The i3 thread

XelK · 2014-07-31 13:36:15

Thank you but I would like to have something a bit different. Do you think this can be made with xorg? Do you know if xorg can split wide screen in two screens? Or with Xephyr? I'm trying to start two Xephyr with different i3 instance.

ANOKNUSA · 2014-07-31 14:06:48

You should probably explain why you want to do this. This sounds like an x-y problem to me.

XelK · 2014-07-31 14:33:44

I would like to split my widescreen monitor in two monitors arranged. And on the left one run my i3 with all kind of software and on the right one twitter client or any other windows always visible. I hope it's clear now.

ANOKNUSA · 2014-08-01 16:01:05

To my knowledge, a stand-alone X server consumes an entire physical display. What you want to do might work with Xephyr, but it would be limiting and (in my opinion) a little overkill for such a minor feature. You wouldn't be able to resize the Xephyr windows, and the sessions wouldn't be able to interact with each other. There are also minor things that might get tedious, like Xephyr grabbing the mouse pointer. If that sort of window management is important to you, it may be worthwhile to consider using bspwm or herblusftwm.

Trilby · 2014-08-01 16:08:36

I have zero experience with this myself - but this sounds a like like what xnest was meant to do.

EDIT: I'm also not familiar with Xephyr, from the description it sounds like xnest and xephyr are designed for similar purposes.

Last edited by Trilby (2014-08-01 16:17:01)

thiagowfx · 2014-08-02 05:15:20

XelK wrote:

Yes I would like to pin some windows, or split my monitor in two virtual monitors.

At the current version of i3, there is not a native way of doing this, AFAIK. However, maybe the new layout saving feature, introduced in v4.8, might help you to achieve something, if combined with keybindings. However, I don't think this experience would be much comfortable.

XelK · 2014-08-02 09:04:01

OK thank you all! Great and very helpful community!

lolilolicon · 2014-08-02 09:42:20

XelK wrote:

I would like to split my widescreen monitor in two monitors arranged. And on the left one run my i3 with all kind of software and on the right one twitter client or any other windows always visible. I hope it's clear now.

Isn't the right one just like a panel then? Like a gigantic i3bar... I think it won't be too hard to make a window claim that it's a panel and wants to stay at the right side of the screen, which I suppose will then respect...

Last edited by lolilolicon (2014-08-02 09:42:45)

Irene · 2014-08-02 10:58:21

i have a quick question. In my setup, I have multiple monitors (three to be precise), and they all have their own workspaces. I like to only keep the status bar on my primary monitor, however. Now, by default, i3 does not show the workspaces on the other monitors on that status bar.

Is there a workaround for this? I haven't been able to find anything.

smlb · 2014-08-02 11:08:22

Irene: this in you config

bar {
    tray_output YOUR_PRIMARY_MONITOR
}

You can identify it with `xrandr`.

Irene · 2014-08-02 11:15:12

That doesn't solve my problem though. Tray buttons are displayed just fine, but it's the workspaces that don't... well, work. For example, let's say I have workspace 1 on my primary monitor, 2 on my second, and 3 on my third. The i3bar then *only* shows a button for the first workspace, and I don't know how to get around that (other than using i3-msg and parsing a lot of stuff before forwarding it to conky).

smlb · 2014-08-02 11:22:11

Irene wrote:

That doesn't solve my problem though. Tray buttons are displayed just fine, but it's the workspaces that don't... well, work. For example, let's say I have workspace 1 on my primary monitor, 2 on my second, and 3 on my third. The i3bar then *only* shows a button for the first workspace, and I don't know how to get around that (other than using i3-msg and parsing a lot of stuff before forwarding it to conky).

bar {
    output YOUR_PRIMARY_MONITOR
}

The previous comment is my fault, sorry.

Irene · 2014-08-02 11:27:51

smlb wrote:

bar {
    output YOUR_PRIMARY_MONITOR
}

I already have that in my config, actually. It got rid of the i3bar on the other two screens, but I still can't see all workspaces on that one bar.

ANOKNUSA · 2014-08-02 15:55:47

@Irene, only the workspaces for the current monitor are shown in the bar in order to avoid confusion. I think this is what you're looking for.

mar04 · 2014-08-02 18:45:52

lolilolicon wrote:

XelK wrote:
I would like to split my widescreen monitor in two monitors arranged. And on the left one run my i3 with all kind of software and on the right one twitter client or any other windows always visible. I hope it's clear now.
Isn't the right one just like a panel then? Like a gigantic i3bar... I think it won't be too hard to make a window claim that it's a panel and wants to stay at the right side of the screen, which I suppose will then respect...

