i3-dot/README.md

i3-stones

Dependencies

For i3

• i3wm
• polybar

For sway

• wl-root
• grim
• slurp
• wl-clipboard
• sway
• swaybg
• waybar

Others (notifications and icons)

• A Nerd Font (for icons)
• tiramisu

For brightness and media control:

• brightnessctl (You have to add user to the following groups: video input)
• playerctl

For screen tearing:

• Fix xorg config with appropriate driver.
• Driver:
  • intel: xf86-video-intel
  • sudo -e /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Intel Graphics"
    Driver "intel"
    Option "TearFree"    "true"
EndSection

- amd: xf86-video-amdgpu (`VariableRefresh` = FreeSync, fullscreen apps only under Xorg)
- sudo -e /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-amdgpu.conf

Section "Device"
    Identifier "AMD"
    Driver "amdgpu"
    Option "VariableRefresh" "true"
    Option "TearFree" "true"
EndSection

High refresh rate flicker (AMD):

• At high refresh rates (240Hz+) the vblank can be too short for the GPU to switch VRAM clock unnoticed, so the desktop flickers under changing load. Windows avoids it by keeping VRAM clock high; amdgpu on Linux may not.
• Check: if the * jumps between levels while idle, this is likely the cause.

watch -n0.2 cat /sys/class/drm/card*/device/pp_dpm_mclk

• Fix 1: run the desktop at a lower rate (i3/config uses 120Hz). Find the output name with xrandr (e.g. DisplayPort-0) and adjust it there:

xrandr --output DisplayPort-0 --mode 1920x1080 --rate 120

• sway: same idea in sway/config (swaymsg -t get_outputs for the name). Keep adaptive_sync off there — sway applies it to the whole desktop, which can stutter/flicker:

output DP-1 mode 1920x1080@120Hz adaptive_sync off

• Fix 2: keep the high rate and pin VRAM clock to its top level (more idle power, resets on reboot; top level is the last line of pp_dpm_mclk):

echo manual | sudo tee /sys/class/drm/card*/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level
echo 3 | sudo tee /sys/class/drm/card*/device/pp_dpm_mclk

• Gaming: 120Hz + FreeSync is plenty for ~60fps games (VRR covers the dips). Cap fps a few below max refresh so VRR stays active, e.g. Dota 2 console fps_max 117. Under Xorg, VRR applies to fullscreen games only; under sway with adaptive_sync off games run without it.
• To turn off FreeSync for a single game (Xorg): adaptive_sync=false %command% (Steam launch options).
• Login greeters (SDDM, LightDM, ...) are fullscreen and mostly static, so VRR drops to the bottom of the range and flickers. mesa/drirc disables it for any *greeter* executable; install system-wide (greeters don't read ~/.drirc):

sudo cp xorg/20-amdgpu.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
sudo cp mesa/drirc /etc/drirc

Shader cache (Steam)

With Steam's Shader Pre-caching off (it re-downloads caches for every game almost daily), Steam points Mesa at a temporary ~/.local/share/Steam/shader_cache_temp_dir_* and deletes it when the game exits, so every session recompiles shaders (hitches everywhere, every time). Steam only sets the legacy MESA_GLSL_CACHE_DIR, so the newer variable wins. Set it session-wide (i3 is started by SDDM, environment.d doesn't reach Steam). The cache lives in /var/cache so ~/.cache cleaners don't wipe it, with one private subdir per user: Mesa creates its dirs 0700, so a single shared dir can't work (and would let users poison each other's shaders). /etc/environment can't expand $USER, so use /etc/profile.d (SDDM's X11/Wayland sessions and TTY logins source it). Run as your normal user, not from a root shell (~ and $USER must be yours), with Steam closed:

sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/mesa_shader_cache
sudo chmod 1777 /var/cache/mesa_shader_cache   # like /tmp: anyone creates own subdir
mv ~/.cache/mesa_shader_cache /var/cache/mesa_shader_cache/$USER  # no sudo: keeps ownership
sudo sed -i '/^MESA_SHADER_CACHE_/d' /etc/environment
sudo tee /etc/profile.d/mesa-shader-cache.sh >/dev/null <<'EOF'
export MESA_SHADER_CACHE_DIR="/var/cache/mesa_shader_cache/$USER"
export MESA_SHADER_CACHE_MAX_SIZE=10G
export PRESSURE_VESSEL_FILESYSTEMS_RW=/var/cache/mesa_shader_cache
EOF

The last line matters: Steam runs games (native and Proton) in the Steam Linux Runtime container, which shares $HOME but gives the game its own empty /var. Without it the cache is written to a tmpfs inside the container and thrown away when the game exits. Re-login, then check it's yours and persists after playing (should print > 0):

echo $MESA_SHADER_CACHE_DIR; ls -ld $MESA_SHADER_CACHE_DIR   # owner must be you
find $MESA_SHADER_CACHE_DIR -mmin -60 -type f | wc -l

Deleting the cache is harmless: shaders just recompile (stutter) on first use.

Installing dependencies

Package availability differs between distros — Arch has everything below in the official/multilib repos, no AUR needed. Gentoo's main tree is missing a few newer tools (noted below); those need the GURU overlay or manual/cargo install.

