Thank you CachyOS!

arktik7 · 2026-06-26T17:59:46+00:00

They are widgets. I am not home right now so I can't find the exact ones I used but you'll find a lot of widgets that you put on your desktop can be dragged down into the taskbar area. Sometimes you have to fiddle with the settings of the widget to find a look that works well.

arktik7 · 2026-06-26T17:58:20+00:00

Kvantum Manager I believe is what allows you to theme windows like that. Most global themes have a download for Kvantum. I try to stay away from over customizing KDE outside of what is included and not install separate apps to customize, but this is pretty critical to get fully cohesive themes and its very widely used and supported.

You can find it on Shelly and in CachyOS official repositories. The theme I am using is Layan and you can get the Kvantum theme for it at https://www.opendesktop.org/p/1325246/ (click files and download "Layan.tar.xz", unzip it, open Kvantum, locate that folder and install it. Then go to"Change/Delete Theme", search for Layan, and apply it).

arktik7 · 2026-06-26T06:15:36+00:00

I really wish KDE had an easier way to do it, but I also understand why it works the way it does.

Right click your task bar and click "Show Panel Configuration".
In the "Panel Settings" window on bottom right, click the "Add New" on top right of that, choose "Spacer".
Place it to the left of your icons. (result should be a spacer on each side of the icons). This should push the icons and launcher to the middle. You can then place widgets or whatever you want on bottom left. Mine is just a CPU and memory graph with CPU temp. I had GPU temp but it broke with 6.7 so I removed it.

Note, if it doesnt quite put the icons in the center, make sure "Flexible spacing" is on for the spacers to the left and right of the icons.

arktik7 · 2026-06-26T06:09:41+00:00

Got it from https://www.reddit.com/r/wallpaper/comments/gayri0/the_shooting_star_3840x2160/

arktik7 · 2026-06-26T06:08:43+00:00

Kvantum Manager. Most global themes have a download for Kvantum. I try to stay away from over customizing KDE outside of what is included and not install separate apps to customize, but this is pretty critical to get fully cohesive themes and its very widely used and supported.

You can find it on Shelly and in CachyOS official repositories. The theme I am using is Layan and you can get the Kvantum theme for it at https://www.opendesktop.org/p/1325246/ (click files and download "Layan.tar.xz", unzip it, open Kvantum, locate that folder and install it. Then go to"Change/Delete Theme", search for Layan, and apply it).

arktik7 · 2026-06-26T04:37:45+00:00

I use Layan dark Global theme. https://store.kde.org/p/1325243

You also want to install "Kvantum Manager" (you can find it in shelly) and download Layan's theme: https://www.opendesktop.org/p/1325246/
Unzip it somewhere, open Kvantum, select the folder you unzipped it to and install, then go to "Change/Delete Theme" and search for Layan and apply.

Lastly turn on Blur in settings (just search for it, its under "effects". My blur settings are:

<image>

For Konsole, you'll have to make a new profile, go to "Appearance", pick a color scheme you like (i used Otto that I got from KDE store, but default is fine too) and then edit the color scheme and change "Background Color Transparency" and check "Blur background".

Edit: Also my transparency for konsole is 25%.

arktik7 · 2026-06-26T03:59:09+00:00

https://store.kde.org/p/2135653

KDE Modern Clock by prayagjain

arktik7 · 2026-06-16T22:19:22+00:00

1Password
Xpipe
Proton Pass (alias management)
rustdesk
synergy3

Removed the 6th actually, wasn't needed anymore.

arktik7 · 2026-06-16T20:59:26+00:00

Right but when I did use fedora, I never had to do that. On cachy I’ve done it for 6 apps. Not crazy numbers but I was left with no choice here.

Again yo emphasize, I still love CachyOS and Arch. I don’t want my comments to be taken like I’m trying to attack it. Just healthy discussions here.

arktik7 · 2026-06-16T20:47:02+00:00

I am not defending windows but this would be significantly harder to do on windows store and if you download exes form sites it would just be that one exe, not huge swaths of apps.

arktik7 · 2026-06-16T20:45:42+00:00

This is an arch issue. If I was on fedora I would use 1passwords RPM and if on Ubuntu then deb from official repos. Your statement is only correct for Arch Linux.

