Desktop-notes

These are my personal xfce4 desktop notes.

Base system setup

1. Do a minimal Alpine install
2. Enable community repo in repositories
3. setup-xorg-base
4. apk add dbus
5. rc-update add dbus
6. apk add sudo
7. apk add xfce4
8. apk add chromium
9. apk add slim
10. apk add paper-icon-theme paper-gtk-theme
11. apk add font-noto
12. apk add xf86-video-intel (for intel video only)
13. apk add xf86-input-keyboard xf86-input-evdev
14. add local user and add to sudo list
15. add user to specific groups
    1. adduser (username) audio
    2. adduser (username) video
    3. adduser (username) dialout
16. Add /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-intel.conf to have tear free scrolling:

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

Testing basic xorg system

1. reboot system
2. rc-service slim start
3. verify xorg starts correctly and you can login to slim
4. rc-update add slim

Changing cosmetics

1. change xfce4 style/icons to paper: Settings -> Appearance -> Style and Icons
2. change window manager theme to Paper: Settings -> Window Manager -> Style
3. Change mouse Theme to Paper: Settings -> Mouse and Trackpad -> Theme
4. enable all Composer Shadows: Settings -> Window Manager Tweaks -> Composer
5. change fonts to noto
   1. Settings - > Appearance -> Fonts: Set to Noto Sans UI
      1. Turn on Anti-aliasing (is the default) and enable Sub-Pixel order -> RGB

Setting up Alsa audio

1. apk add alsa-utils
2. rc-update add alsa
3. rc-service alsa start
4. Set the default sound device
   1. List sound devices: cat /proc/asound/card*/id
   2. Depending on your setup select the proper device
      1. create a /etc/asound.conf with following content where PCH is sound card name.

pcm.!default {
    type plug
    slave.pcm {
        @func getenv
        vars [ ALSAPCM ]
        default "hw:PCH"
    }
}

additional software

1. apk add geany
2. apk add thunar-archive thunar-volman
3. apk add xarchiver

Tweaks

Enable webgl on chromium when running on hardened kernel:

Edit: /boot/extlinux.conf

Add: grsec_sysfs_restrict=0 to the end of the of the APPEND line.