XMonad, You're Simply The Best!

I've made some tweaks to my XMonad config in recent weeks. So this video is just me covering some of what I've added or removed from the config. Just a typical DT-tiling-window-manager kind of video. ;)
REFERENCED:
► xmonad.org/
WANT TO SUPPORT THE CHANNEL?
💰 Patreon: / distrotube
💳 Paypal: www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
🛍️ Amazon: amzn.to/2RotFFi
👕 Teespring: teespring.com/stores/distrotube
SOCIAL PLATFORMS:
🗨️ Mastodon: distrotoot.com/@derek
💬 IRC: irc://freenode #distrotube
👫 Reddit: / distrotube
📽️ LBRY/Odysee: odysee.com/$/invite/@DistroTu...
DT ON THE WEB:
🕸️ Website: distrotube.com/
🐿️ Gemini Capsule: gemini://distro.tube
📁 GitLab: gitlab.com/dwt1
🔊 Audio Podcasts: www.buzzsprout.com/1263722
FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE THAT I USE:
🌐 Brave Browser - brave.com/dis872
📽️ Open Broadcaster Software: obsproject.com/
🎬 Kdenlive: kdenlive.org
🎨 GIMP: www.gimp.org/
🎵 Audacity: www.audacityteam.org/
💻 VirtualBox: www.virtualbox.org/
🗒️ Doom Emacs: github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs
Your support is very much appreciated. Thanks, guys!

[@rainermathey6943]

Hey Derek, what is your way to install your Xmonad-Desktop ??? ... is it like install as a package under an other WM, or do you install it on an clean base Arch-Installation >>> can you please tell me how you do this ??? Many thanxxx in advance.

[@DistroTube]

Now you can't "install" my configs. You need to install the programs needed, mainly: xmonad, xmonad-contrib, xmobar. Then go to my dotfiles. Git clone the dotfiles repo and get these directories: HOME/.xmonad HOME/.config/xmobar My config expects alacritty and dmenu to be installed. If you use another terminal, edit the myTerminal variable in my xmonad.hs and recompile Xmonad (xmonad --recompile). My configs expect certain fonts to be installed too. UbuntuMono Nerd Font, SauceCodePro Nerd Font, Awesome Fonts (for xmobar icons). You'll have to install some stuff.

[@bosmanka]

@@DistroTube It would be a nice touch to have a list of most programs your keybindings expect to be on the system. It would make using your configs so much easier. So, please,if you have the time...

[@rainermathey6943]

... can you please give me the git clone commands 🤔

[@peterfarr9591]

@@rainermathey6943 git clone . I’m not trying to be rude here, but you can google for this. It’s one of the most basic things you can possibly do with git

[@DistroTube]

@Dick Bosman > It would be a nice touch to have a list of most programs your keybindings expect to be on the system. There is a nice list of programs that my keybindings use. It's in a file called xmonad.hs. Go to the section where I've put my keybindings. There really isn't a need to retype a second document just for this information.

[@mikoajpopieluch5719]

Hands down, best Tina Turner cover I have ever heard!

[@DistroTube]

Since some have asked for an option to simply use xwallpaper to set the wallpaper, my xmonad config and my sxiv key-handler now include options for both xwallpaper and feh.

[@drishalballaney6590]

hey DT how did you change the splash screen for emacs?

[@noahg.6815]

Hey DT, have you ever checked out GoboLinux? Apparently they cleaned up the Linux filesystem so that, say, GCC 8.1.0 would be found in `/Programs/GCC/8.1.0`.

[@DistroTube]

@@drishalballaney6590 It's an emacs plugin called dashboard. I showcased it a bit on a live stream a couple weeks back--the Create Your Own Emacs stream I think.

[@drishalballaney6590]

@@DistroTube thank you! (I ended up missing the live stream as it was late in the night for me :)

[@geegoo]

XMonad-san: Ugh fine, I guess you are my little pogchamp

[@fizihkull]

Wow, great vid. That tabbed layout thing is pretty sweet! I'm currently reviving my old xmonad config and this gives me a lot of great ideas! Thank you, DistroTube! Subbed.

