ML4W Dotfiles 2.9

An advanced configuration of Hyprland and Qtile for Arch Linux based distributions. This package includes an installation script to install and setup the required components.

The ML4W Dotfiles are available as

• main release (Official release): https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles
• rolling release (Development release): https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles/-/tree/dev

YouTube Video https://youtu.be/HMxHUvN6VGo

[TOC]

Installation

The package includes an installation script that will guide you through all steps of the installation or update process.

PLEASE NOTE: Every Linux distribution and setup can be different. Therefore, I cannot guarantee that the installation will work everywhere. Installation on your own risk.

Supported platforms

The dotfiles are tested with the following Arch based distributions:

• Arch Linux (recommended)
• EndeavourOS
• Garuda Linux
• Arco Linux

The installation should work on all Arch Linux based distributions as well.

For Manjaro users: Hyprland and required packages are under ongoing development. That's why it could be possible that some packages are not immediatly available on Manjaro. But usually, the packages will be published later. Maybe you can install required packages manually.

For Arco Linux users: Please reinstall/force the installation of all packages during the installation/update process of the install script. The script will also offer to remove ttf-ms-fonts if installed to avoid issues with icons on waybar.

Before you start

PLEASE BACKUP YOUR EXISTING .config FOLDER WITH YOUR DOTFILES BEFORE STARTING THE SCRIPTS FOR INITIAL INSTALLTION.

The installation script will create a backups from configurations of your .config folder that will be overwritten from the installation procedure and previous ML4W Dotfiles installation.

If possible, please create a snapshot of your current system if snapper or Timeshift is installed and available.

Installation

The easiest way to install the ML4W Dotfiles is to use the ML4W Dotfiles Installer App.

You can download the app here. (Right click + Save link as... into your Downloads Folder)

# 1.) Change to the Downloads folder
cd ~/Downloads

# 2.) Make the file executable
chmod +x installer.AppImage

# 3.) Start the App from your terminal with
./installer.AppImage

Or with download the Installer App with wget if your starting point is a minimal Arch Linux with without DE from tty:

# 0.) Install required packages
sudo pacman -S wget fuse2 # Only required for Minimal Arch installations. If wget or libfuse.so.2 is not installed. 

# 1.) Create Downloads folder
mkdir ~/Downloads # If Downloads folder doesn't exists

# 2.) Download the installer
wget -P ~/Downloads/ https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles/-/raw/main/apps/installer.AppImage

# 3.) Change to the Downloads folder
cd ~/Downloads

# 4.) Make the file executable
chmod +x installer.AppImage

# 5.) Start the App from your terminal with
./installer.AppImage

Alternatively you can install with GIT.

Update

You can use the integrated update feature to update your dotfiles to the main or rolling release whenever you want.

Start the ML4W Welcome App. You will see a notification when an update is available. You can start the update or re-installation of the ML4W Dotfiles at any time.

You can force a clean re-installation of the dotfiles by removing the folder ~/dotfiles before starting the installation.

Please note that you can create a backup of your existing configuration with the backup feature of the install script. It's recommended to remove the folder ~/dotfiles only after creating a backup.

Uninstall

You can use the integrated uninstallation function (ML4W Dotfiles Uninstaller App) to remove the ML4W Dotfiles from your system.

Please select "Uninstall Dotfiles" from the ML4W Welcome App or execute ~/dotfiles/uninstall.sh

The ML4W Dotfiles Uninstaller App will remove the dotfiles folder, related symbolic links and the desktop files of the ML4W Apps.

The script will also try to restore old configurations back into .config if available and restored during the installation of the ML4W Dotfiles.

Installation in a KVM virtual machine

Qtile X11 works fine in a KVM virtual machine. The Hyprland performance is low but it's enough for testing new features.

In virt-manager please make sure that 3D acceleration is enabled in Video Virtio and the Listen type is set to None in Display Spice.

To fix the mouse issue on Hyprland, open the Hyprland settings with SUPER + CTRL + S and select in Environments the variation kvm.conf

Hyprland & NVIDIA

There is no official Hyprland support for Nvidia hardware. However, you might make it work properly following this page. https://wiki.hyprland.org/Nvidia/

Users have reported that Hyprland with dotfiles could be installed successfully on setups with NVDIA GPUs using the nouveau open source drivers.

