The i3wm (i3 Windows Manager), written in C, is a lightweight, easy to configure and very popular tile window manager. Unlike a traditional desktop environment, Tile Manager provides just enough functionality to easily and attractively position windows on the screen to fit your workflow.
i3 is a minimalist tile manager that intelligently organises windows on the screen without overlapping them. Other tile managers include xmonade and wmii.
In this tutorial we explain how to install and use Windows i3 Manager on Linux desktop systems.
Advantages of the i3 Window Manager
Unlike X Window managers like Fluxbox, KWin and Enlightenment, i3 comes with a set of fun things we’ve listed below for a hassle-free desktop.
1. Resource efficiency
Unlike complete desktop environments such as GNOME, i3 window management is fairly minimalist and designed for simplicity and efficiency. With low resource consumption, it compensates for the quick installation of the Windows administration and leaves your system with lots of RAM and CPU for other applications.
2. Flexibility
In addition to being able to organize windows automatically, i3 is fully customizable and allows you to adjust various settings to your preferred screen layout. External tools allow you to improve your appearance by selecting the background image, adjusting the transparency and dimming of windows, and enabling desktop notifications.
3. Easy navigation between workspaces
The i3 Tile Manager provides a quick and easy way to switch between workspaces with a wide range of easy-to-use shortcuts. You can easily group windows according to your workflow, increasing your productivity.
Installing the i3 Window Manager on Linux
The i3 tile manager is available with the Debian, Ubuntu and Linux mint repositories and can be installed with the apt package manager as follows.
update sudo apt
$ install sudo apt i3
On the Fedora distribution, you can install i3 using the dnf package manager, as shown in the figure.
sudo apt update
$ sudo dnf installation i3
After installation, restart the system, click on the small gear in the login window and select i3 as shown in the image.
Select the i3 window manager
After logging in, you will be prompted to either create a configuration file that will be stored in your home directory ~/.config/i3/config, or to use the default settings that store the file in /etc/i3.
In this tutorial we will use the first option, i.e. we will press ENTER to place the configuration file in our home directory.
Creating an i3 configuration file
Next, you need to define the i3 wm change key, also called $mod key, which can be either a Windows or an Alt key. Use the up or down arrow keys to select the desired operation key.
Define change key i3
Once you have completed the initial configuration. The default i3 window does not do much, it saves as a blank screen with a status bar at the bottom of the screen.
i3 Window status bar
How to use the i3 Window Manager on Linux
After installing the i3 Tile Manager, here are some shortcuts you can use to make the Tile Manager easy to use
Start the terminal: $mod + INPUT.
Start the request from the menu: $mod + d – opens a menu at the top of the screen where you can search for a specific request by entering a keyword in the appropriate text field.
Launch applications in the i3 window
- Entering full screen – on and off: $mod + f.
- Exit the request window; $mod + Shift + q.
- Restart i3: $mod + Shift + r.
- Exit the i3 window manager: $mod + Shift + e.
Control window
When the applications run, they are usually tiles, as shown below. It is clear that the working area with several tiled windows seems so narrow and one feels overwhelmed.
Manipulating the Windows i3 Windows administration
For more fun, you can remove the window and place it in the foreground to create the impression of floating. To do this, simply press the $mod + Shift + Space combination.
In the following example, the terminal window is displayed in the foreground, not on a tile.
Decouple foreground window
You can also operate the window in full screen mode by pressing the $mod + f combination and repeating the same to return to tiling mode.
i3 Status line
This is one of the most important but missing parts of the i3 Tile Manager. It displays information such as available disk space, IP address and bandwidth, battery level, date and time.
i3 Window status bar
i3 Basic configurations
If you have not created a configuration file in your home directory, you will find it in /etc/i3/config. To copy them to your home directory
$ sudo cp /etc/i3/config ~/.config/i3
Then change the ownership of your user
$ sudo chown user: group ~/.config/i3
The configuration file contains many settings you can adjust to change the appearance of the Tile Manager. You can change the colors of the workspaces, change the position of the windows and adjust the size of the windows. We won’t think about it now or later. The purpose of this guide was to give you a good overview of the i3 Tile Manager and the basic functions to get you started.
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