[@siljrath]

i keep coming back to it too. just came back to it a couple days ago. feels like home. so it's fun to encounter this video again, with that sentiment in the intro. i call my config "tabular boonad", and it's from like xmonad 0.13 or 0.14... I'll get around to freshening that up soon enough. ... but when it aint broke, wontfix. ;) such a joy. thanks DT, for sharing the xmonad love. :)

[@stephenwilson0386]

Hey DT, I'm very much looking forward to your deployment script! I installed the i3 version of Endeavour recently, in large part due to your tiling WM videos and I'm REALLY enjoying the switch from a full DE. I enjoy i3 but I'm thinking I'll enjoy a dynamic tiler like XMonad even more, just don't have the patience/skill to configure it from scratch myself. Keep up the great work, love your channel!

[@besnikrrustemi]

Hey DT, it's been a while since Spectrwm got an update and some love, looking forward for some more advanced ricing update on it. Excellent videos like always !

[@AmidMajd]

Wow, what a great project(configs, scripts, ...). Thanks! Really neat.

[@drewberchtolzthofen886]

Thank you DT, I really enjoy this WM, especially threecol layout, that zooms pane on hover, this is such a good thing! It's like a software substitution for the second monitor, which in fact you can NOT carry around.

[@carlozanotto8307]

Why should I have to change my mind when you're going to do it by yourself in a couple of months? :)

[@allangjtterupernst6437]

I've been running Xmonad / Polybar / Rofi for a few months now and I've not thought about Gnome or Cinnamon since. But as a C ++ / Python programmer, I'm glad I'm done configuring Xmonad because Haskell is a sick sick language :)

[@deliriumcode]

Can't wait for that deployment script!

[@blackberry8692]

Thank you Derek for showing us Xmonad configuration in detail. I might try it sometime, being a DWM (Luke's build) fanboy. I use arch btw.

[@FrasSmith]

Every time I watch one of your videos I descover something new that I didn't know before. Today, it was that Peanut Butter M&Ms are a thing. (Also some fantastic stuff about xmonad)

[@burritocodes]

Derek, You've gotten me into XMonad, and for that I thank you. I do have a question for you. I've seen this in a few of your videos and it's the center screen display of which workspace you've switched to. How are you accomplishing that heads up display? I've looked through your configs, and haven't seen anything that sticks out, and I have spent months searching the web with no luck.

[@almosthelpless9374]

XMonad is great if you don't want your window manager to make assumptions about layout, but there's definitely a learning curve.

[@auntiecarol]

A Keybinding to get straight to dired is a pretty nifty idea!

[@hasanabbadi3252]

I like your funny words, magic man.

[@ade5324]

sus?

[@rbtmdl]

Hey DT! There's a new Slackware, finally. Will you do an installation, review for it?

[@yecinemegdiche3202]

Awesome! Just a nitpick: by default, NSP is just a normal workspace, and it is shown. You need to configure your PP settings to filter it out, which you probably did, but forgot about it and thought it is the default behavior.

[@PurpleSanz]

If you close your eyes, somehow he sounds like Goofy sometimes.

[@umka7536]

I configured Qtile. But I started with Xmonad and still find it the best to use and the most simple. So, I load to Qtile once in a while, but I found Xmonad config more simple and more intuitive. Also, Xmobar - is damn simple and does what I need.

[@sepi4]

awesome wm is the best :)

[@stm3252]

I have used bspwm,spectrwm, qtile and xmonad, but for me nothing can beat Awesomewm!

[@marioschroers7318]

I still shy away from Xmonad due to its Haskell dependencies. Still in love with Qtile though. Bottom line: You don't go wrong with either one.

[@wp6007]

Use Nix

[@Varian-Killbot]

I definitely agree. There's certainly some cool things in xmonad that I'm not sure how to reproduce, but I can do just about everything I want to in qtile as it is. I'll probably just backport things that I can figure out to my config.

