KLV-Spectr-rc2 is Available with Void Linux Kernel 6.7.4_1

[rockedge]

KLV-Spectr-rc2
Kennel Linux Void Spectr Release Candidate 2 is now available equipped with a Void Linux Kernel 6.7.4_1

Download ISO -> KLV-Spectr-rc2 743 MiB download size ↓
SHA1-MD5.txt

KLV-Spectr-rc2 is a similar at it's core to KLV-Airedale and uses many of the same utilities but has the tiling window manager Spectrwm forming the desktop.

Desktop design is by @Sofiya.

Using @geo_c 's Spectrwm configurations setup is provided by a SFS package loaded during system start.

Screenshot(79).jpg (17 KiB) Viewed 2257 times

This version has Grub4Dos and Grub2config to set up boot loaders

Screenshot(78).jpg (20.18 KiB) Viewed 2257 times

[geo_c]

@rockedge I thought about starting a new topic to post a link to the completed 08KLV-spectr-studio-rc2 layer. But I figured best to let you check it out and decide what to do with it.

It can be downloaded here: https://mega.nz/file/7fxmHJra#DF1aabgXo ... RQXp0UDsMs

MOD+z gives you all the KLV-spectrwm keybindings as a splash. There's also a gtk dialog version of it that can be used by simply commenting out the keybinding in spectrwm.conf and uncommenting the one labeled gtk-dialog

MOD+Shift+z gives you the keybindings to audio apps and cpu speed utilities, it also has the same gtk-splash, gtk-dialog option.

All the jack app deskop files have been edited to start them using pw-jack. Jack buffer is set at 512. A moderate middle of the road buffer that should work on most slow machines.

I have a set of pipewire config files that I switch in and out of multi-installs. I didn't include those.

The installed packages can be viewed in the bash history, where I left the install command. I also added some more lv2 plugins from my collection, and one gtk dark theme, and one set of icons. I know it adds to the size but it's a nice look.

One somewhat clunky aspect of using spectr with the Rofi menu is there are no subfolders, so the menu is full of plugins, which makes finding things by scrolling kind of a pain.

Of course I have the audio apps opening with keystrokes.

Here's the package list: xbps-install lilypond gpick parole ardour timidity soundfont-fluid helvum qpwgraph mediainfo easytag drumstick calf Carla hydrogen jack_mixer muse lsp-plugins yoshimi amsynth padthv1 samplv1 synthv1 drumkv1 guitarix2 helm swh-lv2 x42-plugins libjack-pipewire alsa-plugins alsa-plugins-ffmpeg gstreamer1-pipewire alsa-firmware epdfview

[geo_c]

Now I notice that I'm being inconsistent between the two splashes. The Spectrwm splash has MOD1 labeled as Alt, whereas the Audio Splash has it labeled MOD1.

I should probably change those so they are the same.

[Clarity]

Hello @rockedge

I am late reporting this. As I was awaiting a response to a PM sent.

I hit the same boot problems from ISO booting as reported on the first hyprland v4.1 from you last week before Sofiya updated. It traps!

RC1 does boot to desktop via SG2D, but traps via Ventoy. RC2 is trapping in both at boot attempts.

This can also be seen by booting your Ventoy USB within a QEMU VM. Boot the USB

Code: Select all

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -vga std -m 2G -smp 2 -device ac97 -name 'Spectr vRC2 on QEMU' -hda /dev/sdb 

Could you verify ISO booting from your USB?

[Sofiya]

Hello @rockedge

I am late reporting this. As I was awaiting a response to a PM sent.

I hit the same boot problems from ISO booting as reported on the first hyprland v4.1 from you last week before Sofiya updated. It traps!

RC1 does boot to desktop via SG2D, but traps via Ventoy. RC2 is trapping in both at boot attempts.

This can also be seen by booting your Ventoy USB within a QEMU VM. Boot the USB

Code: Select all

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -vga std -m 2G -smp 2 -device ac97 -name 'Spectr vRC2 on QEMU' -hda /dev/sdb 

Could you verify ISO booting from your USB?

KLV-Spectrwm-CE-2.0 -- Uses Pipewire as a sound server
viewtopic.php?p=101440#p101440

KLV-Spectrwm-CE-1.0 -- Uses PulseAudio as a sound server
viewtopic.php?t=9852

Code: Select all

/mnt/sda2/2-QEMU/QEMU-2.5.0-ubu16.04.AppImage qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 2G -vga std -smp 2 -device AC97 -name 'KLV-SpectrwmCE' -boot d -hda /mnt/sda2/2-QEMU/VirtualHDD.img -cdrom /root/Downloads/KLV-SpectrwmCE-2.0.iso

[geo_c]

Having used quite a few desktop window managers in the past year, I have to say, that for whatever reason, Spectrwm is the cleanest looking display of all of them, including Hyprland, and I have to wonder if it's just a matter of not using a compositor, which I may be wrongly assuming it doesn't use.

