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

Fresh install after swapping motherboards since Gigabyte hasn't fixed the reboot problems in 1.5 years.

• Verify gvm reloads properly as I have copied it to bashrc
• Verify swapping export locations into bash_profile does not break (_eg. due to alacritty only loading bashrc not bashprofile)

• Test the new sway exit command works by properly terminating session services

  • Figure out what is still broken so I can exit and restart sway without rebooting?

• modify alacritty.yml to match former xdefaults

  • reference
  • We can set the program and args to force it to load bash_profile and eliminate redundant gvm logic while fixing the other major issue I had with it?

<<<<<<< HEAD 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>

---

• install aur packages under actual user rather than temporary user

  • cmst (sway/wayland friendly connman management)
  • wev (need to verify necessity?)

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

  • This is important for laptops

• 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

better temperature scripts

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"
}

scratchpad experiment

I would like to be able to selectively deal with applications send to scratchpad.

Getting an ordered list is a starting point.

Probably replacing scratchpad show with an 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

workspace restoration

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

hidpi check

Previously I stopped caring because hidpi is erratic and glitchy, but I'm curious if sway might be smarter than openbox...

• 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?

firefox automated configuration

• 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)

data cleanup

Utilize my old rig to cleanup and organize my data across my old HDD's

• Uninstall everything that is taking up disk space
  • games
  • videos
  • music
  • data
• disable transmission (we should not be downloading more content on this box)

Since this machine is separate/independent I can happily deal with long running processes and filling the disks to the brim while going through my files...

At the end I want to be able to eliminate a huge amount of data that I don't need anymore, and any redundant copies of data as well...