[@taidee]

I love Qtile through and through, worked with Xmonad and just find Qtile more favourable and less complex in terms of configuration.

[@danbuffington75]

A minimal wm with 2.5gb of installed dependencies. Haskell is a beast.

[@gksudolol]

The great thing about git is, if someone wanted to find a specific part of your config you've since removed, they'd just need to look back through the previous commits ;)

[@ekekw930]

Hey DT, how are you getting along with the Xmonad startup script?

[@jdecicco91]

i3wm seems to get the job done for me. Not sure I could switch to a wm that only allows pre-set layouts vs. being more flexible, but it definitely seems to work for people. Maybe one of these days...

[@nekoill]

You can't even imagine how flexible XMonad is actually, and there's a great community around it (and Haskell in general) with tons of fairly accessible guides to doing stuff. I did steal Derek's build of XMonad, but I also cut some things off, but more importantly - added other functionality myself, and it went really smoothly. Also, there's a lot of layouts, I can't even imagine why there's so many, but they're there. Also also, you actually have fairly good control over layouts, like adding more master windows, adding more windows overall, expanding and collapsing windows both vertically and horizontally, it's good stuff. I'd suggest you just give it a try, I can provide a link to my XMonad build repo so you can just download it, compile it and be ready to go. One discrepancy though: if you're on Arch or an Arch-based distro, you really wanna install stack to manage your Haskell projects, because apparently Arch has an issue with Haskell packages, but there's a neat guide for this, too, I also have a link for that if you're interested.

[@OmkaraD]

Hello Derek, I love xmonad as much as you do, it is my favorite WM. Recently i stumbled upon taffybar. It is a haskel package and intended to run with xmonad in replacement to xmobar. I think you should check it out becouse it left me some really good impresions :) enjoy! :)

[@andreasantinato1059]

Hey DT nice video like always, i have a little problem with Conky. i'm able to load my config but it appair like a normal window and not like a persistent widget on the screen. I'm actually using Qtile and i don't know how to fix this problem. I change the owm_window parameters but nothing change

[@auroradraco9974]

Took me 10 mins. But I am still very early. Hey DT!

[@aziz0x00]

i love DT cuz of this video

[@blurname6100]

You are always on the way to back Xmonad. LOL

[@StrikerEureka85]

This message is approved by the Church of Xmonad.

[@GeorgijTovarsen]

Impressive! How does that sublayout work? Can a tabbed sublayout be used as a frame within another layout? For example, let's say I wanted to use the accordion layout and I have opened a browser, three terminal emulator and a graphical file manager. Could I group all the terminals within a single window using a tabbed sublayout?

[@DistroTube]

Yep. That's how that works.

[@GeorgijTovarsen]

@@DistroTube Thanks, man. That was a i3 killer feature for me, now I have no reason to not switch to xmonad.

[@manfromva_]

I've seen some configs with only 4 or 5 work spaces but can't seem to get it working with this config. After edits and restart xmobar just says "updating". What am I missing?

[@YoutubeChannel-gg3hf]

Hey DT, when i used ur configs, I couldn't get the haskell logo on my xmobar. any reasons why?

[@al31415]

Hey Derek, from where do you get wallpapers?)

[@redrebel__]

That accordian layout looks like a better way to run tabs lol

[@nonetrix3066]

Xmonad is really nice but couldn't use it the Haskell syntax is crazy I wish it wasn't in Haskell I am currently using DWM works well not very customizable but does what I need out of the box mostly

[@tomaszwitt7326]

silmy the best :D hehe greetings from Poland :)

[@metalnwood]

I am liking Qtile, I have not yet found something I cant do that makes me want to learn how to fully understand the haskell config file.

[@ravipratapmishra7013]

Please make a video of just installing xmonad on a bare bone arch(without any window manager) with your dot files, it would be helpful for newcomers like me.

