A keyboard-centric configuration for Raspberry Pi 4 & 5.

The current Raspberry Pi OS (Bookworm edition) uses Wayfire window manager to render the desktop. Wayfirewm is based on Wayland, the modern replacement for X11 (the default windowing system on Linux for decades).

The customized ~/.config/wayfire.ini in the repo incorporates and extends the default RPiOS config. There's a demonstration video.

Assuming your Pi is up and running with Bookworm, you can try out the config by running the following commands

git clone https://github.com/gnmearacaun/rpios-wayfirewm-config.git
cd rpios-wayfirewm-config
mv ~/.config/wayfire.ini wayfire.ini-original
mv -i wayfire.ini ~/.config 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install swaybg slurp 

Log out and back in (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to logout). Now you can move around the windows and 9 workspaces using super+{a,s,f,w,b,h,j,k,l,Tab} and create tiles out of windows and back to tiles with Alt+{h,j,k,l}

• Note: When you edit wayfire.ini, you are automatically logged out as soon as you change workspaces.

• If your desktop freezes at any point, log into another tty with Ctrl+Alt+F3 and reboot

Optional Extras

Caps2esc and Space2meta

• caps2esc: transforming the most useless key ever into the most useful one <Caps_lock> is esc when tapped and ctrl when held down with another key.

• space2meta: turn your space key into the meta (a.k.a. super) key when chorded to another key. Window managers typically make liberal use of the super key to move around.

Caps2esc is available in the repo, however space2meta needs to be built manually.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cmake ninja-build interception-caps2esc interception-tools interception-tools-compat 
git clone https://gitlab.com/interception/linux/plugins/space2meta.git
cd space2meta
cmake -Bbuild
cmake --build build
sudo mv build/space2meta /usr/local/bin  
cd .. && rm -r space2meta

Clone this very repo, put the udevmon config in place, and enable and start the service (you may have to logout/login to get the effect).

git clone https://github.com/gnmearacaun/rpios-wayfirewm-config.git
cd rpios-wayfirewm-config
sudo mkdir -p /etc/interception/udevmon.d
sudo mv udevmon.yaml /etc/interception/udevmon.d/
sudo systemctl enable --now udevmon.service

The following command increases the priority.

sudo nice -n -20 udevmon -c udevmon.yaml >udevmon.log 2>udevmon.err &

Zsh and Zap

To set zsh as your default shell, execute the following.

sudo sh -c "echo $(which zsh) >> /etc/shells" && chsh -s $(which zsh)

Log out and back in. You're prompt will be basic. Install zap zsh plugin manager (replaces the need for oh-my-zsh)

sudo apt-get install zsh zoxide
zsh <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zap-zsh/zap/master/install.zsh) --branch release-v1

Reopen the shell, zap automajically installs the default plugins. Plugins can be found on the Zap homepage

Nerdfonts

Often required by modern shell programs like zsh and neovim.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ronniedroid/getnf/master/install.sh | bash

Run getnf in the terminal and follow the prompts.

The fonts you select will be available system-wide.

Build the Latest Neovim

Neovim is improving rapidly. To take advantage of recent developments in the plugins infrastructure we need a newer version of Neovim than Bookworm offers. Neovim plays nicely with the system clipboard for copy and pasting, commenting lines easily (gcc) and searching for files with telescope and so much more.

• Note CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo would make a build with Debug info. Release runs a bit lighter.

• Use git checkout nightly if you need the very latest.

sudo apt-get install ninja-build gettext cmake unzip curl build-essential ripgrep fd-find fzf wl-clipboard 
git clone https://github.com/neovim/neovim.git
git checkout stable 
make CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cd build && sudo cpack -G DEB && sudo dpkg -i nvim-linux64.deb
nvim -V1 -v

https://www.lazyvim.org/installation If you don't have an nvim config of your own, LazyVim is a great option, or feel free to use mine

Now that Neovim is available, make it the default in your .zshrc

export EDITOR="nvim"

Install nodejs

Utilizing nodesource, run as root:

sudo su
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_21.x | bash - &&\
apt-get install -y nodejs

Upgrading Neovim

Later when you want to upgrade, go back into the neovim directory (wherever it's stashed). Assuming you're on the branch you want, to rebuild from scratch and replace the current build:

git pull
sudo make distclean && make CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cd build && sudo cpack -G DEB && sudo dpkg -i nvim-linux64.deb
nvim -V1 -v

Rebuilding Neovim

In case you have previously built the image and want to switch branches:

cd neovim && sudo cmake --build build/ --target uninstall

Alternatively, just delete the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX artifacts:

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/nvim
sudo rm -r /usr/local/share/nvim/

Alternatively, A Minimal Vim Configuration

I use a simple config (no plugins) authored by jdhao while I'm setting thing up and before neovim is built. It's also useful for occasional editing as sudo.

• The package vim-gtk3 has better clipboard support than vim proper. Wayland users need wl-clipboard to copy and paste (both were installed with the previous apt-get command).

sudo apt-get install vim-gtk3 wl-clipboard 
mv ~/.vimrc ~/.vimrc.bak
mkdir -p ~/.vim && cd ~/.vim
git clone https://github.com/jdhao/minimal_vim.git .
cd && sudo cp -r .vim /root

• Tip: add the following line to your init.vim to yank to wl-clipboard. So you would visually highlight the text with v or shift+v and the motion keys h,j,k,l and press <leader> (it's mapped to the <spacebar>) and then y to copy. Most terminals have Ctrl+Shift+v as the paste command.

xnoremap <silent> <leader>y y:call system("wl-copy --trim-newline", @*)<cr>:call system("wl-copy -p --trim-newline", @*)<cr>