Sway

Sway is a reimagining of i3wm (X11), rewritten for Wayland. Sway (like i3wm) is a keyboard centric tiling window manager. Although not a source fork of i3wm, the configuration and user interface of Sway is almost identical to that of i3wm.

Sway Config

The Fedora Atomic Sway edition includes a default configuration for Sway. It’s pretty nice out of the box, and so if you like it, you can just use it. However, I use my own custom configuration that I replace it with, and you can do the same if you like.

Open the default terminal emulator (foot) with the keyboard shortcut: Win+Enter (hold down the “Windows” key on your keyboard, then simultaneously press Enter.)

Install Nix

First, enable transient root (required for Nix on rpm-ostree systems):

sudo tee /etc/ostree/prepare-root.conf <<'EOF'
[composefs]
enabled = yes
[root]
transient = true
EOF

Track the config in initramfs and reboot:

sudo rpm-ostree initramfs-etc --track=/etc/ostree/prepare-root.conf

sudo systemctl reboot

After reboot, install Nix using the Determinate Systems installer:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | \
  sh -s -- install ostree --no-confirm

Restart your terminal session, then verify installation:

nix --version

Install Home Manager

Clone my customized sway config repository:

git clone https://github.com/enigmacurry/sway-home \
  ~/git/vendor/enigmacurry/sway-home

Install the configuration using Home Manager:

cd ~/git/vendor/enigmacurry/sway-home
just hm-install

This will install all dotfiles, packages (including Emacs), and shell configuration. Any existing files that conflict will be backed up with a .backup suffix.

During installation, you will be prompted to enter your git user name and email if not already configured. This creates a local config file at ~/.config/git/config.local which is not tracked by the repository, allowing each user to have their own identity.

Once installation completes, press Win+Shift+E and choose Log Out. Log back in, and this will load the new config files.

Setup display resolutions and orientation

Fedora Sway Atomic ships with kanshi for display setup. Kanshi does not include any GUI for setting it up, so another program called wdisplays is useful.

You can configure all of your displays using the wdisplays GUI program, however, the configuration will not persist across login sessions. So what you need to do is set it up how you like it, and then transfer that information into the Kanshi config file so that it sets it up the same way everytime you login.

For example, on my test system I have two display port monitors, with outputs named DP-3 and DP-4. These are shown in wdisplays and I have set up the size, position, and DPI scaling exactly how I like it:

DP-3:

DP-4:

Open the Kanshi config file ~/.config/kanshi/config and copy the information into the config file:

profile {
   output DP-3 enable mode 2560x1440 position 3840,0 scale 1 transform normal
   output DP-4 enable mode 3840x2160 position 1920,360 scale 2 transform normal
}

Check out man 5 kanshi for more config options. Kanshi is automatically started when sway is, so you can test it by logging out and logging back in.