Hello, I'm not sure where to put this and this seems to be the best category even though it's not something that requires much assistance please move this to the appropriate category if it doesn't belong here!
I've been using Qtile for a few days and thought I'd share some things that should address previous threads in the Qtile section, especially regarding fonts and scaling for small 4K displays. Config files will be shared with explanations as to what's been changed.
A lot of info about Qtile and some other things mentioned in this thread are just scattered all over the net, so this is also a condensed place for them so it's easier to remember what you need to migrate when you move pc. ^^;
I plan to continue adding to this as I get a handle on this awesome spin of Garuda. ^^
This thread might not be very long, but it took me days and lots of facepalming to find these. :')
This is written from the perspective of someone who previously used KDE, so apologies if some of this is baby talk to you
HiDPI: The basics
HiDPI is a pain in the bum. Enough said.
Firstly, to get this out of the way, add QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct
to /etc/environment
it will remove the Alacritty warning and fix your qt5 application theming.
(edit: fixed in the 2023/03/19 build)
Secondly, this is a must for HiDPI displays. Open ~/.Xresources
and add the following:
! HiDPI scaling
Xft.dpi : 185
! Cursor
Xcursor.theme: /usr/share/icons/ArcMidnight-cursors
Xcursor.size:48
These should of course be adjusted to what you prefer. After this, run
xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources
This will apply the changes.
The first one scales your programs, but not the top bar. The second one should set the size of your cursor for everything except FireDragon/LibreWolf/Firefox, which can be fixed by opening ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
.
Here, set gtk-cursor-theme-name
and gtk-cursor-theme-size
to whatever you'd like. I have my size set to 48.
Continuing from How to set the system wide font
You can change fonts via the 'Customise look and feel' (lxappearance) and 'Qt5 settings' . You will also need to change ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
and put your desired font in there. This change should immediately be reflected by FireDragon/Firefox/LibreWolf.
However, even after this, your font visible in pcmanfm and some other applications may still be the default monospace font. I had to change the font in the 'widgets' section of lxappearance a few times in order for the desired font to actually be respected. (Seems to be a bug?)
If that didn't solve the problem, try adding and adapting this to ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf
before </fontconfig>
:
<!-- Set preferred serif, sans serif, and monospace fonts. -->
<alias>
<family>serif</family>
<prefer><family>Noto Serif</family></prefer>
</alias>
<alias>
<family>sans-serif</family>
<prefer><family>Noto Sans</family></prefer>
</alias>
<alias>
<family>sans</family>
<prefer><family>Noto Sans</family></prefer>
</alias>
<alias>
<family>monospace</family>
<prefer><family>Noto Sans Mono</family></prefer>
</alias>
nb. Use kvantum-manager to set a good kvantum theme rather than the Qt5 settings. There will be some artifacts like blue selection colours poking out - it was the least of my issues though so I didn't bother to search it.
Adjusting SDDM for HiDPI displays (X11)
You might be able to find something similar for Wayland.
KDE made this very simple, so hopping over to Qtile, it was a bit of a shock to see how much extra work had to be put in
I installed sddm-config-editor
to make this easier, but if you know your way around the filesystem, do it however you'd like.
After setting your preferred theme, make sure to add under the X11 section this:
ServerArguments=-nolisten tcp -dpi 185
(with 185 being replaced by your most preferred number)
This is the only way I've been able to scale the prompts/greeter. Using EnableHiDPI=true
didn't work for me, but it wouldn't hurt to add it.
If you're using the config editor, add this to the 'Arguments passed to the X server invocation' area in the X11 tab.
My configs
I've made quite drastic adjustments to the default setup to accommodate for the HiDPI screen and my taste, so lots of modification will be required if you don't like blue.
Here is my ~/.config/qtile/config.py
- it's been slightly modified from what I posted before in another thread: Garuda's PrivateBin
Special thanks to SGS for helping me use Flameshot!
Changes:
- Made top bar and font bigger
- Rearranged widgets
- Made the bar colour scheme a bit more simple - if you don't like the default multicoloured bar, this is a good place to start ^^
- Current workspace set to 'line' instead of 'block'
- Close windows with meta+W since meta+Q is very uncomfortable on my keyboard
- Open Librewolf with alt+f instead of FireDragon - make sure to change the name back if you use it
- Open Libreoffice Writer with alt+L
- Using BeautyLine icons
- Add battery widget - the batteryicon widget was a bit buggy and didn't fit with the theme so I decided against it...
- Adjusted colours and font size in treetab mode to be more intuitive and readable for small 4K screen users
I did my best to comment what I'd done with the colours so that it won't be a game of hide-and-seek when you modify it for yourself. Remember to hit meta+shift+R to reload Qtile, and look in
~/.local/share/qtile/qtile.log
for errors.