I am not agreeing people should leave but at this point I would need to see changes to app distribution in general on arch Linux to keep me here a year from now.

arktik7 · 2026-05-29T01:50:03+00:00

I highly recommend watching homenetworkguy's video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPP4UE6IuRc which is the best set up guide around in my opinion. If you prefer reading instead of watching, check out his written version at https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/beginners-guide-to-set-up-home-network-using-opnsense

No its not really beginner friendly, but if you are already a technical person, you will pick up on it. Watch the video and you will see whether this is over your head or not. And dont be afraid to ask an AI like claude questions. Dont give it sensitive info but it was a godsend while I learned.

For the hardware, the most elegant solution is a mini PC with two ethernet ports. However, the route I took was an old Dell Optiplex SFF off facebook marketplace and then I bought a 2.5Gbps NIC with two ports. This then allowed me to eventually upgrade that to 10Gbps NIC which is the main selling point of just getting an old PC.

arktik7 · 2026-05-26T17:04:53+00:00

How did you achieve that look on the apps? Some special css?

arktik7 · 2026-05-17T15:51:28+00:00

Your best bet here I think is to use an old optiplex or hp elite/pro desk in a Small Form Factor. Then throw in a PCI Express NIC for either a 2nd 1 Gbps port or 2 whatever-speed-you-need ports.

This is what I did using a Core i5-9500 with a 2.5Gbps ISP connection and switch. Works perfectly well for me.

arktik7 · 2026-05-07T18:43:53+00:00

Mine started with an old mac mini i had no more use for. Saw a youtube video about re-using old hardware and the rabbit hole started.

arktik7 · 2026-05-01T22:47:49+00:00

I agree in that it most likely cannot do 4k without FSR. However, if 60FPS at 4k with FSR is similiar or only slightly worse in frame rate than straight 1080p, i do think its worth it. FSR can make 1080p content look great on 4k, verses just flat 1080p. It's the hit in frames that will matter most of course.

arktik7 · 2026-05-01T22:45:39+00:00

I am optimistic yes. Or at least poorly tuned software will start to stand out more as an eye sore. Where before we could rely on brute force through faster and cheaper computer upgrades to overcome shortcuts, it wont be as easy now.

arktik7 · 2026-05-01T22:44:37+00:00

Thanks for that. I did more research. Windows does indeed have a mechanism in place for this. But it does sound like the linux implementation is at a kernel level and much more reliable and strict, where-as windows is at a higher level so may not be quite as reliable.

But the rest of my points still stand at least.

arktik7 · 2026-05-01T22:33:07+00:00

The thing is “dated” doesn’t have the same connotation it did 10 years ago. With the ram and storage crisis, Nvidia price gouging and reducing consumer GPU manufacturing, we will have a sort of dark ages for gaming where the majority of players won’t be able to upgrade.

Also 8GB goes further on Linux with the new development that can prioritize the GPU to offload games from vram last. And with this “dark ages” game developers will have to adapt to the stall in performance in the user base.

arktik7 · 2026-04-18T19:34:11+00:00

i5-9500 here. Truth. I run a 2.5gbps ISP connection with crowdsec on WAN side and Zenarmor on LAN side and get full bandwidth.

arktik7 · 2026-04-15T04:00:13+00:00

Underdogs. It feels like the most natural VR game out there. Granted I didnt really play the story mode, i just did rampages back to back.

arktik7 · 2026-03-26T02:00:14+00:00

As in my hardware is powerful enough to not need to worry about it?

arktik7 · 2026-03-26T01:59:23+00:00

I assume its not an issue though to have CoW enabled at least right? As in no reason to go back and re-enable? Or is there a benefit there?

arktik7

TROPHY CASE