🗃️ dotfiles

The configuration files for my Arch Linux laptop. It also comes with a step-by-step guide to install and configure Arch Linux.

Preview

Application list

Usage	Application
Editor	Code - OSS
Shell	bash
Termial	alacritty, urxvt
Desktop	bspwm

Guides

• How to Install Arch Linux
• Set Wallpaper with Nitrogen
• How to Setup Chinese Input Method
• Synth-Shell for Fancy Bash Prompt
• Neofetch/Hyfetch Configuration and Customization
• VSCode Setup
• SDDM Login Manager
• Setup and Configure Rofi
• Set up Slock
• Scrot and Dunst Notifications
• URxvt Configuration

How to Install Arch Linux

Written on June 14th, 2024

Select Arch Linux install medium (x86_64, BIOS) to boot the Arch Linux install medium on BIOS.

To connect to Wi-Fi, use the iwctl utility

iwctl

With the iwd console, you can check the available devices in Station mode, get available networks, and connect to network

station list # List devices in station mode
station wlan0 get-networks # get networks for station wlan0
station wlan0 connect <"network name"> # connect to network

After you enter the correct Passphrase, the state of the device should now be connected. To exit the iwc console, enter

quit

Before we install and run the archinstall, we should probably sync the packages

pacman -Syy
pacman -S archinstall
archinstall

• Set your Mirror Region to where you are.
• Keep the Locales as it (us, en_US, UTF-8).
• Select Use a best-effort default partition layout for partitioning, and select the hard drive to use. Select ext4 for filesystem.
• Leave the Disk encryption as empty.
• Use Grub for the bootloader.
• Specify your Hostname: arch
• Add your user account (Remember you password!), and yes, it should be a superuser. Confirm and exit.
• For Profile, set type to Desktop, and select Bspwm as our desktop environment, and choose sddm as our Greeter.
• Choose Pulseaudio for audio server.
• Additional packages to install: firefox hyfetch sxhkd polybar picom rofi dunst nitrogen thunar git code fcitx5
• Then, Copy ISO network configuration to installation.
• Set your timezone.
• Enable multilib as an optional additional repositories.

And we are good to go!

INSTALL!

Then, select yes when asked whether to chroot into the installation.

Now we need to do the basic configuration for bspwm, or else you will be getting a black screen upon logging in.

su - <"username"> # login into your user

Then, clone the dotfiles to $HOME

cd $HOME
git clone https://github.com/dev-chenxing/dotfiles.git

First, run the install-paru.sh script to install paru, the AUR helper

cd dotfiles
sh ./install-paru.sh

Second, run the ./bspwm-config.sh script

sh ./bspwm-config.sh

This will create the configuration files for bspwm, sxhkd, picom, polybar, and dunst

Finally, exit from chroot and our installation is completed.

exit # logout from [username@archiso ~]$
exit # exit from [username@archiso /]$
exit # exit from [root@archiso /]#

REBOOT and Boot existing OS this time.

reboot

If you follow the instructions above, right now you should be greeted by the default sddm display manager.

Set Wallpaper with Nitrogen

• Launch nitrogen
• Preferences -> Add to add dotfiles/wallpapers to Directory. OK
• Click on the wallpaper, Scaled and Screen 1, OK

Once you have successfully set your wallpaper, your desktop should look like what's down below

How to Setup Chinese Input Method

Written on June 14th, 2024

We are going to use fcitx5 for our input method and Noto Sans Mono CJK for our font

sudo pacman -Sy fcitx5-im
sudo pacman -Sy fcitx5-chinese-addons

Set the IM modules environment variables and reboot

sudo nano /etc/environment

GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx

Win + D to launch Rofi and run the Fcitx 5 Configuration.

On the right panel, search for input method Pinyin , double click on it to set it as Current Input Method.

Then go to the Global Options section, remove the Enumerate Input Method Group Forward/Backward keybinds and change the Trigger Input Method keybind from Control+Space to Super+Space.

Apply the changes and go back to the Input Method section. Select Pinyin and click on the Configure button.

• Enable Cloud Pinyin
• Configure Cloud Pinyin:
  • Minimum Pinyin Length: 2
  • Backend: Baidu
• Previous Candidate: Left
• Next Candidate: Right

One last step to set is to edit the locale file

sudo nano /etc/locale.gen

Uncomment lines:

zh_CN.UTF-8 UTF-8
zh_HK.UTF-8 UTF-8
zh_TW.UTF-8 UTF-8

Synth-Shell for Fancy Bash Prompt

Written on June 15th, 2024

To install and setup synth-shell, simply run the ./install-synth-shell.sh script

sh ./install-synth-shell.sh

Neofetch/Hyfetch Configuration and Customization

Written on June 15th, 2024

When you first run hyfetch, it will prompt you to configure. My setup is:

• color: akiosexual
• brightness: 50%
• arrangement: horizontal

To run Hyfetch, the modern Neofetch every time you launch the terminal, simply add hyfetch to your .bashrc file

nano $HOME/.bashrc

hyfetch

To configure neofetch,

cp -r neofetch $HOME/.config

VSCode Setup

Written on June 15th, 2024

Extensions to install:

• Prettier - Code formatter

To configure Code - OSS,

cp Code\ -\ OSS/User/settings.json $HOME/.config/Code\ -\ OSS/User
cp Code\ -\ OSS/User/keybindings.json $HOME/.config/Code\ -\ OSS/User

SDDM Login Manager

Written on June 15th, 2024

Install the modified version of Where is my SDDM theme?

sh ./install-sddm-theme.sh

Setup and Configure Rofi

Written on June 15th, 2024

To configure Rofi,

cp -r rofi $HOME/.config

Set up Slock

Written on June 15th, 2024

To install and configure slock

sh ./install-slock.sh

Scrot and Dunst Notifications

Written on June 15th, 2024

I store my screenshots in $HOME/Pictures/screenshot

mkdir $HOME/Pictures
mkdir $HOME/Pictures/screenshot

To install scrot, the screenshot software

sudo pacman -S scrot

To take a screenshot, simply press the PrtSc key

URxvt Configuration

Written on June 15th, 2024

To configure urxvt

cp urxvt/.Xdefaults $HOME