simple-i3blocks/README.md

simple-i3blocks

This is a simple collection of i3blocks-modules accompagnied by a config file with the aim to display only important information in favor of not spilling lots of numbers into the status bar.

Usage

• datetime -- A left click will toggle long and short displays. The short version is displayed in the format HH:MM. The long version also shows the day of the week, weeknumber, date and seconds.
• audio -- Current audio output level. instance=mic will show the microphone input level instead.
• ram -- Free ram and swap are shown in the format a+b G where a is ram and b is swap. If you want to show ram and swap seperatly, use instance=ram or instance=swap.
• cpu -- Total idle cpu time of all cores together. Use instance=long to show the percentage instead.
• temp -- Current temperature of the cpu.
• battery -- Total energy left of all batteries. Use instance=x to show the status of BATx in case you have more than one battery in /sys/class/powersupply.
• backlight -- Brightness level. Use instance=long to show the brightness percentage. Use instance="color" to print the brightness level colored which is nice when using a device in battery mode.

Requirements

Install i3 window manager alongside with i3blocks and git. The following shows the requirements for each module:

module      dependency
--------------------------
audio       amixer
battery     none, searches in /sys/class/power_supply/BAT...
cpu         top, htop for click support
temp        sensors
datetime    date
ip          curl
ram         none, searches in /proc/meminfo, htop for click support
storage     df
backlight   none, searches in /sys/class/backlight, intel and ati/amd supported

Install

One-Liner: Open up a terminal and paste: bash <(curl -s https://will.kein.hk/git/koksnuss/simple-i3blocks/raw/master/install.sh)

• Backup: mv ~/.config/i3blocks{,.bak}
• Clone: git clone https://will.kein.hk/git/koksnuss/simple-i3blocks.git ~/.config/i3blocks
• Adjust ~/.config/i3blocks/config to control i3 status bar output (see Usage).
• Make sure you've added bar { status_command i3blocks } in your i3-config file (i.e. ~/config/i3/config).
• Finally reload your i3 window manager. The default shortcut is mod + SHIFT + r, you should see a flickering.

Roadmap

Modules

• datetime
• ram/swap
• cpu
• cpu temp
• audio/mic
• storage
• ip
• battery
• backlight
• wifi/ethernet/bluetooth
• mount
• ethernet bandwith

Refractor

• centralize color palette and progress bar in abstract.sh
• centralize long/short view in abstract.sh
• make long/short permanent: rewrite config + i3reload? how to make it permanent?
• the progress bar logic seems to repeat itself again and again, this can be done better

Click interactions

Long/Short preview: Middle click

• Toggle long (numbers and units) and short (representative bar) preview

Open another program: Left click

• [c] audio/mic: open pavucontrol
• [c] ram/cpu/temp: open htop
• [c] storage: open ranger
• [c] ip: middle: open firefox
• mount: mount it somewhere (with pmount?) and open ranger

Other behaviour

• [c] audio/mic: toggle mute
• onn/off behaviour: backlight, ethernet, audio, mic

Signals

• audio, mic
• backlight
• mount

Other features

• nice icons as labels
• showing percentage values as a vertical bar