When I say it looks cleaner, I mean that the fonts are crisp, the colors vibrant, etc.

May just be my perception. But I have noticed differences in all the KL's, especially when it comes to rendering fonts in a dark themes, where the text is bright and the background dark.

For instance, I still use KLV-airedale-sr2 because it seems to work on every machine no matter how old. It's not my daily Airedale driver, as that would be KLV-airedale-RT, I guess based off SR8. And KLV-airedale sr2 looks a lot crappier than the SR8. I'm not sure what the difference is, but I have to tweak the DPI and various settings in Xfce to get it looking close to SR8.

And Spectr, the ones @Sofiya customized with polybar, are simply always looking very nice on all devices!

[rockedge]

@geo_c
I noticed as well that the KLV-Spectr desktop looks very crisp and performs the fastest out of all of them. I also have a machine running a KLV-Airedale-sr2 which is updated to the very latest Void Linux versions. I'll have to look side by side with a KLV-Airedale-RT which now based on the same rootfs as KLV-Airedale-sr10 to compare the font and color rendering.

With the 10 work spaces on the KLV-Spectr desktop I place each application I am using on it's own work space, then move between them quickly as needed either by key bindings or the mouse. This method is so much nicer for me because I am not re-adjusting the stacked windows every time I move the focus somewhere.

[geo_c]

@geo_c
I noticed as well that the KLV-Spectr desktop looks very crisp and performs the fastest out of all of them. I also have a machine running a KLV-Airedale-sr2 which is updated to the very latest Void Linux versions. I'll have to look side by side with a KLV-Airedale-RT which now based on the same rootfs as KLV-Airedale-sr10 to compare the font and color rendering.

With the 10 work spaces on the KLV-Spectr desktop I place each application I am using on it's own work space, then move between them quickly as needed either by key bindings or the mouse. This method is so much nicer for me because I am not re-adjusting the stacked windows every time I move the focus somewhere.

Yes I was thinking that as this 08KLV-spectr-studio gets tweaked and finished, I could do a little tutorial, maybe screen record how to use it, because I also use the 10 workspaces and just MOD+[number 1-10] to switch between applications. It's awesome that way.

I set up KLV-airedale-RT-pwjack-cortile with 10 workspaces also, mimicking what I do in Spectr. It works but is noticablly slower switching workspaces.

I'm going to try F96-cortile with 10 workspaces, and I don't know how well JWM is going to play with 10 workspaces, but we'll see! I'm quite spoiled by the 10 workspace arrangement.

[williwaw]

With the 10 work spaces on the KLV-Spectr desktop I place each application I am using on it's own work space, then move between them quickly as needed either by key bindings or the mouse. This method is so much nicer for me because I am not re-adjusting the stacked windows every time I move the focus somewhere.

I will admit I have not spent much time playing with tiling wms yet, but it seems what you are doing with multiple workspaces is the same as what can be done with jwm. is there something that spectwm does better when used this way? (If there is a better spectwm thread to discuss this in, please move this question there.)

[Clarity]

KLV-Spectrwm-CE-2.0 -- Uses Pipewire as a sound server
viewtopic.php?p=101440#p101440
...

Boots to desktop in record time in a VM. Desktop is appealing and useful! Very Nice...

Code: Select all

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -vga std -m 2G -smp 2 -device AC97 -name 'KLV-SpectrwmCE v2.0 in QEMU' /root/Downloads/KLV-SpectrwmCE-2.0.iso

[rockedge]

@geo_c I used a fresh install of KLV-Spectr-RT using the latest 07KLV-spectr_rootfs.sfs from rc2 and updated it with OctoXBPS. Then added in the 08KLV-spectr-studio-rc2.sfs and rebooted.

This KLV-Spectr-RT-studio is using the 6.1.38-rt13 full real time kernel. So far it appears all the selections are functional! Except for the Icons representing the different work spaces

2024-02-19_750x422-thumb_001.png (12.75 KiB) Viewed 2087 times

I accidentally copied in 08KLV-spectr-studio-rc2.sfs to a KLV-Airedale-RT and didn't realize it until I booted up.

Looks fantastic. Some things didn't start but probably a modprobe snd-seq can fix it. We'll see, but the icons and xfce4 desktop changed into something pretty cool looking......

