.de LI
.LIST
.SHIFT_LIST 10p
..
.PARA_SPACE 1m
.TITLE "\s+(10A Friendly Guide to LARBS!\s0"
.AUTHOR "\s+5Luke Smith\s0"
.DOCTYPE DEFAULT
.COPYSTYLE FINAL
.PRINTSTYLE TYPESET
.PT_SIZE 10
.START
Use vim keys (\f(CWh/j/k/l\fP) to navigate this document.
Pressing \f(CWs\fP will fit it to window width (\f(CWa\fP to revert).
\f(CWK\fP and \f(CWJ\fP zoom in and out.
\f(CWSuper+f\fP to toggle fullscreen.
\f(CWf\fP will highlight links to follow which are selectable by typing the number that appears plus \f(CWEnter\fP.
\f(CWq\fP to quit.
(These are general shortcuts of \f(CWzathura\fP, the pdf reader.)
.LI
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F1\fP will show this document at any time.
.ITEM
By \f(CWMod\fP I mean the Super Key, usually known as "the Windows Key."
.LIST OFF
.PP
Questions or suggestions? Email me at
.PDF_WWW_LINK "mailto:luke@lukesmith.xyz" "luke@lukesmith.xyz"
.LI
.ITEM
LARBS website:
.PDF_WWW_LINK "https://larbs.xyz"
.ITEM
My website:
.PDF_WWW_LINK "https://lukesmith.xyz"
.ITEM
Donate:
.PDF_WWW_LINK "https://lukesmith.xyz/donate" "https://lukesmith.xyz/donate"
(It makes a difference!)
.LIST OFF
FAQs are at the end of this document.
.HEADING 1 "Welcome!"
.HEADING 2 "Basic goals and principles of this system:"
.LI
.ITEM
\fBNaturalness\fP \(en
Remove the border between mind and matter:
everything important should be as few keypresses as possible away from you,
and you shouldn't have to think about what you're doing.
Immersion.
.ITEM
\fBEconomy\fP \(en
Programs should be simple and light on system resources and highly extensible.
Because of this, many are terminal or small ncurses programs that have all the magic inside of them.
.ITEM
\fBKeyboard/vim-centrality\fP \(en
All terminal programs (and other programs) use vim keys when possible.
Your hands never need leave the home row or thereabout.
.ITEM
\fBDecentralization\fP \(en
This system is a web of small, modifiable and replaceable programs that users can easily customize.
.LIST OFF
.HEADING 2 "General keyboard changes"
.LI
.ITEM
Capslock is a useless key in high quality space.
It's now remapped.
If you press it alone, it will function as escape, making vimcraft much more natural,
but you can also hold it down and it will act as another Windows/super/mod key.
.ITEM
The menu button (usually between the right Alt and Ctrl) is an alternative Super/Mod button.
This is to make one-handing on laptops easier.
.LIST OFF
If you'd like to change any of these keyboard changes, you need only open and change \f(CW~/.xprofile\fP.
Actually, this should go without saying, but \fIeverything\fP here can easily be changed.
Below in this document, there is information about where to change programs/components.
.PP
Additionally, while this isn't a part of the desktop environment, the default editing mode in the shell is using vi bindings.
If you want to learn more of this, run \f(CWMod+Shift+E\fP and type and select the option for "vi mode in shell".
This setting can be changed if you don't like it by deleting or commenting out the contents of \f(CW~/.config/inputrc\fP.
.HEADING 2 "The Status Bar"
.PP
If you're new to dwm, notice the status bar on the top of the screen.
To the left side, you'll see the numbers of your current workspace/tag(s).
On the right side, you'll see various system status notifiers, the date, volume, even music and local weather if possible, etc.
I'm sure you can figure it out.
The script that sets the bar is \f(CW~/.local/bin/dwmbar\fP.
You can read the specifics there or change it if you want.
If you edit and save changes to that file in vim, vim will automatically kill and update it.
.HEADING 2 "Deeper Tutorials"
.PP
Press \f(CWmod+shift+e\fP at any time to get a menu of programs to watch videos about streaming directly from YouTube.
You can also check the config files for programs which detail a lot of the specific bindings.
.HEADING 1 "Key Bindings"
.PP
First, the key bindings.
Key bindings are stored in two places.
The file \f(CW~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc\fP contains most of them, which you can see and edit there if you like.
dwm-specific binds are compiled into dwm itself, but can be found in \f(CW~/repos/dwm/config.h\fP. You'll have to recompile dwm to change them.
