Want some Mango? Then try out FruitBANG

|

FruitBANG is a live ISO version of ArchBang running the MangoWM Wayland compositor — a fork of dwl, which itself is a Wayland port of dwm. If you know that lineage, you already have a feel for what MangoWM is about. For everyone else — tiling, tag-based layout, minimal config, no framework overhead. More capable out of the box than a typical dwl fork and easier to get into.

The Stack

  • MangoWM — Wayland compositor, tiling and tag-based
  • waybar — status bar, trimmed to what is actually needed
  • foot — terminal, fast and Wayland-native
  • rofi — application launcher via SUPER+Space
  • mako — notification daemon
  • Thunar — file manager for the times you need one
  • Firefox — browser
  • NetworkManager with nm-applet for network management

Visual Design

The colour palette is pulled from the default wallpaper — a night sky with deep navy blues, steel cloud highlights, and a rosy eclipse tinge. MangoWM borders, waybar, rofi, and mako notifications all share the same palette. Papirus-Dark handles icons. Animations, blur, and shadows are enabled by default — it looks good without trying too hard.

Layout Philosophy

Tag 1 is floating only — a familiar space if you are coming from a traditional desktop. Move windows where you want, resize freely, no surprises. Tags 2 through 9 are tiling, where MangoWM takes over and manages layout automatically. It is a gentle on-ramp: start floating, move to tiling when you are ready.

Key Bindings

  • SUPER+Space — launch an application
  • SUPER+Return — open a terminal
  • SUPER+Q — close a window
  • SUPER+Left/Right — move between tags
  • SUPER+R — reload the compositor config

A Note on Installation

MangoWM is an AUR package, so FruitBANG uses a local pacman repository to build the ISO. Post-install, upgrading MangoWM requires yay — there is a script in the Scripts folder to handle that.

The installer is not fully tested — treat it as experimental for now. FruitBANG boots cleanly, the desktop works, and the visual design is solid. The interesting parts are already there; the rough edges are being smoothed out.

Download FruitBANG and see what you think. As always, feel free to get in touch if you have questions or suggestions.

Stay safe….