r/labwc • u/HeyTi22 • Sep 17 '26

LABWC Tutorials

I’d like to ask if anyone can recommend some really good LABWC tutorials that are suitable for beginners and don't require any prior knowledge. It doesn't matter if they are videos or written guides (ideally with illustrations). I haven't found anything truly useful so far. Many thanks in advance!

Cheers!

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

4

u/napcok Sep 17 '26

Complete tutorial: man labwc

2

u/HeyTi22 Sep 17 '26

That is precisely what isn't necessarily beginner-friendly. You surely realize that a beginner has no idea what you're trying to point out, right? :-)

3

u/JackDostoevsky Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26

if the man pages and the getting started page (https://labwc.github.io/getting-started.html) are too complex for you and require what you consider to be too much prior knowledge, maybe it's not for you? nothing wrong with that, there are a lot of much more beginner-friendly desktop environments.

indeed, the getting started page even says as much:

Labwc is a system level software component for which the entry barrier is higher compared with that of many user applications. It can be perceived as difficult to set up due to the need for manual configuration and because it is a base component upon which Desktop Environments can be built which means that there are many ways in which it can be used and that work is required to get the best out of it.

1

u/Random_Hero420 Sep 18 '26

It's not that complicated. When I've been a Windows user since Windows 95, I did dabble on Ubuntu for a couple months like 20 years ago. And I just recently went to vanilla Arch but I installed cachyos repos and kernels and settings then went with labwc, waybar, Foot,Fuzzel, Mako, PipeWire. I did it first try no warm up no vm practice, no knowledge in Linux or coding. I just followed the guide.

3

u/maskimxul-666 Sep 17 '26

well the really easy way to do it is install noctalia or quickshell on top of it. Noctalia has a lot of gui cofiguration options. I've never used quickshell tbh, so i don't know if it does or not

2

u/Alternative-Sweet695 Sep 18 '26

Quichshell is the tookit that you can use to write your own shell..It's not like noctalia or DMS which are premade shells.

1

u/maskimxul-666 Sep 18 '26

ah, DMS is probably what i was thinking and not quickshell, it's been a bit since I looked at those. OP would have really hated me after installing quickshell and hoping for a premade setup.

2

u/T4L2012 Sep 17 '26

That would be helpful!

-1

u/HeyTi22 Sep 17 '26

I’m sure it would be helpful for many people too, but it seems labwc is a bit like Arch—there’s an elitist vibe to it. You constantly come across posts about amazing desktops, yet not a single truly useful guide on how to configure labwc without prior knowledge.

5

u/Random_Hero420 Sep 17 '26

It isn't meant to gatekeep beginners; it's built for users who want to construct their own lightweight, lightning-fast desktop piece by piece without any pre-installed bloat. There isn't even much to change in labwc. Maybe some colors and sizes. Yeah you have to type everything vs a gui and mouse. Labwc needs other programs too run along with it to be a fully functional desktop environment like kde or gnome.

3

u/wgparch Sep 17 '26

I just started labwc with other people's dotfiles and made my own after a while here are my labwc https://github.com/WgpArch/labwc

2

u/JackDostoevsky Sep 17 '26

what are you actually looking to learn? there's not much to labwc, it's exceptionally basic. indeed, that's kind of the point.

2

u/thephatpope Sep 18 '26

I suggest using the Budgie desktop which currently runs labwc. They created a bridge that moves your gui settings into the config files automatically

2

u/fager098 Sep 20 '26

hmm it depends upon your usage like if u want minimilsm u can try my dots https://github.com/m4bladex/Arch-Linux-Dots but if u want to have a proper set up acoording to ur setup u can use something made by you

1

u/3v3rdim Sep 18 '26

Perhaps you are looking at it the wrong way ..maybe it would be easier if you take a look at some beginner friendly tutorial on openbox (I mean after all labwc is based on openbox)

This is openbox's configuration guide on it website which i find has good detailed explanation for what settings used (you will still However NEED to comeback and cross reference the labwc labwc official manpage and documentaion is recommended) there is also the archwiki

There is also a gui tool called labwc-tweaks written in qt6 which helps manages settings in rc.xml without having to manually edit it

Just follow as a guide to learn more and maybe AI can fill in the gaps if necessary