void linux - dell xps 15 9560 (4k)

How i've installed void inux (xfce) on my laptop

Image and flash

The install iso i've used: void-live-x86_64-{version_here}-xfce.iso from: https://a-hel-fi.m.voidlinux.org/live/current/
To flash the iso i've used rufus with it's default settings.

before installing

I like to start with a clean disk so i'll start

Get to the installer

Spam f12 on bootup till the progress bar shows up and when the selection menu shows select the void linux usb
When you get to the grub menu press e and add nouveau.modeset=0 somewhere to the second boot command after that press ctrl + x and wait till booted up

Install

open a terminal and start the void install, you know how this part works :) (tip: press ctrl + shift + "+" to get a bigger terminal)
when the install is dune make the laptop might not want to boot, if thats the case you will probebly need to add the ufi entry to the bootlist yourself, this can be dune in the bios.

Post install

wifi

The wifi connector in the installer doesn't work for me and i usually can't connect to my home network due to it's wired name so i wait till i have dune a full install and after that use network manager to connect to my wifi network.

Create the following file /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/50-org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.rules with this as content:

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
  if (action.id.indexOf("org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.") == 0 && subject.isInGroup("network")) {
    return polkit.Result.YES;
  }
});

Then exec:

# Add yourself to the networking user group
sudo gpasswd -a $USER network

# List the networks
nmcli device wifi list

# Connect to a network
nmcli device wifi connect some-wifi-network password some-wifi-network-password

Audio

See: https://docs.voidlinux.org/config/media/alsa.html for more info

sudo xbps-install -S alsa-utils pulseaudio alsa-plugins-pulseaudio xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin
sudo usermod -a -G audio $USER
nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf
# Place the following line in this file if you only have 1 sound output:
# options snd_usb_audio index=0

increse the ui scaling (xfce)

Set these settings under here

Settings Manager > Appearance > Fonts > Settings > Window Scaling > 2x
Settings Manager > Window Manager > Style > Theme > ...xhdpi or ...hdpi
Settings Manager > Mouse and Touchpad > Theme > Adwaita > Cursor size > 32
~~Settings Manager > Settings Editor > xsettings > Gtk > IconSizes > gtk-large-toolbar=48,48:gtk-small-toolbar=32,32:gtk-menu=32,32:gtk-dialog=48,48:gtk-button=32,32:gtk-dnd=32,32~~
In ~/.profile place this content:

export GDK_SCALE=2
export GDK_DPI_SCALE=1
export QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SET_FACTOR=0
export QT_SCALE_FACTOR=2
export QT_FONT_DPI=96

Logout and in activate the settings in ~/.profile

Packages

Some base pacakges i always insatll

su
xbps-install -S intel-ucode elogind
echo "early_microcode=yes" > /etc/dracut.conf.d/intel_ucode.conf
# Replace the XX.XX with your kernel version (uname -r)
xbps-reconfigure -f linuxXX.XX
exit

sudo xbps-install -S void-repo-nonfree void-repo-multilib void-repo-multilib-nonfree git base-devel xtools
git clone https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages
cd void-packages
./xbps-src binary-bootstrap
echo XBPS_ALLOW_RESTRICTED=yes >> ~/void-packages/etc/conf
sudo xbps-install -Su

Fonts

Some basic font packages

sudo xbps-install -S noto-fonts-emoji xorg-fonts font-bh-ttf ttf-bitstream-vera fonts-roboto-ttf fonts-droid-ttf noto-fonts-ttf noto-fonts-ttf-extra ttf-ubuntu-font-family font-adobe-source-code-pro

Gtk themes for ugly desktop envs

sudo xbps-install -S numix-themes arc-theme Adapta

Flatpak & Flathub

There are some pakcages not available by default in the void repos so i add flatpak for those packages like discord and spotify

sudo xbps-install -S flatpak xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xdg-utils
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Handy links

Here are some pages that have helped me make this documentation

https://ricostacruz.com/til/fractional-scaling-on-xorg-linux

mjarkk/My void linux install - Dell XPS 15 9560 (4k).md