The Premise

Linux is an alternative operating system from your typical Windows or MacOS. Of the many reasons people switch to Linux is the extreme customizability thats possible. Linux ricing (a term coined from car ricing) is the nerd trend of customizing your operating system's aesthetic until it's completely distinct from anyone else (Source: redditors). After customizing their computer, people like to compare their "rices" with other nerds. So, if you're one of those nerds out there, below is how I like my Arch Linux :) . Hover/Click over different sections of the image to view the technology/framework used to stylize my rice.

My Rice

Utilized Libraries/Frameworks

ranger

ranger is a nifty file explorer for the command line. If loading a GUI to surf your files/moving your mouse to click them was too arduous for you, then ranger is your solution. It allows you to use vim-like keybindings to move around your file directory system, and can be mapped to preview various file types with your preferred file viewer. Although I still prefer to use the good ol' cd and ls, sometimes ranger matches my needs just a little bit more.

neofetch

neofetch is the bread and butter of virtually all unix users, no matter what distribution. It's the emblem of any riced Linux distribution. Unfortunately, neofetch has stopped development, meaning that its outputs are not guaranteed to be true and it's bug fixes have been put on hold indefinitely. Regardless, I still use neofetch just to taste the nostalgia, and to remember how good we had it.

cli-visualizer

cli-visualizer is a TUI audio visualizer majorly written in C++. It listens to your audio output, defines its waveform, and then displays animations that are reactive to volumne, cadence, etc. It has a couple of modes (and also can simulate the Lorenz attractor, go figure), but I just use it to look cool and to rice out :) . It uses the curses library to render the imagery, and is pretty optimized. Nothing more to say other than to check it out.

lazyvim

lazyvim is the one application that I recommend anyone who is trying to be productive and use their time wisely to learn. Lazyvim is essentially a pre-compiled build of NeoVim, with all of the doohickeys and gadgets you could ever ask for, while also staying with the typical norms of NeoVim. Lazyvim takes away the burdens of learning about the wild assortment of plugin managers and plugins you could be using with NeoVim, and instead allows you to spend your time learning what's important: vim keybindings. Vim keybindings have gotten me out of more binds than I can count, and a lot of archaic applications still accept vim keybindings. Once you learn vim, you will never go back.

bumblebee-status

bumblebee-status is a extremely versatile taskbar framework that works (for the most part) out of the box. There's a large amount of built-in libraries that should house every conceivable functionality you might like. Even if you want some niche output for your special taskbar, the documentation online is really accessible in terms of creating your own "modules" (the sections on the status bar). If you're not into that much customization, don't worry. All of the modules in my status bar came out of the box, so as long as your drivers are working properly, then bumblebee-status can work properly as well.

Libraries/Frameworks Not Mentioned

wallhaven.cc

wallhaven is a website catalogue of lots of amazing high-quality wallpapers for both desktop and mobile. With my current i3 setup, I've set it such that every reload of i3 will download a fresh wallpaper from their website (free API). Although their catalogue includes both SFW and NSFW content, their filters make it really easy to find what you're looking for.

pywal

pywal is what cinches my whole setup together. It is a color palette generator based on the current background image. So, when I refresh my i3 and receive a new wallpaper from wallhaven.cc, pywal will reactively generate the latest color palette and apply it to my system palette. This allows for literally any application on my computer to utilize the palette and thus reactively match my background. Works like a charm and something I recommend for anyone who is getting into ricing.