.HEADING 2 "Window basics"
.PP
Notice the case sensitivity of the shortcuts\c
.FOOTNOTE
To type capital letters, hold down the \f(CWShift\fP key\(emthat might sound like an obvious and condescending thing to tell you, but there have literally been multiple people (Boomers) who have emailed me asking how to type a capital letter since caps lock isn't enabled.
.FOOTNOTE OFF
, Be sure you play around with these. Be flexible with the basic commands and the system will grow on you quick.
.LI
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Enter\fP \(en Spawn terminal (the default terminal is \f(CWst\fP; run \f(CWman st\fP for more.)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+q\fP \(en Close window
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Q\fP \(en Force close window
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+d\fP \(en dmenu (For running commands or programs without shortcuts)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+t\fP \(en Tiling mode (active by default)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+f\fP \(en Monocle mode (cycle through windows fullscreen)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F\fP \(en Fibbonacci mode (similar to tiling mode)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+h/j/k/l\fP \(en Move to different windows
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+H/J/K/L\fP \(en Move a window around
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Y/U/I/O\fP \(en Resize windows
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+/\fP \(en Spawn vertical terminal
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+'\fP \(en Spawn horizontal terminal
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+s/S\fP \(en Increase/decrease inner gaps
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+z/Z\fP \(en Increase/decrease outer gaps
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+D\fP \(en Reduce gaps to 0 pixels
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+T\fP \(en Restore gaps to default (15 pixels)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Shift+Space\fP \(en Make a window float (it will still be resizeable)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Space\fP \(en Switch focus from a floating window to a non-floating one (or
vice versa)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+o\fP \(en Make floating window sticky (will stay on active workspace)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+b\fP \(en Toggle status bar
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+B\fP \(en Toggle window float in bottom left corner (good for video watched intermittently)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+N\fP \(en Same as above, but for the bottom right corner.
.LIST OFF
.HEADING 2 "Basic Programs"
.PP
\fINote:\fP LARBS will install nearly all of these programs by default, but some only come if you chose an extra option.
Naturally, you can use \f(CWyay\fP to look for and install any you want to add.
.LI
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+r\fP \(en vifm (file browser/manager)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+e\fP \(en mutt (email; not installed by default, see below)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+m\fP \(en ncmpcpp (music player)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+w\fP \(en nmtui (for connecting to wireless internet)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+a\fP \(en Dropdown calculator (hide with \f(CWmod+a\fP)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+i\fP \(en htop (system info)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+n\fP \(en newsboat (RSS feed reader)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+y\fP \(en calcurse (calendar and schedule)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+u\fP \(en "Dropdown" terminal (hide with \f(CWmod+u\fP)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+A\fP \(en pulsemixer (audio system control)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+W\fP \(en Web Browser
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+G\fP \(en GIMP (for general image manipulation; starts on workspace 5)
.LIST OFF
.HEADING 2 "System"
.LI
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+R\fP \(en resize a floating window to give size (width height)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+x\fP \(en i3lock (Enter password to return)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+X\fP \(en shutdown (will ask to confirm)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Shift+Backspace\fP \(en reboot (will ask to confirm)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Shift+Escape\fP \(en exit the graphical environment (will ask to confirm)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F1\fP \(en Shows this document
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Shift+F1\fP \(en Permanently disable the LARBS welcome message
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F2\fP \(en Refresh i3
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F3\fP \(en Select screen/display to use
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F4\fP \(en Hibernate (will ask to confirm)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F5\fP \(en Reset Network Manager, search for new networks
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F6\fP \(en transmission torrent client (cli)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F7\fP \(en Toggle on/off transmission client via dmenu
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F8\fP \(en Check mail, if
.PDF_WWW_LINK "https://github.com/lukesmithxyz/mutt-wizard" "mutt-wizard"
is installed.
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F9\fP \(en Mount a USB drive/hard drive or Android
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F10\fP \(en Unmount a non-essential drive or Android
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F11\fP \(en Search term on DuckDuckGo
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+F12\fP \(en \f(CWnmtui\fP for selecting the wireless internet source.
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+`\fP \(en Select an emoji to copy to clipboard
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Insert\fP \(en Show contents of clipboard/primary selection
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Pause\fP \(en Show QR code from clipboard contents (requires \f(CWqrencode\fP)
.LIST OFF
.HEADING 2 "Audio"
.PP
I use ncmpcpp as a music player, which is a front end for mpd.
