# Fedora i3 Spin First Impressions ## Intro I successfully created the i3 spin iso and bootable usb using the following (my first time ever using a kickstart). ```shell sudo su - dnf install git livecd-tools git clone https://pagure.io/i3-sig/Fedora-i3-Spin.git # commit 9fb6abd3 cd Fedora-i3-Spin livecd-creator --verbose --config=fedora-live-i3.ks --fslabel=I3 --cache=/var/cache/live wipefs --all /dev/sdX dd if=I3.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=64k status=progress && sync ``` It was a really good experience, so I wanted to provide some feedback. ## Install Process Everything worked as advertised, and the usb successfully booted on my 2015 macbook pro retina without any issues. It was not obvious once booted into the live image how to install to hard drive. First I tried $mod+d to look for the installer in dmenu, but could not find it (I tried running `anaconda` from dmenu but nothing happened). Next I opened a shell with $mod+enter to try and search for the installer and saw the message in the terminal with the hint how to start the installer. After starting the installer the rest of the installation process was smooth as butter. But if I didn't know to open a terminal with $mod+Enter I would have assumed the spin was broken and moved on without further consideration (or at least that is my assumption of what an inexperienced i3 user would do). I rebooted the laptop and was greeted with the lightdm login screen as expected and logged in without issue. ## First Impressions Since i3 is just a window manager, and not a desktop environment, it was a bit disorienting at first to not have any of the utilities which are typically included in a desktop environment. ### Terminal In the past I have been installing the xfce spin, and then using `dnf` to install i3. So my natural reaction was to use dnf to install `xfce4-terminal`. `urxvt` is included in the i3 spin, but after spending lots of time in the past trying to get urxvt usable (I was never able to get powerline fonts to work in `urxvt` and [in my opinion] it requires lots of config to make it 'presentable'), and trying alternatives such as allacrity (didn't work well for me with ssh to remote servers), I have found [that for me] `xfce4-terminal` has become my goto because it seems to work without issue in all of my use cases. The i3 docs include an ordered list of terminals that `i3-sensible-terminal` will try, and `xfce4-terminal` has a higher priority than `uxrvt`, so if it is installed it will be used. ### Screen Configuration I am using a macbook with retina display and two external monitors. Everything worked perfect with the external monitors, but is very small on the retina display, so I have been using `arandr` to configure it in my i3 config. I don't know how they do it, but the xfce spin seems to accommodate this automatically and scale the retina display to 2x without any user action (but other spins, and even the default gnome spin don't [in my experience]). It would be nice if we could get this worked out with lightdm so ultimately even the login screen would be scaled right for people using ultra high def displays. I guess this could be a collaborative effort with all the spins if it is addressed at the display manager level instead of the window manager level. Also, the xfce spin has worked out how to do the scaling without having a gap between the retina display and the one next to it. I haven't worked out how to do this yet because every time I try to display the retina display correctly it includes a big gap in the monitor layout (seems the monitor still takes up the full space, and only the "view" is scaled). By default i3 does not include compositing, but that causes problems with some screen sharing applications (such as MS Teams - which I have to use for work). Installing `compton` compositor, and then including an exec line in the i3 config to start it fixes this issue. ### Session Locking The default i3 config includes a line to use `xss-lock` to run `i3lock` when the session is locked, but `xss-lock` is not included in the spin. ### `dmenu` By default, `dmenu` shows all applications (instead of just desktop applications) which is a bit disorienting, especially since the first 38 menu items start with `abrt-xxxx`. The default i3 config already includes a commented out config for `rofi`, which I personally prefer since it is easier for me to read the items in vertical layout instead of horizontal layout. So I installed rofi, commented out the dmenu line in the i3 config, uncommented the rofi line, and added 'drun' to the beginning of the '-modi' list (to make it show desktop items by default). ### Default i3 Config I really like Fedora's 'upstream first' principle because it makes the upstream documentation more relevant. Having said that, i3 works so much better when the config is tweaked to match user preferences. Also, since it is a keyboard focused workflow the i3 upstream has done a good job making the generated default config work well regardless of the users keyboard layout (I use 'us -variant dvp' for example). This makes it a bit more complicated to include a customized config. My initial thoughts are to include a generator script in an ancillary package that can modify the default config and merge in some ricing (based on keycodes due to keyboard layout issues) - mostly just to show people the possibilities and give examples for them to extend. ## Final Recommendations I generally support keeping the spin lean, but think that it needs a bit more of the daily utilities. Perhaps a good starting point is everything included in the xfce spin except the things that aren't applicable (such as xfce settings). If so, we should also prominently credit the xfce and xfce spin teams in the i3 spin documentation. In summary, what about: * include in base spin: * `xfce4-terminal` (so it is the default instead of `uxrvt`) * a new package 'i3-firstboot' that includes a simple systemd unit to open a html page describing next steps for new users the first time a new installation is booted * `xss-lock` (already included in default i3 config but not included in the spin) * `arandr` (for configuring monitors) * create a new i3-spin-utilities package (if the intention is to keep the base spin very lean - which is probably more consistent with what an experienced i3 user is used to) including: * thunar (file explorer) * other relevant packages from the xfce spin * rofi (instead of dmenu - just my personal preference) * compton (compositor required by some apps such as screen sharing in MS Teams) * riced i3 config generator script (as a reference so people can see what a more customized setup could be) ### After Thought I love i3wm, but it was a couple years between my first exposure to it and embracing it. Over the years there have been a couple times where I installed a bunch of window managers on various distributions and tried them all. But every time I tried i3 I thought it was not installed properly because I couldn't even find the application menu (because I didn't understand what i3 was all about). So I moved on without giving it a second thought. Once I finally realized what i3 was all about I fell in love with it. I suggest the i3-SIG put some effort into documenting not only the spin, but how users can get the most from the spin including introduction documentation: * on the spin page * on first boot * in an intro video on some video sharing platforms (not just youtube)