Please select the following variation in the settings script (system/environment):

https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles/-/blob/main/hypr/conf/environments/nvidia.conf

Or set the included environment variables in hyprland.conf

Installation Hook

The installation script will prepare the configuration files in a folder ~/dotfiles-versions/[version] before copy the files into the final destination in ~/dotfiles

If you want to modify the installation files just before everytime the copy procedure starts, you can create a file hook.sh in the folder ~/dotfiles-versions

You can for example delete folders and files or update existing configurations.

#!/bin/bash
rm -rf ~/dotfiles-versions/$version/vim/
rm -rf ~/dotfiles-versions/$version/nvim/

This script will for example remove the vim and nvim folder before the installation. The symbolic link will not be created because the source folder doesn't exits.

You can find a template in .install/templates/hook.sh

Launch Hyprland from tty

The suggested method to start Hyprland is from tty with the command Hyprland because login managers (display managers) are not officially supported (https://wiki.hyprland.org/Getting-Started/Master-Tutorial/#launching-hyprland)

# Start Hyprland
Hyprland

You can install a custom tty login issue (layout) with the dotfiles installer.

Launch Hyprland with a Display Manager

I made good experiences with the Display Manager SDDM (https://github.com/sddm/sddm). Also gdm could work.

yay -S sddm

The dotfiles installation script will offer to deactivate the installed display manager and to activate SDDM.

The dotfiles package also includes a configuration for the SDDM theme sdd-sugar-candy (https://github.com/Kangie/sddm-sugar-candy) and a configuration to run SDDM in X11 mode to get the best compatibility.

With the Hyprland settings script you can copy the current wallpaper into SDDM and use it as a background.

Please check the troubleshooting section in case of issues.

Screenlock, suspend and DPMS

Hypridle will start Hyprlock after 10 minutes of inactivity and will try to suspend one minutes later.

In the ML4W Dotfiles Settings App you can define the timeouts for Hyprlock, suspend and DPSM.

The selected hypridle configuration can be restored from the ML4W installer during a dotfiles update.

The ML4W Dotfiles are using the recommended configuration from https://wiki.hyprland.org/Hypr-Ecosystem/hypridle/

Some important key bindings

• SUPER + RETURN: Alacritty
• SUPER + CTRL + RETURN: rofi application launcher
• SUPER + SHIFT + W: Change wallpaper
• SUPER + PRINT: Screenshot
• SUPER + CTRL + Q: Logout screen
• SUPER + CTRL + S: Settings script on Hyprland
• SUPER + SHIFT + B: Reload waybar on Hyprland

All keybindings for Hyprland with right mouse click on Apps in waybar or here:

• Hyprland keybindings overview
• Qtile keybindings overview

Hyprland

Watch on YouTube

ML4W Sidebar

With the ML4W Sidebar you have access to all included ML4W Applications and some system information. In addition, you start the main power features for your system.

You can also start the sidebar from the terminal with

ml4w-sidebar

ML4W Welcome App

After starting the ML4W dotfiles for the first time, the ML4W Welcome App opens. This app is the starting point to discover the Hyprland setup.

You can also start the Welcome App from the terminal with

ml4w

The welcome screen includes the most important keybindings to open a terminal or a browser.

You can start the ML4W Welcome App by clicking on the L icon on the right side in waybar, using the rofi application launcher or by typing ml4w in your terminal (if you're using the .bashrc from the dotfiles).

In the Settings Menu you can access the following functions:

• Update Wallpaper: Opens the wallpaper selector
• Change Waybar Theme: Opens the waybar theme switcher and gives access to the available themes for the waybar status bar
• Change GTK Theme: Opens nwg-look to select the theme for GTK 3 applications incl. widgets, icons and cursors
• Refresh GTK Settings: Reloads the Hyprland GTK configuration (required when changing the mouse cursor)
• Hyprland Settings: Opens the Hyprland Settings script to customize the look and feel, environment variables, monitor resolution, etc.
• Network Settings: Select your network configuration incl. WiFi
• Update your System: Starts the terminal application to update your Arch packages (pacman & yay)
• Cleanup your System: Removes old orphans and cached files generated during previous installations
• Reload Waybar: Reloads the waybar
• Toggle Waybar: You can hide or show waybar when you want to try our other status bars.

