Debianbook i3 (how to)

Debian (netinst) + i3wm on macbook pro retina 2013 (11.1)

I got debian + i3wm working very stable on my macbook pro retina 2013, this is my annotations how to solve some problems and versioned my config files.

Installing Debian (netinst)

Install debian netinst, then you can use an android tethering internet connection:

    dmesg #to get port mapping when connecting the android device
    dhclient ubsmappeddevice #to start internet

Wifi

then solved via https://wiki.debian.org/wl

• add non-free source list
• install linux-image-amd64, linux-headers-amd64 and broadcom-sta-dkms
• disable conflicting modules: modprobe -r b44 b43 b43legacy ssb brcmsmac bcma
• initialize wl: modprobe wl
• install an wifi management like wicd (it has an applet to i3)

With wifi working you can install i3wm and start customizing it:

screen resolution (dpi)

• put this on /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier             "<default monitor>"
    DisplaySize            400 250 # In millimeters
EndSection

keyboard schema

I want to the keyboard be as close as my experience on macOs, cuz i still use another macbook. This will make these changes:

• caps look as ctrl
• cmd as ctrl (also i3 mod key)
• altGr on left alt (to make the mac like accentuation. eg: alt+e then a = á)

How to:

• add 00-keyboard.conf to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d

Section "InputClass"
	Identifier "system-keyboard"
	MatchIsKeyboard "on"
	Option "XkbLayout" "us"
	Option "XkbModel" "macbook78"
	Option "XkbVariant" "mac"
	Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:alt_switch,ctrl:nocaps,altwin:ctrl_win"
EndSection

but wait... there is no mac variant to us symbols... so I make it

• append this on /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/macintosh_vndr/us:

partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "mac" {

    include "macintosh_vndr/us(extended)"
    name[Group1]= "English (Macintosh)";
    key.type[group1]="FOUR_LEVEL";

    key <LSGT> { [   section,  plusminus,       section,        plusminus ] };
    key <TLDE> { [     grave, asciitilde,    dead_grave,        dead_horn ] };
    key <AE01> { [         1,     exclam,    exclamdown,            U2044 ] };
    key <AE02> { [         2,         at,     trademark,         EuroSign ] };
    key <AE03> { [         3, numbersign,      sterling,            U2039 ] };
    key <AE04> { [         4,     dollar,          cent,            U203A ] };
    key <AE05> { [         5,    percent,      infinity,            UFB01 ] };
    key <AE06> { [         6,asciicircum,       section,            UFB02 ] };
    key <AE07> { [         7,  ampersand,     paragraph,     doubledagger ] };
    key <AE08> { [         8,   asterisk, enfilledcircbullet,      degree ] };
    key <AE09> { [         9,  parenleft,   ordfeminine,   periodcentered ] };
    key <AE10> { [         0, parenright,     masculine,singlelowquotemark] };
    key <AE11> { [     minus, underscore,        endash,           emdash ] };
    key <AE12> { [     equal,       plus,      notequal,        plusminus ] };

    key <AD01> { [         q,          Q,            oe,               OE ] };
    key <AD02> { [         w,          W,         U2211,doublelowquotemark] };
    key <AD03> { [         e,          E,    dead_acute,            acute ] };
    key <AD04> { [         r,          R,    registered,            U2030 ] };
    key <AD05> { [         t,          T,        dagger,       dead_caron ] };
    key <AD06> { [         y,          Y,           yen,       onequarter ] };
    key <AD07> { [         u,        U,  dead_diaeresis,        diaeresis ] };
    key <AD08> { [         i,        I, dead_circumflex,            U02C6 ] };
    key <AD09> { [         o,          O,        oslash,         Ooblique ] };
    key <AD10> { [         p,          P,      Greek_pi,            U220F ] };
    key <AD11> { [ bracketleft,  braceleft, leftdoublequotemark, rightdoublequotemark ] };
    key <AD12> { [bracketright, braceright, leftsinglequotemark, rightsinglequotemark ] };
    key <BKSL> { [ backslash,        bar, guillemotleft,   guillemotright ] };

