Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

[Oleander via]

How do you start EXWM automatically on tty login (without a display manager), enable audio, adjust brightness and what packages are required for a complete Xorg installation?

I couldn't find much documentation on this and coming from Sway/Wayland I'm a bit lost.

Thank you!

Re: Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

[Ian Eure]

Oleander via <help-guix@gnu.org> writes:

> How do you start EXWM automatically on tty login (without a 
> display manager)...

Guix seems to have some unique difficulties with `startx', which I 
don’t fully understand, but I’ve seen several folks in #guix 
struggling with it.  I use the default gdm display manager.


> ...enable audio...

I’ve never had to do anything special, I log in, there’s sound. 
EMMS has a facility to control the volume, which I use.  If I need 
more advanced sound stuff, I use pavucontrol.


> ...adjust brightness...

You can use the emacs-blight package (which I’m the author of) for 
this.  You’ll need to add your user to the `video' group.


> ...and what packages are required for a complete Xorg 
> installation?

I’m not sure what the package list is for this, but I think the 
question is kind of vague.  I recommend installing the packages 
you want to use -- a complete installation will just waste disk 
space if you’re not using everything.

  — Ian

Re: Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

[Felix Lechner via]

Hi Oleander,

On Sat, Sep 14 2024, Ian Eure wrote:

> Guix seems to have some unique difficulties with `startx'

I use the code below.

Kind regards
Felix

* * *

#!/usr/bin/env -S guile --no-auto-compile -s
!#

(let* ((profile (string-append (getenv "HOME") "/.guix-profile"))
       (virtual-terminal (string-append "vt" (getenv "XDG_VTNR"))))
  (system* "xinit" "--"
           (string-append profile "/bin/Xorg")
           ":0"
           virtual-terminal "-keeptty"
           "-configdir" (string-append profile "/share/X11/xorg.conf.d")
           "-modulepath" (string-append profile "/lib/xorg/modules")))

Re: Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

[Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide]

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Oleander via <help-guix@gnu.org> writes:

> How do you start EXWM automatically on tty login (without a display manager), enable audio, adjust brightness and what packages are required for a complete Xorg installation?

I just start xfce, then start Emacs, and then run M-x exwm-init.

This is my setup:
https://www.draketo.de/software/emacs-tipps#exwm-setup

Best wishes,
Arne
-- 
Unpolitisch sein
heißt politisch sein,
ohne es zu merken.
draketo.de

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Re: Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

[indieterminacy]

Hello Oleander,

On 2024-09-14 15:18, Oleander via wrote:
> How do you start EXWM automatically on tty login (without a display 
> manager), enable audio, adjust brightness and what packages are 
> required for a complete Xorg installation?
> 

Ive been having a go at this myself over the weekend but admittedly I 
havent resolved it yet (my screen and keyboard froze).

Ive been hacking from these two configs (the second of which uses SX, 
rather than Startx):
https://github.com/jsoo1/dotfiles/blob/release/guix/config.scm
https://codeberg.org/tuff-engin/GuixConfigurationSkeleton

I had recalled some mails regarding advances.
It seems that Tomas Volf's patches have made the procedure more 
tangible:
https://issues.guix.gnu.org/68289
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/commit/gnu/services/xorg.scm?id=9948816819e0af23587d75701ba81d797ef7ea29
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/commit/gnu/services/xorg.scm?id=e51a930c5c5a8609b8656bf997ec853cc04391e7
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/commit/gnu/home/services/desktop.scm?id=8144c587f89641d5976d5b3832297d391d489fbd

The documentation is currently only in the branch Devel (I dont know if 
that means it is currently in conventional OSes):
https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/X-Window.html
https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Desktop-Home-Services.html

Ill have a go at resolving this but Im only (finally) getting used to 
Home services,
so I may take some wrong paths.

I find it a little disapointing that there arent examples for this 
functionality,
so that somebody can dive in without being an expert.
Even a pointer to a dotfiles with the new functionality would be swell.

Hopefully Ill resolve my own misunderstanding soon.

Hopefully I merely need to write a config file and then point to it.

Should this info help Id love to examine your config(s)!

