Other Step-by-step guide for a working, usable Sway (or another) Wayland-based environment?

Dear community,

I'm trying to migrate from Linux Debian/X11 + MATE to FreeBSD/Wayland and struggling with graphic desktop. My aim is to implement a stable, usable, non-bloated Wayland-based environment on my AMD laptop. Based on what I seen so far, Sway seems like a way to go.

I installed FreeBSD 14.2 with drm-61-kmod and tried to follow "6.5. The Sway Compositor" of the handbook. I tried to follow it exactly:
# pkg install sway swayidle swaylock-effects alacritty dmenu-wayland dmenu
% mkdir ~/.config/sway
% cp /usr/local/etc/sway/config ~/.config/sway
<content from the handbook here>

but when I launched
% seatd-launch sway
I got an empty Sway graphic desktop without mouse and squares instead of font.

After some research I found that installation of
pkg install noto-basic
required. After this, I seen the current date but empty desktop without mouse and still have no idea what to do with it.

I seen a lot of resources regarding Sway on the Internet, but the problem is they typically provide a lot of details and configurable options I don't need yet, while I'm trying to understand the basics -- what specific packages to install / how to configure them to implement a minimal but usable, working desktop. Ideally, I'm looking for a current step-by-step guide for beginners.

I'm flexible with other options instead of Sway if they are stable, usable, and (ideally) non-bloated (but no GNOME, please!). I like MATE and aware that they implemented Wayland support in 1.28 but not sure how to implement it and it is probably not stable yet. KDE Plasma 6 seems to be not stable also. Also, I would prefer to implement a Wayland desktop with pre-compiled packages only.

Highly appreciate if you could share a guide. And should I go with FreeBSD 15 as it has the latest packages that might be important in case of Wayland?

Thank you in advance!
 


 
I have not used Sway or Wayfire yet but another video you can watch about getting Wayfire up and running

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWcctyaBA2U&t=5s


Many thanks, NapoleonWils0n and miscreant! Yes, I missed YouTube but it is incredible for this purpose as the entire installation process is visible end-to-end. Thank you once again!
 
dwl is the only wayland compositor i know of on Freebsd with independent workspace per monitor
and it has a panel

with labwc and wayfire you have to create rules so certain applications are always visible on the second monitor
also labwc doesnt come with a panel so you have to install one separately, wayfire does have a panel
 
Dang there's an ancient post of mine where I told how I did it with openbox on the Arch forums, but I can't find it. I think I was using X tools though. Ah, found it, but I use xdotool.
I was going to tell you to ping NapoleonWils0n as he's my go to person for all things Wayland but I see he's already on this thread. I see that sway has a ydotool and it's in packages, so here's a link to my Arch thread from 2015. It's the second to last post in the thread and maybe it can help.
 
Back
Top