Won't work. i3 doesn't support vertical panels, see http://bugs.i3wm.org/report/ticket/1129

lolilolicon · 2014-08-02 21:08:00

@mar04 Yeah, after that post I searched for _NET_WM_STRUT_PARTIAL in the bug tracker and found 2 relevant bugs, including the one you linked to. I hope i3 would support this, as the EWMH spec requires the WM to monitor changes of this property.

karkhaz · 2014-08-04 16:26:24

Irene wrote:

The i3bar then *only* shows a button for the first workspace, and I don't know how to get around that (other than using i3-msg and parsing a lot of stuff before forwarding it to conky).

i3bar only shows the worskspaces of the output that the bar is on.

If you do want to write your own script, i3-msg is not the way to go; instead, use the IPC interface, as there will be less cruft to parse. The WORKSPACES section of the IPC documentation is relevant.

Last edited by karkhaz (2014-08-04 16:28:43)

JeanVicard · 2014-09-11 16:04:44

Hello. Is there a way to make Compton draw shadow only on i3bar? Thank you.

Last edited by JeanVicard (2014-09-11 16:17:58)

f34_T · 2014-09-11 16:43:43

Is it possible to show current keyboard layout in i3status bar? And how?
To change keyboard layout I'm using this line in .xinitrc file: exec setxkbmap "us, ua" ",winkeys" "grp:alt_shift_toggle" &

dom0 · 2014-09-11 16:57:37

You could do somethings like this:

setxkbmap -query | awk '{ if($1=="layout:") print $2 }'

and prepend that to the i3status.

One could use this with i3pystatus.shell, too, for example:

status.register("shell", command="""setxkbmap -query | awk '{ if($1=="layout:") print $2 }'""", interval=10)

f34_T · 2014-09-11 17:07:39

I tried this command setxkbmap -query | awk '{ if($1=="layout:") print $2 }' in terminal and get
us,ua
no matter what layout I'm using now.

f34_T · 2014-09-12 16:18:03

I also tried this http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:window … yout_in_i3 but with no luck.
Maybe someone there knows other methods?

teateawhy · 2014-09-12 18:20:26

f34_T wrote:

I also tried this http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:window … yout_in_i3 but with no luck.
Maybe someone there knows other methods?

Try this:

setxkbmap -v 7 | grep layout | awk '{print $2}'

dom0 · 2014-09-12 23:07:50

This is really strange, because the setxkbmap manpage says

> -query With this option setxkbmap just prints the current rules, model, layout, variant, and options, then exits.

f34_T · 2014-09-13 15:32:08

OK, I found that this is setxkbmap problem with layouts.
Now instead of setxkbmap "us, ua" ",winkeys" "grp:alt_shift_toggle" command in .xinitrc I'm using these lines in my i3/config:
bindcode $mod+Ctrl+52 exec --no-startup-id setxkbmap us #Mod + ctrl + z
bindcode $mod+Ctrl+53 exec --no-startup-id setxkbmap ua -variant winkeys #Mod + ctrl + x
(with these setxbmaps
setxkbmap -v 7 | grep layout | awk '{print $2}'
prints only one layout)

Also I've installed i3pystatus and created script with this line
status.register("shell", command="""setxkbmap -query | awk '{ if($1=="layout:") print $2 }'""", interval=1)
Now all is working as expected.
Thanks a lot!

Last edited by f34_T (2014-09-13 15:33:03)

Arch Linux

#1201 2014-07-31 13:36:15

Re: The i3 thread

#1202 2014-07-31 14:06:48

Re: The i3 thread

#1203 2014-07-31 14:33:44

Re: The i3 thread

#1204 2014-08-01 16:01:05

Re: The i3 thread

#1205 2014-08-01 16:08:36

Re: The i3 thread

#1206 2014-08-02 05:15:20

Re: The i3 thread

#1207 2014-08-02 09:04:01

Re: The i3 thread

#1208 2014-08-02 09:42:20

Re: The i3 thread

#1209 2014-08-02 10:58:21

Re: The i3 thread

#1210 2014-08-02 11:08:22

Re: The i3 thread

#1211 2014-08-02 11:15:12

Re: The i3 thread

#1212 2014-08-02 11:22:11

Re: The i3 thread

#1213 2014-08-02 11:27:51

Re: The i3 thread

#1214 2014-08-02 15:55:47

Re: The i3 thread

#1215 2014-08-02 18:45:52

Re: The i3 thread

#1216 2014-08-02 21:08:00

Re: The i3 thread

#1217 2014-08-04 16:26:24

Re: The i3 thread

#1218 2014-09-11 16:04:44

Re: The i3 thread

#1219 2014-09-11 16:43:43

Re: The i3 thread

#1220 2014-09-11 16:57:37

Re: The i3 thread

#1221 2014-09-11 17:07:39

Re: The i3 thread

#1222 2014-09-12 16:18:03

Re: The i3 thread

#1223 2014-09-12 18:20:26

Re: The i3 thread

#1224 2014-09-12 23:07:50

Re: The i3 thread

#1225 2014-09-13 15:32:08

Re: The i3 thread

Board footer