I do love EXWM though and cherish avoid GUIs to login (and all the cruft 
those setups entail) -- dont lose hope, its worth it!

Kind regards,


Jonathan

Re: Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

[Oleander]

Hi Jordan, Arne, Ian and thanks for your support. 

On Sunday, September 15th, 2024 at 6:39 PM, indieterminacy <indieterminacy@libre.brussels> wrote:

> Ive been having a go at this myself over the weekend but admittedly I
> havent resolved it yet (my screen and keyboard froze).
> 
> Ive been hacking from these two configs (the second of which uses SX,
> rather than Startx):
> https://github.com/jsoo1/dotfiles/blob/release/guix/config.scm
> https://codeberg.org/tuff-engin/GuixConfigurationSkeleton
> 
> I had recalled some mails regarding advances.
> It seems that Tomas Volf's patches have made the procedure more
> tangible:
> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/68289
> https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/commit/gnu/services/xorg.scm?id=9948816819e0af23587d75701ba81d797ef7ea29
> https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/commit/gnu/services/xorg.scm?id=e51a930c5c5a8609b8656bf997ec853cc04391e7
> https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/commit/gnu/home/services/desktop.scm?id=8144c587f89641d5976d5b3832297d391d489fbd
> 
> The documentation is currently only in the branch Devel (I dont know if
> that means it is currently in conventional OSes):
> https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/X-Window.html
> https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Desktop-Home-Services.html
> 
> Ill have a go at resolving this but Im only (finally) getting used to
> Home services,
> so I may take some wrong paths.
> 
> I find it a little disapointing that there arent examples for this
> functionality,
> so that somebody can dive in without being an expert.
> Even a pointer to a dotfiles with the new functionality would be swell.
> 
> Hopefully Ill resolve my own misunderstanding soon.
> 
> Hopefully I merely need to write a config file and then point to it.
> 
> Should this info help Id love to examine your config(s)!
> 
> I do love EXWM though and cherish avoid GUIs to login (and all the cruft
> those setups entail) -- dont lose hope, its worth it!
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> 
> Jonathan


I've been using this system config [1] so far and it works ok but it's still not the (almost) perfect setup I run with Sway.

I'd prefer to avoid installing all the dependencies that come with GDM (mutter, gnome-control-center, gnome shell, ecc.) but I could live with that until we can come up with something better.

I still haven't figured out:

- how to start udiskie automatically at boot.
With Sway `exec udiskie` was enough. I think this is also possible with a Guix service but I haven't had much time to mess with the code. 

- how to set up a keybinding to toggle two different keyboard layouts. With Sway I had to add `xkb_options grp:shift_caps_toggle` to the input code.

- how to take screenshots and enable notifications in xorg without a desktop environment. With Sway I used grim and mako.

- how to make Emacs PDFs not appear blurry, It was the same with Sway, but never figured out how to fix it. 

Unfortunately, before switching to Sway I only used xorg with DEs and  I have no experience with the X config files.

[1]
;; System config
(use-modules
 (gnu) (gnu system))
(use-service-modules
 dbus desktop networking sound ssh xorg)
(use-package-modules
 admin bootloaders certs emacs emacs-xyz glib screen ssh video wm xorg)

(operating-system
 (host-name "t420")
 (timezone "Europe/Rome")
 (locale "en_US.utf8")
 (keyboard-layout (keyboard-layout "us"))

 (bootloader
   (bootloader-configuration
    (bootloader grub-bootloader)
    (targets '("/dev/sda"))
    (terminal-outputs '(console))))

 (kernel-arguments
  (cons* "intel_idle.max_cstate=2"
	 %default-kernel-arguments))
 
 ;; Specify a mapped device for the encrypted root partition.
 ;; The UUID is that returned by 'cryptsetup luksUUID'.
 (mapped-devices
  (list (mapped-device
	 (source (uuid "e4a3dcf5-c421-3157-61er-5fy712450j4t"))
	 (targets (list "guix"))
	 (type luks-device-mapping))))

