PaperLite

USB drive that boots up to a Linux environment to read papers, comment on them and think freely.

features

light, nice looking environment
[[Pomodoro]] timer
Wi-Fi, Ethernet support
Web browser, Spotify
Black and White perhaps ?
128 GB flash drive
Obsidian integration
insync synchronization with a folder
[[PDF]] reader
Battery indicator, time, etc
Dual screen support

either, SanDisk Ultra Luxe or SanDisk Ultra® Dual Drive Luxe

do we need type-c would be better if it is future proof ?

name suggestions

LIT3 (+)
PaperLite
PALIT3
P-LIT3
E-LIT3
ELIT3

hostname suggestions: node, soar, chip, memory, voyager, roamer.

ozgur@voyager:~/$

extended

[[future proof]] slide, environment.
20+ years
Note taking environment for lectures

environment

Linux distros ([[distributions]]) that are [[USB]] bootable.

Slax
Peppermint OS
MX Linux (+)
Kali Linux
Puppy Linux
Porteus
Linux Lite
Parrot OS
Tails
elementary OS
KANOTIX

whatever, will use [[arch]].

installation

download the ISO and Flash

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/installation_guide This time we will use single USB device to install system also into the USB device.

start with archlinux.org/download/, find a near mirror view then download the latest iso, perhaps check the checksum to verify.
download rufus, ofcourse portable version, most definitely rufus.ie/en/
rufus the iso with all the default settings, rufus got you covered all the way.

make sure you have shut down the windows properly, not just hibernate, or else you will have to restart the computer to boot from the usb device.

boot from USB device

boot from the USB device, then select Arch Linux Install Medium.

connect to the internet via Wi-Fi

root@archiso ~ # iwctl
NetworkConfigurationEnabled: disabled
StateDirectory: /var/lib/iwd
Version: 2.8
[iwd]# device list
                                Devices                                   *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Name                  Address               Powered     Adapter     Mode      
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  wlan0                 54:6c:eb:38:3f:ba     on          phy0        station     

[iwd]# station wlan0 scan
[iwd]# station wlan0 get-networks 
                           Available networks                             *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Network name                      Security            Signal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > Rulokat                           psk                 ****    
      meturoam                          8021x               ****    
      metuconnect                       open                ****    
      eduroam                           8021x               ****    
      DIRECT-1f-Pantum P2500 Series     psk                 ****    
     
[iwd]# station wlan0 connect Rulokat
Type the network passphrase for <SSID> psk.
Passphrase: ***********

set a password for the root user, this is needed for the [[SSH]] connection if needed.

 root@archiso ~# : passwd
 New password: 123
 Retype new password: 123
 passwd: password updated successfully

get the keys

root@archiso ~ # killall gpg-agent 
root@archiso ~ # pacman -Syy archlinux-keyring
root@archiso ~ # pacman-key --init  
root@archiso ~ # pacman-key --populate archlinux

disable ipv6 (sometimes it causes problems)

nano /etc/sysctl.d/40-disable-ipv6.conf

net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1 # ALL

check with

root@archiso ~ # sysctl net.ipv6.conf | grep disable_ipv6
net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 0
net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 0
net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6 = 0
net.ipv6.conf.wlan0.disable_ipv6 = 0

update servers and install archinstall

root@archiso ~ # pacman -Syy
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core 128.4 KiB   201 KiB/s 00:01             [################################] 100%
 extra

root@archiso ~ # pacman -S archinstall
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (1) archinstall-2.6.3-1

Total Download Size:   0.55 MiB
Total Installed Size:  3.74 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      0.21 MiB

start the install
```
root@archiso ~ # archinstall
```

time to set the settings here are the configurations

Set/Modify the below options
	Archinstall language               English (100%)
	Mirrors                            Defined
		┌── Info ───────────────────────────────────────────┐
		│ Mirror regions: Germany, Türkiye, Worldwide       │ 
		└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
    Locales                            Defined
		┌── Info──────────────────────────────┐
		│ Keyboard layout: us                 │
		│ Locale language: en_US              │
		│ Locale encoding: UTF-8              │
		└─────────────────────────────────────┘
	Disk configuration                 Use a best-effort default partition layout
		┌── Info ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
		│ Configuration: Use a best-effort default partition layout                     │
		│ /dev/sda: USB  SanDisk 3.2Gen1                                                │
		│ Status|Device|Type|Start|End|Size|FS type|Mountpoint|Mount options|Flags│     │
		│ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------│
		│ create | | primary |    2048 |  1050624 | 536 MB | fat32   | /boot| Boot, ESP │
		│ create | | primary | 1050624 | 30031872 | 14 GB  | ext4    | /    |           |
		│                                                                               │
		└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
	Bootloader                         Systemd-boot
	Unified kernel images              False
	Swap                               False
	Hostname                           host
	Root password                      ***
	User account                       1 User(s)
	Profile                            Minimal
		┌── Info ──────────────────────────────┐
		│ Profiles: bspwm                      │
		│ Graphics driver: All open-source     │
		│ Greeter: ly                          │
		└──────────────────────────────────────┘
	Audio                              Pulseaudio
	Kernels                            linux
	Additional packages
	Network configuration              Use NetworkManager
	Timezone                           UTC
	Automatic time sync (NTP)          True
	Optional repositories              multilib
	 
	 Save configuration
	 Install
	 Abort
(Press "/" to search)

Once the installation is complete, green text should appear saying that it is safe to reboot, which is also the command you use to reboot.

