> Steve wants to know how to start a different window manager from the command
> line, not from within KDE (or booting to initlevel 5).
Right, that's what `desktopcfg` does. Well, kind of. It is a console
utility that allows you to change your default desktop- your choices are
GNOME, KDE, AfterStep, or "Plain X11" which means fvwm2, I think. If you
run desktopcfg as root you may change the system default.
And since you asked...
Another way to change the window manager that starts when you run `startx`
is to put a command in ~/.xinitrc. This file is a shell script run
after X has started (it is usually what loads a window manager).
`desktopcfg` uses this file to start your window manager (WM). You may
safely delete this, and specify your own script. Mine follows:
#/home/matthead/.xinitrc
exec kde
I think that I'm going to replace "exec kde" with "exec enlightenment" as
I'm tired of KDE, and would like to use Enlightenment for a while. The
only thing I don't like is that you can't move windows around in the
pager (a point for AfterStep, 'cause you can in there!)... but that's
off-topic.
Yet another way to specify a window manager to run with X is by appending
it to `xinit` (`startx` is a shell script that runs `xinit` with some
default arguments). Try, for instance, `xinit /usr/bin/enlightenment`
This will start X and then run the Enlightenment WM. Because of the way
`xinit` interprets your arguments, you have to specify the full path to
the program you wish to run in X (it doesn't _have_ to be a WM). It
doesn't even matter if the path to the program is in $PATH. If you're
interested in the why, try `man xinit`.
Which window managers are included with Mandrake? Here's a few (I
installed the extra window managers package, so all these may not be on
your system):
/usr/bin/enlightenment
/usr/bin/gnome-session
/usr/bin/kde
/usr/X11R6/bin/AnotherLevel
/usr/X11R6/bin/afterstep
/usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm
/usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm2
/usr/X11R6/bin/wmaker
I'm sure there are more. Also, gnome-session starts GNOME, which is not a
window manager, but rather a "desktop environment." This includes
the panel, the right-click menu on the desktop, the icons, and more.
GNOME uses Enlightenment as it's WM by default, but can be configured to
use WindowMaker, or some other WM I can't remember right now. The same
goes for KDE, execpt that I don't think you can successfully use any
WM other than kwm, which is KDE's default.
This is probably much more information than you ever cared to know, but
it's still not all! However, I'll bet `desktopcfg` is plenty for most
people. The thing is, if you want more control over what happens when you
start X, well, you've got it. This is one of many advantages that Linux
has over Windows: the freedom of choice. For any given task, there are
usually several different ways to accomplish it, each with it's own unique
advantages & disadvantages. This means you can find the best way to get a
job done- you're not locked into someone else's idea of "the best way,"
like you are with proprietary systems (Microsoft being only the most
prominent).
-Matt Stegman
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
