Desktop

its a server yeah, but i still use desktop for maintaining stuff when im bored or don't have access to other devices, kinda hurts my back tho. laptoo runs a dwl desktop on Alpine: ly with autologin, a Nord palette, and VNC remote access. it's now a noctalia shell: one tool owns the bar, launcher, notifications, wallpaper, lock screen, and screenshots.

desktop

boot process

it boots straight into the desktop:

  1. ly autologins main into the dwl session (/etc/ly/config.ini, auto_login_session = dwl).
  2. ~/.config/dwl/dwl-session.sh sets up env (wayland-0, drm+libinput backends, dbus) then execs dwl (upstream v0.8 / wlroots-0.19).
  3. dwl is patched with the dwl-ipc-unstable-v2 protocol, so the status bar gets live tag/title/layout state over IPC instead of a stdout stream.
  4. autostart brings up pipewire and noctalia (the whole shell layer — bar, launcher, notifications, wallpaper).

desktop bits

  • noctalia : native Wayland shell on dwl. the single bar with workspaces (tags via dwl-ipc), clock, tray, and system widgets; plus the launcher, notification daemon, wallpaper, lock screen, screenshots, and clipboard history.
  • foot : terminal.

remote access

  • wayvnc : VNC
  • noVNC : browser-based VNC
  • vnc-notify : connection warnings and idle kick

notes

  • pipewire + pipewire-pulse + wireplumber for audio
  • xdg-desktop-portal-wlr for screen sharing / file pickers