I have a virgin install of EndeavourOS and I just installed Awesome WM from the AUR.
yay awesome → select the 1st option in the list.
I logout and then switch to the Awesome environment and login again.
I get the expected wallpaper and top bar.
If I use “Super + S” I see the hotkey lists.
If I use “Super + R” I get a run prompt in the tiny bar at the top and can launch something I know is installed, like Firefox for example…
If I use “Super + W” I see the small menu with only two options (Terminal and Mode) I don’t see a list of my install programs as I’ve seen in other people’s videos on Awesome WM.
I understand there will be a config file I could edit, and yet the most basic functions on the hotkeys are simply missing. I can open a terminal by using the Run: Konsole function, so I could probably fix things through there, but I’m curious why other people seem to have the core functionality in place when they install Awesome WM.
Does Endeavour OS do something which disrupts the basic functionality of Awesome WM?
I guess the Arch wiki should provide some guidance and links to get you started. As EnOS is based on Arch (with KDE Plasma as the default WM), there shouldn’t be any disruptions. Unless you’ve chosen KDE Plasma during install, which may cause some issue if you want to install awesome in addition to plasma.
So, did you install EnOS with the no desktop option ?
The usual way would be to install with no desktop, and to use the awesome community edition. Or to install it from scratch all by yourself. As the community edition is essentially a working setup of awesome, with some EndeavourOS theming and could be seen as a starting point which you’ll have to manage / modifiy and extend by yourself.
Unless people use a distribution with Awesome configured, you have to do it yourself.
Remember Awesome is a window manager, not a complete desktop environnement.
For the first steps :