lxqt-tuning

Personal tuning for the LXQt desktop to make it more beautiful.

Overview

LXQt desktop is relatively easy to tune up, but for some reason a lot of people think that is horrible and cannot be customized. Today I'm here to prove that is not true. To summarize, we will use Kvantum, Graphite themes, Reversal icons, Roboto fonts and Betterlockscreen.

Desktop themes

The first thing we'll do is to install a well-looking Kvantum theme. First you will need, obviously, to install Kvantum.

Install Kvantum

Void Linux:

# xbps-install -S kvantum

Arch Linux and Manjaro:

# pacman -S kvantum-qt5

OpenSUSE:

# zypper refresh && zypper in kvantum-manager{,lang}

Debian and Ubuntu 20.04+:

# apt update && apt install qt5-style-kvantum{,-l10n}

Ubuntu 18.04 and previous:

# add-apt-repository ppa:papirus/papirus
# apt update && apt install qt5-style-kvantum{,-l10n}

Fedora:

# dnf install kvantum

FreeBSD:

# pkg install kvantum-qt5

Install Graphite Kvantum theme

I will be using Vinceliuice's Graphite themes, but you can choose any that you want.

git -C /tmp clone https://github.com/vinceliuice/Graphite-kde-theme
cp -r /tmp/Graphite-kde-theme/Kvantum $HOME/.config/Kvantum

Open Kvantum Manager and select our new installed theme. Also, you can do it via CLI (if the file already exists):

sed -i 's/theme=/#theme=/g' $HOME/.config/Kvantum/kvantum.kvconfig
echo "theme=GraphiteDark" | tee -a $HOME/.config/Kvantum/kvantum.kvconfig

Now go to Preferences -> Appearance -> Qt Style and change it to kvantum-dark. Alternatively, you can change it at ~/.config/lxqt/lxqt.conf modifying these lines (you will need to restart LXQt):

[Qt]
style=kvantum-dark

[General]
theme=system

Change color scheme (optional)

If you want to use any other color scheme than default, then check my own fork of Kvantum Graphite theme, which adds more variants. If using Cereus Linux or Void with cereus-extra repository, then you can install them from repositories:

# xbps-install -S Graphite-kvantum-theme

Install Graphite GTK theme

In order to preserve the desktop consistency, we'll also be using the GTK variant of Graphite. I'm choosing the blackness version too. Change the theme color scheme by the one you prefer or use all to install all of them. The rimless parameter is to avoid the color border in apps like Firefox.

git -C /tmp clone https://github.com/vinceliuice/Graphite-gtk-theme
cd /tmp/Graphite-gtk-theme
./install.sh --theme teal --tweaks black rimless -d $HOME/.local/share/themes

If using Cereus Linux or Void with cereus-extra repository, then you can install them from repositories:

# xbps-install -S Graphite-gtk-theme-black

Now we need to go to Preferences -> LXQt Settings -> Appearance, check the "Set GTK themes" option and select the recently installed theme.

Icon theme

There is a lot of beautiful icon themes, but I will focus on two: Reversal and Tela. Feel free to install any icon theme that you want.

Reversal icon theme

git -C /tmp clone https://github.com/yeyushengfan258/Reversal-icon-theme
cd /tmp/Reversal-icon-theme
./install.sh green # by default install all variants

If using Cereus Linux or Void with cereus-extra repository, then you can install them from repositories:

# xbps-install -S reversal-icon-theme-green

Tela icon theme

git -C /tmp clone https://github.com/vinceliuice/Tela-icon-theme
cd /tmp/Tela-icon-theme
./install.sh manjaro # use -a to install all variants

If using Cereus Linux or Void with cereus-extra repository, then you can install them from repositories:

# xbps-install -S Tela-icon-theme-manjaro

Apply icon theme

Go to Preferences -> LXQt Settings -> Appearance -> Icons Theme and choose the one you installed. This also can be done manually at ~/.config/lxqt/lxqt.conf (Requires restart LXQt):

[General]
icon_theme=your_icon_theme

Install well-looking fonts

It is important to use a pretty font, because it will make our desktop look more beautiful and elegant.

UI font

In this case I recommend Roboto, which is on almost all distributions, is well-looking and elegant.

Void Linux:

# xbps-install -S fonts-roboto-ttf

Arch Linux, Manjaro and derivatives:

# pacman -S roboto-ttf

OpenSUSE:

# zypper refresh && zypper in google-roboto-fonts

Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives:

# apt update && apt install fonts-roboto

Fedora:

# dnf install google-roboto-fonts

FreeBSD:

# pkg install fonts-roboto-ttf

Monospace font

Currently, my favorite monospace font is JetBrains Mono NL. So, we will install it. You can use any font you like, of course.

