[BSPWM] Pop OS Nordic

🖥️ Pop! Linux configuration files 🖥️

These are my current dotfiles of Pop! Linux distribution OS.

The installation will help you create the same look like the pictures; here are the step-by-step instructions.

System specifications:

• OS: Pop!_OS
• WM: BSPWM
• Keyboard Deamon: Sxhkd
• Bar: Polybar
• Compositor: Picom
• App Launcher: Rofi
• Terminal: Alacritty
• Shell: Oh-my-ZSH
• Shell theme: Powerlevel10k
• Text Editor: Vim-Airline
• Lockscreen: Slim and Slimlock
• Notifications: Dunst
• GTK Theme: Nordic_Dark
• Icon Theme: Flatery_Dark
• Cursor Theme: Oreo_Blue
• Font: Source_Code_Pro
• Browser: Firefox
• Browser Theme: Minimal_Functional_Fox

Installation #

To start making this look, I assume you have a freshly installed Pop! OS.

If you are interested in what an application does, Wikipedia will help you.

Repository upgrade and system upgrade #

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Installation of BSPWM Tilling Window Manager #

First, we need to install a few necessary so-called dependencies that we need to proceed with the installation.

• Installation of required dependencies:

sudo apt install build-essential git vim xcb libxcb-util0-dev libxcb-ewmh-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libasound2-dev libxcb-xtest0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev

• Repository cloning:

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm.git

• Compiling and installing BSPWM:

cd bspwm
make
sudo make install

• Copy BSPWM configuration files:

mkdir ~/.config/bspwm
cp examples/bspwmrc ~/.config/bspwm
chmod +x ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc
cd ..

Installation of keyboard deamon #

For example, we must use the so-called keyboard daemon to use keyboard shortcuts to open a terminal, another application, etc. It is a process that runs in the background and instructs BSPWM Tilling Window Manager what to do if someone presses a specific shortcut on the keyboard.

If you are interested in what a shortcut does according to my settings, the shortcut section will help you.

• Repository cloning:

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/baskerville/sxhkd.git

• Compiling and installing sxhkd:

cd sxhkd
make 
sudo make install

• Copy sxhkd configuration files:

mkdir ~/.config/sxhkd
cp ../bspwm/examples/sxhkdrc ~/.config/sxhkd
cd ..

Installation of Polybar #

• Installation of required dependencies:

sudo apt install cmake cmake-data pkg-config python3-sphinx libcairo2-dev libxcb1-dev libxcb-util0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-composite0-dev python3-xcbgen xcb-proto libxcb-image0-dev libxcb-ewmh-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxcb-xrm-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libasound2-dev libpulse-dev libjsoncpp-dev libmpdclient-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libnl-genl-3-dev

• Repository cloning:

cd ~/Downloads
git clone --recursive https://github.com/polybar/polybar

• Compilation and installation of polybar:

cd polybar
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

Installation of Picom #

• Installation of required dependencies:

sudo apt install meson libxext-dev libxcb1-dev libxcb-damage0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-render-util0-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-composite0-dev libxcb-image0-dev libxcb-present-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libpixman-1-dev libdbus-1-dev libconfig-dev libgl1-mesa-dev  libpcre2-dev  libevdev-dev uthash-dev libev-dev libx11-xcb-dev

• Repository cloning:

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/ibhagwan/picom.git

• Making picom with Ninja:

cd picom
git submodule update --init --recursive
meson --buildtype=release . build
ninja -C build

• Installation of picom compositor:

sudo ninja -C build install
cd ..

Installation of Rofi #

sudo apt install rofi

Installation of Alacritty terminal #

sudo apt install alacritty

• Cloning this repository:

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/lukapiplica/dots.git

• Setting up an alacritty theme:

mkdir ~/.config/alacritty
cp dots/alacritty/alacritty.yml ~/.config/alacritty/

nano /usr/share/applications/com.alacritty.Alacritty.desktop

Change Exec=alacritty into Exec=bash -c "LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 alacritty".