[@BeansEnjoyer911]

Change your mind? I can’t. However, I really prefer the simplicity of DWM. I’m very familiar with C, and it’s very barebones. From a user standpoint it isn’t “simpler” but from a coders perspective, it feels simpler to me. Some done like the built in top bar, but I honestly don’t mind it. Plus to Xmonad for using a functional language though. I hope to try it again some day.

[@ariloguecom]

Hi DT. Can you do a video about wm's ram/resource usage? Some people did this list on Reddit but that list made so many years ago. There is a lot of wm's but we don't know which is(/are) most resource efficient. Thanks from now : )

[@ahmedabadabdallah927]

Dwm is probably the lightest wm. Like all suckless software, it is a program of few lines and its easily customizable

[@YoutubeChannel-gg3hf]

Hey DT. How do i get my conky to look like urs?

[@masondear8016]

I only still use dwm on my laptop so I don’t need to install extra dependencies, and I run bspwm on my main machine

[@drishalballaney6590]

The good thing about dwm is, configure once and you can use the same config on ANY system, ie it's highly portable. The only issue? Apply bigger patches, and eventually run into some conflicts, so I switched to qtile instead as python is my mother tongue 😅

[@joaopauloalbq]

Awesome is a lot more customizable. Uses asynchronous XCB library. Built in panel, notifications and system tray. Tabs on the panel (saving screen space) :B

[@CaribouDataScience]

Well DT? Are you still using Xmonad as you main WM?

[@Light-.-Yagami]

Such a Headache to setup xmonad from scratch. But I admit it has best features

[@tokiomutex4148]

You should've learned Haskell first

[@bullpup1337]

@@tokiomutex4148dont forget to learn fundamentals in category theory, first. Of course after taking at least undergraduate maths classes.

[@LordOfWizardurl]

Hay dt you are the best. Can you tell me what is the packet near your arch btw Coffee Jar

[@TangoFoxtrotWhiskey]

Do you make use of the Hyper and Meh keys on your Moonlander? I recently made an Autokey script that fetches my TastyWorks password from BitWarden CLI and pastes it into the password field for me. I hit Meh+T for this, so it's really convenient. But, I haven't done anything else with Hyper or Meh yet. Autokey is okay, scripting for it wasn't bad at all. The BitWarden CLI is kind of nice.

[@DistroTube]

I avoid using Hyper/Meh on the Ergodox/Moonlander. Because so many people use my configs, I have to make sure that people using a standard 110 keyboard can use my configs.

[@Bruces-Eclectic-World]

@@DistroTube I use all Model M keyboards and they do not have the Windows Super Key. So I have to go and reset all your key bindings to use the "ALT" key as the Mod key and then that screws with a bunch of the others you have set and MOD1 and it just snowballs down hill... Lol I got rid of all those Logitech Multimedia keyboards and dragged out my old model M keyboards. Happier now,...Lol

[@metalnwood]

@@Bruces-Eclectic-World You could look at the homerow keyboard mod. I love it, especially in something like a xmonad/qtile. The program that makes it work under linux is also written in haskel and is called kmonad. If you search for 'a guide to homerow mods' you should find it easily. I have it so that asdf have two functions. one is you press the key it is the key, if you hold the key and press another it becomes a modifier. I have them mapped to a=super, s=alt, d=shift, f=ctrl and that is mirrored on jkl; Having super on 'a' and ';' makes moving around xmonad/qtile a breeze as you dont have to move your hands at all.