.LI
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+m\fP \(en ncmpcpp music player
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+.\fP \(en Next track
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+,\fP \(en Previous track
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+<\fP \(en Restart track
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+p\fP \(en Pause
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+M\fP \(en Mute all audio
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+-\fP \(en Decrease volume (holding shift increases amount)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod++\fP \(en Increase volume (holding shift increases amount)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+[\fP \(en Back 10 seconds (holding shift increases amount)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+]\fP \(en Forward 10 seconds (holding shift increases amount)
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+A\fP \(en pulsemixer (general volume sink/source control)
.LIST OFF
.HEADING 2 "Tags/Workspaces"
.PP
There are nine tags, active tags are highlighted in the top left.
.LI
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+(Number)\fP \(en Go to that number tag
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Shift+(Number)\fP \(en Send window to that tag
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Tab\fP \(en Go to previous tag
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+g\fP \(en Go to left workspace
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+;\fP \(en Go to right workspace
.LIST OFF
.HEADING 2 "Recording"
.PP
I use maim and ffmpeg to make different recordings of the desktop and audio.
All of these recording shortcuts will output into \f(CW~\fP, and will not overwrite
previous recordings as their names are based on their exact times.
.LI
.ITEM
\f(CWPrintScreen\fP \(en Take a screenshot
.ITEM
\f(CWShift+PrintScreen\fP \(en Select area to screenshot
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+PrintScreen\fP \(en Opens dmenu menu to select kind of audio/video recording
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Delete\fP \(en Kills any recording started in the above way.
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+ScrollLock\fP \(en Turn on and off screenkey (if installed) for visual typing display
.ITEM
\f(CWMod+Shift+c\fP \(en Toggles a webcam in the bottom right for screencasting.
.LIST OFF
.HEADING 2 "Other buttons"
.PP
I've mapped those extra buttons that some keyboards have (play and pause
buttons, screen brightness, email, web browsing buttons, etc.) to what you
would expect.
.HEADING 1 "Configuration"
.PP
Here's a brief reference as to what program does what and where you can modify them.
Some of the programs marked as "suckless" programs must be recompiled after being reconfigured.
That means you should go to their directory in \f(CW~/repos/\fP and run \f(CWmake && sudo make install\fP after making changes.
.LI
.ITEM
dwm: the window manager itself \(en \f(CW~/repos/dwm/\fP (suckless)
.ITEM
sxhkd: key bindings \(en \f(CW~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc\fP, while some dwm-related commands are configured in dwm, the rest, most of them, are set by sxhkd.
.ITEM
lf: the file manager, \f(CW~/.config/lfrc\fP for the main config, \f(CW~/.config/scope\fP for file previews.
.LIST OFF
.HEADING 1 "Bookmarking Files and Directories"
.PP
Note the files \f(CW~/.config/directories\fP and \f(CW~/.config/files\fP.
These files hold bookmarked directories and files respectively, along with shortcut keys to their left.
LARBS, specfically the \f(CWshortcuts\fP script, will automatically read these files and autogenerate aliases and shortcuts for bash and other programs.
.PP
For example, by default, the shortcut key for \f(CW~/Documents\fP is simply \f(CWd\fP.
Thus, if you type and run \f(CWd\fP in bash, you will automatically \f(CWcd\fP to \f(CW~/Documents\fP.
It also generates four vifm shortcuts using the shortcut \f(CWd\fP:
.LI
.ITEM
\f(CWgd\fP \(en
Go to \f(CW~/Documents\fP
.ITEM
\f(CWMd\fP \(en
Move (mv) selected file(s) to \f(CW~/Documents\fP
.ITEM
\f(CWtd\fP \(en
Create a new tab in \f(CW~/Documents\fP
.ITEM
\f(CWYd\fP \(en
Copy/yank (cp) a copy of the selected file(s) to \f(CWDocuments\fP
.LIST OFF
Shortcuts like these are generated for all key sequence/directory pairs in \f(CW~/.config/directories\fP.
Additionally, you may also add editable files to \f(CW~/.config/files\fP.
Each key sequence you pair with a file will become an alias to edit it in either bash or vifm.
.PP
Whenever you edit and save one of the bookmark files, vim will automatically rerun the shortcut script, thus updating the shortcuts that will be used in new instances of bash and vifm.