[[functionality]]

first we need to install some crucial packages, like git, nano, etc.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S git nano

if the internet connection is not working, try this

[user@host ~]$ nmtui

┌────────────────────────────┤ Edit Connection ├─────────────────────────────┐
│                                                                           ↑│
│            Profile name metu____________________________________          ▒│
│                  Device ________________________________________          ▒│
│                                                                           ▒│
│ ╤ WI-FI                                                          <Hide>   ▒│
│ │                  SSID meturoam________________________________          ▒│
│ │                  Mode <Client>                                          ▒│
│ │                                                                         ▒│
│ │              Security <WPA & WPA2 Enterprise>                           ▒│
│ │        Authentication <PEAP>                                            ▒│
│ │    Anonymous identity anonymous@metu.edu.tr___________________          ▒│
│ │                Domain ________________________________________          ▒│
│ │               CA cert ________________________________________          ▒│
│ │      CA cert password ________________________________________          ▒│
│ │                       [ ] Show password                                 ▒│
│ │          PEAP version <Automatic>                                       ▒│
│ │  Inner authentication <MSCHAPv2>                                        ▒│
│ │              Username e2xxxxx_________________________________          ▒│
│ │              Password ***********_____________________________          ▒│
│ │                       [ ] Show password                                 ▒│
│ │                       <Store password for all users>                    ▒│
│ │                                                                         ▒│
│ │                 BSSID ________________________________________          ▒│
│ │    Cloned MAC address ________________________________________          ▒│
│ │                   MTU __________ (default)                              ▒│
│                                                                           ↓│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

install and activate SSH

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S openssh

[user@host ~]$ sudo systemctl start sshd
[user@host ~]$ sudo systemctl status sshd

add user to the sudoers file, if necessary.

[user@host ~]$ pacman -S sudo
[user@host ~]$ EDITOR=nano visudo
	## Uncomment to allow members of group wheel to execute any command
	%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

[[bspwm]]

here we have the wiki and a nice tutorial

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -Syu xorg xorg-xinit alacritty bspwm sxhkd xf86-video-intel lxsession

[user@host ~]$ mkdir .config/sxhkd/
[user@host ~]$ mkdir .config/bspwm/

[user@host ~]$ cp /usr/share/doc/bspwm/examples/bspwmrc  ~/.config/bspwm/
[user@host ~]$ cp /usr/share/doc/bspwm/examples/sxhkdrc  ~/.config/sxhkd/

[user@host ~]$ cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc

[user@host ~]$ sudo vim .xinitrc
## delete these lines
	twm &
	xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
	xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
	xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
	exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login

## add these instead
	setxkbmap tr &
	exec bspwm

## make sure it is executable
[user@host ~]$ chmod +x .xinitrc

[user@host ~]$ sudo vim .config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc
## change urxvt with picked terminal emulator
	super + Return
#		urxvt
#		alacritty
		kitty

to install [[kitty]], see [[terminal emulator]]

[user@host ~]$ reboot

to start the bspwm, we need to start the x server, and then start the bspwm.

[user@host ~]$ startx

[[terminal emulator]]

Kitty is a nice emulator, it stands out with using GPU acceleration.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S kitty

it did not came working out of the box, for a specific pc with intel iris xe graphics, we need to remove the xf86-video-intel package.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -R xf86-video-intel

then we need to change to the modesetting driver, which is already installed.

[user@host ~]$ sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/05-modesetting-options.conf

Section "OutputClass"
	Identifier "modesetting"
	MatchDriver "i915"
	Driver "modesetting"
	Option "AsyncFlipSecondaries" "on"
EndSection

more resources on this issue, try 3.2 from here sometime in the future.

also, same issue with alacritty, and one more

[[backlight]]

here is the wiki page for backlight. for some laptops we need to install a backlight controller, like light.
do not forget to add the user to the video group.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S light
[user@host ~]$ sudo usermod -aG video $user

to check the brightness

[user@host ~]$ light -G

to set the brightness

[user@host ~]$ light -S 50

sets the brightness to 50%.

or we can use the xbacklight

[user@host ~]$ xbacklight -get
[user@host ~]$ xbacklight -set 100
[user@host ~]$ xbacklight -perceived 80

Insync

Syncs a folder with the cloud, in our case it is also the obsidian vault.

