My General Linux Setup

Intro#

There will be some repeated info from Recommended Software Shortlist.

I will be describing the setup I use on my Laptops (currently an amd framework 13, and a chuwi minibook-x).

With this post I am describing my setup that works for me. You may have different requirements and desires for your own setup. Perhaps I could color code what I do and do not recommend overall.

Philosophy of my setup#

1. I want up-to-date software.
2. I want to sync as much of my config as possible. I also want my config to sync mostly automatically. The dream is to be able to jump between computers with enough fluency to forget which computer I'm even using.
3. I don't always need FOSS/Libre software, though I do appreciate it where possible.
4. I use a mixture of GUI/TUI/commandline tools. Each has their place.

Linux Distro#

I use arcolinux. It's a flavor of archlinux that I do enjoy. The packages are bleeding edge. I've been on various flavors of arch linux since about 2013. See Distros I have tried ever.

I also use the yay package manager.

Desktop Environment#

• XFCE
  • I've pretty much always used a floating window manager with pretty basic window repositioning keybinds (super key + left to put the current app on the left half of my screen, ala Windows). Most of the shortcuts I use here are the default XFCE shortcuts. 
  • I'm also still currently on X11 and haven't had much reason to switch, though I am curious about wayland at this point.
• sxhkd
  • This is where I put all my custom keyboard shortcuts. Most of them launch programs or control volume/media.

Shell / Terminal#

• Kitty Terminal
  • It's hardware accelerated and nicely configurable.
  • I have a toggle-term.sh that I ues to pull up the terminal bound to my f1 key. This was inspired by guake.
• Atuin
  • This syncs shell history, very useful across my multiple machines. It hums along in the background and hasn't caused much issue but is very useful.

Configuration (dotfiles)#

• yadm
  • Techinically I even use my dotfiles on my Mac, too. There's a bit of customization required for some of it, though.

Editor#

1. neovim
2. claude code cli

Browser#

• see Recommended Firefox Extensions and Recommended Userscripts

Other#

• ytmd-devs/ytmd: YouTube Music Desktop App for music
• ebruck/radiotray-ng: An Internet radio player for Linux
• vlc, though I've been running into more issues with it lately. Might try using mpv more or something.
• trilium

????#

My#