It just werks.
Note that it is your responsibility to ensure that none of the bindings you add conflict with another necessary function or command.
.PP
In addition to
.HEADING 1 "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)"
.HEADING 2 "My keyboard isn't working as expected!"
.PP
LARBS runs some custom keyboard settings in \f(CW~/.xinitrc\fP.
These settings may override your preferred settings, so you should open this file and comment out troublesome lines if you have issues.
.HEADING 2 "My audio isn't working!"
.PP
On fresh install, the Linux audio system (ALSA) often mutes outputs.
You may want to unbind
You may also need to set your preferred default output sink which you can do by the command line, or by selecting one with \f(CWpulsemixer\fP (\f(CWmod+A\fP).
If you have a more complex audio setup and can't be bothered to figure out ALSA, you might want to install and enable PulseAudio, which general "just werks".
.HEADING 2 "How do I copy and paste?"
.PP
Copying and pasting is always program-specific on any system.
In most graphical programs, copy and paste will be the same as they are on Windows: \f(CWctrl-c\fP and \f(CWctrl-v\fP.
In the Linux terminal, those binds have other more important purposes, so you can run \f(CWman st\fP to see how to copy and paste in my terminal build.
.PP
Additionally, I've set vim to use the clipboard as the default buffer, which means when you copy or delete something in vim, it will be in your system clipboard as well, so you can \f(CWctrl-v\fP it into your Firefox instance, etc. You can also paste material copied from other programs into vim with the typical vim bindings.
.HEADING 2 "How do I change the background/wallpaper?"
.PP
The i3 configuration will always read the file \f(CW~/.config/wall.png\fP as the wallpaper.
The script \f(CWsetbg\fP, if run on an image will set it as the persistent background.
When using the file manager, you can simply hover over an image name and type \f(CWbg\fP and this will run \f(CWsetbg\fP.
.HEADING 2 "How I change the colorscheme?"
.PP
LARBS no longer deploys Xresource by default, but you can still add an \f(CW~/.Xdefaults\fP file and add color settings to change the theme of numerous programs, including the terminal. See
.PDF_WWW_LINK "https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X_resources" "the Arch Wiki's article"
for more information.
.HEADING 2 "How do I set up my email?"
.PP
LARBS is automatically set up to be compatible with \f(CWmutt-wizard\fP, which is now in the AUR and can be installed by running \f(CWyay -S mutt-wizard-git\fP.
You can then add email accounts by running \f(CWmw add\fP.
.PP
Once you have successfully added your email address(es), you can open your mail with \f(CWneomutt\fP which is also bound to \f(CWMod+e\fP.
You can sync your mail by pressing \f(CWMod+F8\fP and you can set a cronjob to sync mail every several minutes by running \f(CWmw cron\fP.
.HEADING 2 "How do I set up my music?"
.PP
By default, mpd, the music daemon assumes that \f(CW~/Music\fP is your music directory.
This can be changed in \f(CW~/.config/mpd/mpd.conf\fP.
When you add music to your music folder, you may have to run \f(CWmpc up\fP in the terminal to update the database.
mpd is controlled by ncmpcpp, which is accessible by \f(CWMod+m\fP.
.HEADING 2 "How do I update LARBS?"
.PP
LARBS is deployed as a git repository in your home directory.
You can use it as such to fetch, diff and merge changes from the remote repository.
If you don't want to do that or don't know how to use git, you can actually just rerun the script (as root) and reinstall LARBS and it will automatically update an existing install if you select the same username.
This will overwrite the original config files though, including changes you made for them, but this is an easier brute force approach that will also install any new dependencies.
.HEADING 1 "Contact"
.LI
.ITEM
.PDF_WWW_LINK "mailto:luke@lukesmith.xyz" "luke@lukesmith.xyz"
\(en For questions!
.ITEM
.PDF_WWW_LINK "http://lukesmith.xyz" "https://lukesmith.xyz"
\(en For stalking!
.ITEM
.PDF_WWW_LINK "https://lukesmith.xyz/donate" "https://lukesmith.xyz/donate"
\(en To incentivize more development of LARBS!
.ITEM
.PDF_WWW_LINK "https://github.com/LukeSmithxyz" "My Github Page"
\(en For the code behind it!
.ITEM
.PDF_WWW_LINK "http://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml" "RSS"
\(en For updates!
.LIST OFF
