Trisquel with GNOME Flasback and exwm (Emacs X Window Manager)
As is said in (warning: GitCrap) https://github.com/emacs-exwm/exwm/wiki , exwm can be run under desktop environments.
I can't run exwm on regular GNOME, it seems to conflict with gnome-shell and destroys the session, but on GNOME Flashback (which doesn't use GNOME Shell) I have been successful in running exwm.
I install GNOME due to its wonderfully easy and reliable graphical configuration of things like WiFi and brightness, but I was only using it to configure these things and I would most of the time stay within an standalone exwm session. Now I mixed GNOME with exwm and have a beauty. GNOME is bloat? Emacs is bloat? Now we have two times the bloat. I love this
Maybe this configuration would also work on MATE since GNOME Flashback and MATE are somewhat similar, but I haven't tested this.
You can see that exwm is inspired by the suckless dwm (dynamic window manager), being a dynamic window manager with not only a tiled layout but also optional floating windows. My setup is similar with dwm the same way hate and love are alike (both based on strong emotion and obscession) but somehow opposites, my setup is a "bloated" beautiful abomination while dwm is "minimalist", but both are based on a dynamic layout and both are libre software.
The two swimming fishes are Wanda the Fish available as a GNOME Flashback applet. Wanda will give you a fortune by default. I have installed the "fortunes-off" package ("offensive" fortunes, some harmless but others genuinely insulting and hurtful) so when I click on Wanda Wanda will often say something that constrasts against the "family-friendly" vibes of GNOME
I also have the network upload/download applet to monitor my connection, as my connection has been quite unstable lately and often collapses. But my connection seems to have gotten better ever since I switched from PureOS to Trisquel (I'm not saying it's PureOS' fault by the way, it could be a number of factors such as me unironically trying to run everything as root in PureOS, after switching to Trisquel I decided it was a good time for me to try to have "good manners")
Also, a weather applet showing the weather from a neighbouring city.
Yes, I'm an Emacs addict. Addiction can be fun sometimes, I've had intense emotion with Emacs.
I'm using the version of Tor Browser from the Guix package manager, as such version has no autoupdates. I use "Tor Browser"'s "Safest" setting to block all JavaScript, I don't use "LibreJS" but rather block all JavaScript, "LibreJS" will still run non-free JavaScript as long as it's """trivial""" so it's unacceptable for me to use it.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| emacsgnomeyeaaaaahhh.png | 258.52 KB |
Looks great
I am a translator!
Thanks for sharing this, it looks interesting, I should certainly try it.
Because I like the tiling of dwm (I want tiling always, never floating) but I find it nice to have a common experience with the majority of Trisquel users, I use MATE with dwm, and it also works really well. But for sure I will try exwm.
I am a member!
EXWM also works with Mate. I tried it, and it works as it should: https://github.com/WJCFerguson/exwm-gnome-flashback
regards
Just tried exwm with KDE Plasma... It actually seems to work, surprisingly, though the window management becomes sloppy with with some of Plasma's interface going out of the screen edges.
Also, unlike GNOME Flashback, KDE Plasma doesn't seem to have an option to allow enabling extra Emacs-like keybindings for GTK applications. While exwm already enables some Emacs-like keybindings for GTK applications, on GNOME Flashback gnome-tweaks allows enabling further Emacs-like keybindings, but KDE Plasma doesn't seem to have this option, neither for GTK applications nor for Qt applications, so it seems like GNOME Flashback might overall be the best choice for exwm users due to how gnome-tweaks allows enabling extra Emacs-like keybindings.
This was a scientific experiment, I'm not actually planning on staying on KDE Plasma so luckily I made a Timeshift backup so I'm gonna revert to my earlier GNOME Flashback desktop now.
Done more experimentation with KDE Plasma.
> the window management becomes sloppy with with some of Plasma's interface going out of the screen edges.
