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i3 Post-Install

After installing Fedora 29 with the i3 Window Manager, additional programs are necessary to enhance the user experience.

The first issue to address is how to connect to the Internet. You may have noticed that there is no program or applet to activate the Wi-Fi card or manage the NetworkManager service for a wired network card or available networks.

Assuming you are logged in and your hardware is supported by Fedora, the wireless network card should already be activated. But how do you connect to the networks within range?

nmcli

In a previous post, we installed a set of packages from the "Hardware Support" group. This group provides support for various networking hardware. We also installed the package group for NetworkManager.

nmcli is a command-line utility that allows us to activate network hardware, scan for available networks, and connect to them.

To get started, open a terminal by pressing <Start> + <Enter>.

Ensure your device’s physical network card switch (if present) is enabled. Then, in the terminal, verify that networking is activated via software with the following command:

nmcli networking on

This will activate the wired network connection if available and ready for use.

To activate the wireless network hardware, execute:

nmcli radio wifi on

This activates the wireless card. Next, scan for available networks:

nmcli device wifi list

Example output:

IN-USE  SSID           MODE   CHAN  RATE        SIGNAL  BARS  SECURITY
        RED_WIFI_1     Infra  5     130 Mbit/s  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA2
        RED_WIFI_2     Infra  1     130 Mbit/s  29      ▂___  WPA2
        RED_WIFI_3     Infra  1     54 Mbit/s   17      ▂___  WPA1

To refresh the network list, use:

nmcli device wifi rescan

If the network RED_WIFI_1 does not require a password, connect using:

nmcli device wifi connect RED_WIFI_1

For networks requiring a password, use:

nmcli device wifi connect RED_WIFI_1 password "1234567890"

Explanation of parameters:

  • connect specifies the task to perform.
  • RED_WIFI_1 identifies the target network.
  • password indicates that a password will be provided.
  • 1234567890 is the password (replace with your network’s password).

You should now be connected to the network. Next, install programs to improve your experience with i3.

Networks

nm-applet

nm-applet is a simple graphical applet for NetworkManager. It provides an intuitive interface for managing network connections.

Install it with:

su -c 'dnf install nm-applet'

To launch nm-applet, press <Start> + <d>, type nm-applet, and press <Enter>. An icon should appear in the lower-right corner of your screen for managing network connections.

NetworkManager-tui

NetworkManager-tui is an alternative to nm-applet that uses ncurses to create a user-friendly Text User Interface.

Install it with:

su -c 'dnf install NetworkManager-tui'

nm-connection-editor

The NetworkManager Connection Editor provides an intuitive interface for editing saved networks or creating hotspots (if supported by your network card).

Install it with:

su -c 'dnf install nm-connection-editor'

Terminal Emulator

The default terminal emulator installed with i3 is rxvt-unicode (urxvt). While powerful, it can be unintuitive and has a steep learning curve.

If you prefer a more user-friendly terminal emulator, such as GNOME Terminal, you can install it with:

su -c 'dnf install gnome-terminal'

To set GNOME Terminal as the default terminal for <Start> + <Enter>, edit the i3 configuration file (~/.config/i3/config). Look for the line:

bindsym $mod+Return exec i3-sensible-terminal

Replace it with:

bindsym $mod+Return exec gnome-terminal

In the next post, I will share other programs I use in my Fedora 29 i3wm setup. For now, you should have the tools necessary to install additional programs, such as a web browser.

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