Awesome Linux Ricing

Overview

Linux ricing refers to making aesthetic improvements and customizations to your Linux desktop environment, creating a unique and visually appealing system that reflects personal preferences.

Features

Window Managers

Tiling Window Managers

• i3/i3-gaps: Manual tiling window manager

  • Easy to configure
  • Great for productivity
  • Large community
  • Gaps between windows support

• bspwm: Binary space partitioning window manager

  • Pure window management
  • Configured via shell
  • Minimal and fast
  • Flexible tiling algorithms

• Hyprland: Dynamic tiling Wayland compositor

  • Modern and smooth animations
  • Native Wayland support
  • Dynamic window management
  • Highly customizable

• sway: i3-compatible Wayland compositor

  • Drop-in replacement for i3
  • Wayland native
  • Better multi-monitor support

• dwm: Dynamic window manager

  • Extremely minimal (< 2000 SLOC)
  • Configured by editing source
  • Very fast and lightweight

Stacking/Floating Window Managers

• AwesomeWM: Highly configurable framework WM

  • Lua-based configuration
  • Built-in widgets
  • Dynamic or tiling layout
  • Extensive documentation

• Openbox: Lightweight stacking window manager

  • XML configuration
  • Minimal resource usage
  • Works with multiple desktop environments

Terminal Emulators

Modern Terminals

• Alacritty: GPU-accelerated terminal

  • Fast rendering
  • Cross-platform
  • YAML configuration
  • No GUI, pure terminal

• kitty: GPU-based terminal with features

  • Image support
  • Ligatures
  • Splits and tabs
  • Extensible with Python

• WezTerm: GPU-accelerated terminal

  • Cross-platform
  • Lua configuration
  • Multiplexing built-in
  • Unicode support

Classic Terminals

• URxvt: Lightweight Unicode terminal
• st (simple terminal): Suckless terminal
• Termite: VTE-based keyboard-centric terminal

Bars and Panels

Status Bars

• Polybar: Highly customizable status bar

  • Module-based configuration
  • Multiple monitor support
  • IPC support
  • Many built-in modules

• waybar: Customizable Wayland bar

  • CSS styling
  • JSON configuration
  • Module system
  • Wayland native

• i3status/i3blocks: Minimalist status bars

• lemonbar: Lightweight bar

• eww (Elkowar's Wacky Widgets): Widget system

Application Launchers

• Rofi: Window switcher and application launcher

  • Highly customizable
  • Multiple modes
  • Theme support
  • Script integration

• dmenu: Dynamic menu for X

  • Minimal and fast
  • Suckless philosophy
  • Scriptable

• wofi: Wayland rofi alternative

• Ulauncher: Application launcher for Linux

• Albert: Desktop agnostic launcher

Color Schemes

Popular Themes

• Catppuccin: Pastel color palette

  • Multiple flavors
  • Wide application support
  • Active community

• Gruvbox: Retro groove colors

  • Dark and light variants
  • Warm, earthy tones
  • Very popular

• Nord: Arctic color palette

  • Cool, bluish tones
  • Clean and minimal
  • Extensive ports

• Dracula: Dark theme

  • High contrast
  • Vibrant colors
  • 200+ ports

• Tokyo Night: Dark theme

  • Inspired by Tokyo's night skyline
  • Multiple variants
  • Modern aesthetic

• One Dark: Atom's dark theme

• Solarized: Precision colors for machines and people

• Palenight: Material theme variant

Compositor and Effects

X11 Compositors

• picom: Lightweight compositor

  • Shadows and transparency
  • Blur and rounded corners
  • Smooth animations
  • Fork of compton

• compton: Original compositor (deprecated)

Wayland Compositors

• Hyprland, sway (built-in composition)
• wlroots-based compositors

Dotfile Management

Tools

• GNU Stow: Symlink farm manager
• chezmoi: Dotfiles manager
• yadm: Yet another dotfiles manager
• dotbot: Dotfile installation tool
• Home Manager: Nix-based dotfile management

File Managers

Terminal File Managers

• ranger: Vi-like file manager
• lf: List files, ranger alternative
• nnn: Fastest terminal browser
• vifm: Ncurses-based file manager

GUI File Managers

• Thunar: Lightweight GTK file manager
• PCManFM: Extremely fast file manager
• Nautilus: GNOME file manager

System Information

• neofetch: System info script
• fastfetch: Faster neofetch alternative
• pfetch: Minimal fetch script
• screenfetch: Bash screenshot information tool

Notification Daemons

• dunst: Lightweight notification daemon
• mako: Lightweight Wayland notification daemon
• notify-osd: Canonical's notification daemon

Wallpaper Tools

• feh: Image viewer and wallpaper setter (X11)
• nitrogen: Wallpaper browser and setter
• swaybg: Wallpaper tool for Wayland
• hyprpaper: Wallpaper utility for Hyprland
• variety: Wallpaper manager with effects

Fonts

Monospace Fonts

• JetBrains Mono: Developer font with ligatures
• Fira Code: Monospaced with programming ligatures
• Hack: Typeface designed for source code
• Source Code Pro: Adobe's monospaced font
• Cascadia Code: Microsoft's terminal font
• Nerd Fonts: Patched fonts with icons

GTK/Qt Theming

GTK Themes

• Adapta, Arc, Materia
• Gruvbox-GTK, Dracula-GTK
• Catppuccin-GTK, Nord-GTK

Icon Themes

• Papirus: Icon theme with many variants
• Numix: Flat icon theme
• La Capitaine: macOS-inspired icons

Configuration Showcases

Inspiration

• r/unixporn (Reddit community)
• dotfiles.github.io
• GitHub topics: #dotfiles, #ricing
• Awesome WM configurations gallery

Use Cases

• Creating minimalist productive workspaces
• Building highly customized desktop environments
• Learning Linux system configuration
• Optimizing workflow with tiling WMs
• Sharing aesthetically pleasing setups
• Developing unique personal computing environments

Pricing

All tools and resources are free and open-source, typically under GPL, MIT, or similar licenses.