Desktop showoff time again

My home desktop setup has evolved quite a bit over time, as I would suspect is true for many people. I used i3wm for several years but I decided to try out the Wayland display server instead of X.org. Most of the Window managers for X.org do not work on Wayland (although some do), so I decided to try out one of the window managers made specifically for Wayland: Sway.

First off is my clean desktop, I have downscaled the image a bit since my full resolution is 2560 x 1440



This is a tiling window manager, so windows will always be covering the full desktop. Next is both a browser and terminal open, to see how windows appear.



I have not really bothered to edit the configuration for sway that much. What I did do was write some Python to create output for the status bar at the top of the screen. By default it only shows the clock and there is no in-built configuration for other information. Thankfully, it's quite easy to modify, just create a script that prints to stdout whatever you want the status bar to display. I write it in python so that I could more easily implement a form of caching for some of the data. I put my script on my github: https://github.com/Daerandin/swaybar_status_python/blob/master/get_stats.py

This is also a fairly new computer so for those interested my hardware is as follows:
Motherboard: Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha
CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, 16 cores
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H115i Platinum, Liquid cooler
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
RAM: 32 GB, Corsair Vengeance LPX
SSD: 2 TB, Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2

Thanks for the kind reply, and you are absolutely right. For me, Linux is a place for me to go and spend time. But anyone can modify the visual look of your desktop, even just downloading and using a different theme.

I have added the specs of my new computer to my first post. And yes, I really enjoy a very minimal setup. Anyone else feel like showing off their setup?

I will admit that it did cost a bit. I was actually most surprised by the price of the motherboard, it was about the same price as the CPU. In total, this system cost me roughly 35000 NOK, and with current exchange rates that comes up to about 3650 USD. That does not include the price of the monitor, so it is only the cost of the components and case for the computer. But I had some leftover money after I sold my old apartment so I decided to spoil myself with a computer like this.

Any packages that can't fit in the mailbox have to be picked up at a nearby package pick-up point, so I had to get all the computer parts from a pick-up point. In my case it is in a nearby mall, just a few minutes away, so it's easy for me to collect packages.

I do want to say that I'm quite sold on the M.2 SSD's. They are very small and blazingly fast. I might never go back to the old SATA drives.

Oh it is a 2 Terabyte drive, and the interface is M.2, and yes the drive was expensive.

We used to have a computer store in my town, where you could buy components or ready built desktops. But the shut down a long time ago, at least 15 years ago if not longer. The only place I can get components is online, but we do have a very nice online store for computer parts in Norway, and they have a very impressive selection.

No overclocking here. The CPU definitely don't need that, and the GPU also performs exceptionally well so I don't see any need. Besides, the GPU reaches some fairly high temperatures while gaming some of the more demanding games so I don't want to push it any further.

My wife is using a laptop currently, but I have been wanting to build her a "small" desktop computer. However, with the current GPU market, that's not going to happen for a very very long time. I'll not buy any new GPU's until that market has come back to normal again.

Still, I do like my idea. You see, my wife prefers to sit in the couch with a small table, so laptop is obviously suitable. But I don't know how many times I've had to replace fans on aging laptops, and replacement fans for laptops are usually expensive. Opening up certain laptops can also be a full-day job. I'll never forget a certain Asus laptop where I had to dismantle it completely, just to replace the fans!

My idea was to go for one of those Fractal Design Cube dekstops. They look like this:



Here's a video on it:

It can fit a Mini-ITX motherboard, which can give 2 RAM slots. And it can even fit a decent GPU in there, as long as the power supply is not too big. I was surprised that you could actually build a pretty powerful computer in a little box like this. You can even fit a liquid cooler for the cpu, although I'm not sure if that would be worth it. If the liquid cooler radiator has two fans, then it works well. But single fan radiators actually perform worse than normal air cooling. This little box would rest on the little shelf under the table. I would then get wireless mouse and keyboard for my wife, along with a USB monitor that looks like this:



So the table would not be quite as cluttered, the monitor could easily be flipped closed and put under the table. I was actually super excited to build her a computer like this. Personally I would not want this for myself, but it would be a lot of fun to build and see how I can fit everything in that little box. Of course, the current GPU market put those plans on hold.