QubesOS 4.3 Which Tiling Window Managers are supported and what should I choose?

User Support General
1

As the only post regarding which tiling window managers are available is quite dated, I am wondering:

  • Which Tiling Windows Managers are supported in QubesOS 4.3?
  • What are the most important differences between them independent of QubesOS?
  • What are the most important differences between them when using with QubesOS?
  • Is any one of them much more easy to install/use under QubesOS?
  • What should I know before installing and using them under QubesOS?
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2

i3

and awesome

3

i3 is the answer, ultimately.

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I’ve been using i3 on Qubes for almost 3 yrs. It’s been fantastic, especially with a laptop and external monitor. Whenever the Wayland transition occurs, I’m hoping that tiling window managers (e.g., Sway or possibly even Hyprland when it matures more) are still an option. I’ve never used Awesome WM, so I can’t comment in that respect.

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5

I started with i3 now and having experience in vim (aka a keyboard-centric editor) it was really easy to get into it, the customization was super simple to understand and I’m really happy with it!

I had some minor issues with multiple monitors at first but it was cause I hadn’t configured them in the config file. There were also some issues with notification icon handling in the i3 status bar and it seems like that has been ongoing for a while. It’s a little bothersome but I can look past it.

Then only other thing I struggle with sometimes now is when I go too far up the tree as I find it hard to tell visually which level of parent I am on and what happens when I then switch the horizontal / vertical / tab / stack modes and how it affects the children etc. But I assume I’ll get the hang of that with further use.

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If you need a reference card, this one from the i3wm site is useful. I don’t use tabbed or stacked options, as I prefer the clear, full border qube delineation from the default view (horizontal or vertical).

Regarding missing xfce icons (e.g., battery), I rely on the i3 status bar numerical representation of that information, which is driven by the /usr/bin/qubes-i3-status file in dom0. So, at present, it’s not a relevant issue for me, but I understand it might be for others.

Anyhow, enjoy tiling in Qubes!

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awesome will unfortunately never support Wayland.

I also maintain qubes-qtile [1], which will support Wayland.

[1] GitHub - 3hhh/qubes-qtile: qtile installer and configuration for Qubes OS

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Wayland is not a complete solution to replace X11. Whether X11 should even be replaced is also questionable. The optimal way forward is more likely an evolutionary step forward. The best way forward will probably not be one of the many redundant mutually-incompatible Wayland variants.