Argos's Debian GNU/Linux Dot Files¹

A collection of my experiences with Linux in the form of dot files.

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1. The layout for this README.md was heavely influenced by those of Spencer Tipping and Dylan Araps.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Bootstrap
• Unexpected features you get right out of the gate
• Programs referenced by these configs
• Handy keybindings

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Introduction

The purpose of this repository is to contain the bare minimum of what is necessary to quickly bootstrap my current sensibilities on a Linux system.² At its core, there are two assumptions:

1. That the underlying system is the Debian GNU/Linux Operating System,³ which is used as a solid and flexible foundation to build on.
2. That the desktop environment implements the Wayland protocol through the use of the Sway tiling Wayland compositor.

All the design decisions taken have the purpose to both manage and make explicit what probably remains as the most common way of interacting with computers, and, simultaneously, one of its less examined aspects: the layout of the computing space.

These dot files were started with a minimal Debian 10 Buster installation, so they should work with any Debian installation or Debian-based distribution.⁴ I use these dots on Debian, but I've made an effort to keep them as distribution agnostic as possible. I have deployed them succesfully on Arch Linux (don't take this as an endorsement) and on Void Linux (you can take this as an endorsement).⁵

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2. Everything is pretty light (mostly contains plain text files and some bash and shell scripts), with the exception of my font collection, which contains the fonts that I use on a regular basis and/or the ones I really like, which make it's size rather big.

3. These dotfiles are currently being written on Debian Sid 💀. If you are aware of the risks and responsabilities that using Debian's unstable branch entail and still wish to go down the Sid route, make sure to replace your apt sources with the following lines:

   deb http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
   deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
   

   Then update your sources and upgrade to Sid:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade 
   

4. As stated on the footnote above, these dotfiles are written with Debian Sid on mind. However, with the inminent release of Debian 11 Bullseye, these will be once again compatible with Debian's stable branch.

5. They will work for the most part, but some tweaking is needed to make them work properly on these distributions. However, since you are already using either of these two distributions, I will assume that you will know how to adapt these dot files to your system. Also, make sure to double-check that the packges contained in the boostrapping script are alvailable in your distribution's repositories (even if it is Debian-bassed), otherwise, the script will fail.

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Bootstrap

The following steps assume that you are on a specifically running Debian system. If you are running any Linux distribution other than Debian (this also includes Debian-based distributions), see note 5 in the previous section.

1. In order to bootstrap this dot files, install and use wget to download the bootrsapping script called waystrap.sh(it is located inside the Debstrap folder in this repository).

    sudo apt install wget
    wget https://github.com/argosatcore/Deb_Dots/blob/main/Debstrap/waystrap.sh
   

2. Run the script. Using super user privileges is highly discouraged, as the parts of the script after the installation of packages will fail.

    ./waystrap.sh
   

3. Profit:

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Unexpected features you get right out of the gate

• Bash's vim mode: When in normal mode, you will see a - at the beginning of your prompt. When in insert mode, you will see a + at the beginning of the prompt.
• Caps Lock key is swapped with Esc key: If you are a vim user (or someone that just uses the crap out of the Esc key), you know how handy this is. If you don't want this, just change it in the input configuration in Sway's config file.
• Mouse set for left handed people: If you happen to be part of the other 90% of the human population, just change the input configuration in Sway's config file.
• Change directories without using the cd command: Just type the name of the directory to move into it.
• Bash completion is no longer case sensitive: No more wasted time pressing keys to get upper case letters.
• Combined less and neovim as a pager for man pages: Because man pages deserve better.
• Keyboard layout set to Latin American: Unless you need to type Spanish accents, you might want to take a look at Sway's config file and chage the keyboard layout to your preferred one. Us-International is set as a second option and can be toggled by pressing Super+Space.
• Gapless single client: If there is only one client on a given workspace, gaps and borders will be disabled. As soon as another client is launched on the same workspace, gaps and borders will be activated.
• Ridiculously fast key repeat rate: Like, really fast.

Programs referenced by these configs

All of which are apt installable on Debian Sid:

Program	Descripton
foot	Wayland native minimalist terminal emulator.
gammastep	Screen temperature manager.
grimshot	Wayland native screeshoot tool.
mako-notifier	Wayland native notification daemon.
nautilus	File manager.
neovim	Text editor.
swaybg	Wayland native wallpaper utility.
swaylock	Wayland native screen locker.
sway	Wayland compositor.
tmux	Persistent SSH shell sessions.
vim-gtk	(Neo)Vim's clipboard integration.
waybar	Sway's panel.
wdisplays	Wayland native graphical tool for configuring displays.
wlogout	Wayland session menu.
wofi	Wayland native application launcher, window switcher, commad executor and many more.

Handy keybindings

Sway:

• Super+Shift+c: reload Sway.
• Super+Shift+e: exit Wayland session.
• Alt+Shift+x: lock screen.
• Super+Shift+minus: hide/unhide scratchpad.
• Super+PageUp: switch to the next workspace. If there is no next workspace occupied, it will automatically create a new one.
• Super+PageDown: switch to the previous workspace. If there is no previously occupied workspace, it will automatically create a new one.
• Super+x: toggle Waybar on/off.
• Super+Shift+b: toggle window border on/off.
• Super+(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0): Switch to worspace 1-10.
• Super+Shitft+(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0): Move an application to workspace 1-10.
• Super+Space: Switch keyboard layout. Options are: Latin American (default) and US-International.

Windows:

• Super+q: close.
• Super+f: fullscreen.
• Super+Escape: toggle floating. Remember, Caps Lock now works as Escape and viceversa.
• Super+(h,j,k,l): change the selection of a window in a given direction.
• Super+Alt+(h,j,k,l): swap focused window with any window in a given direction.
• Super+Shift+(h,j,k,l): move window in a given direction.
• Super+w: tab windows.
• Super+s: stack windows.
• Super+e: split tabbed or stacked windows.
• Alt+Tab: switch focus between tiling and floating areas.

Mouse:

• Super+Click1: move window.
• Super+Click2: resize window.

Running things:

• Super+Return: run a terminal.
• Super+i: run firefox.
• Super+n: run nautilus.
• Super+d: run wofi as an application launcher.
• Super+Tab: run wofi as a window switcher.
• Super+Shift+q: run wlogout.