Installation of fonts #

cd ~/Downloads
cd dots
sudo cp -r Source_Code_Pro /usr/share/fonts
fc-cache -v

Setting the wallpaper #

• Installation of Feh program:

sudo apt install feh

• Moving wallpapers:

mkdir ~/Wall
cp -r ~/Downloads/dots/Wallpapers/ ~/Wall

• Setting the wallpaper:

echo 'feh --bg-fill $HOME/Downloads/dots/Wallpapers/wallpaper2.jpeg' >> ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc 

Configuration of polybar #

mkdir ~/.config/polybar
cd ~/Downloads/dots/polybar
cp * -r ~/.config/polybar
echo '~/.config/polybar/./launch.sh' >> ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc
cd fonts
sudo cp * /usr/share/fonts/truetype/

Installation of Oh-My-ZSH #

sudo apt install zsh
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)

Installation of Powerlevel10k #

• Repository cloning:

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

• After cloning, we have to set this topic in the ~/.zshrc file; we do this by typing in the .zshrc file with this command ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

• We type in the terminal:

p10k configure

And let’s follow the instructions in the terminal to make the theme we want.

Installation of Vim theme #

mkdir -p ~/.vim/colors
cd ~/Downloads
cp dots/nord.vim ~/.vim/colors

• Cloning a Vim Airline theme:

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/vim-airline/vim-airline.git
cd vim-airline
cp * -r ~/.vim
echo 'colorscheme nord' >> ~/.vimrc
echo 'let g:airline_theme='base16'' >> ~/.vimrc

Setting up rofi theme #

mkdir -p ~/.config/rofi/themes
cp ~/Downloads/dots/nord.rasi ~/.config/rofi/themes
rofi-theme-selector

• Rofi Theme Selector will show us some of the themes. To select our theme go to Nord theme click Enter, and then to set it forever, press Alt + a

nano ~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc

• Opens the nano text editor in the terminal and we have to change dmenu ** ** to ** rofi -show drun`

Installation of Slim and Slimlock #

sudo apt instll slim libpam0g-dev libxrandr-dev libfreetype6-dev libimlib2-dev libxft-dev
sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3 

• To set the theme:

cd ~/Downloads/dots
sudo cp slim.conf /etc && sudo cp slimlock.conf /etc
sudo cp default /usr/share/slim/themes

Various tools #

We have successfully achieved the look of this operating system; now, we are installing several programs from the pictures.

Installation of tty-clock #

sudo apt-get install tty-clock

Installation of CAVA Audio Visualizer #

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hsheth2/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cava

Installation of htop #

sudo apt-get install htop

Installation of cmatrix #

sudo apt-get install cmatrix

Installation of sxiv #

sudo apt-get install sxiv

Installation of Ranger #

sudo apt-get install ranger

Installation of pfetch #

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/dylanaraps/pfetch.git
sudo install pfetch/pfetch /usr/local/bin/
ls -l /usr/local/bin/pfetch

Installation of chafa #

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/hpjansson/chafa.git
cd chafa
./autogen.sh
make 
sudo make install

Installation of snake game #

sudo apt install python3-pip
python3 -m pip install -U pygame --user
cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/Unixado/Snake.git
cd Snake
python src/game.py

Installation of lollypop #

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnumdk/lollypop
sudo apt install lollypop

Installation of Minimal Functional Fox #

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mut-ex/minimal-functional-fox/master/install.sh)"

• Set up a Firefox theme

cp -r ~/Downloads/dots/.firefoxthemes ~/

• Then open Firefox and go to preferences, then to Home and where it says Homepage and new windows we select Custom URLs ..., below we write this:

file:///home/*YOUR USERNAME*/.firefoxthemes/startpage/Startpage/index.html

• Restart Firefox

Installation of GTK Theme #

Installation of Lxappearance #

sudo apt-get install lxappearance

Installation of Nordic Dark theme #

• Theme link: https://www.gnome-look.org/p/1267246/

• Download the zip file, extract it and insert it in Lxappearance.

Installation of Flattery Dark theme for icons #

• Theme link: https://www.gnome-look.org/s/Gnome/p/1332404

• Download the zip file, extract it and insert it in Lxappearance.

Installation of Oreo Blue cursor theme #

• Theme link: https://www.gnome-look.org/s/Gnome/p/1360254/

• Download the zip file, extract it and insert it in Lxappearance.

Wikipedia #

Once we have made this BSPWM configuration, it is time to clarify what each application does. Within the ~/.config/ directory you can find all the files you need to run BSPWM.

• 🧠 [BSPWM]

  BSPWM is a tiling window manager that, unlike other desktop interfaces, each new window opens according to an algorithm.

