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--post-date: 2020-12-17
--updated-at: 2020-12-19
--type: blog
<article>
<h1>Manjaro Experiment</h1>
<p>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:</p>
<ul>
<li>It's not Debian based (it's arch btw /s)</li>
<li>It's still on Systemd so I won't lose that familiarity</li>
<li>For gaming it comes with pretty up to date drivers and setup for
running Steam games</li>
<li>It has a KDE installation which is what I wanted to run</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why "not Debian"</h2>
<p>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some packages are out of date.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 <i>easy</i> 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!</p>
<h3>i3</h3>
<p>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.</p>
<p>That being said. i3 <i>is</i> 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.</p>
<h2>KDE</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<h3>Setting up KDE for an i3 addict</h3>
<p>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 <code class=
'inline'>meta+<key></code> commands.</p>
<ul>
<li>Remapping the Virtual Desktop changes</li>
<li>Remapping the KWin window focuses</li>
<li>Remapping the KWin move to desktop</li>
<li>Installing DMenu</li>
<li>Shrinking the "start bar" panel</li>
<li>Removing Pager</li>
<li>Changing Task Manger to Window List</li>
<li>Configuring Desktop Layout to "Desktop" (this removes the
icons)</li>
</ul>Doing this helped make me feel at home so far, and not have to
retrain my brain.
<h3>Some of the key remappings</h3>
<p>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. <b>Switch to desktop N</b> setting this as <code class=
'inline'>meta+<N></code> where N is the dekstop 1-10 (0). <b>Switch
to Window to the Left/Right/Up/Down</b> This was one I was nervous
wouldn't exist as a keybind. But What was <code class=
'inline'>meta+alt+<dir></code> 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. <b>Quit
Window</b> with <code class='inline'>meta+shift+Q</code>, <b>Tile
Window</b> command to use the Shift key rather, especially as
<code class='inline'>meta+<dir></code> was overwritten by the focus
switching.</p>
<h2>Manjaro</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>Gaming</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>Proton + Steam</h2>
<p>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 <a href=
"https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom/">Proton Ge
Custom</a> 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.</p>
<h3>Other issues</h3>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>Update!</h2>
<h2>NTFS mounting</h2>
<p>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: <code>UUID=<drive-id>
/mount/path ntfs
uid=1000,gid=1000,rw,user,exec,async,locale=en_US.utf8,umask=000 0
0</code> 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.</p>
<h2>i3 Compatibility</h2>
<p>As I spend more time using the OS I made a few more adjustments:</p>
<ul>
<li>Removed everything except the Clock and System Tray.</li>
<li>I added KRunner to <code class='inline'>meta+space</code> to ease
running KDE specific programs that I can't be bothered to memorize
the name of</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>On Manjaro at least: UNINSTALL mesa-demos! <code class=
'inline'>sudo pacman -R lib32mesa-demos mesa-demos</code> This package
had the annoying "fire" demo which made dmenu opening firefox
a pain in the ass.</li>
</ul>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
<code class='inline'>meta+d</code> vs just <code class=
'inline'>meta</code> 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.
</article>
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