The second config I'd like to share is ~/.config/jgmenu/jgmenurc
: Garuda's PrivateBin
This by default is also too small for HiDPI displays.
Changes:
- Font size
- Menu width and item height
- Colours (ofc) and transparency of the menu
- BeautyLine icons and icon size
This is the end (for now). Thanks for reading, and I hope this saved you some facepalming and banging your head against the wall in frustration
I'm no Linux or Python expert, so if there are any errors, questionable bits, or even improvements that can be made, please comment!
List of things to be addressed (if possible):
- adjusting the pcmanfm top bar (not the menu bar but the one with the go back, go up, go home controls) as the default size is very small. A workaround is to use an icon set that is readable at that size, eg. BeautyLine
- making the font of nwggrid look less gross (low font DPI?)
obligatory garuda-inxi ;D
System:
Kernel: 6.2.7-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.1
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen root=UUID=e34775a9-3a44-4cad-b4a1-7a4688cda7b4
rw rootflags=subvol=@ splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
resume=UUID=fca2f0b8-fe12-4de7-b5ff-de54fd42afbb loglevel=3 ibt=off nvidia_drm.modeset=1
Desktop: Qtile v: 0.22.1 wm: LG3D vt: 5 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Dell product: XPS 15 9560 v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Dell model: 05FFDN v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell v: 1.24.0
date: 08/10/2021
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 61.1 Wh (73.9%) condition: 82.7/97.0 Wh (85.3%) volts: 12.0 min: 11.4
model: LGC-LGC8.33 DELL 5XJ28 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: not charging
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i7-7700HQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake gen: core 7 level: v3
note: check built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x9E (158) stepping: 9
microcode: 0xF0
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB
desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3211 high: 3793 min/max: 800/3800 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
governor: powersave cores: 1: 3599 2: 2800 3: 2800 4: 2800 5: 3603 6: 2800 7: 3500 8: 3793
bogomips: 44798
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 630 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5
process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2
bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:591b class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] vendor: Dell driver: nvidia v: 525.89.02
alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 525.xx+ status: current (as of 2023-02) arch: Pascal
code: GP10x process: TSMC 16nm built: 2016-21 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max:
gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c8d class-ID: 0302
Device-3: Sunplus Innovation Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-12:7
chip-ID: 1bcf:2b95 class-ID: 0e02
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.7 compositor: Picom v: git-c4107 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: nouveau alternate: fbdev,intel,nv,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915
display-ID: :1 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 185 s-size: 527x296mm (20.75x11.65") s-diag: 604mm (23.8")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: Sharp 0x1476 built: 2016 res: 3840x2160 hz: 60 dpi: 282 gamma: 1.2
size: 346x194mm (13.62x7.64") diag: 397mm (15.6") ratio: 16:9 modes: 3840x2160
API: OpenGL Message: Unable to show GL data. Required tool glxinfo missing.
Audio:
Device-1: Intel CM238 HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
alternate: snd_soc_avs bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a171 class-ID: 0403
Sound API: ALSA v: k6.2.7-zen1-1-zen running: yes
Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.67 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Rivet Networks
Killer Wireless-n/a/ac 1535 driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:003e class-ID: 0280 temp: 38.0 C
IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4 Bluetooth 4.0 type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-4:4
chip-ID: 0cf3:e300 class-ID: e001
Report: bt-adapter note: tool can't run ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: disabled
rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: N/A
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 512.03 GiB (107.4%)
SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Toshiba model: KXG50ZNV512G NVMe 512GB
size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD
serial: <filter> rev: AADA4106 temp: 31.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 459.62 GiB size: 459.62 GiB (100.00%) used: 76.68 GiB (16.7%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) used: 608 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 459.62 GiB size: 459.62 GiB (100.00%) used: 76.68 GiB (16.7%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 459.62 GiB size: 459.62 GiB (100.00%) used: 76.68 GiB (16.7%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 459.62 GiB size: 459.62 GiB (100.00%) used: 76.68 GiB (16.7%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 17.02 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 15.47 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0 C pch: 46.5 C mobo: 44.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2474 fan-2: 2514
Info:
Processes: 281 Uptime: 1h 43m wakeups: 180 Memory: 15.47 GiB used: 4.05 GiB (26.2%) Init: systemd
v: 253 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.1 clang: 15.0.7 Packages:
pm: pacman pkgs: 1462 libs: 372 tools: pamac,paru Client: shell wrapper v: 5.1.16-release
inxi: 3.3.25
Garuda (2.6.15-1):
System install date: 2023-03-19
Last full system update: 2023-03-21 ā»
Is partially upgraded: No
Relevant software: snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot: Probably (Run as root to verify)
Failed units: systemd-vconsole-setup.service