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Maurice van Kruchten edited this page Dec 29, 2015 · 18 revisions

Using i3 in crouton

  1. Create a chroot with X11:
    $ sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -r trusty -t x11
  2. Enter the chroot:
    $ sudo enter-chroot -n trusty
  3. Install i3:
    $ sudo apt-get install i3
  4. Add exec i3 to ~/.xinitrc:
    $ echo "exec i3" > ~/.xinitrc
  5. Launch i3 directly from the crosh shell:
    $ sudo enter-chroot xinit
  6. Create an alias for starting in i3:
    add alias starti3='sudo enter-chroot -n trusty xinit' to your /home/chronos/user/.bashrc (chromeos)

Helpful configurations

  • To change themes easily without installing to many other packages try: sudo apt-get install lxappearance
  • For a proper Delete key, use bindsym $mod+BackSpace exec xdotool key Delete in your i3 config

Alternatively: Crouton + XFCE + i3

Install crouton with XFCE and log in into XFCE with sudo startxfce4. Download i3: $ sudo apt-get install i3

Go to 'Session and Startup > Application Autostart' settings and '+ Add' a new command with the following field values:

  • Name: i3
  • Description: i3
  • Command: /usr/bin/i3

Go to 'Session and Startup > Session', select the 'xfce-desktop' (amongst other xfce desktop related items -- all I have running is Xfsettingsd, Power Manager, and pulseaudio) and click 'Quit program'. Save session and restart chroot.

i3 should be up and running at this point.

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