Monday, April 8, 2013

Awesome WM on Ubuntu Server 10.04.x

I finally got used to tilling wm, in this case Awesome.
After bit of struggling around distros, tutorials for installation and using awesome I've managed to combine best of ubuntu and awesome.

Did some research and figure out that best combination for my experiment is Ubuntu Server and Awesome window manager.

I've tried minimalCD versions of ubuntu figuring out I would make the best out of it but had problems with archive mirrors, same problem with Ubuntu Server 12.04.
I found out on some posts that for this job Ubuntu Server 10.04 is the best choice so I downloaded it and install it with no problem. Main reason is that I didn't actually need internet connection during installation of the system.

So I'm done with installation of Ubuntu Server 10.04, now it's time just to install "awesome" and from there on the rest of programs required.
--
$ sudo apt-get install awesome
--

After installation is done (reboot is desirable) just type "startx" and awesome interface will just pop-out fast like hell.

I'm not good with configuring wireless from command line but script for it goes something like this:
--
#! /bin/bash
ifconfig wlan0
iwconfig wlan0 essid NETWORK_ID key WIRELESS_KEY
dhclient wlan0
-- 
To enable the script: 
$ chmod u+x script.sh

Anyhow, I installed all programs I need using classic LAN cable (eth0) so I won't have any problems.

Because I need this laptop to be connected only via WiFi I'd need a network manager. I chosed  "wicd".

--
$ sudo apt-get install wicd
--

From there on everything is easy. No heavyweight GUIs and programs, simple "awesome wm" and anything you need is right there. Works fast like 'anything in a blink of an eye'.


Nice clean and minimalistic interface that does everything you need, uses so small amount of your resources so it's very fast. Nothing better then that.

Now to make sound work.

--
$ sudo apt-get install alsa alsa-tools
$ sudo adduser yourusername audio //add your user to group so it can use program
$ sudo init 6 // restart the computer
$ alsamixer //control volume etc. from terminal
--

I've installed more programs that I think I would use later.

$ sudo apt-get install program-name

programs:
xcompmgr - enables real transparent effects between windows
firefox - web browser
gnome-terminal - x-terminal-emulator
gmrun - run dialog
eog - image viewer
evince - pdf viewer
leafpad - notepad-like text editor
scrot - screenshot
ranger - cli file manager
gnome-commander - totalcommander-like file manager
audacious - winamp-like player
mplayer - minimalistic video and audio player
gthumb - image editor
gparted - partition manager
finch - "cli pidgin"
irssi - cli IRC client.


Keyboard shortcuts:
Win + Return = Terminal
Win + Space = change tiling scheme
Win + left mouse button = move window (if it's possible with scheme)
Win + right mb = resize window
Win + J = switch between windows (programs)
Win + K = Win + J (reverse)
Win + H = decrease size of active window
Win + L = increase size of active window

Install xinit so you can use xinitrc script to autostart programs when using "startx" command.

--
$ sudo apt-get install xinit
..
$ nano .xinitrc
--

Here is how my script looks like:

#!/bin/sh
#
#
xrdb -merge "$[HOME]/.,Xresources"
wicd &
xcompmgr &
x-terminal-emulator &
firefox &

exec awesome
#

Thas all for now from Xw0rkS about Awesome WM. 

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