This repository consists of the config and scripts I'm using with i3 4.18.1 on Xubuntu 20.04 LTS.

I took the opportunity to refactor my i3 config and scripts into this new repository after installing the latest versions of distro and i3. Everything is on git master not on topic branches.

• The default configuration is close to being 100% compatible with the standard i3 keybindings as shown in the i3 user's guide. You can use it immediately.

• The config file and scripts have "magic comments". These are postprocessing directives that could, for example, customise a single base configuration for different users or different machines.

• I greatly admire the i3 mission statement about clean code. I'm not in their league, but I've tried to make the code modular and maintainable. If nothing else, it's commented and documented.

Dopamine is a chemical that functions as a neurotransmitter in human brains. I have Parkinson's Disease ("PD") because the cells that make dopamine in my brain are dying prematurely. Lack of dopamine causes the hand and arm tremors and the overall slowness of movement typical of Parkinson's Disease.

The i3 window manager lets me address the ergonomics of a user interface for people with PD. I want to share both the code and the lessons learned, what works and what doesn't, because I'm no expert, just an enthusiast. Plus you lucky people without PD might like it!

This is the third such repository I've made. This time, I'm hoping to make it easy for people to download and run, either as a whole or in standalone pieces.

Dopamine wants to be installed anywhere beneath ${HOME}, in a directory accessible to git. Decide in which directory the git clone will be done, change to that directory and do:

git clone git@github.com:EllaTheCat/dopamine-2020.git
make

• Copies config files from your local repository to where i3 expects them at runtime.
• Copies script files from your local repository to a folder that should be on your ${PATH}. I chose ${HOME}/local/bin precisely because no-one else does, in order to avoid conflicts. Feel free to make it a symlink to ${HOME}/bin or whatever.
• Modifies the copies with your customisations.
• Sets the runtime file and folder permissions.
• Runs the i3 reload command should the i3 config have changed.
• Runs the i3 restart command when i3-status or i3bar has changed.

• Performs a dry-run, printing to the console whatever commands would have been executed without the "-n" argument.

By default, the i3 config file includes a set of $mod+keysym bindings corresponding to the bindings described in the i3 User's Guide. I realised that without these, a user would struggle to use i3, and hence would not persevere with their evaluation.

Conversely, I find modifier+key bindings difficult, and don't want to operate them accidentally, so I'd prefer to remove them.

Looking at i3-config you'll see several "magic comments":

###INSERT_CFG00_HERE###
###INSERT_CFG01_HERE###

The Makefile first deploys "i3-config" as "$HOME/.i3/config" and then runs sed scripts that perform in-place replacement of any magic comments with the contents of the files they reference. These "cfg" files live in "i3-config.d':

• cfg00 - Classic bindings
• cfg01 - Numpad bindings
• cfg02 - Cluster bindings.
• cfg03 - Reserved
• cfg04 - Primary bindings
• cfg05 - Secondary bindings
• cfg06 - Reserved
• cfg07 - Settings (non-executable)
• cfg08 - Settings (executable)
• cfg09 - Settings (i3bar, debug mode)

There's nothing to stop competent users editing "cfg" files, and this is to be encouraged. I think, in practice, a user would have to accept my changes via 'git pull' and then restore their cfg files with their changes. I think the use of multiple cfg files makes that manual chore slightly easier. What has been done is a step forward but it's not enough.

In addition to "default" mode, this config adds Primary and Secondary modes. There are other modes, like resize, but they aren't essential. The Menu key cycles round the three essential modes :

default -> Primary -> Secondary -> default

and the spacebar goes back to default.

This mode does much the same as default mode. The difference is the difference between emacs and vi, modifiers versus modes, two handed versus one handed. Easier for people with PD.

This mode is used for settings. It's quite sparse, which may help laptop users.

The left Windows key behaves like Menu when pressed solo and Super_L when modifying another key, thanks to "xcape". It's important for accessibility to have both behaviours avaiiable on either side. Both Alt keys are mapped to Escape when used solo; it follows that Win and Alt can be swapped as some users prefer.