[@matthewrikard117]

so, when are you gonna cover tmux? or have I just missed that

[@Phydoux2112]

I gotta say, Tree Select was kind of neat but I never used it. I've used your xmonad config when you had that in there and boy, was that the least used "feature" I ever used while using your config. :)

[@harishgontu9285]

I use awesome wm as lua is widely used and especially in my main editor : Neovim

[@iamthebside8087]

Feel like doing an Xmonad install on Void video? I loved it on Arch, but installing it on Void is a pain in the ass. Haha I said “f” it, Qtile rocks too. =]

[@michaelheimbrand5424]

Maybe I´m some kind of "special case" or something. But I can´t understand the thing with tiling WM´s. But here´s the "special" part. (I use FVWM) and I am very picky about window placement and autostart some xterms with a nice placement on my first workspace. Actually rather OCD if I´m honest. So why can´t I stand any tiling WM´s? Am I the only one not wanting tiling WM´s but at the same time actually doing it manually? Hmm... Maybe it´s that automatic stuff they do with your windows I don´t like.

[@hulucius1479]

You can try a two column layout where the non-master window is vertical accordion.

[@DistroTube]

Yea, I could combine Tall and Accordion. Would make for a interesting layout.

[@hulucius1479]

@@DistroTube For example, working in Emacs and put it in master window. Meanwhile have FireFox, Slack, etc on the right to check documentation and communicate with others. A common workflow to me.

[@itsgood3019]

Does anyone know how I can change the font in xmonad, not xmobar?

[@Neucher]

God bess Xmonad, there isn't a lot or can't do

[@afborro]

Wayland. If they don't implement it some point Xmonad could be dead. X11 Is at the core of it, which incidentally makes Xmonad not quite as light weight as some think it is. Wayland does offer benefits (as long as it all works).

[@oxigenhalogen337]

Watched this while installing Windows 10

[@LazZanZaz]

Can you use it without any desktop environment?

[@atemoc]

Just as I entirely re-wrote my Qtile configuration !

[@Varian-Killbot]

Share it!

[@atemoc]

@@Varian-Killbot I don't have a GitHub or GitLab account, I should create one to share it, for sure, as well as the scripts that are used with it, and other projects of mine Oh well, I might do that one day!

[@drishalballaney6590]

Yes, we do need a good rice 😉 Even I have an OK qtile rice, but idk if links are allowed in the comments

[@red13emerald]

@@drishalballaney6590 Yes they are, feel free to share!

[@parth46767]

Not here to change anyone's mind but i did try xmonad once and kinda liked it, the only problem for me was to learn a new programming language just to configure the damn thing.. So I shifted to dwm that is configures in C which i am comfortable with. Also dwm is very lightweight an i dont need to install Haskell or Cabal. I can even make my own build and push it to github and install the exact same build on any other system without having to worry about other dependencies and placing the config files in the right directory. All in all, i feel xmoad is a great wm and very extensible but for me dwm is exactly what i needed

[@ivans3806]

I'm so sorry I'll have to live in MacOS in several weeks (due to work) - XMonad is love. Yabai and Amethyst exist, but from what I read they don't provide the same user experience (in addition to need to tweak user protection)

[@tic-tech-toe5394]

hey dt, please make a tutorial video on xmonad.actions.command module to make different types of shortcuts

[@leksmut]

guys is there time to work left after shilling WMs and reinstalling distros? or it is a sort of hobby?

[@SSS-sz8mg]

Man is time to go to Wayland based WM's

[@ricardopinho630]

Hey DT. Comment on the new windows10 features that integrates linux UI apps into Windows10

[@davebrowning9290]

I'm using Awesome because it's good enough. I don't doubt that XMonad is better, but I don't really want to take the time to learn Haskell right now. I would use QTile but Awesome perfoms better than QTile, and there isn't a QTile build for Debian.

[@joaopauloalbq]

Awesome > XMonad

[@edbeckerich3737]

I compiled Emacs 27.2 the old fashioned way, ./configure, make && sudo make install. Then did git clone of Doom Emacs. Linux is addictive, way too much fun

[@guinho988]

how can i copy your git hub xmonad repository and install?

[@alexzander__6334]

what is your conky config file?

[@aryanshrivastava2344]

I switched to xmonad today after a fresh arch Linux install i am using xmonad+ xmobar+ lxsession also lightdm i have no idea how to change theme of application like pcmanfm , or nitrogen to dark please help 🙏

[@DistroTube]

Install lxappearance.

