A fully configured i3 desktop environment for the ClockworkPi uConsole CM5, featuring a retro terminal aesthetic, CM5-specific optimizations, and optional ROS 2 Docker integration for robotics development.

Designed for field-ready development on the handheld uConsole, optimized for both everyday computing and embedded systems work.

• Lightweight i3 window manager with ergonomic keybindings for handheld use
• Polybar status bar with retro terminal theme (green/amber/cyan)
  • Live system stats: CPU, RAM, temperature, disk usage
  • Battery level with color-coded icons
  • WiFi status (SSID, signal, IP), audio volume, uptime
  • Thermal throttle warning (>75°C)
• Kitty terminal with JetBrainsMono Nerd Font
• Colored shell prompt with git branch indicators and venv support
• Rofi application launcher with Dracula theme

• Memory tuning (swappiness=10, zram compressed swap)
• eMMC longevity (noatime, tmpfs, weekly TRIM)
• CPU governor (schedutil for balanced performance/battery)
• Power mode toggle (performance/balanced/powersave)
• Thermal monitoring with real-time Polybar warnings
• See CM5-OPTIMIZATIONS.md for full details

• ROS 2 Humble Docker-based setup
• docker-compose.ros2.yml with:
  • Fast startup (docker compose up -d)
  • Multicast ROS 2 network discovery
  • Persistent workspace mounts (~/ros2_ws)
• CLI aliases for ROS2 workflow (rlist, rhz, recho, rnodes, rgrep)

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/danmartinez78/uconsole-i3-setup.git
cd uconsole-i3-setup

Run the automated installer:

./install_uconsole.sh

The installer will:

• Install i3, Polybar, Kitty, Rofi, and dependencies
• Set up JetBrainsMono Nerd Font (user-local)
• Copy all configurations to ~/.config/
• Install utility scripts to ~/.local/bin/
• Prompt for colored shell prompt (optional, default YES)
• Prompt for Docker/ROS2 setup (optional, default NO)

Then apply CM5 optimizations (recommended):

sudo ~/.local/bin/cm5-optimize.sh

Log out and select i3 from your display manager, or reboot.

Note: Only available if you enabled Docker/ROS2 during installation.

Use the power-mode utility to toggle CPU performance:

power-mode performance   # Max CPU speed (AC power)
power-mode balanced      # Default (schedutil, adaptive)
power-mode powersave     # Minimum frequency (battery life)
power-mode status        # Show current governor & temps

Monitor optimizations:

cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness  # Should show 10
zramctl                      # Should show ~8GB compressed swap
mount | grep noatime         # Root with noatime enabled

Custom bindings (optional, requires ROS2 setup):

• Mod + Alt + Return: Attach to ROS2 Docker shell
• Mod + Alt + U/X: Start/Stop Docker Compose
• Mod + Alt + O: Tail ROS2 logs
• Mod + Alt + S: Screenshot (region select)

Default Mod key: Alt (configurable in ~/.config/i3/config)

Restart Polybar without rebooting:

pkill -x polybar || true
~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

If you enabled colored shell prompt during installation:

Features:

• Retro color scheme (amber user, cyan path, green git)
• Git branch indicator with * for uncommitted changes
• Python venv display
• Exit code indicator (✘ for failures)

Dircolors:

• Green directories
• Amber executables/scripts
• Cyan configs (.json, .yaml, etc.)
• Red archives

Apply changes:

source ~/.bashrc

Verify Nerd Font installation:

fc-list | grep -i jetbrains

Rebuild font cache if needed:

fc-cache -fv

Check available power supply devices:

ls -1 /sys/class/power_supply/

For CM5, update ~/.config/polybar/config.ini:

[module/battery]
battery = axp20x-battery
adapter = axp22x-ac

List thermal zones:

ls /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/type
cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

For CM5, Polybar uses thermal_zone0 (cpu-thermal).

Create a snapshot:

STAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)
tar -czf ~/uconsole-backup-$STAMP.tar.gz \
    ~/.config/i3 ~/.config/polybar ~/.config/kitty ~/.config/rofi \
    ~/.local/bin ~/docker-compose.ros2.yml ~/ros2_ws ~/.bashrc.d

Restore on a fresh system:

tar -xzf uconsole-backup-*.tar.gz -C ~/

Dan — Drone systems & autonomy architecture
💡 Robotics, mining autonomy, ROS 2, and embedded Linux tinkering.

MIT License — use freely, modify boldly, share improvements.