When not in default mode the word Primary or Secondary is shown on a red tab next to the workspace tabs. Furthermore, comared to default mode, the screen dims slightly in Primary mode and dims slightly more in Secondary mode.

The command prompt is a dmenu. It is invoked with one of the key sequences {Menu, Tab}, or {Menu, backslash} when the layout makes it comfortable. It then reads two characters, and forwards them to the "i3-filewatcher" script (q.v.).

The command prompt can also be invoked by KP_Insert, which configures the numpad to read in two or three digits, and as before, forwards them to the "i3-filewatcher" script.

Both methods timeout after four seconds and send a key event equivalent to pressing Enter (Return). My PD makes the delay acceptable and the automatic Enter key appreciated. The delay is implemented wth sleep() and configurable. The Enter key automation can be disabled.

Tasker is a popular android application that lets users write android programs to run on their phone or tablet. AutoVoice is a Tasker plugin for speech-to-text. AutoTools is a Tasker plugin that provides "ssh". together, they can let the user send commands from the phone to the "i3-filewatcher" script.

The file watcher watches the file "/dev/shm/$USER/i3/command". Whenever the command prompt or Tasker writes a command to that file, the command is forwarded to the dispatcher for processing. There is no acknowledgement for commands.

The dispatcher receives a command sent by the file watcher, and uses pattern matching to invoke command-specific scripts.

A command alias typically consists of two characters that refer to a command and its parameters. Typing the command alias switches to the running application, launching it if not already running.

This looked easy but the implementation has required the "Window Change Monitor". This is an i3-msg subscription to window events and a monitor that marks the focused window with the workspace name.

There should be only one window per output marked with the name of the workspace. Two marks with the same name on the same workspace is a major bug.

Deprecated in favour of android apps. To be removed.

Deprecated in favour of android apps. To be retained.

This is a niche feature, speech to text, that just happens to be important for EllaTheCat.

On the phone, saying "OK Google" triggers speech to text. The resulting lowercase text is written to the File Watcher via the ssh conection. Eventually punctuated text appears in an Emacs buffer "Clipboard".

The "i3-config-scripts" file tidies up the management of "services" that run in the background.

i3-config-scripts restart

Invoked wih arguments as above, preceded by 'exec' in i3-config, it starts the commands and mark "services" after everything else in the i3-config startup sequence.

i3-config-scripts restart

Invoked as above from a terminal, it stops the commands and marks "services", restarts the i3 window manager, then starts the two "services" again. I had not realised that restarting i3 required restarting the "services". The date and time of the last startup appears in the window title.

The i3-status script (note the dash) wraps the i3status script (that comes with i3) such that extra indicators can be prepended to those of i3status. You can revert to i3status only by editing the i3bar config in i3-config.d/cfg09. i3-status prepends the following variables:

• ${Wmic} ${umic} ${rmic} each shows 0 when muted, 1 when active.

• ${wcam} This is set to "idle" by default, unless it is active, in which case the name of the program accessing the webcam is shown.

• ${ccmt} My desktop PC has Intel mobo graphics that have recently developed screen tearing on video. My workaround is to use a Raspberry Pi Model 4 running Kodi and LibreElec on the Broadcom video core. This variable tracks on-chip temperature. With passive cooling, no fan, rendering SD video fullscreen, the temperature is 45'C, ambient is 19'C. A one second ping fails should the Raspberry Pi be offline, so the refresh of the bar is set to three seconds.

• ${cursor} This shows the mouse position (x,y) pixel co-ordinates, origin top left of the leftmost screen. i3 usage of the mouse is reduced, ao it's easier to lose it, hence this helps find it.

settings-2020 is a sibling github repo of dopamine-2020. It holds my dotfiles, configs and scripts in a directory along with a Makefile that installs them in their runtime locations. Scripts are vetted by the ShellCheck utility. I intend that the scripts in the myscripts directory will be moved from dopamine-2020 to settings-2020.

settings-2020 also manages sensitive information. On the one hand I want to share but on the other hand I want my privacy preserved.

[eof]