This topic shall focus on my experimentations with Niri, a horizontally-scrolling window manager for Wayland.
Test Hardware
BIOS access: F2
Boot menu: F12
Test Conditions
The laptop is our current home theatre pc. It is currently the only available device to test on with a second becoming available later in the coming weeks.
To prevent modifications of the installed os (Debian Gnome), I shall be testing on a live usb.
First Hurdle
Zorin 18 Core on a live usb uses x11 not wayland. Only after installing the os does usage switch to wayland meaning that I need to modify the live version to use wayland.
Proposed Solution
Solution to change session from x11 to wayland worked.
In terminal:
sudo nano /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
The above command opens the file custom.conf using nano.
Find the following line in custom.conf:
WaylandEnable=false
change value to true
Ctrl O, then Enter to save/update the file.
In terminal:
sudo systemctl restart gdm3
Experimenting with persistence on Ventoy so as not to start from scratch every time I work on this project.
So far the experience is fastidiously slow. I need to research further persistence, however, other alternatives that come to mind are:
- loading to Ram (boot parameter:
toram)then dumping the changes back to the usb - or making a smaller Ventoy/persistence file (currently 4 GB)
- or writing a script and host it on GitHub so that on each start-up it pulls the changes with a single command allowing me to continue where I would have left off.
All these until the newer device is finally in hand.
Further research:
https://www.baeldung.com/linux/fully-booting-a-live-usb-to-ram-enabling-disk-removal
Thanks for the idea with niri. The setup seems a bit complicated under Zorin/Ubuntu, but it sounds really interesting. I'm not sure if it will disturb the desktop. On arch limux or LXQT niri seams to be easier to use.
Because I find the idea of windows running side by side interesting, and the gnome extension tiling shell on my virtual machine doesn't display two windows correctly side by side but always overlaps them (which I find really stupid), I took a look at the gnome extension paperwm, which uses the same principle as niri. I like it a lot, and it could be something for permanent use for the small screen area in my virtual machine. The advantage of paperwm is that it can be used with XOrg.
Here are many instructions how to use it:
In Zorin 17 with gnome 43 there are not all functions offered, but in Zorin 18 and gnome 46 it is really good.
On my Zorin VM running on XOrg I could use it together with gnome extension rounded corners enabled and had no problems.
@Forpli thank you for changing the forum section of the thread, however, in doing so something peculiar has happenned: the preview videw of the very first post is now a (long) link, can you return it to its original state of video as I am unable to edit the first post to fix it?
It is indeed a complicated challenge. It is part of my studies (not academic but hobbyist) and have chosen Zorin OS to preserve Zorin's stability (based on Ubuntu in turn based on Debian) with the intention of having a pure window manager without adding a layer (plugin) over Gnome.
Unfortunately I don't know how this works, but surely a moderator. I only have the right to change categories.
For me it has never been possible to open the link and to watch your video.
But you should be able to edit your first post.
Nevermind, link was changed from source so nothing I can do except to remove the link.
However, I can no longer edit the topmost post as I do not have the edit/pen button as can be seen here:
@AZorin / @zorink, could you kindly remove the link in the topmost post or restore the editing/pen button so I can remove the link and link a YouTube video or some images of Niri, please? Thank you in advance.
For now, I have removed the broken link.
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Thank you, @Aravisian.
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Since the new hardware is still not available and playing over a live/persistent usb is not sustainable, for now shall experiment on Virtual Box. My preference to test and experiment on hardware remains.
Zorin 18 Core on Virtual Box (6GB RAM / Intel Core i7-9750H x 4CPUs)
The experience I am looking for is that similar to when we switch on a console or a set-top box. Hence, the following options were chosen:
Users
- Automatic login: On
Notifications
- Do Not Disturb: On
Screenlock
- Blank Screen Delay: Never
- Automatic Screen Lock: Off
- Lock Screen Notifications: Off
- Lock Screen on Suspend: Off
Firewall
- Status: On
With regards to having a lean system, I do not intend to keep unnecessary files for more than necessary, hence:
File History & Trash
- File History: Off
- Automatically Delete Trash Content: On
- Automatically Delete Temporary Files: On
- Automatically Delete Period: 1 Day
The following packages were removed.
From Software app:
- Brasero
- Calculator
- Calendar
- Characters
- Contacts
- Document Scanner
- Document Viewer
- Evolution
- Weather
In terminal:
sudo apt autoremove --purge libreoffice*
With the above out of the way, I rebooted then in terminal:
sudo apt update -y && sudo apt full-upgrade -y
Do note that the following subsection only applies when testing a live usb, however, I wanted to ensure that the settings are identical on the installed system.
Enabled Wayland
In terminal:
sudo nano /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
Uncommented this line: #WaylandEnable=false by removing the # and changed false to true.
Then pressed Ctrl-O -> Enter -> Ctrl-X to save the changes.
Finally, to process the above changes, in terminal:
sudo systemctl restart gdm3
Continuing from the previous post, reboot then:
Removed more software
sudo apt autoremove --purge plymouth
reboot to check if the Zorin logo etc are removed when booting (successful, too)
Also removed (individually from their rispective Software app page by right clicking in the menu and selecting App Details):
- Clocks
- Sound Recorder
- Fonts
- Replaced Brave with Microsoft Edge