Arch Linux, Manjaro and derivatives (Using yay in this example):

yay -S nerd-fonts-jetbrains-mono

Cereus Linux or Void with cereus-extra repository:

# xbps-install -S jetbrains-mono-font

OpenSUSE (using opi):

opi jetbrains-mono-nerd-fonts

For the rest of distros, this process will be universal for all distributions.

First, fetch the font itself:

mkdir /tmp/JetBrains-Mono && cd /tmp/JetBrains-Mono
wget https://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsMono/releases/download/v2.242/JetBrainsMono-2.242.zip
unzip JetBrainsMono-2.242.zip

Now, the installation path will vary between GNU/Linux and FreeBSD.

#GNU/Linux (as root)
# cp -r fonts /usr/share/

#FreeBSD (as root)
# cp -r fonts /usr/local/share/

Finally, update the font cache and list.

fc-cache -fv; fc-list

Apply UI font

Go to Preferences -> LXQt Settings -> Appearance -> Font, and select our new installed font at "Font name". Also, adjust the size accordingly to your screen. Do the same process for PCManFM-Qt desktop, doing right click -> Desktop Preferences -> Select font (I recommend to change the wallpaper also).

Alternatively, you can do this at $HOME/.config/lxqt/lxqt.conf and $HOME/.config/pcmanfm-qt/lxqt, respectively (requires restart LXQt):

# ~/.config/lxqt/lxqt.conf
[Qt]
font="Roboto,11,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0"


# ~/.config/pcmanfm-qt/lxqt
[Desktop]
Font="Roboto,10,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0,Regular"

Lockscreen

LXQt by default does not provides a lockscreen service, using instead xscreensaver (which is ugly for me). We will be using Betterlockscreen, which uses i3lock-color. For the moment I will only provide Void, OpenSUSE, Arch and FreeBSD installation steps. The rest of distros will come in the future.

Install betterlockscreen

Void Linux

# xbps-install -S betterlockscreen

Garuda and every Arch based distro with Chaotic AUR

# pacman -S betterlockscreen

Arch and derivatives (using Yay in this example)

# yay -S betterlockscreen

OpenSUSE

We will need to "manual" install Betterlockscreen, as it's not in the repositories. The first thing we need is to install opi (if not installed already), which allows us to install OBS software.

# zypper refresh && zypper in opi

Proceed installing i3lock-color:

$ opi i3lock-color

Install runtime dependencies:

# zypper in ImageMagick xdpyinfo feh bc xrandr

Clone repository:

$ git -C /tmp clone https://github.com/betterlockscreen/betterlockscreen

User install:

$ /tmp/betterlockscreen/install.sh user

System install:

# /tmp/betterlockscreen/install.sh system

FreeBSD

Install runtime dependencies:

# pkg install ImageMagick7 xdpyinfo feh i3lock-color xrandr

Clone repository:

$ git -C /tmp clone https://github.com/betterlockscreen/betterlockscreen

User install:

$ /tmp/betterlockscreen/install.sh user

System install:

# /tmp/betterlockscreen/install.sh system

Configure lockscreen background

Before we can use our new lockscreen, we need to set up a background:

betterlockscreen -u /path/to/your/wallpaper.png

Set keyboard shortcut

Now configure a shortcut to easily lock your screen. Go to Preferences -> LXQt Settings -> Keyboard Shortcuts, add a new one and set the command betterlockscreen -l. This also can be done at ~/.config/lxqt/globalkeyshortcuts.conf. This example uses Super + L (requires restart LXQt):

[Meta%2BL.40]
Comment=Lock the screen
Enabled=true
Exec=betterlockscreen, -l

Set as default lockscreen service

As you may noticed, after installing and configuring Betterlockscreen, when trying to lock the screen via LXQt option, it will attempt to use xscreensaver. We have to change this. Add this to the end of ~/.config/lxqt/lxqt.conf:

[Screensaver]
lock_command=betterlockscreen -l

Logout and voilá, now it works. Also, this will be work for autolock.

Window Manager

The window manager is one of the most important things in our desktop environment, so we must customize it too. The main focus will be the default WM, Openbox; but also I'll include instructions to integrate it with Fluxbox, and maybe in the future, i3wm.

Openbox

Install a theme

The chosen theme is Licorice, from Sweet Tastes Themes but a fork which adapts to Graphite-black.

git clone https://github.com/CereusLinuxProject/licorice-openbox-theme -C /tmp
cp -r /tmp/licorice-openbox-theme ~/.local/share/themes/

Apply theme and change fonts

Go to Preferences -> Openbox Settings, and select the Licorice theme, also go to Fonts section and change them all to Roboto, or your preferred font. This also can be done at ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml.

