i3 Settings

i3bar

i3bar displays your status bar, i3status just outputs a string with some info, which i3bar will display.

Edit config file

To change the configuration of i3, copy /etc/i3/config to ~/.i3/config (or ~/.config/i3/config if you like the XDG directory scheme) and edit it with a text editor. One of those will be created if you run the i3-config-wizard.

i3status

Edit config file

Create config file.

mkdir ~/.config/i3status
cp /etc/i3status.conf ~/.config/i3status/config

Appearance

Wallpaper

sudo apt install nitrogen

You should set this into your i3 config, so your wallpaper is persistent:

exec nitrogen -restore

dmenu replacement

Rofi is a dmenu replacement, with a better look and more features.

sudo apt install rofi

Just replace the dmenu launch command with this:

bindsym $mod+Shift+d exec rofi -show run

Functionality

Audio

add exec --no-startup-id volumeicon to i3 config

sudo apt install volumeicon-alsa

Add to i3 config

# Volume controls
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec pactl set-sink-volume 0 +2%;
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec pactl set-sink-volume 0 -2%;
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec amixer -q set Master toggle;exec amixer -q set Speaker unmute;exec amixer -q set Headphone unmute

Media controls

In order to use mediacontrols we will use playerctl, which you can install under Ubuntu with this command:

sudo apt install playerctl

Now just add those lines to your i3 config

# Media player controls
bindsym $mod+k exec playerctl play-pause
bindsym $mod+l exec playerctl next
bindsym $mod+j exec playerctl previous

Screenshots

sudo apt install scrot

Add this to your i3 config

bindsym --release Print exec scrot $HOME/Pictures/screenshot-$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S).png                             
bindsym --release Shift+Print exec scrot -s $HOME/Pictures/screenshot-$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S).png

Keyboard backlight

Set read and write permissions for the keyboard brightness

sudo chmod a+rw /sys/class/leds/tpacpi::kbd_backlight/brightness

Make this script and store it under /usr/local/bin/kbd_brightness.sh

#!/bin/sh

file=/sys/class/leds/tpacpi::kbd_backlight/brightness
current=$(cat "$file")
new="$current"


if [ "$current" = "2" ]
then
                new=0
else
                new=$((current + 1))
fi


#if [ "$1" = "-inc" ]
#then
#               if [ "$current" \< 2 ]
#               then
#                               new=$((current + 1))
#               fi
#fi
#
#if [ "$1" = "-dec" ]
#then
#               if [ "$new" \> 0 ]
#               then
#                               new=$((current - 1))
#               fi
#fi

echo "$new" | tee "$file"

Save this to your i3 config

# Keyboard brightness controls
bindsym XF86Favorites exec notify-send -t 1000 'Keyboard brightness' "$(kbd_backlight.sh)"

Backlight

Set read and write permissions for the backlight brightness

sudo chmod a+rw /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

Make this script and store it under /usr/local/bin/kbd_brightness.sh

#!/bin/sh

file=/sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness
current=$(cat "$file")
new="$current"
max_brightness=6818


if [ "$1" = "-inc" ]
then
                if [ "$current" -lt $((max_brightness - $2 + 1)) ]
                then
                                new=$((current + $2))
                else
                                new=$max_brightness
                fi
fi

if [ "$1" = "-dec" ]
then
                if [ "$current" -gt "$2" ]
                then
                                new=$((current - $2))
                else
                                new=1
                fi
fi

echo "$new" | tee "$file"

Save this to your i3 config

# Screen brightness controls
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec notify-send -t 1000 'brightness up' "$(backlight.sh -inc 800)"
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec notify-send -t 1000 'brightness down' "$(backlight.sh -dec 800)"

i3lock-fancy

git clone https://github.com/meskarune/i3lock-fancy.git
cd i3lock-fancy
sudo make install

Autolock screen

To autolock the screen after 10mins, install xautolock and add it to the i3 config

sudo apt install xautolock

exec --no-startup-id xautolock -time 10 -locker i3lock-fancy

Display

Set the second monitor right of the integrated display. You can see all displays with the command xrandr

xrandr --output HDMI-2 --auto --right-of eDP-1

Connectivity

Bluetooth

blueman will do the job. Don't forget to add exec --no-startup-id blueman-applet to your i3 config.

sudo apt install blueman

WLAN

NetworkManager will do the job. Don't forget to add exec --no-startup-id nm-applet to your i3 config.

sudo apt install network-manager