Ubuntu i3 XFCE Final Hurrah

A way to get up and running with an i3 desktop with descent usability and visual appeal. Some people still prefer the other methods on the blog, which you might want to take a look at.

 

 

 

 

We use the i3 session, and start the very modular XFCE panel independent of the XFCE desktop. It uses the panel "Workspaces Switcher" plugin that comes with XFCE. This works great for i3 (especially when outside XFCE desktop).

 

 

 

Other Methods

• Regolith i3 Distro / Ubuntu PPA
• Option to install on top of Ubuntu from PPA repo
  
• Heavy Gnome 3 Styling
• Ultra Fancy/Custom Settings
• Non-Standard i3 Shortcuts
  
• Manjaro i3 Edition 
• Pre-styled/themed i3
  
• Community Arch Linux Distro
  
• Rofi i3 feature suite
• Included in system repos
  
• Extensive set of practical features
• Themes in system repos
  
• Some learning curve
• Just cool
• i3 and KDE Plasma
• Literally KDE with i3
  
• Can look amazing
• Full KDE Plasma Features
• Relatively Easy Setup
  

 

Ubuntu 21.04

lxappearance + glib 2.68.0-3 are broken

This guide works on Ubuntu LTS 20.04, and 21.10

Ubuntu 21.04 has a problem with glib 2.68.0-3 conflicting with the lxappearance application. If-and-when glib2 goes to version 2.68.1, then lxappearance should work again. (edit: this is indeed resolved in Ubuntu 21.10)

 

 

 

Also NOTE: not working with multiple monitors

I have not tested this personally, but several sources have said this is a problem.

 

 

 

 

 

For this guide, you will need to enter terminal commands, but you should not expect to remember them. Conversely, you will always want to understand the i3 config file. The last step will be to create a link to the i3 configuration file on you XFCE panel.

The i3 site provides the best source about editing the configuration file.

I. Install Components

These packages work for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

sudo apt install \ i3 \ policy-1-gnome \ thunar \ nitrogen \ lxappearance \ xfce4-panel \ dunst \ xfce4-popup-whiskermenu \ xfce4-sensors-plugin \ xfce4-terminal \ xfce4-screenshooter \ xfce4-taskmanager \ gnome-software \ synaptic

 

 

 

These packages work for Ubuntu 20.10

sudo apt install \ i3 \ policykit-1-gnome \ thunar \ nitrogen \ lxappearance \ xfce4-panel \ dunst \ xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin \ xfce4-sensors-plugin \ xfce4-terminal \ xfce4-screenshooter \ xfce4-taskmanager \ gnome-software \ synaptic

NOTE:

• "thunar" is the XFCE file manager 
• "dunst" is a notification program
  
• "nitrogen" sets background images.
• "lxappearance" changes widget themes and the icon themes.
• "xfce4-sensors-plugin" adds graphical sensors to the panel.
• "synaptic" is a popular apt package manager
  

 

 

 

 

 

Nitrogen manages wallpapers

Nitrogen is simple and plays well with i3. It has the ability to set different wallpapers for different monitors or to expand one wallpaper between them.

1. Open Nitrogen.
2. Click "Preferences"
3. Click "Add"
4. Add any folders you use for background images
• /usr/share/backgrounds
• /usr/share/xfce4/backdrop

lxappearance manages icons and widget theme

 

 

 

 

 

 

II. Custom Config File

 

This file is the default config except:

 

All removed lines are preceded with "## OLD >>>"

 

All added lines are preceded with a line starting with "## NEW vvv"

1. Create the i3 directory: /home/username/.config/i3
2. Create a file: /home/username/.config/i3/config
3. Save the following in the file:
   

