In this guide, we will go with the first option so we are going to hit ENTER to place the configuration file in our home directory. Once logged in, you will be prompted to either generate the config file which will be saved in your home directory ~/.config/i3/config, or use the defaults which will save the file in the /etc/i3 directory. Once installed, you will need to restart your system and click on the small gear wheel at the login window and select the ‘i3’ option as shown. On Fedora distribution, you can install i3 using dnf package manager as shown.

The i3 tiling manager is available in Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint repositories and can be installed using the apt package manager as follows. You can seamlessly group Windows to suit your workflow, which enhances your productivity. The i3 tiling manager provides an easy and quick way to switch between workspaces thanks to a wide array of keyboard shortcuts that you can easily configure. Using external tools, you can enhance the appearance by selecting the background image, adjusting the transparency and window fading effect, and enabling desktop notifications. FlexibilityĪpart from having the ability to automatically arrange windows in a neat and organized manner, i3 is fully configurable and you can tweak a few settings to match your preferred screen layout. With low resource utilization, it makes up for a fast tiling Windows manager and leaves your system with plenty of RAM and CPU for other applications. Unlike the fully-featured desktop environments such as GNOME, i3 windows manager is quite minimalistic and is designed for simplicity and efficiency. Unlike X windows managers such as Fluxbox, KWin, and enlightenment, i3 comes with a bag of goodies that we have listed below for a smooth desktop experience. In this guide, we will explain how to install and use the i3 Windows manager on Linux desktop systems.

Other tiling managers include xmonad and wmii. I3 is a minimalist tiling manager that intelligently arranges the windows on your screen in a seamless non-overlapping manner. Unlike the conventional desktop environment, a tiling manager provides just sufficient functionality to arrange windows on your screen in an easy and appealing manner suited for your workflow. Written in C language, the i3wm ( i3 Windows Manager ) is a lightweight, easy-to-configure, and hugely popular tiling windows manager.

Macos i3 window manager