setting up i3 on a fresh pi lite
make a file called .xsession
inside it add:
exec i3
add this to .profile
# if tty loads then startx and i3 if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ]; then startx fi
i3 config
in .config/i3/config put:
# 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. font pango:monospace 12 # 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 # Start XDG autostart .desktop files using dex. See also # https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/XDG_Autostart exec --no-startup-id dex --autostart --environment i3 # 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. 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 # move tiling windows via drag & drop by left-clicking into the title bar, # or left-clicking anywhere into the window while holding the floating modifier. tiling_drag modifier titlebar # start a terminal bindsym $mod+Return exec i3-sensible-terminal # kill focused window bindsym $mod+Shift+q kill # start dmenu (a program launcher) #bindsym $mod+d exec --no-startup-id dmenu_run # A more modern dmenu replacement is rofi: bindsym $mod+d 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+m 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) 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'" # 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) bar { status_command i3status } #remove title bar for_window [class="^.*"] border pixel 0 #open file manager bindsym $mod+f exec thunar bindsym $mod+w exec firefox
Created: 2025-06-20 Fri 03:59