senders.io - Blog

Manjaro Experiment

After years on Debian, running i3, I decided to try out a more - traditional Linux setup, and take a stab at gaming on Linux. I chose - Manjaro for a few reasons:

It's not Debian based (it's arch btw /s)
It's still on Systemd so I won't lose that familiarity
For gaming it comes with pretty up to date drivers and setup for - running Steam games
It has a KDE installation which is what I wanted to run

Why "not Debian"

Debian is home for me. I have used it for years on both work machines, - servers, personal desktop. But it comes with its own quirks. Starters - I - am running base Debian, not a Debian based system, which generally means - some packages are out of date. To get around this I run Sid/Unstable. - This hasn't been a particular issue, but sometimes there are version - conflicts and other just nuisances and no real easy way to get - every package in the proper version configuration. This was a particular - pain-point with getting Steam (nonfree too which adds another layer of - configurations) Wine and a few other packages all set up. Plus - 32-bit!

i3

I have been using i3 as my window manager and without really any other - desktop environment programs. My login is the typical tty debian login. - But running i3 and then having windows appear, especially game windows - which can be tempermental, getting tiled to have to break it out again is - just a hassle. While I could've gone with another Debian base running - a proper desktop environment + window manager I figured that'd be - boring and I'd just be trying out the programs and not the Linux, - which is half the fun.

That being said. i3 is Linux for me. Being able to just move - between windows with a macro and every bit of it just being intutive - (after you've learned!) is a productivity booster. Which is why I - still use it on my work machine, and can't see myself ever switching - off.

KDE

I've used Gnome and XFCE as desktop environments before, and - they're fine, but I've always like the customability, - flexibility, and polished look of KDE.

Setting up KDE for an i3 addict

By default KDE isn't really too hard to "get used to" - since it feels like any other OS, especially a windows setup. But the - main thing I needed to change is the meta+<key> commands.

Remapping the Virtual Desktop changes
Remapping the KWin window focuses
Remapping the KWin move to desktop
Installing DMenu
Shrinking the "start bar" panel
Removing Pager
Changing Task Manger to Window List
Configuring Desktop Layout to "Desktop" (this removes the - icons)

Doing this helped make me feel at home so far, and not have to - retrain my brain. -

Some of the key remappings

Setting up the KWin window keymapping was really what made me feel at - home. For the first few hours with it, I felt as limited in my - productivity as with Windows. KDE and Windows share by default a lot of - the same keymappings around window manipulation and virtual desktop - changes. Switch to desktop N setting this as meta+<N> where N is the dekstop 1-10 (0). Switch - to Window to the Left/Right/Up/Down This was one I was nervous - wouldn't exist as a keybind. But What was meta+alt+<dir> was mapped to without the alt. This - allowed for the very annoying lack of ability to just jump between - browser and terminal, or especially two separate terminals. Quit - Window with meta+shift+Q, Tile - Window command to use the Shift key rather, especially as - meta+<dir> was overwritten by the focus - switching.

Manjaro

So I went with KDE Manjaro. Manjaro aims for the gaming desktop - experience. Arch is new for me, so I feel that would be something to - adjust to and learn.

Gaming

It has only been a day with it as I am writing. But I was able to get - a fair amount of the fighting games I wanted to play work.

Proton + Steam

So far my main focus has been running the fighting games I noodle - around on in Steam. To do this I launched Steam and installed the proton - and setup to run all games, regardless of compatibility. None of the - games I hoped to run had worked this way. I then opt'd into the beta - for Proton running the experimental builds, which should generally have - the more up-to-date tunings for games. With this setup I was able to get - Soulcalibur VI to work. Battle for the Grid and Dragon Ball FighterZ both - had launching issues. So I looked around and found Proton Ge - Custom which is a custom fork of Proton that contains custom settings - and tweeks for various games. One of which is Battle For the Grid which - is how I found it. Using this I was able to play every game except Dragon - Ball FighterZ! A callout for Dead or Alive 6 which is performing - questionably. It can run and isn't actually too bad, but in windowed - or borderless it stutters and drops frames.

Other issues

Even on Windows there are issues with some games and your standard - configurations. Disabling Steam Overlay and adjusting the Steam Input - Setting on some games helped get some games working.

Conclusion

Gaming on Linux is still not great. Its MILES ahead of where it was - even a few years ago when I setup this PC. And I think it will take some - adjustment getting a feel for an i3less workflow.

Update!

NTFS mounting

Update! I got DOA and a few other games to run a bit smoother by - remounting my NTFS drives properly. I ended up using the following for my - /etc/fstab configuraiton for my NTFS drives: UUID=<drive-id> - /mount/path ntfs - uid=1000,gid=1000,rw,user,exec,async,locale=en_US.utf8,umask=000 0 - 0 I had noticed that both steam and mount.ntfs was running at - 20-40% CPU while not really doing anything. And then upwards of 80% - during gameplay.

i3 Compatibility

As I spend more time using the OS I made a few more adjustments:

Removed everything except the Clock and System Tray.
I added KRunner to meta+space to ease - running KDE specific programs that I can't be bothered to memorize - the name of
Back and forth on forcing "No border" on all windows. - Part of the reason I moved away from i3 was so that I had better - floating window management. And doing this would basically put me in an - equally hard to manage system for floating game windows. So until I - find a plugin that makes small taskbar/borders for the windows I'll - be sticking with the default.
On Manjaro at least: UNINSTALL mesa-demos! sudo pacman -R lib32mesa-demos mesa-demos This package - had the annoying "fire" demo which made dmenu opening firefox - a pain in the ass.

The biggest difference was removing the Application Launcher from - the main panel. Having it there really felt like a crutch for running - programs. It is equal I would say to running apps as dmenu via - meta+d vs just meta to launch the Application Launcher. However, the - bulky UI of it, even using just Window List, took away from the look/feel - I was going for. -