Little something I did for myself

[gamer00]

We lost power today, for some 20 to 30 seconds. It was enough for my computer however, since as a full-blown desktop computer it doesn't have a battery like those laptops, and I was always too cheap to invest in a UPS backup power system to protect my computer from things like power outages.

Anyhow... when I managed to get my computer back up running and all, I noticed I didn't have sound anymore. Had to do some hacking, and I eventually managed to get pipewire (the sound server) running again.

So to prevent this from happening again, I wrote a simple script that checks whether pipewire is running or not, and restarts it if it's not.

Since I had had a recurring problem of losing my Finnish keybindings and the Wacom drawing tablet also seemed to forget that I'm left-handed, I also added some magic to set things right, and in some cases, left.

So in the end, this is what I created, in ~/.config/qtile/autostart.sh:

#!/bin/sh

LOGFILE=~/.config/qtile/autostart.log

echo "Starting autostart script at $(date)" >> $LOGFILE

# Function to check if a process is running
is_running() {
        pgrep "$1" > /dev/null 2>&1
}

# Check and Start PipeWire if not running
if is_running "pipewire"; then
        echo "PipeWire is already running" >> $LOGFILE
else
        echo "Starting PipeWire" >> $LOGFILE
        pipewire &
        notify-send "Qtile" "PipeWire started"
        sleep 1  # Delay for 1 second
fi

# Check and Start WirePlumber if not running
if is_running "wireplumber"; then
        echo "WirePlumber is already running" >> $LOGFILE
else
        echo "Starting WirePlumber" >> $LOGFILE
        wireplumber &
        notify-send "Qtile" "WirePlumber started"
        sleep 1  # Delay for 1 second
fi

# Set keymap to Finnish
echo "Setting keymap to Finnish" >> $LOGFILE
setxkbmap fi
notify-send "Qtile" "Keymap set to Finnish"
sleep 1  # Delay for 1 second

# Set Wacom tablet to left-handed mode
echo "Setting Wacom tablet to left-handed mode" >> $LOGFILE
~/.bin/Scripts/wacom-left-handed.sh
notify-send "Qtile" "Wacom tablet set to left-handed mode"
sleep 1  # Delay for 1 second


# Send a notification
echo "Sending notification" >> $LOGFILE
notify-send "Qtile" "Autostart script executed"

It logs everything too, ain't that cool?

So, after the script was written, I set it as an executable: chmod +x ~/.config/qtile/autostart.sh

To run it from inside Qtile every time the configuration is refreshed with Ctrl+Mod4+r (Mod4 is usually the "Windows" key on many PC keyboards), I added these hooks (the parts that start with @hook.subscribe.) into the qtile configuration that is in ~/.config/qtile/config.py:

import os # <-- This had to be added
from libqtile import bar, layout, widget, hook
from libqtile.config import Click, Drag, Group, Key, Match, Screen
from libqtile.lazy import lazy
from libqtile.utils import guess_terminal
import subprocess

@hook.subscribe.startup_once # Only runs at initial startup
def autostart_once():
    home = os.path.expanduser('~')
    with open(home + '/.config/qtile/autostart.log', 'a') as f:
        f.write("Running autostart hook\n")
    subprocess.call([home + '/.config/qtile/autostart.sh'])

@hook.subscribe.startup # Runs every time Qtile is 'refreshed'
def autostart():
    home = os.path.expanduser('~')
    with open(home + '/.config/qtile/autostart.log', 'a') as f:
        f.write("Running restart hook\n")
    subprocess.call([home + '/.config/qtile/autostart.sh'])

# Rest of the configuration below

^{Image created with DALL·E}

The darned thing didn't want to work, until I took a look at the Qtile logfile ~/.local/share/qtile/qtile.log and noticed there was an error message about the missing os library module.

So I had to add import os to the configuration too. Now it works fine.

Comments

[edith-4angelseu]

A tech geek uh? Very brilliant indeed!

[gamer00]

Thanks! 😊

[lupega]

You are not stingy, you are sensible, that is what I say when they tell me that I should have bought this or that, you solved the problem of the cut, that is the important thing.

[gamer00]

Thank you! It's just that that an uninterruptible power source would ultimately protect my computer from physical damage if something like this happens. I don't fear short term data loss, since I'm using journaling file systems anyway, but if a disk were to break, it would present a lot of more concerning problems.

[theringmaster]

It's great to see creativity and skill come together. Keep up the awesome work. It ain't easy brother

[kaminchan]

Wow! Very useful and practical skills to have at your fingertips. But it all seems like alien language to me!🙀😂

[gamer00]

Heh... well I can't say I'm very good at coding either, but it's sometimes fun to create something simple that is also usable. I probably wouldn't be able to code things like games or full-blown apps like word processors though. It would be nice to learn, but there are times when it all looks alien to me too. 😅

[orlev]

Very nice! I should set my wacom up properly with bash too.. I just use the default settings right now, which is none... 🤔

[gamer00]

Hey, thanks! Glad you liked it! 😊 Just to clarify: "eavom"? Did you possibly mean "environment variables"? Setting those up properly in bash can make a huge difference. I'm not a very conscientious with my variables either, and that sometimes leads me to unnecessary hurdles. It's however gotten a bit easier these days.

[orlev]

Omg.... My f ING keyboard autocorrect... I meant to say my wacom...

[gamer00]

Oh, that's what it was? Lol! I know, Wacoms seem to work out of the box, but when you actually want to use them, there's a bit too much fiddling for the average person. I had to install some additional drivers for my son's Wacom Intuos tablet so he could use it in the 'osu!' rhythm game. It was quite a hassle.