 (file-systems
  (append
   (list (file-system
	  (device (file-system-label "guix"))
	  (mount-point "/")
	  (type "ext4")
	  (dependencies mapped-devices)))
   %base-file-systems))

 (swap-devices
   (list
    (swap-space (target "/swapfile"))))

 (users
  (cons (user-account
	 (name "oleander")
	 (comment "")
	 (group "users")
	 (home-directory "/home/oleander")
	 (supplementary-groups '("wheel" "netdev"
				 "audio" "video" "input")))
	%base-user-accounts))

 ;; System-wide packages.
 (packages
  (append
   (list
    dbus
    intel-vaapi-driver
    libva-utils
    openssh-sans-x
    screen
    emacs emacs-exwm emacs-desktop-environment
    wpa-supplicant
    xorg-server)
   %base-packages))

 (services
  (cons*
   (set-xorg-configuration
    (xorg-configuration
     (keyboard-layout keyboard-layout)
     (extra-config
      '("Section \"InputClass\"\n"
        "  Identifier \"libinput touchpad catchall\"\n"
        "  Driver \"libinput\"\n"
        "  MatchIsTouchpad \"on\"\n"
        "  MatchDevicePath \"/dev/input/event*\"\n"
        "  Option \"Tapping\" \"on\"\n"
        "  Option \"TappingDrag\" \"on\"\n"
        "  Option \"DisableWhileTyping\" \"on\"\n"
        "EndSection\n"
        "\n"
     
	; https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Libinput#Via_xinput
        "Section \"InputClass\"\n"
        "  Identifier \"USB Mouse Pad USB Mouse Pad Mouse\"\n"
        "  Driver \"libinput\"\n"
        "  Option \"Middle Emulation\" \"on\"\n"
        "  Option \"AccelSpeed\"  \"1.0\""
        "EndSection\n"
        "\n"
        "\n"
        "Section \"Device\"\n"
        "  Identifier \"Intel Graphics\"\n"
        "  Driver \"intel\"\n"
        "  Option \"TearFree\" \"True\"\n"
	"  Option \"DRI\" \"2\"\n"
	"  Option \"AccelMethod\" \"sna\"\n"
        "EndSection"
        "\n"))))
   (modify-services %desktop-services
		    (gdm-service-type
		     config => (gdm-configuration
				(auto-login? #t)
				(default-user "oleander"))))))

 ;; Allow resolution of '.local' host names with mDNS.
 (name-service-switch %mdns-host-lookup-nss))

Re: Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

[James Thomas]

Oleander wrote:

> I've been using this system config [1] so far and it works ok but it's
> still not the (almost) perfect setup I run with Sway.
>
> I'd prefer to avoid installing all the dependencies that come with GDM
> (mutter, gnome-control-center, gnome shell, ecc.) but I could live
> with that until we can come up with something better.

I'd used Slim with an xinitrc, which starts emacs. But I hope to see
Console TDM packaged someday.

> I still haven't figured out:

> - how to start udiskie automatically at boot. With Sway `exec udiskie`
> was enough. I think this is also possible with a Guix service but I
> haven't had much time to mess with the code.

udevil is better, but I had been starting udiskie from emacs's init.

> - how to set up a keybinding to toggle two different keyboard layouts.
> With Sway I had to add `xkb_options grp:shift_caps_toggle` to the
> input code.

Try:

(operating-system
 ...
 (keyboard-layout (keyboard-layout "us" #:options
				   '("grp:shift_caps_toggle")))

> - how to take screenshots

scrot

> and enable notifications in xorg without a desktop environment. With
> Sway I used grim and mako.

There's exwm-ns (which I preferred) but I've also used dunst.

--

Re: Could anyone using EXWM share their guix config?

[James Thomas]

James Thomas wrote:

> Oleander wrote:
>
>> I've been using this system config [1] so far and it works ok but it's
>> still not the (almost) perfect setup I run with Sway.
>>
>> I'd prefer to avoid installing all the dependencies that come with GDM
>> (mutter, gnome-control-center, gnome shell, ecc.) but I could live
>> with that until we can come up with something better.
>
> I'd used Slim with an xinitrc

Sorry, that's Xsession.

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