rickrussell/debian-9360-install-notes.md

## debian-9360-install-notes.md

      
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              debian-9360-install-notes.md
            
          
    Installation and setup notes for Debian 9 on Dell XPS 9360

Using Mate DE and i3-gaps WM
May 4th 2017
Installation

Use Debian Stretch RC3 Installer: https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

Non-graphical install
Ignore warning about firmware not found for wireless card
Went for full LVM disk encryption
Selected Mate desktop

Setup

After install

Login as root and add my user acount to sudoers group

$ adduser mike sudo


Add contrib non-free to /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main contrib non-free

Make the caps lock key an escape

Add XKBOPTIONS="caps:escape" to /etc/default/keyboard


Install plymouth for a graphical boot and disk decrypt screen

sudo apt install plymouth plymouth-themes
edit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules and add the following lines:
# KMS
intel_agp
drm
i915 modeset=1


edit /etc/default/grub and add this line: GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1080
edit the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line to read: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
update Grub to pick up the changes: sudo update-grub2
set the default theme to lines: sudo /usr/sbin/plymouth-set-default-theme lines
apply the changes: sudo update-initramfs -u
reboot


Setup touchpad with libinput

add the following to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf
Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
    MatchIsTouchpad "on"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Driver "libinput"
    Option "Tapping" "True"
    Option "PalmDetection" "True"
    Option "TappingDrag" "True"
    Option "TappingDragLock" "True"
    Option "HorizontalScrolling" "True"
    Option "NaturalScrolling" "False"
    Option "TappingButtonMap" "lrm"
    Option "ClickMethod" "clickfinger"
    Option "ScrollMethod" "twofinger"
EndSection


Install i3-gaps

git clone https://github.com/Airblader/i3 gaps
sudo apt install libxcb-keysyms1-dev libpango1.0-dev libxcb-util0-dev xcb libxcb1-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libyajl-dev libev-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libstartup-notification0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-xrm0 libxcb-xrm-dev
cd i3-gaps; autoreconf --force --install
mkdir -p build; cd build; ../configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --disable-sanitizers
make; sudo make install

Setup Mate to use i3 as window manager

install dconf-editor
Change org/mate/desktop/session/required/components/windowmanager to 'i3'
Remove 'filemanager' from org/mate/desktop/session/required-components-list
TODO: link to i3 config

Use rofi instead of dmenu:

Make rofi look pretty with an Arc Dark theme. Add to ~/.Xresources
rofi.color-normal:                   argb:31d1f21, #c4cbd4, argb:96404552, #4084d6, #f9f9f9
rofi.color-urgent:                   argb:2c1d1f21, #cc6666, argb:e54b5160, #a54242, #f9f9f9
rofi.color-active:                   argb:2c1d1f21, #65acff, argb:e44b5160, #4491ed, #f9f9f9
rofi.separator-style:                solid


Install additional components


install network-manager and network-manager-gnome for nm-applet
install libnotify-bin to use `notify-send
install arc-theme and paprius icon set for some better looks
install compton and start with compton -CGb on login for terminal and notification transparency
use https://github.com/alexandrefvb/mate-cycle-backgrounds to make a desktop slideshow from a directory of chromecast backgrounds
install blueman for a mate panel bluetooth applet

Tweaks

Intel i915 kernel module:
cat /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf
options i915 enable_rc6=1 enable_fbc=1 semaphores=1

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
Section "Device"
	Identifier 	"Intel Graphics"
	Driver 		"intel"
	Option 	"AccelMethod" 	"sna"
	Option 	"TearFree" 	"true"
EndSection

Systemd suspend service:
cat /etc/systemd/sleep.conf
[Sleep]
# the following is only valid for kernel 4.10 and up
#SuspendState=deep
# for kernel 4.9 mem = S3 suspend-to-RAM
SuspendState=mem