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Arch Linux with Hyprland is very good

Arch Linux with Hyprland

I recently switched my laptop from Pop!_OS with GNOME to Arch Linux with Hyprland and I'm loving it. The keyboard-driven workflow of the tiling window manager feels natural. I enjoy jumping around windows and workspaces using the keyboard. Paired with a blue switch mechanical keyboard, spending time with my laptop is pure click clack joy.

I started from scratch, and here's my ricing journey.

Arch Linux

I was already running Pop!_OS on my System76 Lemur Pro. It's an ubuntu based distro. It was okay. But the GNOME based tiling didn't really work for me. I'm used to magnet workspace organizer in macOS. Compared to it, Pop!_OS was disappointing. Additionally, the tools I wanted to use were often not the latest version in the apt package manager. Often, I had to compile tools on my own from GitHub repos which is cumbersome. I wanted to be on the bleeding edge without much extra effort. So natually, I wanted to go with Arch Linux.

The last time I installed Arch Linux, it was on an old desktop 10 years ago. Just the installation was a daunting process back then. It's a whole different story now. I used archinstall which automated most of the installation. I just watched a YouTube video, flashed a USB drive with the latest ISO and had Arch up and running in no time.

Hyprland

I chose Hyprland as my tiling window manager. I have used i3wm in the past and have an idea of what tiling window managers are but never really used it as a daily driver. I've been reading up a lot on Hyprland lately in the linux subreddits. It's new, it's modern, it looks good and people seem to like it. So I wanted to give it a go. And, boy am I glad to have made that decision.

I like Hyprland.

  • It's beautiful. It has the latest Wayland features, the animations are great and everything feels fast and good.
  • The config changes are hot reloaded. I can play around with the config to get a feel for things instantly without having to reboot the session.
  • A rich ecosystem of hypr tools.

Here's a screenshot of window tiles: two terminal windows runing different CLI tools and Obsidian notes on the left. The 2nd workspace is reserved for browser windows.

Tiling in Hyprland

Waybar

I chose waybar as the status bar. There's no specific reason for picking this other than that Hyprland examples recommended it. The styling and configuration were straightforward. The modules and customization they offered were sufficient for me.

Wofi

I chose wofi as the status bar. Similar to waybar, there's no specific reason for picking this other than that the Hyprland examples recommended it and I went with it. It's a launcher, other tools work well with it and it can be styled. I have setup emoji picker and clipboard manager to work with wofi.

Here's a screenshot of the wofi launcher. It is mapped to Super + Space.

Wofi launcher

Here's a screenshot of the emoji picker in wofi. It is mapped to Ctrl + Alt + Space

Wofi launcher

Here's a screenshot of the clipboard manager in wofi. It is mapped to Super + Shift + V. Feature-wise, it's similar to Flycut in macOS.

Wofi launcher

Swaync

SwayNotificationCenter is my notification manager/sidebar. It can dismiss notifications and has a DND mode out of the box.

Hypr Ecosystem

Hypr ecosystem is a bunch of optional tools that make the hyprland experience better. I've setup these ecosystem tools.

Here's a screenshot of the wallpaper set with hyprpaper. It's loaded into the memory when the session starts. This really adds to the look of the tiles.

Wofi launcher

I configured hyprshot to be used in three different ways:

  • Print key will take a full screen screenshot
  • Shift + Print will take a screenshot of one window
  • Super + Shift + Print will take a screenshot of a selected region in the screen

Custom Hyprland config

In addition to the ecosystem tools I have also set up custom workflows.

  • All the tools have been configured with Dracula theme
  • Super + L and Super + D will switch between light and dark modes instantly
  • Ctrl + Super + Enter will toggle the current active window's state b/w fullscreen and tiled
  • Chrome will always open in workspace 2
  • Obsidian will always open in workspace 3

Kitty

Kitty has been my terminal for a long time now. It's good, fast and configurable. It works well in macOS too.

I spend most of my time in the terminal. Here are some of the tools I use everyday.

Here's a screenshot of neovim configured with AstroNvim. Neovim

Here's a screenshot of fzf which makes working with reverse lookup easy. Neovim

Wrapping up

I think my favourite part about setting up Hyprland is that you end up with a unique setup. That's the beauty of tiling window managers. You start with a blank slate and work your way to things that feel good to you. My fully riced setup is mine, and mine alone. Linux is beautiful. Life is good.