You can find the sourcecode of the ML4W Welcome App in this repository: https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/ml4w-welcome

ML4W Dotfiles Settings App

You can open the ML4W dotfiles settings app with SUPER + CTRL + S to change selected dotfiles configurations and choose from variations for your hyprland.conf to customize your desktop even more.

You can create custom variations by copying a file from the ~/dotfiles/hypr/conf subfolders like monitor/default.conf, give the file a custom name (e.g., mymonitor.conf) and select the variation in the dotfiles settings app in the corresponding section.

The ML4W Dotfiles Settings App replaces strings from several configuration files directly or based on replacement comments e.g., // START WORKSPACES That's why you shouldn't remove any of theses comments or markers to ensure full functionality of the app.

You can also edit the file custom.conf which is included at the bottom of the hyprland.conf and can hold you personal configurations.

You can find the sourcecode of the ML4W Dotfiles Settings App in this repository: https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/ml4w-dotfiles-settings

You can also start the Dotfiles App from the terminal with

ml4w-settings

ML4W Hyprland Settings App

This applications supports you to customize your Hyprland installation. You can overwrite the existing configuration with custom values without adding complex configuration files.

YOu can start the application from the application launcher, the ML4W Sidebar by clicking the ML4W Logo or from the welcome app.

The app shows variables and current values of your running Hyprland.

You can change the values and overwrite the existing values. The change will be axecuted immediatly.

In the Set Variables tab you can see which values you have overwritten and can restore the old values be removing the entry.

You can also start the Hyprland App from the terminal with

ml4w-hyprland

You can find the sourcecode of the ML4W Hyprland Settings App in this repository: https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/ml4w-hyprland-settings

Hyprland Configuration Variations

With configuration variations, you can customize settings and configurations for your Hyprland installation. You can manage, create and edit Hyprland Configuration Variations in the ML4W Dotfiles Settings App.

You can find more information here.

Please don't edit the shipped configuration variations. These will be overwritten with every update of the ML4W dotfiles. Create your own custom variation instead.

Wallpaper with swww or hyprpaper and Pywal

Included is a pywal configuration that changes the color scheme based on a randomly selected wallpaper. With the key binding SUPER + SHIFT + W you can change the wallpaper coming from the folder ~/wallpaper/.

SUPER + CTRL + W opens rofi with a list of installed wallpapers in ~/wallpaper/ for your individual selection.

In case of issues with swww, you can switch between the Wallpaper application swww and hyprpaper. Open the ML4W Dotfiles Settings app and select the tab system. At the top you can find the Wallpaper Engine Selector.

PLEASE NOTE: A logout and login is required to activate the new wallpaper application.

The hyprpaper engine uses a template stored in dotfiles/.settings/hyprpaper.tpl You can add additional configurations there. The WALLPAPER placeholder will be replaced with the current wallpaper.

Waybar themes and themeswitcher

In addition, you can switch the Waybar Template with SUPER + CTRL + T or by pressing the "..." icon in Waybar with the themeswitcher.

The templates are available in ~/dotfiles/waybar/themes. You can add your own personal themes into this folder.

You can find more information here.

Screensharing and recording

More information you can find here: https://gist.github.com/PowerBall253/2dea6ddf6974ba4e5d26c3139ffb7580

Please note that every Arch Linux system is different and I cannot guarantee that everything works fine on your system.

Main packages

• Terminal: alacritty
• Editor: nvim
• Prompt: starship
• Wallpaper: hyprpaper (swww optional)
• Icons: Font Awesome
• Launch Menus: Rofi (Wayland)
• Colorscheme: pywal
• Browsers: Chromium
• Filemanager: Thunar
• Cursor: Bibata Modern Ice
• Icons: Papirus-Icon-Theme
• Status Bar: waybar
• Screenshots: grim & slurp
• Clipboard Manager: cliphist
• Logout: wlogout
• Idle Manager: hypridle
• Screenlock: hyprlock

Qtile X11

Wallpaper and Pywal

Included is a pywal configuration that changes the color scheme based on a randomly selected wallpaper. With the key binding SUPER + SHIFT + W you can change the wallpaper coming from the folder ~/wallpaper/.

SUPER + CTRL + W opens rofi with a list of installed wallpapers in ~/wallpaper/ for your individual selection.