[@MrGLum32]

After dabbling in xmonad, qtile, dwm, qtile, openbox, and i3, I just find myself to keep returning to BSPWM. They're all excellent though. DEs are bloat.

[@wojtekburzynski654]

Could you make video about jgmenu and CLFSWM?

[@censoredterminalautism4073]

The only other person on the planet that has seen CLFSWM. That thing is kinda cool. Basically everything is a frame, just one abstraction, so windows are frames and workspaces are frames (the same abstraction can fulfill the role of multiple concepts), and you can basically have windows containing windows that contain other windows that contain other windows. At least if I'm remembering this right. I should try to live in it, see how it really is.

[@TomerBenDavid]

Can it be used on mac?

[@edbeckerich3737]

Ha ha ha, I'm in Awesome and staying there for a little while...

[@thatisthatoof]

Someday....One day....

[@OctaviusPelagius]

Tonight on Singing with DT...

[@pants-on-fire]

Every time I look at the Haskell documentation I cry tears of blood. I love Xmonad but even after a whole year I still can't stop cursing at it every time I play with my configs. I can't believe that it's written in a language more cryptic than crop circles

[@supremedeity9003]

Haskell is the worst thing about XMonad and literally the only reason i switched.

[@personarandom7579]

Trashkell lol

[@vnm_8945]

having Ubuntu I'm like: "wtf is going on?"...

[@qwertyasdf7615]

Ain't no place like home :p

[@voiceofthetrue1849]

DWM is without any doubt the best wm.

[@phonewithoutquestion80]

Hey DT, used DWM for a bit but decided to use XMonad for a bit. Definitely just as suckless, respecting consistent window sizing a lot better out of the box. Really easy on the eyes code, in my opinion at least! May stick around with it this time!

[@random7983]

hey, you don't need to use feh to set wallpapers, using xwallpaper is a better option since it comes with the xorg package, no need to install a third party program like feh to set wallpapers (:

[@DistroTube]

I would assume almost everyone will have feh installed anyway. After all, it's a dependency for a ton of other programs.

[@armynyus9123]

> it comes with the xorg package not on arch, as it looks like.

[@nykal1510]

I don't quite get it, I'm on dwm and have no reason to switch from it, since Xmonad is a dwm clone

[@richardistvanthier5620]

I still prefer dwm. With the years grew to be much more of a minimalist... perfect things are closer to minimal than to "beautifully complex in background theory". I have had been enjoying programming in all kinds of functional languages and such, just I grow to not really use them anymore and just C++ or C everything if there is a chance to do so. Okay... I would maybe change to a dm written in some kind of forth-like language maybe ;-)

[@error4159]

I want some M&M's

[@techforfreedom6023]

how to set right alt as mode key. mod3Mask does not work

[@DistroTube]

mod3 is not Alt. I believe mod1 is.

[@techforfreedom6023]

mod1 is left alt. but some internet comments says mod3 is right alt but it is not work. i have a problem in virt-viewer conflict with host os xmonad keybindings . I have to change modkey to somthing else in gest os. do you have any proper solution?. Or can we disable host os xmonad keybindigs with some trick?

[@vidhukant1073]

Your treeselect menu was too large, what I have done is I have all the programs I usually use (they're like 5) and some other things like power menu in treeselect while I have dmenu as a "searchable" menu

[@kenshina2]

I guess the "Penrose" WM looks very good, probably better than Xmonad in the long term

[@francescovolpini]

there also is left

[@ahmedabadabdallah927]

The wm virgin vs the tty chad

[@camaradamanuel5025]

Dwm is still the best twm because it's infinitely modifiable because the only thing you need is the dwm source, X and nothing else. Change my mind!

[@ITalented]

arcolinux?

[@user-pi7wn4ji5d]

Please turn on subtitles

[@Phydoux2112]

@18:27 Bwowser? :)

[@tonythai5991]

DT should open a new channel like DJ