So far a blast to work with KLV-Spectr-RT-studio

[geo_c]

With the 10 work spaces on the KLV-Spectr desktop I place each application I am using on it's own work space, then move between them quickly as needed either by key bindings or the mouse. This method is so much nicer for me because I am not re-adjusting the stacked windows every time I move the focus somewhere.

I will admit I have not spent much time playing with tiling wms yet, but it seems what you are doing with multiple workspaces is the same as what can be done with jwm. is there something that spectwm does better when used this way? (If there is a better spectwm thread to discuss this in, please move this question there.)

It depends what you like to see on your workspace really. I like tiling because when you open one application on the desktop it fills the work area completely. A second window tiles as you have it set, either horizontally, vertically. Windows can still float and be resized, and when floating they stay on top even while you enter input into another active window, which is very handy. So I can have my file manager open and tiled, with a floated geany, where I can edit files and then open new files from the file manager which is tiled underneath.

You can also preset all the workspaces to tile differently. Workspace 1 can be preset in the spectrwm.conf to open fullscreen for viewing media, browsing, while workspace 2 can be set for vertical tiling, etc.

With 10 workspaces easy switched with one hand, Super+[0-9] workflow is incredibly fast. There is no dragging windows around, pressing keys to tile, since tiling is the default and can be set to your preference. Without all the compositing and cascading, there is no flicker or delays in display, just instant switching and displaying of windows. Default spectr is completely operational with no window decorations, meaning no window buttons or title bars. Screen space is optimized.

Yes you need to memorize some keystrokes, but I have spent a long time configuring all the spectr functions with sensible and intuitive keystrokes and splashes that can be brought up with Super+z and Super+Shift+z.

It might be called an acquired taste, but once you have a taste for it, it's hard to go back. Recently @rockedge and I added cortile window tiler to Airedale and F96, and it turns your Xfce or JWM into a tiling window manager, but a hybrid, where all the normal window manager functions are still there and tiling can be turned on and off at will. That's nice, but it's definitely slower than Spectr, or bspwm, awesome, or hyprland, Spectr being the fastest of all.

That's my pitch. I'm a big fan of Spectr.

[geo_c]

@geo_c I used a fresh install of KLV-Spectr-RT using the latest 07KLV-spectr_rootfs.sfs from rc2 and updated it with OctoXBPS. Then added in the 08KLV-spectr-studio-rc2.sfs and rebooted.

This KLV-Spectr-RT-studio is using the 6.1.38-rt13 full real time kernel. So far it appears all the selections are functional! Except for the Icons representing the different work spaces
2024-02-19_750x422-thumb_001.png

I changed them!

That's for audio. You have three "play" icons for virtual instruments/sound sources, three "control" icons for plugin racks/connection graphs/terminal monitors/whatever, and three "edit" icons for trackers and sequencers, where things get written. The last is for file management.

It's easy to know what number to use because they are in threes, (1,2,3) (4,5,6) (7,8,9) (0).

If you want to put them back to @Sofiya's they are still in the spectrwm.conf, just comment out mine, and uncomment hers.

edit: And of course being icons they can mean whatever you like. Comment out all of them in the spectrwm.conf and it will revert to simple numbers. Whatever your preference.

[geo_c]

I accidentally copied in 08KLV-spectr-studio-rc2.sfs to a KLV-Airedale-RT and didn't realize it until I booted up.

Looks fantastic. Some things didn't start but probably a modprobe snd-seq can fix it. We'll see, but the icons and xfce4 desktop changed into something pretty cool looking......

So far a blast to work with KLV-Spectr-RT-studio

Just noticed this part. Certainly that's gonna crash! How could that even work?

Also, you might not want to update before adding 08layer, because I didn't update rc2 before loading the layer. I figured it was updated when you uploaded it.

[rockedge]

@geo_c I like them like this. Easy to count the work spaces.

When I put 08KLV-spectr-studio-rc2.sfs in KLV-Airedale-RT it made the xfce4 desktop suddenly very cool looking.

No idea why it works yet but that it does! Some testing needed...

Maybe the under lying KLV system is close enough.....

[rockedge]

KLV-Spectr-RT-studio

2024-02-19_750x422-thumb.png (57.92 KiB) Viewed 2074 times

KLV-Spectr is also my go to now for working on projects and browsing is fast as well.

[geo_c]

KLV-Spectr-RT-studio
2024-02-19_750x422-thumb.png

KLV-Spectr is also my go to now for working on projects and browsing is fast as well.

