SwayOS is a productivity-oriented minimalist and super elegant desktop layer for unix-like operating systems. It is a collection of configuration files, open source applications and open source applications created exclusively for SwayOS.
SwayOS’s UI has two parts : the status bar ( on top by default ) and the window area under the status bar. The status bar has the following sections from left to right : workspace block ( indicators ) , hardware status block ( in the center by default ), date and clock.
Binding | Action |
---|---|
Left click on status bar | open/close control panel |
Right click on status bar | open/close overview |
WIN + SPACE | open application |
WIN + ENTER | open terminal |
WIN + SHIFT + ENTER | open browser |
WIN + SHIFT + Q | close focused window |
WIN + numbers | switch to workspace / open overview ( long press ) |
WIN + SHIFT + numbers | move focused window to workspace with given number |
WIN + arrows | set focus to neighbouring windows |
WIN + SHIFT + arrows | move window to a new position inside the workspace |
WIN + R | resize mode, press ESC to quit |
WIN + SHIFT + SPACE | toggle/untoggle floating over a window |
https://github.com/swayos/swayos.github.io
sway
foot
wofi
ubuntu-font
Then clone the swayos github repo and copy the default config files to ~/.config
git clone https://github.com/swayos/swayos.github.io
cp -R swayos.github.io/home/. ~/
Now you can start sway by typing sway
and open a terminal by pressing WIN+ENTER
note : on non-systemd distributions ( e.g. void linux ) you will need seatd and to set XDG_RUNTIME_DIR also for running sway
note : if WIN+ENTER is not working set a different modifier key for sway in ~/.config/sway/config
How to do it on Void Linux :
sudo xbps-install -Syu
sudo xpbs-install -y sway foot wofi ttf-ubuntu-font-family
sudo xbps-install -y seatd
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/seatd /var/service
sudo usermod -a $USER -G _seatd
sudo xbps-install -y git
git clone https://github.com/swayos/swayos.github.io
cp -R swayos.github.io/home/. ~/
exit
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp
sway
How to do it on Debian Bookworm :
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo apt-add-repository --component non-free
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install sway foot wofi fonts-ubuntu
sudo apt-get install git
git clone https://github.com/swayos/swayos.github.io
cp -R swayos.github.io/home/. ~/
sway
Install the dev tools to build
clang
meson
ninja
cmake
pkg-config
Install the needed dependencies
libpng
freetype
libglvnd
glew
wayland
wayland-protocols
libxkbcommon
Clone the repo, build and install
git clone https://github.com/milgra/sov
cd sov
meson setup build
ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install
How to do it on Void Linux :
sudo xbps-install -y clang meson ninja cmake pkg-config
sudo xbps-install -y libpng-devel freetype-devel libglvnd-devel glew-devel wayland-devel libxkbcommon-devel wayland-protocols
git clone https://github.com/milgra/sov
cd sov
meson setup build
ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install
How to do it on Debian Bookworm :
sudo apt-get install clang meson ninja-build cmake pkg-config
sudo apt-get install libpng-dev libfreetype-dev libglvnd-dev libglew-dev libwayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev wayland-protocols
git clone https://github.com/milgra/sov
cd sov
meson setup build
ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install
Press WIN+SHIFT+E to exit sway and start it again. Now you can summon sway overview by pressing and holding CMD+1 or right clicking on the status bar. If fonts are too small or you want an other font change it under ~/.conifg/sov/html/main.css
Clone the Kinetic UI Dameon repo, build and install
git clone https://github.com/milgra/kuid
cd kuid
meson setup build
ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install
cd ..
Clone the Wayland Control Panel repo, install
git clone https://github.com/milgra/wcp
cd wcp
mkdir ~/.config/wcp
cp wcp-template.sh ~/.config/wcp/wcp.sh
cp -R res ~/.config/wcp/
cd ..
Update ~/.config/wcp/wcp.sh to suit your needs, or use wcp-void.sh or wcp-debian.sh from the repo.
Press WIN+SHIFT+E to exit sway and start it again. Now you can summon wayland control panel by pressing WIN+P or by left clicking on the status bar ( The buttons/sliders won’t work yet. ) If fonts are too small or you want an other font change it under ~/.conifg/wcp/res/main.css
Install grim
and slurp
for making screenshots
Install swayidle
and swaylock
Install wob
for volume/brightness indication
Install brightnessctl
for controlling monitor brightness
Install pavuctl
and pamixer
for detailed audio control
Install wdisplays
for display configuration
Install iwd
and iwgtk
for smooth wifi experience
Install blueman
for visual bluetooth setup
Install google-chrome
or your favorite browser
Install zsh
and zsh-autosuggestions
and dbus
If your distro doesn’t have dbus
, install it and enable it as a service.
Change shell to zsh :
chsh -s /bin/zsh
Now zsh will setup XDG_SESSION_DIR and start sway automatically as a dbus session on the default terminal ( sway as a dbus session is needed for pipewire and other programs ). It will also remember every command you typed and offers command completion which is the best thing in terminals. zsh-autosuggestions location may differ on different distros, edit ~/.zshrc with the correct location if error emerges.
If you want sway to run on vulkan backend, uncomment this line in .zshrc :
export WLR_RENDERER=vulkan
If you want screen sharing under sway/wayland you will need pipewire
with wireplumber
and xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
.
You may also have to install pipewire-pulse
and libspa-bluetooth
packages for bluetooth audio.
If you use a non-systemd distribution you have to start these manually, in this case uncomment the autostart parts at the bottom of ~/.config/sway/config
For screen sharing in chromium/google chrome set preferred ozone platform to wayland under chrome://flags.
How to do it on Void Linux :
sudo xbps-install -y pipewire libspa-bluetooth xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
sudo usermod -a $USER -G bluetooth
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/bluetoothd /var/service
mkdir -p /etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d
ln -s /usr/share/examples/wireplumber/10-wireplumber.conf /etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/
ln -s /usr/share/examples/pipewire/20-pipewire-pulse.conf /etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/
// uncomment these lines in ~/.config/sway/config
exec pipewire
exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr -r
exec sleep 1 && /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal -r
How to do it on Debian Bookworm :
sudo apt-get install pipewire-audio xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
// uncomment these lines in ~/.config/sway/config
exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr -r
exec sleep 1 && /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal -r
Set the default fonts and font sizes for GTK applications with gnome-tweaks
, use Ubuntu font since it is the default for SwayOS
Set dark mode for GTK 4 apps by typing gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme prefer-dark
Set dark mode for GTK 3 apps ( chromium ) by typing
mkdir ~/.config/gtk-3.0
echo '[Settings]\ngtk-application-prefer-dark-theme=1' > ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
Set font sizes according to your display size and resolution for foot, sway and swaybar, if your screen res is too high/low
If you want other input sources/keymaps for other languages, edit ~/.config/sway/config and uncomment/edit the input part at the top.
Void Linux
To enable shutdown/reboot/suspend present in wcp-void.sh
sudo echo "$USER ALL=NOPASSWD:/sbin/reboot,/sbin/poweroff,/sbin/zzz" | sudo tee -a /etc/sudoers
Clean package cache and remove orphaned packages and kernels
sudo xbps-remove -yO
sudo xbps-remove -yo
sudo vkpurge rm all
Disable beeping
echo 'blacklist pcspkr' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
Why is it named SwayOS? This is just a config/program collection on other OS’s
True, but SwayDesktop sounds lame and generic
Where are the installer scripts from 2.0 and 1.0?
No time & energy to maintain those. Also this helps understanding Desktop/OS internals
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