Krdytkyu

Recently I have installed i3 windows manager.

The problem is that the footnote keys to control the volume and brightness don't work.

How can I solve this?

And how can I bind the mod key to the Win key?

Multimedia Keys

First install these packages for brightness and volume:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install xbacklight alsa-utils pulseaudio

Then from I3 FAQ:

Add these lines to ~/.config/i3/config

# Pulse Audio controls

bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl -- set-sink-volume 0 +5% #increase sound volume

bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl -- set-sink-volume 0 -5% #decrease sound volume

bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute 0 toggle # mute sound



# Sreen brightness controls

bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec xbacklight -inc 20 # increase screen brightness

bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec xbacklight -dec 20 # decrease screen brightness

Mod key

To change the $mod key:

• Open ~/.config/i3/config.


• 
  

  Look for the line:

  
  
  

  set $mod
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  Change that to:

  
  
  

  set $mod Mod4
  
  

  
  



• Finally, run i3-msg reload to reload the configuration file.

xbacklight doesn't work for me. I wrote this script which writes directly into the kernel exposed back-light files, at least for intel:

https://github.com/jappeace/brightnessctl

I had to do a reinstall recently and just now made a makefile to make installation easier. This is just an alternative for if the xbacklight solution doesn't work for you either.

For volume, i used the command "amixer",

First, make sure you hava all the devices enabled, to see that first type

amixer

That should give tou the 'Master' state [on] or [off]

If it is [off], Set it to [on] by typing

amixer sset Master on

.

Now changing the default code of:

# Pulse Audio controls

bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 2 +5% #increase sound volume

bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 2 -5% #decrease sound volume

bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute 0 toggle

to this one:

bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec amixer sset Master 5%+

bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec amixer sset Master 5%-

bindsym XF86AudioMute exec amixer sset Master toggle

This command increase that percentage to all the output devices

Works perfect for me

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xbacklight

change set $mod to Mod4 in ~/.config/i3/config

and

add in ~/.config/i3/config:

# Pulse Audio controls

bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl -- set-sink volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ +5% #increase sound volume

bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl -- set-sink volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ -5% #decrease sound volume

bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle # mute sound



# Sreen brightness controls

bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec xbacklight -inc 20 # increase screen brightness

bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec xbacklight -dec 20 # decrease screen brightness

save file

and press $mod+Shift+c or restart i3wm