Tagged: i3

Building My Work Environment (Part 2)

Part 2 - Getting Some Utilities Installed

Now, we've got a base system configured and ready to go. It's time to install some useful utilities.

Disclaimer:
The information in this site is the result of my researches in the Internet and of my experiences. This information below is solely used for my purpose and may not be suitable for others.

Here is the list of items to be instaled.

File Manager:
  • pcmanfm
  • ranger
  • highlight (for ranger)
  • My customized ranger/rc.conf (~/.config/ranger/)

Music:
  • cmus

Terminal:
Text Editor:
  • nvim
  • My customized nvim/init.vim (~/.config/nvim/)

Virtualization:
  • virtualbox-kernel
  • virtualbox

Web Browser:
  • chromium

Others:
  • python3
  • scrot - Command line screen capture

The above list may grow in the future but these are the absolute minimum software that I need to do my daily tasks.

All of these can be downloaded from Slackbuilds.org, and follow the usual procedure to get them installed.

Now move onto the next step to install/configure my favorite window manager.

In next article, let's talk about my favorite window manager, i3.

That's all!
-gibb

Building My Work Environment (Part 1)

Part 1 - Base System

I have been a long time Slackware Linux user, probably since Slackware 9 or so. Because of its UNIX-like architecture and stability, Slackware has always been the main OS for my workstation (although I do distro hoppings on my laptop among Debian, FreeBSD, and Arch Linux).

This is just my notes for a list of steps/software I need to install to create my work environment from fresh install of Slackware.

Disclaimer:
The information in this site is the result of my researches in the Internet and of my experiences. This information below is solely used for my purpose and may not be suitable for others.

Partition Scheme:

On my current system, I have 16GB of RAM. So, theoretically, I don't think I need a swap partition; however, just in case my system goes haywire, I reserve 1GB of swap partition.

/dev/sda1 - swap (1GB)
/dev/sda2 - / (around 80GB)
/dev/sda3 - /backup (Rest of space)

Installation of Slackware:

Nothing needs to be noted. Follow its instruction.

Post Installation:

After rebooting the system, there are some tasks need to be done.

Create a user
A regulsr user to do daily tasks. # adduser ... follow the instructions ...

Switch to a generic kernel
Run the following script to output the mkinitrd command with customized options. In my case it was below: # /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh # # mkinitrd_command_generator.sh revision 1.45 # # This script will now make a recommendation about the command to use # in case you require an initrd image to boot a kernel that does not # have support for your storage or root filesystem built in # (such as the Slackware 'generic' kernels'). # A suitable 'mkinitrd' command will be: mkinitrd -c -k 4.4.14 -f ext4 -r /dev/sda2 -m usb-storage:ehci-hcd:ehci-pci:xhci-pci:ohci-pci:xhci-hcd:uhci-hcd:hid:usbhid:i3c-hid:hid_generic:hid-cherry:hid-logitech:hid-logitech-dj:hid-logitech-hidpp:hid-lenovo:hid-microsoft:hid_multitouch:jdb2mbcache:ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz

Update lilo.conf
Since I have LILO installed (the default bootloader of Slackware), its configuration file needs to be updated to boot into the generic kernel. But first run below command to output example sections that need to be updated: # /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh -l /boot/vmlinuz-generic-4.4.14 ... image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-4.4.14 initrd = /boot/initrd.gz root = /dev/sda2 label = 4.4.14 read-only ...

While editing /etc/lilo.conf, insert lba32, uncomment compact options, and change the timeout value to 0 (zero):# vim /etc/lilo.conf ... lba32 compact ... timeout = 0 ...

Then, run below command to update LILO:# lilo -v

Black listing nouveau video driver
I have rather old video card from NVIDIA which complains about nouveau video driver during its installation. So, the nouveau driver needs to be black listed before installing the video driver from NVIDIA.

To view the name of video driver:# lspci | grep -i vga 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF106 [GeForce GTS 450] (rev a1)

Then, download xf86-video-nouveau-blacklist-noarch-1.txz from the extra directory in the source tree:# installpkg xf86-video-nouveau-blacklist-noarch-1.txz ... Package xf86-video-nouveau-blacklist-noarch-1.txz installed.

Run the NVIDIA video driver script that's downloaded from the NVIDIA site:# ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.48.run

Download Security Patches from slackware.com:

No need to explain:# mkdir /tmp/patches # cd /tmp/patches # wget ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware64-14.2/patches/packages/*.txz ... # upgradepkg *.txz

In next article, let's talk about installing other utilities.

Things To Be Installed:

Fonts:
Icons:
  • Faenza (Slackbuilds.org)

File Manager:
  • pcmanfm
  • ranger
  • highlight (for ranger)
  • My customized ranger/rc.conf (~/.config/ranger/)

Music:
  • cmus

Terminal:
Text Editor:
  • nvim
  • My customized nvim/init.vim (~/.config/nvim/)

Themes:
Version Control:
  • git

Virtualization:
  • virtualbox-kernel
  • virtualbox

Web Browser:
  • chromium

Window Manager:
  • i3
  • i3status
  • i3pystatus
  • My customized i3/conf (~/.config/i3/)
  • My customized i3pystatusconf.py (~/.config/i3/)

Others:
  • rofi - Replacement for dmenu
  • scrot - Command line screen capture
  • My customized rofi/config (~/.config/rofi/)

That's all!
-gibb