Arch Linux Hyprland rice

I created this desktop rice as a hobby and also to express myself through how I design (or rice, they are quite interchangeable in this context) my desktop.

When I first started searching for alternatives to the mainstream operating system, Windows as I grew bored and frustrated at it, I came across Arch Linux being a highly popular Linux choice, along with the extensive customization it offers and picked it as my second operating system (oh also, it sure was a SUPER shaky ride!). Initially, I thought the customization it offers were just "more settings options" but found out how wrong I was when I was presented with only texts on my screen. I even thought the system broke and was taken aback at that time when I saw that you had to install the desktop by yourself, which then I realized the customization options it really gave.

I went for a simple yet highly modular desktop environment (abbreviated with "DE") for a while then switched to a bare-bone windowing manager (abbreviated with "WM") called Hyprland as I saw its aesthetic appeal online with its automatic tiling windows (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1172789495117131828/1421131673197608980/2025-09-15-190627_hyprshot.png?ex=68e9b7c2&is=68e86642&hm=c20d9a851e577a780e148fb06508d9839cf2caa4e00c8de895355d58e07d08a3& i cannot put 2 images here sadly, but this is what tiling windows look like) along with the added customizability compared to DEs as you quite literally design your own desktop when you use a WM. At first my desktop was incomplete but after a while I now have a desktop I love and it makes me feel at home due to the personalization of it.

I also made custom Bash scripts (such as a script that launches Rofi, an application launcher, and closing Rofi should Rofi be already on) to add onto my desktop functionality along with using additional applications for a more convenient, desktop like experience such as Waybar, a status bar styled with CSS and Rofi, a CSS styled application menu and launcher. Additionally, I even used pre-existing styling scripts like Pywal which extracts the color palette of images to better match my desktop color scheme.

Despite the shaky journey in the beginning, I have gained extensive experiences along with acquiring knowledge useful for my future career in Cybersecurity, such as advanced Linux system administration, CSS styling and Bash scripting. I would even argue that my desktop is now treating me way better than my previous one. I hope you like my desktop rice!

(will put dotfiles later on)