So why not trying out i3 on this machine, and see if it can help improving my daily workflow?īefore I discuss my current setup, here’s what I really need from a WM: (1) handy shortcuts to navigate around windows arranged automagically in a convenient layout, i.e. I recently installed i3 on my OpenBSD laptop, and it was great. When I decided to use default Gnome apps, I had to resort on Tmux to manage my windows (the menu and tab bars in Gnome are just useless and take so much vertical space).īack in the days when I was using Linux in 2004, I used to use a tiling WM as well. I was also using Kitty terminal (both on my MacBook and my Linux machine) and its handy multiplexing capabilities, notwithstanding its font ligature support and remote management facilities. It worked great, until I switched to Linux. On my MacBook, I used to use Amethyst, which I configured to look like i3-gaps (i.e., i3 with inner and outer gap) because native apps look better with a bit of space around them especially when you cannot remove window border and/or titles. Since my main usage of a desktop consists in using maximized applications on screen, or sometimes side by side applications like in a vertical split (e.g., for web dev I may want to have a browser right to my Neovim instance to have a live preview).

I believe Linux Mint comes with shell extensions enabled by default.

If you want more fancy stuff in your menu bar, you need to install Gnome Shell Extensions, at least for Ubuntu. It offers a clean UI, and a few handy keyboard shortcuts to manage windows and workspaces. I decided to install the i3 window manager (WM) on my main Linux laptop, and use it as a replacement for Gnome default WM (Mutter).

Macos i3wm