archlinux

28 - Graphical environment

Previous: Network configuration

References:

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Wayland#Dynamic
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Hyprland
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/List_of_applications/Other#Application_launchers
• https://github.com/Cloudef/bemenu
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/List_of_applications/Utilities#Terminal_emulators
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Alacritty

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Let us replace the console terminal by a nice graphical terminal.

Install a composer for wayland

sudo pacman -S hyprland

For desktop functionality, see

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Desktop_Portal

Install

sudo pacman -S xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland

Install an application launcher

sudo pacman -S bemenu-wayland

Install a graphical terminal

sudo pacman -S alacritty

Install basic fonts

sudo pacman -S noto-fonts noto-fonts-cjk noto-fonts-emoji noto-fonts-extra ttf-noto-nerd

Execute

start-hyprland

The first time you run hyprland, a default config file will be created in the user directory. Exit hyprland with super-m. Then edit the file with

nano ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf

In the above file, find the following lines and edit them:

autogenerated = 0 # remove this line to remove the warning
$terminal = alacritty
$fileManager = pcmanfm
$menu = bemenu-run --fn Noto\ Sans\ Mono\ 14
rounding = 0

Execute start-hyprland again. Now you can open a terminal with super-q and exit hyprland with super-m. To open the command launcher, hit super-r and enter a command, for example, alacritty (and press enter).

Finally, set some basic options for alacritty.

Create a config file with

mkdir -p ~/.config/alacritty
nano ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.toml

Add

[env]
TERM = "xterm-256color"

[font.bold]
family = "Noto Sans Mono"
style = "Bold"

[font.bold_italic]
family = "Noto Sans Mono"
style = "Bold Italic"

[font.italic]
family = "Noto Sans Mono"
style = "Italic"

[font.normal]
family = "Noto Sans Mono"
style = "Regular"

[font]
size = 14.0

[keyboard]
bindings = [
{ key = "F11", action = "ToggleFullscreen" }
]

In summary, to open a graphical terminal do the following:

1. Execute start-hyprland
2. Hit super-q to open alacritty
   1. Hit F11 to toggle fullscreen mode
   2. Use ctrl-+, ctrl--, ctrl-0 to increase, decrease, reset font size
   3. Hit crtl-d to close alacritty
3. Hit super-m to quit hyprland.

For further configuration, see hyprland, alacritty and bemenu.

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