Main Packages

• Terminal: alacritty
• Editor: nvim
• Prompt: starship
• Icons: Font Awesome
• Launch Menus: Rofi
• Colorscheme: pywal
• Browsers: Chromium
• Filemanager: Thunar
• Cursor: Bibata Modern Ice
• Icons: Papirus-Icon-Theme
• Status Bar: Qtile status bar
• Compositor: picom (optional)
• Screenshots: scrot

Installation/Update with GIT

Installation with GIT

You can also install the dotfiles by cloning the latest main release:

# 1.) Change into your Downloads folder (create the folder if not available)
cd ~/Downloads

# 2.) Clone the dotfiles repository into the Downloads folder
git clone --depth=1 https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles.git

# 3.) Change into the dotfiles folder
cd dotfiles

# 4.) Start the installation
./install.sh

Installation with GIT (Rolling release)

You can install the dotfiles by cloning the latest development version from the rolling release:

# 1.) Change into your Downloads folder (create the folder if not available)
cd ~/Downloads

# 2.) Clone the dotfiles repository into the Downloads folder
git clone https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles.git

# 3.) Change into the new dotfiles folder
cd dotfiles

# 4.) Checkout the dev branch
git checkout dev

# 4.) Start the installation
./install.sh

Update with GIT

Please follow the steps to update from earlier dotfiles versions to 2.8.3

# 1.) Remove existing downloaded dotfiles
rm -rf ~/Downloads/dotfiles

# 2.) Change into your Downloads folder
cd ~/Downloads

# 3.) Clone the dotfiles repository into the Downloads folder
git clone --depth=1 https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles.git

# 4.) Change into the dotfiles folder
cd dotfiles

# 5.) Start the installation
./install.sh

Base Hyprland installation with Hyperland Starter Package

If you want to install only the core packages of Hyprland as a starting point for your Hyprland experiments please also try my Hyprland Starter script: https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/hyprland-starter

Troubleshooting

The ML4W Welcome App includes a system diagnosis feature available in the menu with the three dots.

Please run the diagnosis to see if all essential packages and related commands are available on your system.

If not, you need to install the missing packages manually.

rofi (application launcher) is not working

If the installation of rofi-wayland fails in the installation/update procedure please try to install it manually:

yay -S rofi-wayland

If rofi-wayland isn't available please try rofi:

yay -S rofi

hypridle and hyprlock is not starting after an update of the dotfiles

Please make sure that hypridle and hyprlock has been installed successfully with

yay -S hypridle hyprlock

If there is an file conflict the remove the files manually with:

sudo rm /usr/lib/debug/usr/bin/hypridle.debug
sudo rm /usr/lib/debug/usr/bin/hyprlock.debug

and start the installation again with

yay -S hypridle hyprlock

Missing icons in waybar

In case of missing icons on waybar, it's due to a conflict between several installed fonts (can happen especially on Arco Linux). Please make sure that ttf-ms-fonts is uninstalled and ttf-font-awesome and otf-font-awesome are installed with

yay -R ttf-ms-fonts
yay -S ttf-font-awesome otf-font-awesome

SDDM not showing (only black screen with cursor)

Switch to another tty with CTRL + ALT + F3 Now you can login with your user.

Start Hyprland with Hyprland.

You can try to reinstall all sddm related packages.

yay -S sddm-git sddm-sugar-candy-git

Or you can install another display manager.

To stop, disable and remove sddm service.

sudo systemctl stop sddm.service
sudo systemctl disable sddm.service
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service

Waybar is not loading

There could be a conflict with xdg-desktop-portal-gtk or xdg-desktop-portal-gnome. Please try to remove the package if installed with:

sudo pacman -R xdg-desktop-portal-gtk

Wallpaper repository

You can find my wallpaper collection in the repository https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/wallpaper

Special Thanks

THANK YOU very much for all your support, contributions and ideas:

• Diana Ward: https://github.com/dianaw353
• Don Williams: https://github.com/dwilliam62
• Teodor Orzechowski: https://gitlab.com/sq6gtt
• Jamie Deppeler: https://gitlab.com/bknight2k

and many more...

Thanks to all YouTube subscribers for all your great feedback.

Inspirations

The following projects have inspired me:

• https://github.com/dianaw353/hyprland-configuration-rootfs
• https://github.com/prasanthrangan/hyprdots
• https://github.com/sudo-harun/dotfiles

and many more...