[user@host ~]$ cd Downloads/
[user@host ~]$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/insync.git
[user@host ~]$ cd insync
[user@host ~]$ makepkg -si

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -U package_name.pkg.tar.zst

[user@host ~]$ insync start 
[user@host ~]$ insync show

add this line in ~/.xinitrc to start insync automatically.

insync start

get speaker working

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S alsa-utils
[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S pulseaudio
[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S pavucontrol

enable as user-level service

[user@host ~]$ systemctl --user enable pulseaudio

start the pulseaudio server

[user@host ~]$ pulseaudio --start

check for the sound card

[user@host ~]$ pacmd list-cards

set the default sound card

[user@host ~]$ pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo

check the sound

[user@host ~]$ speaker-test -c 2

unicode character support

couple of japanese websites not working. the characters are displayed with unicode symbols.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -Syy
[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S noto-fonts-cjk noto-fonts-emoji

fixes it but changes the japanese chinese fonts altogerher, find new typefaces in the future.

ricing

ly greeter

works as a greeter for the window manager.

in our case we have two "possible" options, the first is xinitrc and the second is bspwm. both execute different initialization scripts hence we need to be careful.

or simply execute one from other

[user@host ~]$ cd .config/bspwm/
[user@host ~]$ vim bspwmrc

#!/bin/sh
## other stuff
## ...
## ...
exec ~/.xinitrc

dark mode

Switching between light and dark mode requires support from applications or application toolkits like GTK and Qt.

If you don't need live theme switching, to quickly set a dark theme system-wide Install gnome-themes-extra, adwaita-qt5-gitAUR and adwaita-qt6-gitAUR and Export GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark, GTK2_RC_FILES=/usr/share/themes/Adwaita-dark/gtk-2.0/gtkrc and QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=adwaita-dark.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S gnome-themes-extra
# [user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S adwaita-qt5-git
# [user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S adwaita-qt6-git

[user@host ~]$ vim ~/.xinitrc
## add these lines
export GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark
export GTK2_RC_FILES=/usr/share/themes/Adwaita-dark/gtk-2.0/gtkrc
export QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=adwaita-dark

nemo

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S nemo

picom

picom is a compositor, it is used to add some effects to the windows, like transparency, shadows, etc.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S picom

[user@host ~]$ sudo vim ~/.xinitrc
## add this line
picom &

[user@host ~]$ vim .config/picom/picom.conf

cursor themes

first lets very briefly change the "x" cursor. to do this add these lines to the ~/.xinitrc

xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr

wallpaper

install feh, it is a lightweight image viewer, we will use it to set the wallpaper.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S feh

then we need to create a folder for the wallpapers, and put the wallpapers in it.

[user@host ~]$ mkdir .wallpapers

then we need to add this line to the ~/.xinitrc

feh --bg-fill ~/.wallpapers/highres.png

zathura

minimalistic pdf reader with vim keybindings.

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S zathura zathura-pdf-poppler

bar on the left (polybar)

greeter (ly) sudo pacman -S ly sudo systemctl enable ly

scripts

here lies the scripts that are used in the system. first lets create a folder for the scripts.

[user@host ~]$ mkdir ~/.scripts

invert colors of a window

[user@host ~]$ sudo pacman -S xdotool

make a custom keybinding for it, in sxhkdrc, ctl+alt+u

[user@host ~]$ sudo vim ~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc

# invert window colors
alt + ctrl + u
	window="$(xdotool getwindowfocus)"; \
	status="$(xprop -id "$window" 8c INV | cut -d " " -f 3)"; \
	[ "$status" != 1 ] && status=1 || status=0; \
	xprop -id "$window" -f INV 8c -set INV "$status"

this was the first and easy method, an alternative that is more indirect is to use invert-colors script.

bash script method

[user@host ~]$ sudo vim ~/.scripts/invert.sh

we will first describe the bash script,

#!/bin/bash

# invert colors of a window

# hold the current state of the window
invert=0

# invert the colors of the window
function invert_colors {
	xdotool key ctrl+alt+i
	invert=1
}

# revert the colors of the window
function revert_colors {
	xdotool key ctrl+alt+i
	invert=0
}

# check if the window is inverted or not
if [ $invert -eq 0 ]
then
	invert_colors
else
	revert_colors
fi

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$(pidof picom)" ];
	then
		killall picom
		picom &
	else
		ID=$(xdotool getactivewindow)
		CLASS=$(xprop -id "$ID" | grep "WM_CLASS" | awk '{print $4}')
		COND="class_g=${CLASS}"
		picom --invert-color-include "$COND" &
fi

make it executable

[user@host ~]$ sudo chmod +x ~/.scripts/invert.sh