arch-desktop/todo.md

todo

Transitioning to Sway/Wayland for desktop environment.

Expect iterative changes over the following months while fine-tuning happens on real hardware.

sway

Going directly to hardware trials because virtualbox support requires too much undesirable configuration:

---

alacritty does not load bash_profile, which means gvm never refreshes.

I should move most of the non-static content into bashrc instead, which does get loaded every new shell.

Perhaps hardcode gvm loading into the bashrc, and only keep raw static exports in bash_profile?

---

Consider modifying this line to stop the sway-session.target:

bindsym $mod+x exec swaymsg exit

Like:

bindsym $mod+x exec "systemctl --user import-environment; systemctl --user stop sway-session.target; swaymsg exit"

---

When I eventually break down and buy elden ring, try these?

PROTON_NO_FSYNC=1 WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR=1 mangohud gamemoderun %command%

May need other steps for ultrawide support?

https://github.com/gurrgur/er-patcher

./er-patcher -r 144 -uavc -- env <above command>

---

• move aur packages to install under the actual user and download to their src directory (for easier updates)
• add these packages to the installation list:
  • xpadneo-dkms
  • cmst (sway/wayland friendly connman management)
  • corectrl
    • add .service to userspace systemd
  • wev (need to verify necessity?)
  • https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mpv-mpris/

• Change aur packages to install under the user being created instead of a temporary user

  • this will allow that user to find and update them more readily/easily

• investigate poweralertd and batsignal to setup low battery alerts with mako

• create alacritty config copying from former xdefaults

  • https://sunnnychan.github.io/cheatsheet/linux/config/alacritty.yml.html
  • transparency is a great start, but we're not done!

---

• continue to refine notes/sway.md to account for the lack of obvious world-knowledge

• Test SteamVR

  • Setup two new base stations for 4-station setup
  • Reconfigure steam vr utils software
    • Make sure all 4 base stations connect
    • Make sure all 4 base stations shutdown
    • Make sure audio transitions to and from
  • try Beat Saber
  • try No Man's Sky

---

• write a script to grab temperatures to replace the temperature module in waybar with custom commands...
  • this is because configuring temperatures is hardware dependent and the waybar has unintelligent defaults and anti-agnostic configuration!

Example that matters?

for amd cpu: k10temp followed by tctl for intel cpu: coretemp followed by package id 0 for amd gpu amdgpu followed by edge

for nvidia we need to use nvidia-smi and parse that instead, but that also means if nvidia-smi does not exist we have to back out!

_For this we will want to have an exec-if that checks for results There may be cases where there is no GPU, so when no sensors appear can we have the custom module omitted?

For gpu temperatures:

• amdgpu, followed by edge

This may not exist for laptops, may differ for nvidia, and may also differ depending on the driver.

Samples:

"custom/cputemp": {
    "format": "{}°C",
    "interval": "3",
    "exec": "/usr/local/bin/temps cpu",
    "exec-if": "/usr/local/bin/temps cpu can"
}
"custom/gputemp": {
    "format": "GPU: {}°C",
    "interval": "3",
    "exec": "/usr/local/bin/temps gpu",
    "exec-if": "/usr/local/bin/temps gpu can"
}

---

• test writing a script to iterate scratchpad items
  • need to be able to get a list
  • need that list to be reliably ordered
    • or need to impose an order
  • can potentially replace scratchpad show with exec

New /usr/local/bin/alacrittyq with $mod+tilde toggle:

#!/bin/bash

# @todo: query swaymsg get_tree for alacrittyq
# if not exists launch
# if exists
# if hidden in scratchpad show
# if shown hide in scratchpad
alacritty --class "alacrittyq"

• investigate dedicated identity for an alacritty window to selectively target for scratchpad persistent terminal via mod+tilde

---

• It may be possible to write an IPC connected utility to save and restore workspaces
  • this tool would need to know when to save, and to intelligently restore only once when applications are first launched.
  • It would need to have a way to pull wayland equivalents for the content mentioned in this issue:
    • https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/1005

---

• test hidpi configuration
  • output * scale 2
  • also targeted output scaling for HDTV but not ultrawide
• Verify hidpi behavior of applications is not poor:
  • firefox (many different websites?)
  • mpv
  • pcmanfm
  • steam
  • discord
• Remember to take some screenshots before and after to indicate visible changes?

---

• investigate firefox configuration
  • auto-configuration?
  • add mimetypes to bypass godawful save dialog (eg. hanlders.json in ~/.mozilla, but unique profile path?)
  • how to make it remember workspaces when restoring tabs (probably not possible, so using tab manager addon)

---

• utilize my old rig to cleanup and organize my data across my old HDD's
  • transfer views/ ASAP...
  • uninstall all games and other content taking up space
  • disable transmission so I can avoid accidentally increasing the files on this disk
  • this includes sorting what is on data/, the other 2TB disk