On Sun, Nov 3, 2019 at 1:05 PM David <bouncingc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 4 Nov 2019 at 07:42, Dan Hitt <dan.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > The desktop manager looks different: i think it is gnome, but i'd like
> it to be xfce.
>
> [...]
>
> > sudo update-alternatives --config x-window-manager
> > switching from (iirc) mutter to lightdm. Then i rebooted.
>
> Hi,
>
> Your question mentions several things that are different
> things:
> [1] desktop (also known as desktop environment)
> [2] display-manager
> [3] window-manager
>
> Your question seems to be failing to notice that they are
> different:
> - gnome and xfce are desktop environments.
> - mutter is a window-manager.
> - lightdm is a display-manager.
>
> You also mention "desktop-manager", I don't know what
> that thing is.
>
> So it's unclear what you are asking. I suggest you research
> the difference between these terms. This will hopefully clarify
> your understanding of what you want, and your ability to
> describe it in a way that readers here will be able to understand
> and help.
>
> [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment
> [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_display_manager
> [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_manager
Thanks David!
I was and am confused!
Anyhow, there was a little widget in the login page that let me select the
desktop manager ("session" i believe they called it), and now i am in
xfce. (Liam pointed out this out; i received his message while typing this
reply. Thanks Liam!)
I think in your terminology what i meant by "desktop manager" was "desktop
environment".
I still would like a programmatic/command-line way of detecting what the
desktop.
Anyhow, thank you both, and thanks everybody for your patience!
dan