From what I can tell it's possible to avoid this by putting KDE Plasma's menu applets far away from the screen edges so that the windows won't spawn outside the edges
> KDE Plasma doesn't seem to have an option to allow enabling extra Emacs-like keybindings for GTK applications.
I have realized that KDE Plasma has an utility for setting custom keybindings (not sure if just for Qt/KDE programs or whether it's also for GTK), so even though KDE Plasma has no dedicated setting to set Emacs keybindings it might be possible to get KDE Plasma to replicate Emacs keybindings without such setting thanks to the ability to set custom keybindings.
I really love the attention to detail in GNOME, with it giving me a notification to warn me when my partition is almost full, or with the nice utilities it has for changing locales, with GNOME even offering to translate the names of the default $HOME folders when switching locales. I also like the nice GUI configuration of things like sound, Wi-Fi and brightness, which in my experience worked more reliably than configuring these things through CLI. I've faced bugs trying to configure things through CLI, but with GNOME it's easier for me. This really makes using GNOME Flashback with exwm a more pleasant experience than just bare exwm for me.
I wasn't able to change themes of GTK4 applications such as Nautilus (GNOME Files) to a dark theme through GNOME's GUI so I set it in /etc/environment instead.
(note: note that it's >>, not >, you may wipe your /etc/environment otherwise)
~ $ sudo -i
root@gnu-plus-liberated-linux:~# echo 'GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark' >> /etc/environment
~ $ sudo apt install adwaita-qt
[...]
~ $ sudo -i
root@gnu-plus-liberated-linux:~# echo 'QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=Adwaita-Dark' >> /etc/environment
(note, may require logging out and back in, though I'm note sure)
And for Abrowser, this excellent dark theme extension (Dark Reader) (i've found that when CSS is partially disabled websites often become buggy with this extension, but otherwise the extension works great): https://gnuzilla.gnu.org/extension.php?id=855413
I still use the extension I was recommending 4+ years ago on this forum: https://trisquel.info/forum/dark-theme-trisquel-forum#comment-154437
> I also have the network upload/download applet to monitor my connection, as my connection has been quite unstable lately and often collapses.
Something that I've tried lately and which seems to have improved the connection reliability for me (though with a caveat[1]), allowing me to browse without having to regularly suspend-then-resume the computer to reset the connection:
For libre ath9k_htc firmware (instructions for other libre firmwares at https://wiki.parabola.nu/Wireless_Setup , though Parabola has different versions of packages than Trisquel so be careful not to break your system while following instructions from Parabola GNU/Linux-libre wiki). Enter the following as root in /etc/modprobe.d/010-ath9k_htc.conf (without the "> ")
> options ath9k_htc nohwcrypt=1
Some recommend using just "nohwcrypt" instead of "nohwcrypt=1", but in my case just using "nohwcrypt" won't work and will give me an error, so I'm using "nohwcrypt=1" instead.
You can restart the firmware without rebooting, but for simplicity I won't document this here (see ParabolaWiki)
[1]. even though this has seems to have improved my connection in general, in my case it has also made it so the connection won't resume properly after resuming from suspension/hibernation, so to fix this I reconnect the USB Wi-Fi adapter so that it reconnects properly). So it seems that formerly I was in a situation where I was having to suspend in order to fix the connection but now I'm in a situation where I don't have to suspend at all but suspending will temporarily break my connection unless I e.g. do the trick listed in this paragraph. Reconnecting my USB Wi-Fi adapter once is far less of a burden than regularly having to suspend-then-resume the computer, so I'm having a better time with nohwcrypt=1
I am a translator!
On one laptop on which I use a USB wifi adapter (I use Parabola on this laptop), sometimes, I had the wifi connection that was suddenly lost, came back after a while, then lost again, etc. I had this for a long time until I tried putting the USB wifi adapter in a USB plug on the other side of the laptop, then I did not experience this problem anymore.
I don't have any explanation for this.
Thank you for your advice :)