# This file has been auto-generated by i3-config-wizard(1). # It will not be overwritten, so edit it as you like. # # Should you change your keyboard layout some time, delete # this file and re-run i3-config-wizard(1). # # i3 config file (v4) # # Please see https://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html for a complete reference! set $mod Mod4 # Font for window titles. Will also be used by the bar unless a different font # is used in the bar {} block below. ## OLD >>> font pango:monospace 8 ## NEW vvv font pango: Noto Sans Regular 9 # This font is widely installed, provides lots of unicode glyphs, right-to-left # text rendering and scalability on retina/hidpi displays (thanks to pango). #font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 8 # The combination of xss-lock, nm-applet and pactl is a popular choice, so # they are included here as an example. Modify as you see fit. # xss-lock grabs a logind suspend inhibit lock and will use i3lock to lock the # screen before suspend. Use loginctl lock-session to lock your screen. exec --no-startup-id xss-lock --transfer-sleep-lock -- i3lock --nofork # NetworkManager is the most popular way to manage wireless networks on Linux, # and nm-applet is a desktop environment-independent system tray GUI for it. ## OLD >>> exec --no-startup-id nm-applet # Use pactl to adjust volume in PulseAudio. set $refresh_i3status killall -SIGUSR1 i3status bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ +10% && $refresh_i3status bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ -10% && $refresh_i3status bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle && $refresh_i3status bindsym XF86AudioMicMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-source-mute @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ toggle && $refresh_i3status # Use Mouse+$mod to drag floating windows to their wanted position floating_modifier $mod # start a terminal ## OLD >>> bindsym $mod+Return exec i3-sensible-terminal ## NEW vvv bindsym $mod+Return exec --no-startup-id xfce4-terminal ## NEW vvv bindsym $mod+Shift+Return exec --no-startup-id thunar ## NEW vvv ######################################################## bindsym Print exec --no-startup-id xfce4-screenshooter # some additional xfce4-screenshooter options # -c Copy the screenshot to the clipboard # -d Delay in seconds before taking the screenshot # -f Take a screenshot of the entire screen # -m Display the mouse on the screenshot # -o Application to open the screenshot # -r Select a region # -s File path or directory where the screenshot will be saved # -w Take a screenshot of the active window ### NEW ^^^ ####################################################### # kill focused window bindsym $mod+Shift+q kill # start dmenu (a program launcher) ## OLD >>> bindsym $mod+d exec --no-startup-id dmenu_run ## NEW vvv bindsym $mod+Shift+d exec --no-startup-id dmenu_run ## NEW vvv bindsym $mod+d exec --no-startup-id xfce4-popup-whiskermenu # A more modern dmenu replacement is rofi: # bindcode $mod+40 exec "rofi -modi drun,run -show drun" # There also is i3-dmenu-desktop which only displays applications shipping a # .desktop file. It is a wrapper around dmenu, so you need that installed. # bindcode $mod+40 exec --no-startup-id i3-dmenu-desktop # change focus bindsym $mod+j focus left bindsym $mod+k focus down bindsym $mod+l focus up bindsym $mod+semicolon focus right # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys: bindsym $mod+Left focus left bindsym $mod+Down focus down bindsym $mod+Up focus up bindsym $mod+Right focus right # move focused window bindsym $mod+Shift+j move left bindsym $mod+Shift+k move down bindsym $mod+Shift+l move up bindsym $mod+Shift+semicolon move right # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys: bindsym $mod+Shift+Left move left bindsym $mod+Shift+Down move down bindsym $mod+Shift+Up move up bindsym $mod+Shift+Right move right # split in horizontal orientation bindsym $mod+h split h # split in vertical orientation bindsym $mod+v split v # enter fullscreen mode for the focused container bindsym $mod+f fullscreen toggle # change container layout (stacked, tabbed, toggle split) bindsym $mod+s layout stacking bindsym $mod+w layout tabbed bindsym $mod+e layout toggle split # toggle tiling / floating bindsym $mod+Shift+space floating toggle # change focus between tiling / floating windows bindsym $mod+space focus mode_toggle # focus the parent container bindsym $mod+a focus parent # focus the child container #bindsym $mod+d focus child # Define names for default workspaces for which we configure key bindings later on. # We use variables to avoid repeating the names in multiple places. set $ws1 "1" set $ws2 "2" set $ws3 "3" set $ws4 "4" set $ws5 "5" set $ws6 "6" set $ws7 "7" set $ws8 "8" set $ws9 "9" set $ws10 "10" # switch to workspace bindsym $mod+1 workspace number $ws1 bindsym $mod+2 workspace number $ws2 bindsym $mod+3 workspace number $ws3 bindsym $mod+4 workspace number $ws4 bindsym $mod+5 workspace number $ws5 bindsym $mod+6 workspace number $ws6 bindsym $mod+7 workspace number $ws7 bindsym $mod+8 workspace number $ws8 bindsym $mod+9 workspace number $ws9 bindsym $mod+0 workspace number $ws10 # move focused container to workspace bindsym $mod+Shift+1 move container to workspace number $ws1 bindsym $mod+Shift+2 move container to workspace number $ws2 bindsym $mod+Shift+3 move container to workspace number $ws3 bindsym $mod+Shift+4 move container to workspace number $ws4 bindsym $mod+Shift+5 move container to workspace number $ws5 bindsym $mod+Shift+6 move container to workspace number $ws6 bindsym $mod+Shift+7 move container to workspace number $ws7 bindsym $mod+Shift+8 move container to workspace number $ws8 bindsym $mod+Shift+9 move container to workspace number $ws9 bindsym $mod+Shift+0 move container to workspace number $ws10 # reload the configuration file bindsym $mod+Shift+c reload # restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3) bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart # exit i3 (logs you out of your X session) ## OLD >>> bindsym $mod+Shift+e exec "i3-nagbar -t warning -m 'You pressed the exit shortcut. Do you really want to exit i3? This will end your X session.' -B 'Yes, exit i3' 'i3-msg exit'" ## NEW vvv ########################################################### mode "Exit" { bindsym l exec i3-msg exit bindsym r exec systemctl -i reboot bindsym s exec systemctl -i poweroff bindsym e mode "default"; exec pkill -15 nagbar bindsym Escape mode "default"; exec pkill -15 nagbar } bindsym $mod+Shift+e mode "Exit"; exec i3-nagbar \ -t warning \ -m '❕ SESSION EXIT OPTIONS' \ -B '❌ [L]ogout' 'i3-msg exit' \ -B '🌀️ [R]estart' 'systemctl -i reboot' \ -B '⚡️ [S]hutdown' 'systemctl -i poweroff' ## NEW ^^^ ############################################################ # resize window (you can also use the mouse for that) mode "resize" { # These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode # Pressing left will shrink the window’s width. # Pressing right will grow the window’s width. # Pressing up will shrink the window’s height. # Pressing down will grow the window’s height. bindsym j resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt bindsym k resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt bindsym l resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt bindsym semicolon resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt # same bindings, but for the arrow keys bindsym Left resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt bindsym Down resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt bindsym Up resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt bindsym Right resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt # back to normal: Enter or Escape or $mod+r bindsym Return mode "default" bindsym Escape mode "default" bindsym $mod+r mode "default" } bindsym $mod+r mode "resize" # Start i3bar to display a workspace bar (plus the system information i3status # finds out, if available) ## OLD >>> bar { ## OLD >>> status_command i3status ## OLD >>> } ## NEW vvv exec --no-startup-id xfce4-panel --disable-wm-check & ## NEW vvv for_window [ class="Xfce4-panel" instance="xfce4-panel" ] floating enable ## NEW vvv exec --no-startup-id dunst & # notifications ## NEW vvv exec --no-startup-id nitrogen --restore & ## NEW vvv (pick one or the other of the following 2 lines to set the policy kit agent) #exec --no-startup-id /usr/libexec/xfce-polkit & # works with xfce 4.16 exec --no-startup-id /usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 & # works with Ubuntu LTS / 20.04

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III. Log in to the i3 Session

 

 

 

 

IV. Set up Workspaces XFCE Panel Plugin

A. Add the Workspaces Plugin to panel items

1. Right-click the panel, and select Panel >> Panel Preferences
2. Select the Items tab 
3. Add the "Workspace Selector" plugin
   
4. (Perhaps remove the "Window Buttons" plugin)
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B. Change the Workspaces to Names instead of Miniature Desktops

• Right-click the workspaces plugin, and select: "Properties"
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•  Uncheck the box "Show miniature view"

 

 

XFCE 4.16+

 

XFCE 4.14

Of Note:

The i3 Exit Dialog

 

• Mod + Shift + e produces these options:
  

• When in this menu:
• The 'S' key shuts the computer down
• The 'R' key reboots the computer
• The 'L' key logs out of the session
• The 'E' key or 'Esc' key escapes the dialog
  

• They are also clickable buttons. . . . It's the future.