After some looking about and being sick of running Windows 10 just for doing some Scratch-like programming for uni, I have decided to update my system to full a Linux pc with, if needed Win10 and Kali VMs for all my HackTheBox and TryHackMe needs.
Because I still don’t have proper internet and using phone internet sharing, installing arch without some cable internet is a bit of a stretch.
After seeing some Debian-Titus work in progress during ChrisTitusTech stream, I definitely want to give AwesomeWM a try. What’s not to like about a small, quick and efficient window manager.
So here goes nothing:
The initial installation of Xubuntu was very straightforward.
After installing vim and swapping the ctrl/caps:
sudo apt install vim
sudo vim /etc/default/keyboardLook for the with XKOPTIONS and change it to XKOPTIONS="ctrl:swapcaps"
Awesome
Install AwesomeWM – https://awesomewm.org/
sudo apt install awesome
Afterwards, log out and choose awesome in the desktop manager options.
The desktop transforms from this:
To this:
The configuration file for AwesomeWM is in a file written in the Lua programming language. For advanced tinkering, proficiency in Lua is advised, but for small changes, just opening the file in the text editor of choice will make the window manager more personalised.
When lost, a good thing to remember is the shortcut for keyboard shortcuts: super (win) + s.
I found the MAKC’s video on AwesomeWM configuration to be quite good as a starting point for the initial tinkering.
Start by copying the config file to your home dir/awesome and then edit it with the text editor of choice:
cd .config
mkdir awesome
cp /etc/xdg/awesome/rc.lua ~/.config/awesome/
vim ~/.config/awesome/
Add gaps at the end of the file.
NB: the “–” is for comments so that the file makes sense on when reading later.
-- Gaps
beautiful.useless_gap = 5
Add Compton to make the terminal windows transparent
sudo apt install compton
Autostart applications
-- Autostart
awful.spawn.with.shell("name of app to autostart")
in out case
awful.spawn.with_shell("compton")
Changing the layout to file only – comment the other layout type in the rc.lua file: search “layout” with / in vim and comment every “awful.layout…” except tile or whatever layout you prefer.
Now the upper left corner should look something like this without any possibility to click to change the tile (too many confusing options):
AwesomeWM is a great window manager with a lot of potential for extensibility and efficiency. Configuring it requires a bit of patience, but once in the flow, it becomes quite second nature.
Other apps
Install QEMU/KVM – shoutout to ChrisTitusTech:
Check compatibility:
grep -o 'vmx\|svm' /proc/cpuinfo
sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon-system bridge-utils libguestfs-tools virt-manager
Add user to KVM groups
sudo adduser $USER libvirt
sudo adduser $USER libvirt-qemu
Install Nvidia drivers, restart and check the driver in use:
sudo ubuntu-drivers devices
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
sudo shutdown -r now
nvidia-smi
Download and install Windows in a VM.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10ISO
Download and install KaliLinux in a VM:
https://www.kali.org/get-kali/
The system still needs a lot of configuration, but it is a good start for a small, new awesome system.
References:
ChrisTitusTech Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisTitusTech
MACK awesome configuration video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_e8Gw1XlA
ChrisTitusTech’s KVM install: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozYKkaVK0_A
Linoxide install Nvidia: https://linoxide.com/how-to-install-nvidia-driver-on-ubuntu/
Windows 10 image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Windows_10_Logo.svg#/media/File:Windows_10_Logo.svg
Kali image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=100389695