xmonad + gnome config (updated for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS)

Getting Started

Start with a fresh install of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Installing xmonad + gnome

First we install xmonad.

apt-get install xmonad

As the package for xmonad-gnome is no longer being maintained, we must place the session files ourselves.

apt-get install gnome-session-flashback

• place the file gnome-xmonad in /usr/libexec/
  • modified from /usr/libexec/gnome-flashback-metacity
• place gnome-session@gnome-xmonad.target.d/session.conf in /usr/lib/systemd/user/
  • modified from /usr/lib/systemd/user/gnome-session@gnome-flashback-metacity.target.d/session.conf
• place the file gnome-xmonad.session in /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/
  • modified from /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome-flashback-metacity.session
• place the file gnome-xmonad.desktop in /usr/share/xsessions
  • modified from /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-flashback-metacity.desktop

xmobar, dmenu, yeganesh

Start by getting cabal and suckless-tools. Suckless-tools gives you dmenu, cabal lets you install xmobar.

apt-get install suckless-tools cabal-install

Install the latest version of xmobar (as referenced from xmobar documentation).

# required C libraries
apt-get install xorg-dev libxrandr-dev libpango1.0-dev
# optional C libraries for additional plugins
apt-get install libasound2-dev libxpm-dev libmpd-dev

cabal install xmobar -fall_extensions

Note: I had to manually create the symlink for xmobar in my ~/.local/bin folder to get xmonad to work nicely with it.

To get to xmonad + gnome

Log out, click login, click on the gear in the bottom right of the screen, select the one that says xmonad + gnome. Log in.

Some one-time fixes

To get rid of the gnome-flashback panel:

dconf write /org/gnome/gnome-panel/layout/toplevel-id-list "['']"

To get rid of the desktop icons and the issue with the gnome desktop drawing over xmonad/xmobar (this issue popped up in 20.04LTS):

gsettings set org.gnome.gnome-flashback root-background true
gsettings set org.gnome.gnome-flashback desktop false

To remove the navigational titlebar buttons so other people have no idea how to navigate your computer:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout :

To fix the time issue if you dual boot:

timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock

Miscellaneous preferemces

Themes in Gnome 42+

tbd

Terminal appearance

To import gnome terminal profile, run:

dconf load /org/gnome/terminal/legacy/profiles:/ < NAME_OF_FILE.dconf

To get rid of the enormous terminal headerbar,

gsettings set org.gnome.Terminal.Legacy.Settings headerbar false

Vim

Put the .vimrc file in home directory.

sudo apt install vim
curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

Open vim and :PlugInstall to have vim-plug install plugins as listed in .vimrc. Also make sure to install vim-gtk3 so the copy/paste options interact with system clipboard.

Screenshots

Disable the default keyboard shortcuts for screenshots, custom gnome-screenshot command (ssarea.sh in ~/.local/bin):

#!/bin/bash
## Screenshot Area Script
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H:%M:%S)
gnome-screenshot -c -a -f /home/USER/Pictures/Screenshots/Screenshot-$DATE.png

In gnome control center, keyboard shortcut command: sh -c '/home/<USER>/.local/bin/ssarea.sh' Make it executable with sudo chmod a+x '/home/<USER>/.local/bin/ssarea.sh'

Grub themeing/editing

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt install grub-customizer