I won't get in to it here.



## Why use this configuration?



My configuration is, of course, idiosyncratic and designed for

me. That said, you may find some gems in here that you'd enjoy. Here

are some of the aspects of my configuration I'm proud of:



- Behind all windows is a transparent terminal. In essence, my

  wallpaper *is* a terminal, which you can interact with.



- My wallpaper cycles once an hour, randomly without repeats. This is

  obviously a feature you can get in other environments, but it's not

  automatic to mimic in `xmonad`.



- I have emacs running in client-server mode, which means I can

  instantly summon an emacs window with a hotkey, and emacs remembers

  everything I've been doing with it. Startup is also very fast, as

  the emacs daemon is always running in the background.

  

- I integrate custom background processes, like the emacs daemon with

  `systemd` so that they automatically start when you enter `xmonad`.



- I have a fairly nice configuration for the lightweight terminal

  emulator, `rxvt-unicode`.

  

## Why not use this configuration?



You might want to explore these things youreself and come up with a

desktop environment that works for you. Or, you may want to use the

[Wayland](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/) compositor for Linux,

which replaces X11. Unfortunately, xmonad appears unlikely to ever

adapt and become compatible with Wayland. If that's important to you,

here are some tiling window managers that *do* work with Wayland that

you may want to check out:



- [Waymonad](https://github.com/waymonad/waymonad) is a port of xmonad

  to Wayland. While the original project appears dead, there's an active fork

  [here](https://github.com/L-as/waymonad).

  

- [Sway](https://swaywm.org/) is a port of the popular

  [i3](https://i3wm.org/) tiling window manager to Wayland. Sway is

  under active development.



- [PaperWM](https://github.com/paperwm/PaperWM) is a very interesting

  take on tiling windows managers built on top of the Gnome 3 shell.



## Prerequisites



These instructions assume you're running [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/)

desktop. Most recently tested on Ubuntu 20 LTS. That said, they should

work, with minor changes, for most Linux distributions.



## Repository Organization



This repository is organized as follows:



- The `instructions` directory contains markdown files explaining what

  to do for various self-contained pieces of the configuration. The

  files are numbered, and I link to them below, with descriptions, but

  you should feel free to jump around as you like.

  

- The `scripts` directory contains scripts used in the configuration.



- The `dotfiles` directory contains configuration files. Since many

  configuration files are hidden by default, I use the following

  naming convention instead of the leading `.`. I name files with the

  directory containing them, separated by `.`. So for example, a

  `.bashrc` file would be listed as `home.bashrc`. A file that lives

  in `~/.config/systemd/user` might be named

  `home.config.systemd.user.emacs.service`.



## Table of contents



The instructions available are:



- [01-installing-xmonad](instructions/01-installing-xmonad.md)

  describes the basics of installing `xmonad`.

- [02-configuring-xmonad](instructions/02-configuring-xmonad.md)

  describes key details of configuring `xmonad`. It highlights any

  significant differences in hotkeys/capabilities that my config has

  over normal ones.

- [03-configuring-cycle-wallpaper](instructions/03-configuring-cycle-wallpaper.md)

  describes how to configure my slideshow wallpaper script.

- [04-configuring-bash](instructions/04-configuring-bash.md) describes my bashrc

- [05-configuring-rxvt-unicode](instructions/05-configuring-rxvt-unicode.md)

  describes how to configure the terminal editor.

- [06-configuring-emacs](instructions/06-configuring-emacs.md)

  describes how to configure emacs.

- [07-configuring-systemd](instructions/07-configuring-systemd.md)

  describes how to use systemd to have custom services start

  automatically for you.



## Contact



If you find issues please feel free to reach out via github issues.