NEDM - A Modern Wayland Compositor

NEDM is a modern, feature-rich Wayland compositor built on top of wlroots, evolved from the Cagebreak window manager. It provides a tiling window management experience with integrated desktop components including a status bar, wallpaper support, and comprehensive configuration options.

Features

Core Window Management

• Tiling Window Manager: Efficient keyboard-driven window management
• Multiple Workspaces: Support for up to 6 workspaces with easy switching
• Multi-Monitor Support: Native support for multiple displays
• XWayland Compatibility: Run legacy X11 applications seamlessly

Desktop Integration

• Integrated Status Bar: Real-time system information display
  • Date and time
  • Battery status with charging indicators
  • Volume control information
  • WiFi connectivity status
  • Workspace indicators
• Wallpaper Support: wallpaper with multiple scaling modes
  • Fill, fit, stretch, center, and tile modes
  • Configurable background colors
• Layer Shell Protocol: Support for notification daemons and overlays

Modern Wayland Features

• Full Protocol Support: Comprehensive Wayland protocol implementation
• Gaming Support: Pointer constraints and relative pointer for gaming
• Clipboard Management: Primary selection and data control
• Screen Capture: Screenshots and screen recording support
• Idle Management: Screen locking and power management integration

Installation

Prerequisites

• wlroots 0.19.0 or later
• Wayland development libraries
• Cairo and Pango for rendering
• libinput for input handling
• Meson and Ninja for building

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://git.andmc.ca/rozodru/NEDM.git
cd NEDM

# Configure the build
meson setup build

# Compile
ninja -C build

# Install (optional)
sudo ninja -C build install

Quick Start

Basic Usage

# Run NEDM
./build/nedm

# Run with custom config
./build/nedm -c ~/.config/nedm/config

# Show system information
./build/nedm -s

# Show version
./build/nedm -v

Configuration Setup

1. Create the configuration directory:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/nedm/
   

2. Copy the example configuration:

   cp examples/config ~/.config/nedm/config
   

3. Edit your configuration:

   $EDITOR ~/.config/nedm/config
   

Configuration

NEDM uses a text-based configuration file located at ~/.config/nedm/config. The configuration supports:

Basic Settings

# Set default terminal
exec foot

# Frame Gaps
Gap 10 # Gap 0 will show no gaps

# Number of workspaces
workspaces 6

# Background color
background 0.25 0.21 0.2

# Key binding prefix
escape A-space

Status Bar Configuration

# Enable and configure status bar
configure_status_bar position top_right
configure_status_bar height 24
configure_status_bar width_percent 20
configure_status_bar update_interval 1000
configure_status_bar font "monospace 10"
configure_status_bar bg_color 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.9
configure_status_bar text_color 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

Wallpaper Configuration

# Set wallpaper
configure_wallpaper image_path "assets/nedm.png"
configure_wallpaper mode fill
configure_wallpaper bg_color 0.2 0.2 0.3 1.0

Key Bindings

# Window management
bind s hsplit          # Split horizontally
bind S vsplit          # Split vertically
bind Q only            # Make window fullscreen
bind Tab focus         # Focus next window
bind A-k close         # Close window

# Workspace switching
bind 1 screen 1        # Switch to workspace 1
bind 2 screen 2        # Switch to workspace 2
# ... etc

# Application launching
bind t exec foot       # Launch terminal
bind w exec firefox    # Launch web browser

Default Key Bindings

The default key binding prefix is Alt+Space. Common bindings include:

Key Combination	Action
Alt+Space s	Split window horizontally
Alt+Space S	Split window vertically
Alt+Space Q	Make window fullscreen
Alt+Space Tab	Focus next window
Alt+Space Alt+k	Close window
Alt+Space t	Launch terminal
Alt+Space w	Launch web browser
Alt+Space 1-6	Switch to workspace
Alt+Space R	Enter resize mode

Status Bar

Currently works with Waybar, script for workspace/frame notification is https://git.andmc.ca/rozodru/NEDMWaybarScript

Wallpaper Support

NEDM supports wallpapers with multiple scaling modes:

• Fill: Scale to fill screen, cropping if necessary
• Fit: Scale to fit within screen, maintaining aspect ratio
• Stretch: Stretch to fill screen, ignoring aspect ratio
• Center: Center image without scaling
• Tile: Repeat image in a tiled pattern

Advanced Features

Multi-Monitor Setup

# Configure outputs
output eDP-1 enable
output eDP-1 pos 0 0 res 1920x1080 rate 60
output HDMI-A-1 pos 1920 0 res 1920x1080 rate 60

Input Configuration

# Touchpad configuration
input type:touchpad tap enable
input type:touchpad natural_scroll enable
input type:touchpad dwt enable

Layer Shell Applications

NEDM supports applications that use the layer shell protocol:

• Notification daemons: swaync, dunst, mako
• Application launchers: rofi, wofi
• Status bars: waybar (external)
• Screen lockers: swaylock

Protocol Support

NEDM implements comprehensive Wayland protocol support:

• Core Wayland protocols
• XDG Shell for window management
• Layer Shell for overlays and panels
• XWayland for X11 application compatibility
• Pointer constraints for gaming applications
• Relative pointer for first-person games
• Idle inhibit for media applications
• Gamma control for night light applications
• Screen capture protocols

Development

Project Structure

NEDM/
├── nedm.c                 # Main executable
├── server.{c,h}           # Core server implementation
├── output.{c,h}           # Output/monitor management
├── status_bar.{c,h}       # Integrated status bar
├── wallpaper.{c,h}        # Wallpaper rendering
├── layer_shell.{c,h}      # Layer shell protocol
├── xdg_shell.{c,h}        # XDG shell implementation
├── input_manager.{c,h}    # Input handling
├── keybinding.{c,h}       # Key binding system
├── parse.{c,h}            # Configuration parsing
├── examples/config        # Example configuration
└── assets/                # Project assets

Building for Development

# Debug build
meson setup build -Dbuildtype=debug

# Build and run
ninja -C build && ./build/nedm

Troubleshooting

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Common Issues

NEDM won't start

• Ensure you're running under Wayland
• Check that wlroots dependencies are installed
• Verify your user is in the input group

Configuration not loading

• Check file exists at ~/.config/nedm/config
• Verify file permissions are readable
• Check syntax with nedm -c ~/.config/nedm/config

Wallpaper not displaying

• Ensure PNG file exists at specified path
• Check file permissions
• Verify Cairo PNG support is installed

Status bar not showing

• Check if status bar is enabled in configuration
• Verify system information sources are available
• Check if required system files exist (/sys/class/power_supply/, etc.)

Debug Information

# Show detailed system information
./build/nedm -s

# Run with specific configuration
./build/nedm -c /path/to/config

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

License

NEDM is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built on wlroots
• Evolved from Cagebreak
• Uses Cairo and Pango for rendering

Version

Current version: 0.1.6