  If we have, for example, two windows, they will be open in full screen, and they cannot be located one over the other, such as in Windows or GNOME interfaces. Theoretically, it effectively uses the space on the screen so that the entire screen is filled. If we run out of space on the first desktop, we can switch to the second desktop using the keyboard shortcut or mouse and continue using this operating system.

• ⌨️ [SXHKD]

  SXHKD is a keyboard daemon. It works for us as a background process and tells BSPWM which application to open if the user presses a specific shortcut on the keyboard.

• 🍫 [Polybar]

  Polybar is our status bar at the top of our desktop.

  It serves us to display notifications, date and time, internet, battery, shutdown and restart menu of the operating system and most important workspaces from BSPWM.

• 📚 [Picom]

  Picom is a compositor; it serves us as a process that sets rounded edges on every application we open.

• 🤓 [Rofi]

  Rofi is a process that opens up other applications, most helpful in running GTK applications (user interface applications).

• 💻 [Alacritty] terminal.

  Alacritty serves as a terminal emulator, i.e. a replacement for the standard GNOME terminal.

  We use it mainly because it gives us the ability to achieve better looks by editing its config files.

• 🐚 [Oh-My-ZSH] shell.

  Oh-My-ZSH is a framework that makes it easier for us to manage ZSH configurations.

  In this case, it is mostly used to add topics to a terminal that has a ZSH shell.

  ZSH (Zshell) was chosen because it is newer, and most of the updates from other Linux distributions are already moving to it compared to Bash shell.

  • We used the Powerlevel10k configuration to set the themes.

• 📋 [Vim] text editor

  As many people use notepad on Windows operating systems, we use nano and Vim.

  The Nano text editor is much easier to use, while the Vim is made more for developers because of its shortcuts.

  • Vim Airline is a theme that gives us a different look than a regular Vim.

• 📺 [Slim] lockscreen

  Slim is our lock screen.

  Slimlock is the theme that we used for the lock screen.

• 💬 [Dunst] notifications.

  Dunst is a process that runs in the background, and its primary purpose is to display notifications on the status bar (Polybar).

  The advantage of dunst is that it provides the ability to code themes for appearance and many other functions such as. Which notifications to display, etc.

• 🕶️ [Nordic Dark] GTK theme.

  Nordic Dark is a GTK theme (theme for user interface applications) that gives us a dark look at applications with a user interface.

• 🔷 [Flattery Dark] icon theme.

  The name itself says that applications with a user interface mostly have icons that we can click with the mouse; this theme gives us a different look to the icons.

• 🔵 [Oreo Blue] cursor theme.

  This theme gives us a blue cursor look, it was inserted just for the looks and because it matches all the other colours of this operating system.

• 🔤 [Source Code Pro] font.

  Font of this operating system.

• 🔥🦊 [Firefox] web browser.

  I use Firefox because it is one of the best privacy-oriented web browsers, in my opinion.

• 🦊 [Minimal Functional Fox] firefox theme.

  This topic is here mainly for appearance but also because it is minimal.

• ⏰ tty-clock

  Tty-clock is an application that has the purpose of showing the time and date in the terminal.

• 🎚️ CAVA audio visualizer.

  Cava is our application that serves as an audio visualizer.

• 📈 HTop

  The HTop application shows which processors are currently running and how much RAM they are taking in, and many other things. Think of HTop as a Task Manager in the Windows operating system.

• 😎 CMatrix

  CMatrix is an application that is here just for looks, and its purpose is to print some text in an open terminal that aims to give a display of hacking from the Matrix movie.

• 🖼️ SXIV

  SXIV is an image viewer application that is an application that opens images to us.

• 🤠 Ranger

  Ranger is an application that allows us to see and access all files on the computer in the terminal.

• 🗄️ Pfetch

  The purpose of the Pfetch application is to show which operating system we use, which laptop/computer we have, which is the current version of the kernel, how much uptime we currently have, how many packets we have and how much RAM we have.

• ⚙️ Chafa

  Chafa is an application that prints an image to use in the terminal, thus achieving a retro/ASCII look of an image.

• 🐍 Snake

  In this case, the Snake app is an old snake game from the Nokia 3310 phone that has been slightly modified in terms of colours and is adapted to be played in the terminal.

• 🍭 Lollypop

  Lollypop is a music app, we play songs through it.

Shortcuts #

As super we use the Windows key on the keyboard. Super is the most important key on our keyboard because we use it to give instructions to the SXHKD keyboard daemon.

Keyboard #

Thanks you for your time 💙 #