[Extra] configure manual tiling

It is also possible to configure manual tiling on Openbox. Add this code to ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml under keyboard section:

<keybind key="W-KP_1">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>0</x>
    <y>-0</y>
    <width>50%</width>
    <height>50%</height>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-KP_2">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>0</x>
    <y>-0</y>
    <width>100%</width>
    <height>50%</height>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-KP_3">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>-0</x>
    <y>-0</y>
    <width>50%</width>
    <height>50%</height>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-KP_4">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>0</x>
    <y>0</y>
    <width>50%</width>
    <height>100%</height>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-KP_5">
  <action name="MaximizeFull"/>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-KP_6">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>-0</x>
    <y>0</y>
    <width>50%</width>
    <height>100%</height>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-KP_7">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>0</x>
    <y>0</y>
    <width>50%</width>
    <height>50%</height>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-KP_8">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>0</x>
    <y>0</y>
    <width>100%</width>
    <height>50%</height>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-KP_9">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>-0</x>
    <y>0</y>
    <width>50%</width>
    <height>50%</height>
  </action>
</keybind>
<!-- Move -->
<keybind key="W-A-Up">
  <action name="MoveRelative">
    <x>0</x>
    <y>-20</y>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-A-Down">
  <action name="MoveRelative">
    <x>0</x>
    <y>20</y>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-A-Left">
  <action name="MoveRelative">
    <x>-20</x>
    <y>0</y>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-A-Right">
  <action name="MoveRelative">
    <x>20</x>
    <y>0</y>
  </action>
</keybind>
<!-- Resize -->
<keybind key="C-A-Right">
  <action name="ResizeRelative">
    <right>20</right>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="C-A-Left">
  <action name="ResizeRelative">
    <right>-20</right>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="C-A-Down">
  <action name="ResizeRelative">
    <bottom>20</bottom>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="C-A-Up">
  <action name="ResizeRelative">
    <bottom>-20</bottom>
  </action>
</keybind>

An example of how to use this can be found in Cereus Linux default Openbox configuration

Fluxbox

It would appear strange use Fluxbox instead of Openbox on LXQt, but is has a lot of potential for our LXQt desktop (also is the WM I use with LXQt). Please note that this require at least LXQt 1.0.0, as in older versions this will have multiple issues. I'll be covering some few aspects, but in the future I'll do a complete guide to configure Fluxbox. First, of course, install Fluxbox:

Void Linux and derivatives:

# xbps-install -S fluxbox

Arch Linux, Manjaro and derivatives:

# pacman -S fluxbox

OpenSUSE:

# zypper refresh && zypper in fluxbox

Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives:

# apt update && apt install fluxbox

FreeBSD:

# pkg install fluxbox

Once installed, copy the example configuration to your home directory. Commonly, into GNU/Linux distributions is located at /usr/share/fluxbox and into FreeBSD /usr/local/share/fluxbox:

# GNU/Linux
cp -r /usr/share/fluxbox $HOME/

# FreeBSD
cp -r /usr/local/share/fluxbox

Before we change the window manager at our environment, we must hide the Fluxbox's panel (called toolbar), to avoid conflicts with LXQt's panel:

echo "session.screen0.toolbar.visible:	false" | tee -a "$HOME/.fluxbox/init"

I recommend to set a shortcut to open Fluxbox configuration and other to restart it, in case you need them (Alt + L and Alt + Shift + R, respectively):

fluxkeys=$HOME/.fluxbox/keys
echo "Mod1 L :RootMenu" | tee -a $fluxkeys
echo "Mod1 Shift R :Restart" | tee -a $fluxkeys

Go to Preferences -> LXQt Settings -> Session Settings and change the window manager to Fluxbox. After that logout.

Panel fix

If you find that the panel does not display correctly, create this script. I recommend to save it at ~/scripts:

#!/bin/sh

# ~/scripts/wait-panel.sh
pkill fluxbox
sleep 1; fluxbox &

Make it executable:

chmod u+x $HOME/scripts/wait-panel.sh

Then add an autostart entry at Preferences -> LXQt Settings -> Session Settings -> Autostart, and choose your recently created script, marking the "wait for tray" option. Alternatively, you can create the entry manually:

# $HOME/.config/autostart/wait-panel.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Exec=~/scripts/wait-panel.sh
Name=Wait for panel
Type=Application
Version=1.0
X-LXQt-Need-Tray=true

This will restart Fluxbox once the panel is fully loaded.