Glad you have to time to play around with that. I mentioned above with an edit, but just to be sure you saw, I didn't update the rootfs before creating that 08layer, so it's possible you might run into a conflict since you updated rc2 underneath 08layer. Maybe not, but if something seems buggy, I would check that first.

Also, I notice from your screenshot that some things might be missing from polybar, and that's typical for me, I have to change a couple things like the temperature module and network names. Nice thing about polybar.cfg is that as soon as you edit and save it, the polybar updates immediately without having to restart anything.

I left the polybar configured the way it came in rc2, without changing it to work on my machine. If you need to find the lines, I can point them out.

[geo_c]

@rockedge, One thing that is really nice about rc1 and rc2 Spectr is the fact that pulse settings are persistent on reboot. So I turn off my built-in sound card in pavucontrol configuration panel, and it stays that way on reboot. That's a nice feature for pro audio.

I'm not sure what's different from the other KL's, but I'd like to figure it out.

[Sofiya]

I see in your pictures you have an outdated Polybar config file everywhere. This is what the latest config file should look like - as in the screenshot
why not build with (FR_minimal_void_spectrwm_CE_2.sh.FALSE.gz)
yes, even the ISO image was compiled today

[geo_c]

I see in your pictures you have an outdated Polybar config file everywhere. This is what the latest config file should look like - as in the screenshot

Interesting, I'm pretty sure I used @rockedge's rc-2 polybar. But let me check. I may have copied in an old one. They aren't much different except for the clock and the power button.

Should be easy to tweak this layer now, just unsquash and make adjustments.

[Sofiya]

By the way, when testing on QEMU-2.5.0-ubu16.04.AppImage, I noticed that it does not distort Spectrwm, but QEMU from the box distorts

the arrow shows the bottom of the bar is visible when using QEMU from the box

[geo_c]

By the way, when testing on QEMU-2.5.0-ubu16.04.AppImage, I noticed that it does not distort Spectrwm, but QEMU from the box distorts

the arrow shows the bottom of the bar is visible when using QEMU from the box

I have two questions about multi-monitor setup. I'm getting dual monitors working more or less just fine using arandr. Only thing is I have to load a saved screenlayout everytime I boot. Is there a way to have a saved layout load automatically?

And the second question is about the polybar. When using dual monitors the workspace icons act irratically, switching positions. I tried disabling the scroll in polybar.cfg but that didn't help. They still jump around. Any ideas on where to start with that?

I like spectr even more on dual monitors except for those two things.

[Sofiya]

By the way, when testing on QEMU-2.5.0-ubu16.04.AppImage, I noticed that it does not distort Spectrwm, but QEMU from the box distorts

the arrow shows the bottom of the bar is visible when using QEMU from the box

I have two questions about multi-monitor setup. I'm getting dual monitors working more or less just fine using arandr. Only thing is I have to load a saved screenlayout everytime I boot. Is there a way to have a saved layout load automatically?

And the second question is about the polybar. When using dual monitors the workspace icons act irratically, switching positions. I tried disabling the scroll in polybar.cfg but that didn't help. They still jump around. Any ideas on where to start with that?

I like spectr even more on dual monitors except for those two things.

I don't know anything about it

[geo_c]

I don't know anything about it

Impossible! You have always known the answers to my questions. My world is turned upside down.

Well I'm going to have to research this one. I'll let you know what I find.

[geo_c]

And the second question is about the polybar. When using dual monitors the workspace icons act irratically, switching positions. I tried disabling the scroll in polybar.cfg but that didn't help. They still jump around. Any ideas on where to start with that?

I don't know anything about it

From what I can tell, assigning the polybar to one monitor in a dual monitor setup might be as simple as changining these lines . I'm not at my dual monitor setup today to try it though. Also I'm learning it's possible to configure more than one polybar, like adding another one to the bottom. Not that I want to do that, and it probably wouldn't work in Spectr. There also could be a way to specify monitors in launch.sh

Code: Select all

[bar/mainbar-spectrwm]
monitor = ${env:MONITOR}
;monitor-fallback = HDMI1

If I understand that line, $env:MONITOR places the bar on whatever monitors are connceted, so perhaps replacing that variable with the one I want, for instance HDMI1, would do the trick.

[geo_c]

@Sofiya

I kind of got it figured out, but it's less than ideal. Basically, when using multiple monitors with spectrwm, a monitor gets it's own workspace, which seems to confuse the workspace switcher in polybar as far as how it displays.

So to have multiple monitors that display both monitors on the same workspace, spectrwm explains to create a region covering both monitors, and that works. Polybar is not buggy any more, but the problem is that the dimensions of the combined monitor region can't exceed the dimensions of either monitor, so the smaller dimension cuts off the usable space of the bigger monitor like this:

But it does work now.