    key <AC01> { [         a,          A,         aring,            Aring ] };
    key <AC02> { [         s,          S,        ssharp,      dead_stroke ] };
    key <AC03> { [         d,          D, partialderivative,          eth ] };
    key <AC04> { [         f,          F,      function,        dead_hook ] };
    key <AC05> { [         g,          G,     copyright, dead_doubleacute ] };
    key <AC06> { [         h,          H, dead_abovedot,    dead_belowdot ] };
    key <AC07> { [         j,          J,         U2206,          onehalf ] };
    key <AC08> { [         k,          K,dead_abovering,            UF8FF ] };

    key <AC09> { [         l,          L,       notsign,            THORN ] };
    key <AC10> { [ semicolon,      colon,         U2026,            thorn ] };
    key <AC11> { [apostrophe,   quotedbl,            ae,               AE ] };

    key <AB01> { [         z,          Z,   Greek_OMEGA,     dead_cedilla ] };
    key <AB02> { [         x,          X,         U2248,      dead_ogonek ] };
                                // unclear whether "approxeq" is 2248 or 2245
    key <AB03> { [         c,          C,      ccedilla,         Ccedilla ] };
    key <AB04> { [         v,          V,    squareroot,            U25CA ] };
    key <AB05> { [         b,          B,      integral,         idotless ] };
    key <AB06> { [         n,          N,    dead_tilde,            U02DC ] };
    key <AB07> { [         m,          M,            mu,    threequarters ] };
    key <AB08> { [     comma,       less, lessthanequal,      dead_macron ] };
    key <AB09> { [    period,    greater, greaterthanequal,    dead_breve ] };
    key <AB10> { [     slash,   question,      division,     questiondown ] };

    include "level3(ralt_switch)"
};

Default to Fn keys

(rather than media keys)

    # temporary
    echo 2 > /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/fnmode

    # permanent
    echo options hid_apple fnmode=2 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf

Screen Brightness Control

• install xbacklight
• fix address of device in sudo find /sys/ -type f -iname '*brightness*' (search for anything like intel/brightness)
• set it on xorg.conf:

      Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "intel"
        Option      "Backlight"  "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0/card0-eDP-1/intel_backlight"
      EndSection

• i3 config shortcuts

    # brightness
    bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec xbacklight -dec 20 # decrease 
    screen brightness
    bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec xbacklight -inc 20 # increase screen 
    brightness

Sound / Player Control

• install pulseaudio and alsa-utils; reboot;
• install playerctl from github (https://github.com/acrisci/playerctl)
• i3 config shortcuts

    # audio
    bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolumei exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 +5% #increase sound volume
    bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 -5% #decrease sound volume
    bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute 0 toggle # mute sound

    # player
    bindsym XF86AudioPlay exec playerctl play-pause
    bindsym XF86AudioNext exec playerctl next
    bindsym XF86AudioPrev exec playerctl previous

Keyboard Backlight Control

• install light from github (https://github.com/haikarainen/light)
• Fix for version 1.2, after install:

    sudo cp /home/alexandre/90-backlight.rules.bkp /lib/udev/rules.d/

• i3 config shortcuts

# keyboard backlight
bindsym XF86KbdBrightnessDown exec light -U 33 -s sysfs/leds/smc::kbd_backlight
bindsym XF86KbdBrightnessUp exec light -A 33 -s sysfs/leds/smc::kbd_backlight

invert trackpad scrolling

• install xinput
• add this to .xsessionrc:

    xinput --set-prop bcm5974 "libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled" 1
    xinput --set-prop bcm5974 "libinput Tapping Enabled" 1

screenshot

• install scrot
• bind i3 shortcut

bindsym --release $mod+Shift+3 exec "scrot -s /tmp/screenshot-$(date +%F_%T).png -e 'xclip -selection c -t image/png < $f'"

alt + tab

• you can bind alt+tab to change workspace

bindsym $mod+Tab workspace next

status bar

• copy .i3status.conf to your home directory.