Install Sierra Dark theme

I made a fork theme which adapts well with Graphite color scheme. First, clone the repository:

git -C $HOME/.fluxbox/styles/ clone https://github.com/KF-Art/Sierra-Dark-Fluxbox

Now we need to change our current theme. This can be done using our previously defined shortcut (Alt + L), then go to Advanced Settings -> Fluxbox -> User Styles, and select our new theme; or via CLI with Sed:

fluxconf=$HOME/.fluxbox/init
sed -i 's/session.styleFile:/#session.styleFile:/g' $fluxconf
echo "session.styleFile:      ~/.fluxbox/styles/Sierra-Dark-Fluxbox" | tee -a $fluxconf

After that, restart Fluxbox with our previously defined shortcut (Alt + Shift + R) to apply all the changes correctly.

Panel and Desktop integration

To integrate well the panel and PCManFM-Qt's Desktop, add this to ~/.fluxbox/apps:

[app] (name=LXQt Panel) (class=lxqt-panel)
    [Layer]       {4}
[end]

[app] (class=pcmanfm-qt) (@_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE=_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DESKTOP)
    [layer]       {12}
[end]

Manual Tiling

As I said before, the main reason why I use LXQt with Fluxbox, is the ability to easily configure the manual tiling. With this, we will be able to tile or snap our windows just pressing Super + Arrows or Numeric Pad. Paste this at ~/.fluxbox/keys:

### MANUAL TILING ###

# Move with Super + Arrows:
Mod4 Up  :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 100% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 Top}
Mod4 Down :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 100% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 Bottom}
Mod4 Left  :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 100%} {MoveTo 0 0 Left}
Mod4 Right :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 100%} {MoveTo 0 0 Right}

# Reduce size and center:
Mod4 KP_5 :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 60% 70%} {MoveTo 0 0 Center}

# Simple cross tiling, move to corners:
Mod4 KP_7  :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 TopLeft}
Mod4 KP_9 :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 TopRight}
Mod4 KP_1  :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 BottomLeft}
Mod4 KP_3 :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 BottomRight}

# Move to the center of every border:
Mod4 KP_8  :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 Top}
Mod4 KP_6 :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 Right}
Mod4 KP_4  :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 Left}
Mod4 KP_2 :MacroCmd {ResizeTo 50% 50%} {MoveTo 0 0 Bottom}

Workspace management (optional)

If like me, you usually work with a lot of workspaces, then I recommend you to configure them also. You can leave the defaults, or configure your own shortcuts at ~/.fluxbox/keys. This is an example of mines:

# change to a specific workspace
Alt 1 :Workspace 1
Alt 2 :Workspace 2
Alt 3 :Workspace 3
Alt 4 :Workspace 4
Alt 5 :Workspace 5
Alt 6 :Workspace 6
Alt 7 :Workspace 7
Alt 8 :Workspace 8
Alt 9 :Workspace 9
Alt 0 :Workspace 10

# send the current window to a specific workspace
Alt Shift 1 :SendToWorkspace 1
Alt Shift 2 :SendToWorkspace 2
Alt Shift 3 :SendToWorkspace 3
Alt Shift 4 :SendToWorkspace 4
Alt Shift 5 :SendToWorkspace 5
Alt Shift 6 :SendToWorkspace 6
Alt Shift 7 :SendToWorkspace 7
Alt Shift 8 :SendToWorkspace 8
Alt Shift 9 :SendToWorkspace 9
Alt Shift 0 :SendToWorkspace 10

Also, if you need more or less workspaces, define them at ~/.fluxbox/init (replace the names by the ones you prefer):

session.screen0.workspaces:	5
session.screen0.workspaceNames:	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,

KF-Art/lxqt-tuning

lxqt-tuning

Overview

Desktop themes

Install Kvantum

Install Graphite Kvantum theme

Change color scheme (optional)

Install Graphite GTK theme

Icon theme

Reversal icon theme

Tela icon theme

Apply icon theme

Install well-looking fonts

UI font

Monospace font

Apply UI font

Lockscreen

Install betterlockscreen

Void Linux

Garuda and every Arch based distro with Chaotic AUR

Arch and derivatives (using Yay in this example)

OpenSUSE

FreeBSD

Configure lockscreen background

Set keyboard shortcut

Set as default lockscreen service

Window Manager

Openbox

Install a theme

Apply theme and change fonts

[Extra] configure manual tiling

Fluxbox

Panel fix

Install Sierra Dark theme

Panel and Desktop integration

Manual Tiling

Workspace management (optional)