[rockedge]

I'll see if I can get a dual monitor setup going. Don't have one at the moment to test out different configurations. I have one that can go on the HDMI port and the other uses the monitor serial cable. Otherwise can't work on it effectively. I agree getting the multiple monitor setups going with a Spectrwm desktop environment will be the cherry on top. Opening up the door to a serious audio studio for example. Or working with CAD and Slicer for 3D printing nice and spread out over dual monitors. Mine will also be 2 different screen sizes.

@geo_c seems like your on to something and close to getting it configured. I'll look at the documentation and try out where you are currently as well

[geo_c]

@geo_c seems like your on to something and close to getting it configured. I'll look at the documentation and try out where you are currently as well

Just playing with it some more. I disabled the region setting in spectrwm.conf and now I'm realizing what the polybar is doing when the icons "shuffle" around.

Basically, Spectrwm allows you to activate a monitor by focusing on it, and then when you choose a workspace and open an application, that workspace is reserved for that monitor.

With this arrangment there is no need to create a region covering both monitors. The full monitor space is useable on both monitors.

What polybar's workspace switcher does is place the icons for the workspaces assigned to monitor 2 to the right of the icons for the workspaces assigned to montior 1. So they are out of order in the tray, but functioning correctly.

I would say this arrangment is preferrable to cutting of monitor space with a single region in order to have both monitors assigned to the same workspace. In fact I'll describe the advantage.

The polybar can be displayed on both monitors, but what I find preferrable is to comment out the line in polybar/config monitor = ${env:MONITOR} and add a line specifying which monitor you want the polybar to display on. Like this:

Code: Select all

################################################################################
################################################################################
############                  MAINBAR-SPECTRWM                      ############
################################################################################
################################################################################

[bar/mainbar-spectrwm]
;monitor = ${env:MONITOR}
;monitor-fallback = HDMI
monitor = eDP-1

So what you see below is I have xfe and geany opened on workspace 10 on monitor1, which contains the polybar, and the external display monitor2 on the right with LibreWolf opened on workspace 1. Notice that the normal Spectrwm bar shows the workspace info for that monitor. That's useful.

And this actually is a pretty cool setup, because you can have different workspaces displayed on the two monitors.

[Sofiya]

@geo_c seems like your on to something and close to getting it configured. I'll look at the documentation and try out where you are currently as well

Just playing with it some more. I disabled the region setting in spectrwm.conf and now I'm realizing what the polybar is doing when the icons "shuffle" around.

Basically, Spectrwm allows you to activate a monitor by focusing on it, and then when you choose a workspace and open an application, that workspace is reserved for that monitor.

With this arrangment there is no need to create a region covering both monitors. The full monitor space is useable on both monitors.

What polybar's workspace switcher does is place the icons for the workspaces assigned to monitor 2 to the right of the icons for the workspaces assigned to montior 1. So they are out of order in the tray, but functioning correctly.

I would say this arrangment is preferrable to cutting of monitor space with a single region in order to have both monitors assigned to the same workspace. In fact I'll describe the advantage.

The polybar can be displayed on both monitors, but what I find preferrable is to comment out the line in polybar/config monitor = ${env:MONITOR} and add a line specifying which monitor you want the polybar to display on. Like this:

Code: Select all

################################################################################
################################################################################
############                  MAINBAR-SPECTRWM                      ############
################################################################################
################################################################################

[bar/mainbar-spectrwm]
;monitor = ${env:MONITOR}
;monitor-fallback = HDMI
monitor = eDP-1

So what you see below is I have xfe and geany opened on workspace 10 on monitor1, which contains the polybar, and the external display monitor2 on the right with LibreWolf opened on workspace 1. Notice that the normal Spectrwm bar shows the workspace info for that monitor. That's useful.

And this actually a pretty cool setup, because you can have different workspaces displayed on the two monitors.

try this

Code: Select all

# Monitors
monitor=,preferred,auto,1

monitor = eDP-1, preferred, auto, 1
monitor = DP-3,preferred,0x0,1
monitor = HDMI-A-1, preferred,auto,1

[geo_c]

try this

To list all available monitors (active and inactive):

hyprctl monitors all

Code: Select all

# Monitors
monitor=,preferred,auto,1

monitor = eDP-1, preferred, auto, 1
monitor = DP-3,preferred,0x0,1
monitor = HDMI-A-1, preferred,auto,1

I get hyprctl command not found.

That was supposed to be run in a terminal, correct?

I've been grabbing my monitor names from ArandR