Window manager & session (both i3 and sway)

Arch

sudo pacman -S i3-wm i3status i3blocks sway swaybg swaylock swayidle \
  waybar polybar rofi alacritty dex snixembed \
  xss-lock xorg-xset xorg-xrandr xclip scrot imagemagick i3lock \
  network-manager-applet blueman gnome-keyring polkit-gnome \
  pipewire wireplumber pipewire-pulse pipewire-alsa pipewire-jack \
  pasystray playerctl brightnessctl \
  fcitx5 fcitx5-im fcitx5-configtool

Gentoo

sudo emerge --ask \
  x11-wm/i3 x11-misc/i3status x11-misc/i3blocks \
  gui-wm/sway gui-apps/swaybg gui-apps/swaylock gui-apps/swayidle \
  gui-apps/waybar x11-misc/polybar x11-misc/rofi x11-terms/alacritty \
  x11-misc/dex x11-misc/snixembed \
  x11-misc/xss-lock x11-apps/xset x11-apps/xrandr x11-misc/xclip media-gfx/scrot \
  media-gfx/imagemagick x11-misc/i3lock \
  net-misc/networkmanager net-misc/network-manager-applet net-wireless/blueman \
  app-crypt/gnome-keyring gnome-extra/polkit-gnome \
  media-video/pipewire media-video/wireplumber media-sound/playerctl \
  app-i18n/fcitx app-i18n/fcitx-qt app-i18n/fcitx-gtk

• brightnessctl is not in the main Gentoo tree — install from the GURU overlay (sudo emerge --ask brightnessctl, after enabling GURU below) or build from source. Add your user to the video and input groups either way.
• PipeWire's PulseAudio/ALSA/JACK compatibility on Gentoo is controlled by USE flags (pulseaudio/alsa/jack... check equery u media-video/pipewire) rather than separate packages.
• pasystray (systray volume icon) is not in the main tree either; the GURU overlay or pavucontrol are common substitutes.

Enable the GURU overlay once, needed by several packages below:

sudo eselect repository enable guru
sudo emerge --sync guru

Wayland screenshots, clipboard, and screen sharing (sway)

These are the pieces the Print-key bindings and screen sharing/recording in sway/config depend on — without xdg-desktop-portal-wlr specifically, no app (browser tab share, Discord, OBS) can capture the screen at all.

Arch

sudo pacman -S grim slurp wl-clipboard cliphist \
  xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-wlr xdg-desktop-portal-gtk \
  wf-recorder obs-studio

Gentoo

sudo emerge --ask \
  gui-apps/grim gui-apps/slurp gui-apps/wl-clipboard \
  sys-apps/xdg-desktop-portal gui-libs/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr sys-apps/xdg-desktop-portal-gtk \
  media-video/wf-recorder media-video/obs-studio

• cliphist (clipboard history) is not in the main tree — GURU overlay.

After installing the portal packages, restart the portal service so it picks up the new backend:

systemctl --user restart xdg-desktop-portal

AMD GPU stack (mesa/RADV/amdgpu)

Arch

sudo pacman -S mesa lib32-mesa vulkan-radeon lib32-vulkan-radeon \
  xf86-video-amdgpu linux-firmware-amdgpu libvdpau-va-gl

Mesa on current Arch already bundles the VA-API driver (radeonsi_drv_video.so) and there's no separate mesa-vdpau/lib32-mesa-vdpau package anymore — libvdpau-va-gl is the VDPAU-to-VA-API translation layer that replaces it.

Gentoo

# In /etc/portage/make.conf:
#   VIDEO_CARDS="amdgpu radeonsi"
sudo emerge --ask media-libs/mesa media-libs/vulkan-loader \
  x11-drivers/xf86-video-amdgpu media-video/libvdpau media-libs/libvdpau-va-gl

Make sure mesa is built with USE="vulkan" and, for 32-bit/Steam compatibility, ABI_X86="32 64" in package.use.

Gaming & performance

Arch

sudo pacman -S gamemode lib32-gamemode mangohud lib32-mangohud

Gentoo

sudo emerge --ask games-util/gamemode

• mangohud is not in the main Gentoo tree — GURU overlay (sudo emerge --ask games-util/mangohud after enabling GURU).

Adaptive sync (sway): the desktop runs at a fixed 240 Hz with VRR off, because sway only renders on change and idle frame rates fall below the panel's 48 Hz floor (out of LFC range → flicker). gamemode turns VRR on for DP-1 while a game runs and off when it exits (install gamemode/gamemode.ini to ~/.config/gamemode.ini); lock-now turns it off while locked.

GPU monitoring & tuning

Arch

sudo pacman -S radeontop amdgpu_top nvtop lact lm_sensors

Gentoo

sudo emerge --ask app-misc/radeontop sys-process/nvtop sys-power/lm-sensors

• amdgpu_top, lact, and corectrl (fan curves/overclocking GUIs) are not in the main tree — GURU overlay, or install lact/amdgpu_top via cargo since both are Rust tools.

Razer peripherals (polling rate, DPI, RGB)

Arch

sudo pacman -S openrazer-daemon openrazer-meta polychromatic
sudo gpasswd -a $USER plugdev

Gentoo

sudo emerge --ask sys-apps/openrazer
sudo gpasswd -a $USER plugdev

• Gentoo ships a single unified sys-apps/openrazer package (driver + daemon together) rather than split -daemon/-meta packages. polychromatic (GUI) is not in the main tree — GURU overlay.

Notifications & fonts

Arch

sudo pacman -S ttf-firacode-nerd
# tiramisu (notification daemon) is AUR-only on Arch: yay -S tiramisu

Gentoo

sudo emerge --ask media-fonts/nerd-fonts

• tiramisu is not in the main Gentoo tree — GURU overlay or build from source (https://github.com/Sweets/tiramisu).

PipeWire launcher (Gentoo only)

sway/config calls gentoo-pipewire-launcher, the community launcher script documented on the Gentoo PipeWire wiki page — it's a shell script you place on your PATH yourself, not a portage package.

Vim

Vimplug

Neovim

sh -c 'curl -fLo "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
       https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim'

Vim

curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

Conquer of Completion

• Requirements:
  • Nodejs

coc.nvim

:CocInstall coc-pairs coc-json coc-tsserver coc-snippets

coc.vimtex

:CocInstall coc-vimtex