Configs

Sway

Installation

• Install sway via your package manager. The sway package would come with useful dependencies such as: swaybg, sway-wallpapers/sway-backgrounds, swayidle, swaylock, wmenu, foot etc. Install additional helpful packages with it:

# FEDORA:
sudo dnf copr enable erikreider/SwayNotificationCenter
sudo dnf install sway waybar wofi swaylock swayidle swayimg SwayNotificationCenter \
  wireplumber pipewire-libs pulseaudio-libs pavucontrol playerctl \
  blueman brightnessctl wlsunset wev grim slurp wl-clipboard
# GTK alternative apps
sudo dnf install nemo qalculate-gtk

# UBUNTU
sudo apt install sway waybar wofi swaylock swayidle swayimg sway-notification-center \
  wireplumber pipewire-audio-client-libraries pulseaudio-utils pavucontrol playerctl \
  blueman brightnessctl wev grim slurp wl-clipboard fonts-font-awesome
# GTK alternative apps
sudo apt install nemo qalculate-gtk

Configuration

The config files are placed in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ i.e. ~/.config/ as:

• Sway: sway/config (copy from /etc)

• Swaynag: swaynag/config

• SwayNC for Notification center: swaync/config.json, swaync/configSchema.json, swaync/style.css (copy from /etc)

• Waybar for Topbar: waybar/config or waybar.config.jsonc, waybar/styles.css (copy from /etc)

• Wofi for Launcher: wofi/config, wofi/styles.css

• Wireplumber Bluetooth device preference file: wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/60-audio-priority.conf (already exist)

• Preferences for GTK apps: gtk-3.0/settings.ini, gtk-4.0/settings.ini

Note: A lot of GNOME-native apps won’t respect your GTK theme preferences. So install equivalent GTK-native apps. Might have to edit *.desktop entries also to avoid duplicate label/icons

# Create required folders in home config
cd ~/.config
mkdir -p sway swaynag swaync waybar wofi mako wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d

# Copy default config files from /etc
cp /etc/sway/config ~/.config/sway/config
cp -r /etc/xdg/swaync/* ~/.config/swaync/
cp -r /etc/xdg/waybar/* ~/.config/waybar/

Create rest of the files and start editing

Sway config file

Some suggested changes within the ~/.config/sway/config file

• Set Terminal

  # Your preferred terminal emulator
  set $term wezterm
  

• Set wofi as the Application Launcher

  # Your preferred application launcher
  set $menu wofi --show drun
  

• Set Waybar as the Status Bar. Comment out the existing bar{ ... } block and write:

  # Status Bar:
  # Read `man 5 sway-bar` for more information about this section.
  exec_always waybar
  

• Set Wallpaper:

  ### Output configuration
  # Default wallpaper (more resolutions are available in /usr/share/backgrounds/sway/)
  output * bg IMAGE_LOCATION fill
  

• To fix the Trackpad Tap-Click:

  Find input device name: swaymsg -t get_inputs. In the output, look for something like:

    Input device: ELAN469D:00 04F3:304B Touchpad
      Type: Touchpad
      Identifier: 1267:12363:ELAN469D:00_04F3:304B_Touchpad
      Product ID: 12363
      Vendor ID: 1267
      Libinput Send Events: enabled
  

  So add the input block accordingly in the config file

  ### Input configuration
  # You can get the names of your inputs by running: swaymsg -t get_inputs
  # Read `man 5 sway-input` for more information about this section.
  input "1267:12363:ELAN469D:00_04F3:304B_Touchpad" {
      tap enabled
      dwt enabled
      natural_scroll enabled
      middle_emulation enabled
      scroll_method two_finger
  }
  

• Brightness settings:

  • To check brightness backlight device, run: brightnessctl --list

  • If brightnessctl isn’t working when you manually try to enter command: brightnessctl -d amdgpu_bl1 set +10% where if you get permission denied, you need to add the rule as: sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/90-backlight.rules and paste:

    SUBSYSTEM=="backlight", KERNEL=="amdgpu_bl1", MODE="0664", GROUP="video"
    

  • Reload rules and add current user to the video group

    # Reload rules
    sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
    sudo udevadm trigger
    
    # Add current user to the video group
    sudo usermod -aG video $USER
    

  • Log-out or reboot and test the brightnessctl command again

• Screen-capture Trouble-shooting. The “Screen Capture” input option in OBS was not showing up in Ubuntu for me (although Fedora was working fine)

  sudo apt install obs-studio pipewire xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
  mkdir -p ~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/
  nano ~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/portals.conf
  

  Paste these contents and save file:

  [preferred]
  default=xdg-desktop-portal-wlr